Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on violence against transgender persons:

March 31 is “Trans Day of Visibility,” a day that is supposed to “raise awareness about transgender people,” while also “drawing attention to the poverty, discrimination, and violence the community faces.”

Regarding the violence, Rep. Alexander Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) said this week that “predatory cisgender” people are attacking transgender persons. That is a lie.

The dirty little secret is that trans people are the ones victimizing each other. It is not normal people (the so-called cisgender people—those of us who are comfortable with our father-determined sex) who are the ones attacking trans people. They are doing it to each other.

Psycom Pro is a psychiatry resource for clinicians, and last year it concluded that “More than half of transgender individuals experience partner violence or gender identity abuse.”

In 2020, seven experts published a study in the American Journal of Public Health on “Intimate Partner Violence in Transgender Populations; Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Prevalence and Correlates.” They concluded that “Transgender individuals experience a dramatically higher prevalence of IPV [intimate partner violence] victimization compared with cisgender individuals, regardless of sex assigned at birth.”

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence reviewed the literature on domestic violence in the LGBT community and found that “43.8% of lesbian women and 61.1% of bisexual women have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime, as opposed to 35% of cisgender women.” It also found that “Transgender individuals may suffer from an even greater burden of intimate partner violence than gay or lesbian individuals.”

The Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA Law, reviewed a number of studies on this subject. One of them found that “31.1% of transgender people and 20.4% of cisgender people had ever experienced IPV or dating violence.” It also said that three studies concluded that the lifetime intimate partner sexual violence prevalence among transgender people ranged from “25.0% to 47.0%.”

Even in sympathetic pop culture magazines, such as Portland Monthly, it is acknowledged that “statistically speaking, the most common perpetrators of violence against trans women are domestic partners.”

In addition, virtually every study concludes that trans people suffer from high rates of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation and suicide, making it plain that this is a mentally challenged population. How much this contributes to their propensity for violence is not known.

We know one thing for sure: It is not white, heterosexual Christian men who are roaming the streets looking for trans people to beat up—it is trans people who are committing the lion’s share of the violence. That’s the dirty little secret that the AOC’s on the left don’t want you to know.

Their demonization of normal men is bad enough, but that it is being employed as a cover up—as a way of deflecting the truth about who the violent ones really are—makes it doubly repugnant.

Contact Gerardo Bonilla Chavez, AOC’s chief of staff: gerardo.bonilla@mail.house.gov

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on how the left is reacting to the transgender killer:

Power and control are what drives the left. They want the power to run our lives and control our thinking. They also hate the First Amendment: they do not believe in freedom of speech, freedom of association or freedom of religion.

This is now on big display with their reaction to Aubrey Hale, the Nashville mass shooter. Consider the way the media and activists are responding to the serial killing in a Christian school by a disturbed transgender biological female who resented her time at the school.

The Associated Press pitched the story as one about guns, not violent transgender persons. Reuters, its British counterpart, took note of the religion the killer was raised in (Christianity)—and which she rejected—saying, “Former Christian school student kills 3 children, 3 staff in Nashville shooting.” Similarly, the Daily Mail put the blame on her Christian parents.

If the killer had been a white supremacist, the media would be focusing on that, and nothing else.

NBC News was upset that some media outlets were mentioning the trans status of the murderer, even going so far as to say that the real victims are those in the transgender community (they are allegedly fearful of their lives). Newsweek blamed Republicans for opposing “drag queen” shows, somehow tying that noble position to the deranged act of a disturbed person.

Activists have gotten into the act by demanding that Hale’s game plan, contained in a manifesto that the police have yet to release, should not be made public. They want it censored. The head of Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere, Jordan Budd, flatly said, “It should not be published.” Are they afraid it will detail her hatred of Christianity, a sentiment which is common in left-wing and trans circles?

Some activists are threatening violence, the ultimate expression of power. “If you transphobes do try to come for me I’m taking a few of you with me.” This threat was posted in an online video by Kayla Denker, also known as “Pinko Scum.” Denker was shown holding a gun.

All of this is of a bigger piece: the left does not want the truth to be told about trans people, and nowhere is this more evident than in the academy. Left-wing professors, which is to say most professors, will censor any voice that challenges the reigning orthodoxy, and this is especially true of gay and transgender issues.

Lisa Littman is a physician and a professor at Brown University. After she published a study of trans children and their parents, in a peer-reviewed journal, that challenged the conventional thinking, she was immediately condemned by academicians and activists. Brown even pulled its promotion of her work. In short, the left tried to silence her.

Littman’s experience is the norm, not the exception to the rule.

Dr. Paul Sullins, a distinguished sociologist, knows this subject well, and he recently noted that studies on gay and trans persons reflect the “monoculture” that pervades higher education. “The American Psychological Association, which manages most of the psychological journals in the U.S., has a committee staffed by ‘LGBT’ activists that actively censor what they see as ‘heterosexist’ bias.”

