Disney hysteria and litter boxes: Republicans' deeply odd war on LGBTQ people escalates

[Nevilledog]

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Amanda Marcotte
@AmandaMarcotte
The wild accusations that Disney is "grooming" children are just the tip of the iceberg. The GOP has gone full QAnon/Satanic panic in their war on LGBTQ rights. And the rhetoric is getting violent.

salon.com
Disney hysteria and litter boxes: Republicans' deeply odd war on LGBTQ people escalates
The new Republican war on LGBTQ right is a full-blown "Satanic panic"-style frenzy of urban legends — and violence
10:26 AM · Apr 1, 2022

https://www.salon.com/2022/04/01/disney-hysteria-and-litter-boxes-republicans-deeply-odd-on-lgbtq-people-escalates-to-violence/

The GOP's choice to make QAnon-style hysterics the centerpiece of their 2022 midterm strategy is most heavily hurting LGBTQ Americans.

From Fox News to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republicans are embracing rhetoric that insinuates — and sometimes outright declares — that there's a widespread conspiracy of Democrats, school teachers, liberal judges and Disney employees to "groom" children for sexual abuse. The primary victims of these lies are LGBTQ people, who are facing a renewed effort to roll back hard-won rights, all under the guise of "saving" children from imaginary "predators." Across the country, Republican state legislatures are passing bills and using executive orders to make life hell for LGBTQ kids by denying them medical care, forcing them to remain closeted at school, excluding them from extracurricular activities, and even taking them away from loving parents. All of this damage is done in the name of "saving" children.

One of the surest signs that this is a Satanic panic-style frenzy is how downright weird the situation is getting, with right-wingers whipping themselves up with urban legends and lurid fantasies.

Have you heard that schools are putting litter boxes in the bathrooms to indulge students who "identify" as cats? If not, well, if you're on Facebook, you will soon enough. Earlier this week, Nebraska state Sen. Bruce Bostelman went off during a recent legislative session about how kids "meow and they bark " and "now schools are wanting to put litter boxes in the schools."

*snip*

[txwhitedove]

1. OMG! WTF!! LMAO!!! That is a rollercoaster right to the bottom line. Now need

to go check local elementary school....

[sop]

2. Used to be Republicans mostly worried about enriching corporate donors.

Now they're all about hurting vulnerable people to please their base of batshit crazy culture warriors and anger addicts.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

3. Fascism needs a unifying narrative; GQP'ism has at least two...

Children being indoctrinated into LGBTQ and…

People of color are taking over the country.

[badhair77]

4. The litter box thing hit my small red city weeks ago.

And the locals were more than willing to believe it all. On Facebook they added the idea that the school district was allowing kids to be furries, like the animal costumed characters at the conventions. They fell for the online pranksters who claimed the school authorities were providing litter boxes in the bathrooms for said furries to feel at home. I could not believe how they ran with that story. They are gullible, but we saw that with their belief in the big lie.

[txwhitedove]

5. Bizarre, right? Schools send home or email permission slips for 98 percent of functions or changes.

So, why can't they see that idea is so ridiculous?

[Hekate]

6. (Checks calendar) (checks sources) (bangs head against wall)