As I keep saying, the Republicans’ supposed opposition to groomers has always been a new way to crack down on gays. Case in point, Jenna Ellis — the Trump lawyer censured for false statements during the effort to overturn the 2020 election — has come out in favor of Uganda imposing stringent anti-gay penalties.
Those include sending convicted homosexuals for “rehabilitation,” up to seven years for property owners whose premises are used for same-sex acts; a three year sentence if you’re under 18 and have gay sex; up to “20 years” for promoting homosexuality (why yes, that is a rather vague phrasing. How convenient); and life imprisonment for adults who have gay sex.
Sen. Ted Cruz has condemned the law, one of the few times I can say Good Job Senator to him. Ellis then played the groomer card, insisting the law’s penalties target adults committing same-sex rape against children. Given her ineptness as a lawyer, it’s possible she’s ignorant, more likely she’s lying. Particularly given her multiple anti-gay statements (at the link).
As Roy Edroso says, the right wing is rapidly sliding from We Hate Trans People and We Hate Drag Queens back to the old reliable We Hate Gays. Because they do. Even if they pretend otherwise. Pretending it’s all about protecting children from “trans ideology” made a useful mask but apparently it’s not one they could keep over their face for long.
I don’t doubt Ellis is sincerely happy at the thought of Uganda killing or imprisoning gays, and not because she cares about children. Some conservatives are. However I think she’s also a good example of right-wing grift and how it works. Ellis signing off on Trump’s I Won bullshit has probably hurt her legal career so now she’s reinventing herself as a talk-radio pundit. Making that profitable requires telling her right-wing audience what they want to hear; if Trump Was Robbed isn’t enough, gays are groomers will keep her in the black. It’s similar to the way gay-hating attorney Matt Staver jumped to anti-vax propaganda when there was money in it, now he’s back to peddling homophobia.
In an Ellis tweet from last week, she declares she will not back down or recant her faith “if they try to cancel Christianity.” It’s another pose beloved by conservatives, claiming the mantle of martyrdom when there’s no chance of actually being martyred.
As Fred Clark says, “You can create that trust while being repeatedly, demonstrably wrong about everything. All you need to do is affirm and nurture a sense of free-floating grievance, then pass the offering plate … They’ll take it from there, and the only lies you’ll ever have to tell them are the lies they were already telling themselves.”