The left rejects the existence of truth, which explains their advocacy of the most pernicious ideology of our time, namely transgenderism. Their animus against science is palpable, and their commitment to politicizing every subject, including mathematics, makes them a danger to a free society.

Trans people should not be scorned. They should be treated for their maladies. But no amount of compassion for their disorders should come at the expense of telling the truth.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on changing norms for comedians:

Many comedians, including Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock, have said given the lack of humor that is commonplace among young people, they don’t like to do college events anymore. When comedians have to tippy-toe through their monologue—in deference to humorless snowflakes—it’s just not worth it.

The latest to comment on this is Jennifer Aniston. She told an audience in Paris how difficult it is these days not to offend someone, so sensitive have people become. In fact, she said, “There’s a whole generation of people, kids, who are now going back to episodes of ‘Friends’ and find them offensive.”

Aniston notes, “Everybody needs funny! The world needs humor! We can’t take ourselves too seriously. Especially in the United States. Everyone is far too divided.” She’s right about that.

If today’s audience is hypersensitive about offending people, there is one group that is still fare game: Catholic priests. Indeed, it is perfectly acceptable to tell the most vicious and slanderous jokes about them.

On the March 24 episode of Bill Maher’s HBO show, one of his guests, David Sedaris, explained how an irate father of a graduating student rushed the stage where he was giving the commencement address; the father was reacting to a joke Sedaris told. Maher asked him to repeat it on air.

“A cop stops a car, two priests are riding in it. ‘I’m looking for a couple of child molesters,’ the cop says. The priests look at each other. ‘We’ll do it,’ they said.” Maher, who has a history of telling bigoted jokes, laughed heartily.

No other demographic group in the United States could ever be spoken about like this by a comedian. The fact that Sedaris felt comfortable telling this joke at a commencement address shows how low class he really is.

We know from virtually every study of the Catholic clergy that most of the molesting priests—over 80 percent of them—were homosexuals. (I wrote a book about it, Clergy Sexual Abuse: Clarifying the Facts and the Causes.) But will Sedaris, or Maher, tell their audiences a joke about queer perverts? Not a chance. They are such gutless wonders.

Comedians should be able to tell all kinds of jokes about every demographic group without walking through a sensitivity minefield. But they should also not engage in patently insulting commentary, cherry picking one group to smear.

Mel Brooks had no problem taking light jabs at virtually everyone, without ever getting into the gutter. Others can do so, if they choose. There is a happy medium.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the Nashville mass shooter:

The Nashville mass shooting, which resulted in the killing of three children and three adults, needs to be investigated as a hate crime against Christians. Police Chief John Drake told NBC news that “There’s some belief that there was some resentment for having to go to that school.”

The shooter, Audrey Hale, is a female who misidentified herself as a male. Her resentment against The Covenant School, a Christian school, is important given that Christianity teaches we are either male or female.

In all likelihood, this is the source of her resentment. After all, she targeted this school—she did not go on a rampage in a local public school. To top things off, her mother works at a local church and frequently posts about religion on social media.

There is another reason why Hale’s killing spree must be investigated as a hate crime: transgender persons are often taught to hate normal men and women, what transgender activists call “cisgender” persons, namely men and women who are not at war with their God-given, and nature-ordained sex. Here’s the evidence.

Lisa Littman is a physician who teaches in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown University. In 2018, she published an article in PLOS ONE, a peer-reviewed journal, on the subject of parents and their transgender adolescents and young persons. She touched on many issues relevant to this topic, one of them being the way these young people look at normal males and females.

Let me first say that the use of the term “normal” is mine, not Littman’s. Nonetheless, in her study she found that 46.6 percent of transgender young people suffer from anxiety and 39.4 percent suffer from depression. Almost half, 48.4 percent, said they experienced traumatic or stressful experiences prior to the onset of their problem, namely gender dysphoria. And 61.4 percent admitted that they were “overwhelmed by strong emotions and tries to/goes to great lengths to avoid feeling them.” None of this is normal.

[In the case of Hale, her close friend called a suicidal hotline shortly before she went to the school.]

As to the critical point—the way transgender youth view normal males and females—what Littman found is as enlightening as it is disturbing. She concluded that their friends “praised and supported people who were transgender-identified and ridiculed and maligned non-transgender people.”

The following are direct quotes from her article commenting on the friendship groups of transgender youth.

“The groups targeted for mocking by the friend groups are often heterosexual (straight) people and non-transgender people (called ‘cis’ or ‘cisgender’). Sometimes animosity was also directed towards males, white people, gay and lesbian (non-transgender) people, aromantic and asexual people, and ‘terfs.’ One participant explained, ‘They are constantly putting down straight, white people for being privileged, dumb and boring.’”

