You have to marvel at the noticeable difference in content and tone that Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition adopts depending upon her audience.
Take, for instance, this op-ed she has in Roll Call opposing ENDA:
Among other things, ENDA will make “gender identity” a protected minority, and states, local governments and businesses with more than 15 employees will be forced to recognize it as such.
Most importantly, every public school in America will not be able to discriminate in hiring transgender teachers, and it will be illegal to reassign them from the classroom.
Written by Chai Feldblum, an Obama recess appointee to the body that will enforce ENDA, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the law will allow for all kinds of unwanted, though perhaps not unintended, consequences. Under ENDA, state and local governments will be forced to recognize gender identity as a protected minority status. Section 3 of the bill defines the status as “the gender-related identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics or an individual, with or without regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth.” Cross-dressers and those who have had surgical operations to alter their gender would then share the same protections as minorities. Expanding the scope of traditionally protected minorities to these groups will engender all sorts of problems.
By TVC’s standards, this language is downright reasonable – I mean, there is not even one mention of “she-males” or even any sort of attack on transgendered women as a “surgically mutilated man who is pretending to be a woman and pushing a political agenda.”
Now, compare that to this letter [PDF] TVC sent opposing Marisa Demeo’s nomination to the DC Superior Court:
Marisa Demeo is far out of the mainstream in her beliefs, statements and activism. Her role as an activist with the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund is troublesome to say the least.
…
As an open, radical lesbian, Demeo has openly condemned the effort to amend our Constitution to protect marriage as a one-man, one-woman union. Demeo supports gay marriage, claiming it is a constitutional right. She also claims that LGBT individuals are equal to racial minorities and can claim protection as minorities under our civil rights laws … Demeo’s views are out of step with the beliefs of most Americans on the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman.
As a DC Superior Court Judge, Demeo would be in a key position to undermine our national
security and destroy traditional marriage through her edicts … Demeo’s radical lesbianism, anti-marriage, anti-national security views are dangerous to our nation.
In this case, the letter was sent to Senators so Lafferty didn’t have to worry too much about appearing to be offensively hostile to gays to a general audience, so the tone was more in line with what one would expect from her regarding fearmongering about how Demeo’s “radical lesbianism” is a threat to our national security.
Finally, compare all of that to what Lafferty is like when she’s speaking to a right-wing audience and doesn’t have to worry about presenting herself as reasonable:
What are those “isms” and “philias”? You can be aroused by stumps of amputees. And we brought that up during the hate crimes thing because what if you have an employee working at the VA and someone has just come back from Iraq and they have this orientation. You can’t fire them. What about the family that’s upset that they’ve been aroused by their family member? It’s disgusting. And it’s tragic for the victim.
Um, men that want to rub their bodies up and down women. That’s on the list, that might become a protected class.
Fecal matter. Their involvement with fecal matter. Or urine. Transvestism. The list goes on, I’m not naming all of them. Children. Animals. And so we really need to draw a line in the sand.
This is the real Lafferty and the root of her real opposition to ENDA … and for some reason, Roll Call thought it made sense to give her op-ed space to try and present it in a more reasonable-sounding manner.
