澳彩开奖

In the bigger scheme of things, Joseph Backholm sees the fight over bathrooms and transgender rights as something of a short-term battle in what he calls a 鈥渨ar鈥� against LGBT rights鈥攂ut, he predicts, it will prove to be the decisive one.

鈥淪ame-sex marriage is temporary,鈥� he recently told participants in a 鈥淕ender Revolution鈥� seminar in Tacoma, Washington. 鈥淚t cannot endure because it鈥檚 not true. Now, same-sex marriage might survive America, but it won鈥檛 survive.鈥�

He continued: 鈥淭here is no chance that, 300 years from now, we鈥檒l look back and man will realize gender doesn鈥檛 matter. That鈥檚 not because we鈥檙e smarter. Eventually humanity will discover that is a broken model, it doesn鈥檛 work. It is going to go away.鈥�

The ostensible purpose of the seminars鈥攐rganized by the , founded and overseen , who lives in suburban Lynnwood鈥攚as to discuss the so-called 鈥済ender revolution.鈥� Most of the 90-minute talk given by Backholm in the seminars, held in locations around Washington state, was devoted to attacking the transgender movement by ridiculing claims and assertions about gender identity common among people who choose to identify with a gender other than that which they are born with.

Joseph Backholm frequently appears on regional news programs and reports to discuss the anti-LGBT and anti-abortion causes his Family Policy Institute of Washington promotes.

The larger purpose of the seminars, however, became clear as the talk wound on and Backholm began describing the 鈥渃ultural鈥� part of how people could聽combat the 鈥済ender revolution鈥濃�攏amely, to encourage participants to engage in the political battle over gender by supporting and helping to promote the FPIW鈥檚 new anti-transgender 鈥渂athroom bill,鈥� .

The new version goes beyond similar legislation in other states. For example, it provides for civil penalties against school districts that聽allow minors to be exposed to transgender persons.

This is not FPIW鈥檚 first go-round with a 鈥渂athroom bill.鈥� It attempted to pass an earlier version of the same legislation, dubbed Initiative 1515, in 2016 during the general election. The measure, however, was unable to gather enough signatures to make it onto the ballot.

Indeed, the organization has a long history of sponsoring anti-LGBT legislation and policies. It also has a long track record of failure when it comes to persuading voters.

Founded in 2008 by Backholm, the group is the only organization listed by the anti-LGBT hate group Family Research Council as its affiliated Backholm and his group are as 鈥渁lliance鈥� members for another anti-LGBT hate group, the Alliance Defending Freedom, which describes how Backholm 鈥渋s drawing on all of his [ADF] resources and contacts to generate a strong response to the legislature鈥檚 new marriage law.鈥�

• In 2009, Backholm and his group helped lead the charge against same-sex 鈥渄omestic partnerships,鈥� which were then legal in Washington. The FPIW鈥檚 initiative to outlaw the status failed,
• After the Washington Legislature voted in 2012 to legalize same-sex marriage, Backholm鈥檚 spinoff organization Preserve Marriage Washington campaign to have the law overturned. Instead, by a similar 54% - 46% margin.
• In 2016, FPIW for Initiative 1551, a 鈥渂athroom bill鈥� which it titled 鈥淛ust Want Privacy.鈥� That one didn鈥檛 even make it onto the ballot.

Backholm鈥檚 FPIW has also led the charge on a number of religious-right fronts in the state, including:

• Support for anti-abortion legislation to define life as beginning at conception.
• Campaigning to require parental consent for anyone under 18 seeking an abortion. There were no exceptions for rape or incest in the legislation, and Backholm dismissed claims that teens鈥� lives could be put at risk by the requirement.
• Opposition to legislation expanding access to birth control for poor women; FPIW claimed that access to contraception was already adequate.
• Lobbying against a telemedicine bill, providing for health care services delivered through video and interactive audio. FPIW claimed it would allow "webcam abortions." FPIW also lobbied against a bill requiring insurance companies that cover maternity care to also cover abortions.
• Campaigning in support of a bill about "informed decision making" for Washington state's Death with Dignity Act, which permits people to choose doctor-assisted suicide. The FPIW-supported bill would have required doctors, as with anti-abortion 鈥渋nformed consent鈥� laws, to inform patients about "feasible alternatives" before they could access drugs for assisted suicide.

