MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle is the kind of news channel host
that I love and would like to see more of because she isn’t about to let fools
just talk and not hold them accountable.
Case in point: West Virginia Governor, and Republican,
because, of course, Jim Justice, who just signed a bill to ban transgender
girls from school sports. Ruhle wanted him to explain his reasoning.
But he couldn’t answer, and so she kept at him, demanding to know
why. With all that is going on in this country right now, passing an anti-transgender
bill was so important. She had Justice—dear goddess if anyone is
inappropriately named, it’s this guy--stumbling and mumbling, that, by the end
of the segment, Justice was barely coherent, and could only mutter that there
are only “12 kids maybe in our state that are transgender-type kids.”
“Can you name one example of a transgender child trying to
gain an unfair competitive advantage at a school there in West Virginia?”
“Well… well Stephanie, I don’t have that experience exactly
to myself right now, but I will tell you this—”
“Not yourself. Your state, sir. Can you give me one example
of a transgender child trying to get an unfair advantage? Just one in your
state.”
“No, I can’t really tell you one, but I can tell you
this Stephanie—”
“But, sir, you have no examples of this happening. Why would
you take your time to do this?”
Then Ruhle dragged the state of West Virginia, pointing out
that it’s ranked “45th in education, 47th in health care, 48th on the economy,
and 50th in infrastructure.”
“If you cannot name one single example for me of a child
doing this, why would you make this a priority? I just named four things that
would seem to me like a much bigger priority.”
“Well Stephanie, I didn’t make it a priority.”
“You signed it!”
And then Justice brought up Title IX to defend his position
when that’s the exact same law that President Biden cited to back up
the administration’s position that discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in
education—including school sports –is already illegal.
“I think we only have 12 kids maybe in our state that are
transgender-type kids, for cryin’ out loud, Stephanie!”
“Please come back when … you can show me evidence that those
young women are being disadvantaged in your state.”
“We all know what an absolute advantage boys would have
playing against girls….”
Of course, the law isn’t about boys playing girls’ sports,
it’s about banning some girls—who are transgender—from playing girls’
sports. Justice tried to talk about why he, as a girls’ basketball coach,
thinks it would be bad for boys to pretend to be trans in order to participate
in girls’ sports.
Seriously, West Virginia. You live in one of the most
disadvantaged states in this country but you elected a man who does this, and
then cannot even back up his argument with facts …because there are no facts?
The ACLU has already said that it will sue West Virginia
over the law, and if that happens, West Virginia should probably not have
Justice testify.
LGBTQ
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