Another participant opined, “In general, cis-gendered people are considered evil and unsupportive, regardless of their actual views on the topic. To be heterosexual, comfortable with the gender you were assigned at birth, and non-minority places you in the ‘most evil’ of categories with this group of friends. Statement of opinions by the evil cis-gendered population are considered phobic and discriminatory and are generally discounted as unenlightened.”

In addition, transgender young people and their friendship groups “also directed their mocking towards…[their] parents, grandparents, siblings, peers, allies and teachers.” As one participant said, “They call kids who are not LGBT dumb and cis.” Another confessed they that were “asked to leave [a school-based LGBT club] because they were not queer enough [as straight and bisexual allies]. [One of them] was bullied, harassed and denounced online.”

The disparagement of normal people online cannot be exaggerated. Littman mentions Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as the worst platforms. As one participant put it, “They speak with derision about how cis-gendered people do not understand them and are so close-minded.” Another said, “I hear them disparaging heterosexuality, marriage and nuclear families.”

Turning on their parents is another problem. “My daughter called me a ‘breeder’ and says things in a mocking ‘straight person voice.’ Her friends egg her on when she does this.” Another parent noted, “If they aren’t mocking ‘cis’ people, they are playing pronoun police and mocking people who can’t get the pronouns correct.”

Trans youth see themselves as victims. “They seem to wear any problems they may have, real or perceived like badges of honor.” Another said, “But all talk is very ‘victim’ centered.” Finally, another said, “They passionately decry ‘Straight Privilege’ and ‘White Male Privilege’—while emphasizing their own ‘Victimhood.’”

There we have it. Normal people are “privileged,” “dumb,” “close-minded,” and “evil.” They deserve to be mocked and bullied. And no one is more evil than white men.

Transgender young people have emotional and mental disorders. They need help. They are also being taught to hate everyone not like them.

When you add these conditions to the resentment that the Nashville shooter exhibited towards her Christian school, you have a recipe for disaster. We cannot allow a biased media to spin this story any other way. We need a probe to determine whether this was a hate crime.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue recently had an exchange with school officials in the Auburn School District over a teacher who branded Christian parents “fascists.” He received an unsatisfactory response, and so now he is asking Chris Reykdal, the state Superintendent of Schools to weigh in; many others have been copied.

To read Donohue’s letter, click here.

Contact Reykdal: Chris.Reykdal@k12.wa.us

Catholic League president Bill Donohue has news about the league’s Disney movie:

The Catholic League’s documentary on Disney, “Walt’s Disenchanted Kingdom,” was an entry in the L.A. International Short Film Festival; the U.S. was one of 22 nations to offer nominations. When I learned that we were nominated for six categories, I was elated. Now I am over the moon with the results. We won in four categories.

We won the award for “Best Documentary,” “Best Editing,” “Best Sound Design,” and received Honorable Mention for “Best Trailer.”

In each category, there were 3-5 nominations. Importantly, the awards we won for editing, trailer production and sound design were not just for documentaries—they were judged the best of all films submitted to the international festival.

While the idea for the movie, and the selection of most cast members and some copy material were mine, the person who put it all together is Jason Killian Meath. He deserves the credit for making this a first-class production. Jason and I are the executive producers.

Our movie has also been selected as a nominee for “Best Documentary” and “Best Poster Design” at The Prisma Film Festival in Rome, Italy;  and we are in contention in several other film festivals as well.

Moreover, we are delighted to report that our movie is doing extremely well on Amazon Prime, doubling or tripling the number of people who view it each week. It is also available at SalemNow, Google, FrontPage, YouTube and the Catholic League’s website. DVDs can be bought—see our website.

We did this movie because we wanted to alert Americans as to what has happened to this once family-friendly giant. Disney continues to do some good work, but that is overridden by its insistence on siding with those who are bent on sexualizing children. If only Disney would consistently treat children as children, no one would complain.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an attack on a recent bishops’ document on transgenderism:

When we had a staff meeting Monday morning, I told our policy employees that we have something to be proud of today: the bishops have released a document on transgenderism that is so well crafted—the best I’ve seen from any quarter—that it makes us proud to be Catholic.

Today I told them about a priest who has attacked the bishops in public for this splendid statement, accusing them of formally cooperating “with evil.”

The document, “Doctrinal Note on the Moral Limits of Technological Manipulation of the Human Body,” is pastorally kind, theologically authoritative, and scientifically astute. Its purpose is to provide guidance to Catholic health care institutions on how to deal with persons who want to undergo sex-reassignment interventions.

Such interventions, the bishops say, “do not respect the fundamental order of the human person as an intrinsic unity of body and soul, with a body that is sexually differentiated.” That is why the bishops say, “Catholic health care services must not perform interventions, whether surgical or chemical, that aim to transform the sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex or take part in the development of such procedures.”

