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[–]MarkTwainiac 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Here's the email I just sent:

Dear Senator Collins,

Thank you for withdrawing your sponsorship of the misnomered "Equality Act."

I am in support of legislation that will make it illegal to discriminate against people based on sexual orientation and the extent to which any of us does, or does not, conform to regressive sex stereotypes.

However, as a lifelong women's rights advocate, I am against any legislation that will put a person's claimed "gender identity" on par with characteristics such as race and sex - and which will erode the rights of girls and women that previous generations fought hard for.

I am also against enshrining "gender identity" in law because of the very real harms that gender ideology and "trans medicine" have caused, and are causing, to children and young people. Many of the kids, teenagers and young adults called "trans" today are extremely vulnerable because they are struggling with issues such as trauma, including child sex abuse and bereavement, various family problems, religious abuse, rigid sex stereotyping, homophobia, bullying, peer pressure, fear of not fitting in, "cancel culture" and conditions that have always made many people feel "different," lonely and desperate such as autism, depression and anxiety.

Moreover, many of the young people who are being "transitioned" today are same-sex attracted - and for them, "identifying as" the opposite sex is effectively a way of trying to "trans away the gay" (and to trans away the bi too). As anyone who looks into the matter knows, gender ideology is deeply homophobic - which is another reason I oppose it.

Like you, I grew up before Title IX. During the years-long Title IX implementation period, I attended a previously all-male US college/uni and helped to build women's scholastic sports there from scratch. I never thought a day would come when girls and women would be having to fight for our right to have our own sports (and ancillary facilities like locker rooms) all over again. Yet that's where we are.

In the state where I currently live, the most lauded track athletes in HS girls' interscholastic sprints are two males - and they've been permitted to participate in girls sports, and to trounce all the female runners they competed against, merely on the basis of their claimed "gender identities" without doing a single thing to lower their testosterone one bit. They were not even required to pretend to reduce any of the physical athletic advantages they enjoy as a result of having healthy, strapping male bodies in the prime of post-pubescent male youth.

But it's not just girls and women's sports that under threat. Girls and women are also losing our right to privacy, dignity, safety and peace of mind in a variety of settings ranging from fitting, changing and locker rooms to prisons, rape crisis centers, shelters for those who are homeless and/or fleeing domestic violence, and in medical settings including in nursing homes. Gender ideologues say girls and women should not have the right to say no to the presence of male people ever in any situation, or ever to escape being subjected to the "male gaze."

Gender identity ideologues even say that disabled and elderly women who are dependent on home health care workers and helpers are bigoted for insisting that our carers and helpers be female - and that it's "transphobic" for us not to permit cross-dressing males working as aides into our homes, just as it's "transphobic" for girls and women in hospitals and nursing homes not to let males who "identify as" the opposite sex provide us with intimate care.

I am very knowledgable about the conflict between the rights of girls and women and the new "rights" being demanded by boys and men who, for whatever reason, wish they were the opposite sex and claim they are girls/women. I would be very happy to share insights, information and documented sources on these matters with you or your office.

Again, thank you for following your conscience on this matter. That seems to be something you've done quite a few times in your career. I disagree with a lot the positions you've taken over the years, but I have always admired you for your ability to go against the grain and stand your ground. Brava to you for that.

And best wishes.

[–]our_team_is_winning 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Here is what I wrote just now: Thank you for withdrawing your sponsorship of the so-called Equality Act, an act which would prioritize men's sexual fetishes and strip women of our sex-based rights. Women's sex-based rights must remain non-negotiable. To allow a man's sexual fetish to strip us of legal recognition of our biology is a crime against humanity. Please vote NO on this insane bill that HURTS women.

The link to contact her by email is: https://www.collins.senate.gov/contact

[–]panorama 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Wouldn't hurt to remind her how untrustworthy and fickle the TQ+ organizations are, since the last election those same organizations switched on her and backed her opponent! ;)