They’re minors and he used their pictures without their parents’ permission, seemingly calling them “boys in girls’ sports.”
Republican Ted Cruz’s desperate search for trans targets in a hateful series of anti-trans attack ads directed at his Democratic opponent Colin Allred has landed the two-term Texas senator in hot water with the parents of two cisgender girls and their high school.
The teens appear in at least two fear-mongering ads attacking both the trans community and Allred, picturing them alongside former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and CeCé Telfer, a Jamaican-born sprinter and the first out trans woman to win an NCAA title.
I think this is a good example that free speech is not free consequences. The question is who carries the consequences. My guess is the two girls that may get mobbed at least until they graduate, maybe even longer.
Btw, I am pro free-speech, I just find it kind of sad that more often than not the consequences of free speech from people like Ted Cruz hit the people he’s speaking about.
Free speech doesn’t mean irresponsible speech. I’m for free speech as well. Except I expect to be held accountable over what I say, and so do others. And I accept that I give space to speech I disagree with.
The irony is that those who whine about needing free speech the most also hate to be held accountable to what they say and they hate it when others disagree with them. Both of which are actually violating the principles of free speech.
So how about we all accept that free speech is an important right to uphold and protect as well as not be a bunch of dicks about it 😎
Right. As in all cases involving freedom and liberty, my freedom to swing my arms ends where your face begins. This is hurting someone.
Even if it weren’t such a rediculously politically charged topic, these girls are likely to now have peers who see Ted Cruz’s statement. They’ll have to deal with some of those peers making comments, and mocking them for being “masculine.” We have countless cases of bullying getting out of control and leading to serious psychological and physical harm, and now we have grown-ass men in positions of political power enabling this kind of behaviour to do what? Weaponize gender issues and spread hatred along political lines?
Fuck Ted Cruz, and fuck anyone who thinks a grown-ass man commenting on the gender of and posting images of young girls should be protected under “freedom of speech”. This is abuse of power and child abuse. You wanna save the children, Republicans? Start with saving them from your leadership.
I’m for free speech but not freeze peach, this is harassment and…slander I think.
Not an ounce of athleticism in Ted Cruz’s body.
Which isn’t a disqualifier for his position. But since it’s Ted fucking Cruz we’re talking about, it’s fair game. He might be the only person on the planet who looks less intimidating with a beard.
Maybe he should stay in his fucking lane. Hope you Texans can help him figure that out in ten days.
This is why we don’t want idiots like Ted Cruz in charge of what defining what gender your child is
This is why we don’t want idiots like Ted Cruz in charge. FTFY
This is why we don’t want Ted Cruz.
We don’t want Ted Cruz.
Serious question to them: what about girls in boys’ x, y, z?
No no no. Girls in kitchen
Twentieth post on lemmy, hundredth article. No charges for ted.
Just for clarity’s sake, if you watch the video, they seem pretty clearly represented as the “girls” being invaded by the “boys” ruining their sport.
“Boys in girls’ bathrooms,” shows picture of women’s restroom, “boys in girls’ sports,” shows picture of girl athletes, one of them making a kind of “hmmm” face.
It’s pretty ugly no matter how you slice it, but the title of the article seems to be a misinterpretation of how the image was used.
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Fucking bigot
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So the one on the right in the picture is actually Jackie Haffner, the one who originally complained to Central Oregon Daily about Ada Gallagher competing as a girl in the Sherwood Need For Speed Classic. Even though they were in different disciplines. Ada was running while Jackie was jumping.
Here is Jackie wearing that same piece of clothing and hairstyle of the picture but at a different meet, just for proof that it’s really her in the picture: https://youtu.be/wLFJRcMVctY?t=35
The one in the left of the picture is Saskia Dorf, see here: https://concordia-university-river-forest-illinois.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=14466&do=videos&video_id=389703
Certainly neither is Ada. Ada is the winner in heat 1 of the 200m sprint, there is a picture of their photo finish available here: https://live.athletictiming.net/meets/33717/events/individual/1224515
I think it’s most likely that the Cruz campaign fucked up, didn’t do their research and assumed Saskia was trans just because she’s tall and sporty. The other option is that they wanted to depict the poor uncomfortable girls who have to compete against a trans girl, except they didn’t since they weren’t on the track that day.
