The dangers of Project 2025's anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric

>>> THIS WEEK, DOZENS OF PROMINENT REPUBLICAN LEADERS JOINED DEMOCRATS IN FILING THEIR OWN BRIEF WITH THE SUPREME COURT OPPOSING A TENNESSEE LAW THAT BARS TRANSITION RELATED CARE FOR MINORS. IN IT THEY WRITE, STATES HAVE NO BUSINESS OVERRULING THE DECISIONS OF FIT PARENTS WHO MAKE AN INFORMED MEDICAL CHOICE FOR THEIR CHILDREN IS SUPPORTED BY THEIR DOCTORS, BY THE MEDICAL PROFESSION, MORE GENERALLY, BY THE CHILDREN THEMSELVES, AND BY THEIR CONSCIENCE. BACK IN JUNE, THE SUPREME COURT AGREED IT WAS OF CHALLENGES TO THE TENNESSEE LAW AND HEAR ARGUMENTS THIS UPCOMING TERM. IT WILL BE THE FIRST TIME THE CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY COURT ISSUES A RULING IN THE BATTLE OVER TRANSGENDER RIGHTS FOR MINORS. THIS COMES AS 26 STATES INCLUDING TENNESSEE HAVE INTRODUCED BILLS TO RESTRICT GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE IN THE LAST FEW YEARS. AND AS A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE, DONALD TRUMP CONTINUES TO TARGET THE TRANS COMMUNITY AND SPREAD FALSEHOODS ABOUT TRANS YOUTH. >> THE TRANSGENDER THING IS INCREDIBLE. THINK OF IT, YOUR KID GOES TO SCHOOL AND CALMS HOME A FEW DAYS LATER WITH AN OPERATION, THE SCHOOL DECIDES WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN WITH YOUR CHILD-- AND YOU KNOW MANY OF THESE CHILD'S 15 YEARS LEADERS SAYS WHO DID THIS TO ME? >> CEO AND FOUNDER OF TRANS MEDIA-- NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER THAT ANY SCHOOL HAS ALLOWED OR FACILITATED A TRANSITION OF ANY STUDENT WITH OR WITHOUT PARENTAL CONSENT. THERE'S NO EVIDENCE THAT ANY SURGERIES ARE TAKING PLACE ON SCHOOL GROUNDS. TRUMP DEFENDERS SAY THIS IS HYPERBOLE, IF YOU CHANGED A FEW WORDS THEN IT WOULD BE RIGHT. HOW DANGEROUS IS THE RHETORIC COMING OUT OF THE FORMER PRESIDENT ON THIS ISSUE? >> THANK YOU FOR HAVING ME. YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, I MEAN IT IS A BASIS OF U.S. LAW IN SO MANY PLACES THAT PARENTS SPEAK FOR THEIR CHILDREN, SO THIS IDEA THAT KIDS CONTROL, THAT SCHOOLS CONTROL KIDS IS MADE UP IT IS LITERALLY A FANTASY. IT'S EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. WE KNOW THAT THE ASSAULT ON TRANS PEOPLE BEGAN AS A PART OF A CONCERTED EFFORT UNDER HIS ADMINISTRATION. AND WE KNOW THAT EVERY YEAR HE WAS IN OFFICE THAT YEAR ON YEAR ANTI-TRANS VIOLENCE AND ANTI- LGBTQ VIOLENCE REACHED NEW HEIGHTS DURING THAT PARTICULAR TIME. AND IT'S NOT ONLY THE PHYSICAL VIOLENCE WHICH WE CAN KEEP TRACK OF, IT IS ALL THE FORMS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST THE COMMUNITY INCLUDING CULTURAL VIOLENCE, POLICY AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN WHICH THIS WRITER COULD HAVE THE RHETORIC FOR THAT BACKDROP. PARAMILITARY GROUPS ARE PICKING UP ON THESE MESSAGES. >> RIGHT, BUT PRIOR TO 2025, WHICH IS RIGHT WING PLAYBOOK THAT TRUMP ALLIES HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO, THEY ARE TAKING THE RHETORIC PART IN MAKING MORE POLICY ABOUT IT. SOME OF THE POLICIES THEY PROPOSE INCLUDE RESCINDING REGULATIONS PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, TRANSGENDER STATUS, AND SEX CHARACTERISTICS, RESCINDING