There’s something suspicious about making lists, especially when the list-maker clearly has nefarious intent.
Today it has been reported that Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas attempted to get a record of all transgender people who have legally changed their gender on their drivers license in the state. Although the initial request only asked for the monthly numbers of those who changed gender markers, the request did state that they may need drivers licenses and ID numbers later – some of which were eventually delivered. This comes months after Paxton sent a letter to Governor Greg Abbott that stated the parents of transgender children in Texas should be investigated for child abuse. This policy has been nearly universally decried and led to harsh investigations and suicide attempts among trans youth in Texas. Fears of registries continue to grow in the transgender community as Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and other states all consider policies that would create lists of trans people in the state. These lists can ultimately be used for nefarious means, especially if you believe that states will continue to target transgender people with laws designed to further restrict and criminalize their lives.
I wonder why he wants a list of all the trans folk in Texas? Do you think it’s so they can deliver appropriate health care more efficiently?
There is a word for this.
It’s a witch hunt.
Something out of the Dark Ages.
Most of us think the murder of something like 100,000 alleged witches in Europe was an atrocity.
A few like Ken Paxton and Greg Abbott clearly think it was a great idea.
Even today, a hundred or so alleged witches are murdered, mostly in Third World countries.
FWIW, none of those witches were actual witches in the sense the xians mean.
AFAWK, none of them had magic powers.
If they did, there would have been a lot of large green amphibious xians back at that time.
This is where Texas is heading.
Full on Fascism.
We’ve been here before and not even that long ago.
Senator Joseph MCCarthy had a list of 205 Communist Party in the US State Department.
None of whom were actual Communists.
This wasn’t a good era and McCarthy was discredited and censured.
McCarthy died of probable alcohol induced hepatitis at age 48 and wasn’t missed.
In France, there is an absolute ban on making any list of people mentioning race, religion, sexual orientation or union and political affiliation, by private and public entities including the official census (there are small exceptions for religious, union and political organizations that need to have a list of their respective members, but they have to follow strict rules about handling that data, and cannot share it).
There are some voices unhappy about this, because it limits statistical analysis, but on the other hand, the last time the state used data about the French citizen’s religion and politics was 80 years ago and it didn’t end well to say the least.
People (and especially the state) making lists always make me nervous
Paul Robeson: There’s a Man Going ‘Round Taking Names
Given today’s rhetoric, which is openly eliminationist, openly dehumanizing, and actions that literally murder us with few consequences, does anybody really wonder why these guys are taking names? Seriously?
Another reason why states are a bad idea. We are not “one nation” ans we naively pretend. Instead,we’re a collection of 50 micro-countries with their own laws, cultures, and agendas, most of them backwards, racist, and fascistic.
There is no point in having a federal government so long as “states rights” are taken seriously.
He’s just collecting the names and numbers to ensure gentle, caring euthanasia in the soon to be ordered monoxide vans.
It worked ever so efficiently for their Austrian role model.
Take that word for word, but replace as appropriate with gun owners and I’m all of a sudden ok with it….
it is interesting to note that the lawyer for McCarthy’s house committee in later years became the legal mentor to President traitor
That list is way too focused to be useful for any data statistical analysis
paranoid bigoted A******s need someone to blame and to distract attention from themselves
it wont make a bit of difference in the end they will still die in the dark afraid of “the others”
unclefrogy @ # 9: … McCarthy’s house committee …
Senate committee, actually – but otherwise you nailed it!
@2 & 7 I believe this is what you are looking for (bolding mine):
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/mccarthy/
With lawyer Roy Cohn at his side, he [Joseph McCarthy] belittled critics, spinning a web of lies and distortions while spreading fear and confusion. After years in the headlines, he was brought down by his own excesses and overreach. But his name lives on linked to the modern-day witch hunt we call “McCarthyism.”
Raven @2: A lot of Republicans didn’t think McCarthy was wrong, though. And still don’t.
Jesus Christ! I grew up in Texas long, long ago, where, if you were trans and knew what was good for you, you stayed well hidden. You made sure nobody knew anything about you. When I grew up, I ran, as far and as fast as I could.
Now here it is, many years later, and they’re legally erasing us, criminalizing us and even making registers of our names. Because, you know, Jesus loves us.
And what about my own people, those closest to me? What about them?
Evil never dies, and haters never give up.
@ 2. raven : “McCarthy died of probable alcohol induced hepatitis at age 48 and wasn’t missed.”
Sadly, he left a devastating and ongoing legacy having virtually wiped out the American left wing of politics for generations.
Yeah, this list of trans people is seriously disturbing stuff here.
Have they already set up a Zentraldienststelle T4 for the planing of the E-Aktion? Now they only need to find a nice antebellum villa somewhere in Texas close to a lake to have a little conference, let’s say Goodman–LeGrand house or so? And of course boxcars, lots and lots of boxcars for the near future.
Not surprisingly, the story is even worse.
Paxton instructed his minions to keep everything word-of-mouth. No emails, no texts, no PDF’s, no written communication. All oral. (Why does “oral” and the Texas GOPQ just sound right?) The AG doesn’t want any paper trail.
This is the Texas GOPQ: if there was ONE INDIVIDUAL that possessed some kind of anomaly, say, one-eyed, one-horned, purple and flies, the state legislature would write a law against it and Paxton would prosecute.
I have a friend who moved from MN down to Austin. We asked him how he felt safe doing that, and he said Austin is liberal, and it’s not the whole state that’s a problem.
He has two kids and a wife now. They’re moving back to MN. He can’t in good conscience subject his kids to this.
A similar thing happened in pre-Nazi Germany. They registered cross dressers and homosexuals with the state; the intention was to give them an exemption from arrest and prosecution. When the Nazis came to power they just used the lists to identify people to round up. History repeating itself…
@ 15:
“And of course boxcars, lots and lots of boxcars…”
They’re hiding shipping containers on the border.
@christoph #18
Well, according to some unknown american journalist and poet it doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes.
@verumverum #19
Those sneaky republicanses…