'Under His Wings': Leaked Emails Reveal an Anti-Trans 'Holy War, reads like Handmaids tale"

[Demovictory9]

https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kxpky/leaked-emails-reveal-an-anti-trans-holy-war

‘Under His Wings’: Leaked Emails Reveal an Anti-Trans ‘Holy War’

Leaked emails from anti-trans lobbyists and state lawmakers read, at times, like scripts from “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

“Under His wings,” one lobbyist wrote in an email. “The Devil never sleeps,” another person sent in an email chain about the distinction between gender and sex. “I pray for the 2nd coming more and more.”

These missives are part of a trove of leaked emails between South Dakota GOP Rep. Fred Deutsch, anti-trans lobbyists, and other state lawmakers about anti-trans policies that are filled with language so deeply religious that, at times, the communications read like scripts from The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s the language, one expert told VICE News, of Christian nationalists who believe they’re engaging in a holy war.

The repeated notes about “blessings” and “prayers,” as well as sign-offs like “God bless you” and “Under His wings,” proliferate throughout the emails.

Explicit references to warfare pop up in the emails a few times: “I prayed for you and the others supporting the bill today. Asked the Lord to put all of you in the Armor of God for this fight,” wrote Elisa Rae Shupe, a trans woman, in an email. Shupe, at the time, had detransitioned and was an anti-trans advocate. She’s since re-transitioned, renounced her ties to Christianity, and shared the emails with journalists. “I fell prey to the belief that if I did what they suggested that I would be cured of my gender dysphoria… I was encouraged to confess my sins, ask for forgiveness by Jesus, and turn my plight over to the Lord Jesus Christ. I was also asked to accept that my transgender status was a sexually motivated sin and to cure myself by attending a religious 12-step program, which I did for approximately a year,” Shupe told VICE News.

[ananda]

1. The evil is strong in those xtians.

Ugghh

[LonePirate]

2. We need to start treating religious extremism as a mental health disorder.

Religious belief, in general in my opinion, is pure quackery but the public is not ready to step into that bridge yet.

[Celerity]

3. +100000

[Runningdawg]

6. Why should Christians be treated differently than other terrorists? Throw away the key.

[MiHale]

7. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[ExtremelyWokeMatt]

13. Please. Also sooner rather than later

There are a lot of people in bizarro situations, I’m not sure the public is actually against it so much as being held hostage by religious lobbyists, saboteurs, and propagandists

[Initech]

14. I know, right?

The people who think they're running for office because "god said so", the people calling themselves "prophets", and the people who think they are "protecting kids" obviously have a screw loose or two, and should probably be kept as far away from kids as possible.

[Runningdawg]

5. The subject of dozens of sermons in OK alone this weekend.

There IS a crusade coming. Laugh if you want, you won't be by the end. They have been planning this for over 50 years.

[icymist]

8. Wouldn't it be great if these people spent such time and energy addressing

homelessness or helping the mentally ill in this country? Instead they focus on a vulnerable minorities that they personally hate while worshipping money.

[Probatim]

17. You mean live an exemplary life following Jesus' messages?

[icymist]

18. Or just behave like a fucking empathetic human.

You know, peace, love, and understanding. Gee, just like all that other hippy bullshit.

[Probatim]

19. There's that too - but they're constantly shoving jeebus in our faces while

behaving such that Jesus would slap the shit out of them.

[LeftinOH]

9. Evangelicals have remade the GOP in their narrow image - and it's going to blow back

on them over the coming years. Younger people are not going to put up with this crap. There will still be pockets of the country run by fundie freaks, but what is actually "coming" for the god-warriors is: Irrelevance.

[Initech]

10. The Christian right are truly a bunch of sick fucks.

[chowder66]

15. +1000

[ExtremelyWokeMatt]

11. Encouraged or coerced?

There’s a difference and plenty of room to interpret ‘encouragement’

[Ray Bruns]

12. "I pray for the 2nd coming more and more."

It’s been two thousand years. I wouldn’t be holding my breath if I was you.

[Sky Jewels]

20. Aaaany day now

̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶G̶r̶e̶a̶t̶ ̶P̶u̶m̶p̶k̶i̶n̶ Jesus is gonna come back — you’ll see!

[C_U_L8R]

16. They're in for a hell of a surprise.

There’s no shortage of these sanctimonious shitheads to fuel eternal fires of damnation. Enjoy the rotisserie, magats.