TITLE IX PROTECTIONS TO STUDENTS AND ELIMINATING TRANSGENDER HEALTHCARE IN MEDICARE AND MEDICAID. TALK TO US ABOUT THE ESCALATION HERE AND HOW THESE POLICIES ARE GOING TO AFFECT NOT JUST THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY, BUT ALL OF AMERICA. >> WELL IF WE WERE TO SPEND THE SEGMENT READING OUT PROJECT 2025 THAT WOULD BE THE ENTIRE SEGMENT. I THINK WHAT'S IMPORTANT HERE IS TO REALIZE THAT THE PEOPLE THAT WROTE ROGER 2025 AND FOCUSED THE ANTI- TRANS SEGMENTS ARE THE EXACT SAME PEOPLE WHO WERE BEHIND THE ANTI-TRANS POLICIES IN THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION, AND BEFORE THAT WAS AT THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION, WHICH HAS BECOME A KIND OF FACTORY OF ANTI-TRANS IDEAS IN AND OF ITSELF. SO THIS IS A CONTINUATION, I THINK WE ARE SEEING A SURPRISE PROJECT 2025 RIGHT NOW, BUT IT IS A CONTINUATION OF THINGS THAT BEGAN UNDER THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION, AND IN MANY WAYS THE ROADMAP FOR PROJECT 2025 AND THE WAY YOU WEAPONIZE THE GOVERNMENT TO TARGET PEOPLE BEGAN DURING THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WITH THE FOCUS ON TRANS PEOPLE, ALL THEY HAVE DONE WITH PROJECT 2025 IS TO EXPAND THE TEMPERATURE TO A MUCH LARGER GROUP OF PEOPLE. ONE OTHER THING I WANT TO SAY THAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT IS YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND PROJECT 2025 UNLESS YOU UNDERSTAND THE WAY IN WHICH ANTI-TRANS IDEOLOGY IS A MOTIVATION FOR THE PROJECT IN AND OF ITSELF. IT IS IN THE FORWARD THE VERY FIRST BULLET IS ONE THAT SAYS THAT THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO PROTECT CHILDREN AND TO PROTECT THE IDEA OF THE AMERICAN FAMILY, AND WHEN THAT IS EXPLAINED ON THE NEXT PAGE IT IS FULL OF ANTI-TRANS RHETORIC. SO THE VERY FIRST BULLET OF THE VERY FIRST PAGE OF PROJECT 2025 IS ANTI-TRANS. YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND THE REST OF UNLESS YOU GRASP THAT. >> LET'S GO BACK TO THE BRIEF THAT CONSERVATIVES FILED. WERE YOU SURPRISED THEY WOULD TAKE A POSITION THAT'S AT ODDS WITH TRUMP? >> WELL, I THINK THIS IS A POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT, BUT IT'S NOT A BALLOON DROP. THE ENTIRE WAY WE GOT HERE WAS BECAUSE OF THIS DECADES-LONG PROJECT WE DETAILED THAT FOCUSES ON MOVING THE IDEA OF TRANS PEOPLE AS A POLITICAL PROJECT BY THE REPUBLICAN PARTY INTO THE HEART OF AMERICAN POLITICAL DISCOURSE. SUCH THAT I JUST CHECKED BEFORE, 652 ANTI-TRANS LAWS INTRODUCED THIS YEAR, AND ANTI-TRANS PLANK IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY PLATFORM, I THINK IT'S NUMBER 17. SO WE HAVE TO LOOK AT THE FACT THIS IS ESSENTIALLY AN ANTI- TRANS PARTY, A PILLAR OF THE PARTY. WHAT WE HAVE SEEN IN THE CANDIDACY FOR EXAMPLE OF NIKKI HALEY IS THERE IS A SUBSTANTIAL NUMBER OF DISSIDENTS IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, PERHAPS AS MUCH AS 20%. ASKED OF THEM WILL GO HOME, BUT I THINK ONE OF THE THINGS WE WANT TO KEEP IN MIND IS THAT THERE IS A SUBSTANTIAL NUMBER OF REPUBLICANS THAT ARE NOT ON BOARD WITH THE OVERALL AGENDA. IT'S NOT A SURPRISE THAT WOULD FIND EXPRESSION IN THIS WAY IN ACCORDANCE WITH MANY LIBERTARIAN IDEAS. BUT IT