Political Memes

Ramaswamy views the LGBTQ community as a cult and trans identity as a mental illness. He has called for prohibiting gender affirming care to minors. He says: "Ohio has barred men from competing with women in women’s sports, and the Supreme Court has now held that it’s constitutional." He misgenders every trans person he mentions, and makes no effort to hide his disgust.

With Acton, the only potentially offensive thing I have found is one, singular statement, where she says she does not support "boys playing in girls' sports".

There is a medical condition called "aphasia", where a speaker mentally reaches for a word, and grabs the wrong one. People with the condition use words that don't match their intended meaning. As a parent of a trans kid, I have struggled to make my vocabulary match my intended meaning. Knowing and supporting my child fully, my mind still occasionally reaches for their dead name and gender when I go looking for the right word. Not with any malice, not with any disapproval or disappointment. Just the words I had been using subconsciously for their entire life have become the wrong words, and sometimes my conscious isn't quick enough with the ones carrying my intended meaning.

I have every reason believe Ramaswamy's use of "men" is an intentional slur. The man's entire worldview revolves around the idea of denigrating and insulting LGBTQ in general and trans in particular. He takes great pride in expressing his hatefulness and bigotry at every opportunity.

I think Acton's use of the word "boys" is more comparable to aphasia. Her (uneducated) concern seems to be ensuring fairness in girls sports. She may not be an overt ally, but she's done very little to make me think she might be an enemy.

Frankly, the supposed anti-trans sentiment arising from this one statement seems more like GOP propaganda than legitimate concern.