Backholm of outrageous and bigoted remarks in support of his agenda as well. He contends that gay relations in general are in violation of 鈥渘atural and moral laws鈥�: "The idea that all sex is good sex, so long as it involves adults, will not survive because it cannot survive,鈥� he writes at 鈥淭he natural and moral laws of the universe are not subject to court ruling or UN resolution. While many within the tolerance movement will go to the grave convinced of the justness of their cause, history will inevitably see it differently.鈥�

Arguing against same-sex marriage, Backholm to the medieval practice of bloodletting:

Redefining marriage in this way, saying that there is no difference between men and women, that it鈥檚 not important for children to have both a mother and a father, that鈥檚 not just bad policy, it鈥檚 wrong in the eternal sense. So because it鈥檚 untrue, it will ultimately be proven as untrue and we will come around to recognize the error of our ways. We used to believe in bloodletting as good medical practice, culture has embraced a lot of things temporarily until they realized it鈥檚 based on things that are not true. This is one of those, it has to be temporary, not just because I want it to be temporary, but because it鈥檚 untrue in the eternal sense.

While organizing for Initiative 1515 in 2016, to an audience he was preparing for signature gathering: 鈥淔or the gentlemen, what I would encourage you to do, if you want to be so bold and to make the point, take your petition and stand outside the women's restroom at the mall, and if any of the women don't want to sign it, just go ahead and follow 'em on in,鈥� he said, to laughter. 鈥淢aybe this will be a better time to sign our little petition.鈥�

Last year, FPIW was to prevent the release of names of people from the University of Washington who had become embroiled in the widely disproven claims about the health-care organization鈥檚 purported sale of fetal tissue. FPIW had worked to support the claims of the Center for Medical Progress and its leader, David Daleiden, concocted through spuriously edited video recordings, that fetal tissue sales were being promoted by PP; Daleiden and one of his cohorts is in California for conspiracy to invade privacy.

For now, Backholm鈥檚 focus is entirely about passing I-1552, dubbed once again the initiative, though the rhetoric is once again charged and bigoted. While campaigning for the bill in 2016, Backholm compared trans people to the story of "The Emperor's New Clothes."

"I once thought that story was useful as an illustration but patently absurd," . "No parade would gather to celebrate the new clothes of a naked emperor鈥攗ntil Bruce Jenner. And we now have a nation celebrating the fiction that a man is now a woman."

The FPIW's "Gender Revolution" seminars were held in eight locations around the state, including Bothell, Bellingham, Sequim, Spokane聽and Pasco.聽The Tacoma seminar featured a discursion on a component of FPIW鈥檚 campaign against transgender acceptance in the state鈥檚 schools, attacking the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction over new learning standardssaying that kindergarten students should "understand there are many ways to express gender," third graders should learn that "gender roles can vary considerably" and "understand [the] importance of treating others with respect regarding gender identity," and fourth graders will learn the definition of sexual orientation.

As Backholm made clear, the FPIW believes that this constitutes an attack on conservative students: "It is frightening to think that students who hold traditional beliefs about gender and sexual identity may have to choose between accepting politically correct talking points or failing assignments and being ostracized by school administrators."

FPIW promoted the seminars with provocative taglines: 鈥淲e celebrate 鈥榃omen鈥檚 Day鈥�, but no one can define what a woman鈥攐r a man鈥攁ctually is anymore鈥� and 鈥淸W]hy is my child鈥檚 school working so hard to convince them there are 56 genders and you can be any gender you want?鈥�

During the seminar, Backholm suggested a of the progression of LGBT rights to feature transgender concerns. He described how, once same-sex marriage became the law of the land with the Supreme Court鈥檚 , LGBT organizers immediately began moving toward 鈥渃omprehensive federal LGBT non-discrimination protections,鈥� and the cause of transgender rights became a central player in their agenda. 鈥淭hey needed a new victim class,鈥� Backholm said.

All this, he argued, was simply the product of a long moral slide: 鈥淭he thing that binds this all together is the desire to create an environment in which there are no rules,鈥� he told the audiuence.

Backholm also proffered his views on the nature of transgender identification, claiming that LGBT people have simply slapped a trendy new label on something mundane: 鈥淎ll of this begins to make sense when you realize that when they use the word gender, what they really mean is personality,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he discussion about gender is really a conversation about personality.鈥�

He urged seminar-goers to get involved on three levels鈥攊nterpersonally, at their churches, and politically. He described the churches as being 鈥渁t war, for sure,鈥� and urged everyone at the seminar to help organize support for the drive to gather signatures for I-1552.

鈥淥ur kids are just flat-out being lied to, about stuff that鈥檚 going to destroy their mind, spirit, soul and body,鈥� he warned. 鈥淲e should be a place equipped to patch that up when it happens, but we should also be a place that鈥檚 involved on the front end of that, so that we can prevent the harm from happening in the first place.鈥�

The larger enemy, as Backholm acknowledged, was the 鈥淟GBT agenda,鈥� but added: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not our primary objective right now. There鈥檚 hotter irons in the fire. It鈥檚 not the root, it鈥檚 the fruit of the tree.鈥