John,
I’m mad as hell right now, and I think you should be too.
Before I explain why I’m so pissed off, I guess I should introduce myself – I’m Kirsten Heffron, Director of Digital Strategy for No Dem Left Behind (that means I run our e-mail program, our ad buys, and our social media accounts). I’m also a recovering ex-Republican, the proud mother of a gay son, and proud godmother to a non-binary child.
Which leads me to why I’m so angry today, and why I’m asking for your help: I am OUTRAGED by my former party’s HATEFUL attacks on LGBTQIA+ children and their families in Florida and Texas … and coming soon to a state legislature or Congress near you.
Look, I was raised in a Republican household and worked for the party the first half of my career, but I don’t even recognize today’s GOP … or should I say GQP?
The conservative values I was raised with said “live and let live.” The folks who raised me used to believe more than anything else that the government should stay out of people’s lives.
Now, they’re cheering from the sidelines as Ron DeSantis takes away students’ and teachers’ freedom of expression and Greg Abbott forbids parents from supporting their trans kids … and hoping one or both of these goblins run for President!
It’s absolutely heartbreaking … and sickening.
A steady diet of Donald Trump’s speeches, FOX News/OAN, right-wing radio, and online disinformation has transformed far too many formerly mainstream conservatives into crazed conspiracy theorists who truly believe our public schools have become indoctrination centers where Communists are trying to destroy America by turning its kids gay, transgender, and anti-white.
That’s ridiculous, of course – not just for the obvious reasons, but because I’ve seen our local school budget, and they barely have the resources to buy math books or ink for the copy machine, let alone plan and execute some grand social-engineering scheme.
Yes, these fantasies are totally absurd … but a lot of folks have been brainwashed to believe them, and they’re terrified and furious.
That’s why you see politicians like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott pushing this extreme legislation, and their GQP allies falling all over themselves not just to support it, but to add even more harmful amendments, like the Republican lawmaker in Florida who tried to change the “Don’t Say Gay” bill to “Don’t Say Gay … Unless it’s to ‘Out’ Gay Children to Their Abusive Parents.”
These presidential-wannabes know who’s motivated enough to make big, early-bird donations to their campaigns, attend their rallies, and show up for the primaries, and it’s not sane, mainstream Republicans (if there are even any of those left).
No, the folks who decide Republican primaries are the ones who are fired up – and what better way to fire people up than feeding them a steady diet of fear, outrage, and hate?
This is why we have to fight like hell to expose and counter disinformation wherever we find it, because disinformation works, and it works well.
But it’s also why we must find it within ourselves to be just as fired up, just as motivated as the other side.
You and I may not have hate to motivate us, but I can tell you right now, as the mother of a gay son, as a woman, as an ally – I do have outrage and fear – outrage at what my former colleagues have become and what they’re doing to our country … and fear that come the midterms, they’ll get the votes they need to take complete control.
So, I’m asking you to help me stop them, before it’s too late. Please, chip in any amount today to help No Dem Left Behind fight to protect and expand our Democratic majority, before the horrors about to be unleashed on families in Florida and Texas by these Republican wannabe dictators become the horrors facing every American.
For the sake of my son, my godchild, and other kids like them who just want to be free to live as their authentic selves and love who they want to love …
For the sake of the families who cherish them …
For the sake of whoever the GQP is going to target next as they fight to “out-Trump” each other:
Please contribute whatever you can, even if it’s just a few dollars. We’re going to need every penny we can get to win this fight.
Thanks so much for your support.
--Kirsten from No Dem Left Behind
