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The Legislature hasn’t changed so the same meanness is back. It’s actually worse. Powerful lawmakers have expanded their attack on powerless kids by working to make life easier for Idaho’s most reviled bullies–those who simply attack kids because they can.

This year’s attack on transgender kids comes by trying to change the words in Idaho code regarding “sex” and “gender” status. These anti-kid politicians use this perverse platform to stoke a base that is fueled with disinformation and inflamed with fear.  With the failure of their attacks on our kids in the courts, which have routinely upheld trans kids’ rights of due process, equal protection, and community status, now our GOP colleagues are wasting more time and energy trying to define identity.  I have an idea, how about they just leave it be and let our kids live without bullying and constant attacks by our government.

As a parent, and a friend of transgender kids, I won’t just stand by and watch this bullying. Real lives are at stake. Real consequences.

My daughter came out at age 11.  I found out through her counselor, who was required by law to disclose to me that my daughter was self-harming and suicidal.  She was suicidal because the person she saw in the mirror, the person she felt like inside, was not the identity that society had placed upon her.

Every time one of these disgraceful bills gets a hearing, the souls of the most vulnerable group of people in Idaho, our transgender youth, take a beating.

I know a mother who will never again hug her child again because he didn’t feel comfortable in his own skin, and he took his own life. 

 Shouldn’t our laws try to save kids’ lives? At least, do no harm? 

Instead of showing compassion, this same GOP Legislature is entertaining proposals that make it harder to prosecute domestic terrorists, allowing more guns in schools, and allowing lawsuits against librarians. I believe it’s no coincidence that hate groups such as these frequently attack LGBTQia community members.

As Idaho Governor, I won’t let the Legislature bully kids. I will stand up to hate groups.  And I will make sure that one message is received loud and clear, the government must stay out of our doctor’s offices, our bathrooms, our libraries, and our bedrooms. For the party of alleged “small government”, Idaho’s present GOP, the Governor included, sure wants to regulate and govern everything we do. That’s why a vote for me will be a vote for your fundamental freedoms.

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This isn’t fearmongering. It’s happening now, in real-time. Just this month, an Ohio woman had her fate in the hands of a grand jury. The 34-year-old was charged with a felony after she miscarried a 22-week-old, unviable fetus in her home.

This happens, a miscarriage. It happens often. But we’ve lived in a society that, generally, has had the decency to stay out of it. We’ve agreed that this was a woman’s private matter. No decent person would consider adding pain to what may already be a traumatic situation.

Not now. Not in Idaho. Not anymore.

Idaho Republican Chair Dorothy Moon, and like-minded tyrants, are waging a perverse war on American democracy. Among the early casualties is basic decency. Make no mistake, these people are winning battle after battle in Idaho. And their success has to do with their opposition’s weakness. That opposition should be Idaho Gov. Brad Little. Unfortunately,  Moon and her unelected and unlikeable minions scare the Governor out of his boots.

For years, I have traveled Idaho and met folks in dozens of towns and cities. When they tell me what they want from their leaders, almost everyone demands a government that balances staying out of our private lives with providing vital services like roads, bridges, schools, and internet connectivity.
No one asks for politicians to attack women and families. 

No one asks for their Government to meddle in medical decisions. 

No one asks for less freedom and more politics. 

No one asks for innovative ways to make laws crueler. 

No one asks for Dorothy Moon to be a shadow governor.

Clearly, there’s a weird, mean group of anti-life people who Moon and her compatriots conspire with. Ever since they captured the Idaho GOP Party, Gov. Little barely fusses when they attack liberty after liberty.

So here we are. We have a Legislature poised to make murderers of women who dare declare sovereignty over their own bodies. We have unlikeable, unkind, and unpopular politicians who have made Idaho a dangerous place for women. If they win, Idaho will be more dangerous tomorrow.

Today, Moon and her allies are finding success in their crusade against women.

I intend to change that when I am elected Governor. A vote for me is a vote against tyranny. A vote for me is a vote for the freedom that we all want and we all deserve.

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