This sent Daniel P. Horan into orbit. A Franciscan priest, he is the director of the Center for Spirituality and a professor at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana. Writing in the National Catholic Reporter, a dissident Catholic publication that is ideologically responsible for the clergy sexual abuse scandal, Horan brands the bishops’ document “nothing short of a disaster.”

Horan strains to offer a rebuttal, but it all comes down to what he says at the end. We must admit as Christians, he says, “that transgender people exist; that nonbinary people exist; that intersex people exist (his italics).”

The truth is they only exist in some people’s head. In reality, one is either a male or a female. There is no third sex.

“The authors of this document should have consulted with and learned from actual experts in the areas of human sexuality and gender from within the scientific and academic communities.” Horan is wrong again.

As reported by the Catholic News Agency, “The bishops said they developed the statement in consultation with medical ethicists, physicians, psychologists, and moral theologians.”

Horan is neither a natural scientist nor a social scientist; he teaches in the humanities. Yet he places himself on a mantle of authority in an area where he has little expertise. That’s because he is driven more by ideology than a commitment to the truth.

In Jauary 2019, I wrote to him when he was teaching at Catholic Theological Union about an article he wrote saying it is “preposterous” to claim that the “gay clergy are the problem” regarding priestly sexual abuse. I refuted that position (and subsequently wrote a book about it, The Truth about Clergy Sexual Abuse: Clarifying the Facts and the Causes). He did not reply. No matter, it is obvious where he is coming from.

Horan was not satisfied to take on the bishops. He had to go for the jugular. He branded the document “a form of formal cooperation with evil.”

What makes this so sad is that just this week, one of the most famous atheists in the world, Richard Dawkins, said, “As a biologist, there are two sexes and that’s all there is to it…Sex really is binary.” He added, “I mean it’s incontrovertible.”

Maybe the good priest should enroll in a course by Dawkins.

Contact Horan: dhoran@saintmarys.edu

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on justifications for Drag Queen Hour events:

What does it take for the defenders of Drag Queen Hour events to raise an objection to the sexualization of children? After reading the March 20 news story in the Miami Herald, it is clear that the dumbing-down of these indefensible shows has reached a new low.

In the last week of 2022, the Plaza Live theater in Orlando hosted “a Drag Queen Christmas” that is just now receiving attention. Children were in attendance. The defenders say nothing happened that was problematic, and this includes the reporters for the newspaper. Those who objected, led by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, found much that was disturbing.

No one denies what happened.

The performance featured “shimmying, bare-chested men who wouldn’t have been out of place at a Madonna concert.”

Question: What kind of men shimmy half naked in front of children? Wouldn’t pedophiles find this attractive? Furthermore, to compare an event, whose target audience is children, with a Madonna concert, is intellectually dishonest.

The performance featured men in “outfits [that were] provocative (bikinis and short shorts).”

Question: Why is it that these men like to parade around in public wearing the equivalent of a jock strap in front of kids? Is there something wrong with them? Pictures of them “performing” show them almost entirely naked.

The performance did not show “exposure of genital organs.”

Question: Why would this even have to be said if this were truly a typical children’s event? Are we to celebrate their “modesty” for not exposing themselves? Normal men don’t go to the grocery store dressed this way. Why is it okay at a children’s event?

The performance showed a male actor, Jimbo the Clown, “giving birth to a log of bologna and throwing slices to the crowd.” The scene was described by state agents, who have it on video, as a “graphic depiction…of childbirth and/or abortion.” Also, there was a display of “an image of a finger penetrating a wreath.”

Question: Why are these freaks bent on putting sexual ideas, of a crude sort, into the heads of children? Do they have that little respect for childhood?

The performance included lyrics to their sick version of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” that were patently vulgar, even for adults, never mind kids. “You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen/Vomit and Stupid and Dildo and Dicks-in/But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all?/Screwdolph the Red-Nippled Reindeer had a very shiny bust.”

Question:

What would possess men to act this way? Are they mentally ill? Or just plain evil?

Children as young as six were in attendance.

Kudos to Gov. DeSantis for putting the welfare of children ahead of any alleged “artistic” expression. He stands in stark contrast to Hillary Clinton, who just this week said it was “absurd” to put any restrictions on Drag Queen Hour performances, comparing these obscene antics to “Shakespearean” entertainment.

This is child abuse. Not to call it that is to enable more of it.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on how China and Nicaragua are attacking Catholicism:

Virtually every privately funded and publicly funded report on Christian persecution finds that communist and Muslim-run nations are the worst offenders. Conditions in the Middle East remain dire, and communist nations such as North Korea are just as vicious, but what is currently happening in China and Nicaragua commands our immediate attention.

North Korea makes plain that Christians have no rights, but, as Thomas D. Williams explains in his new book, The Coming Christian Persecution, matters are more insidious in China. It “offers a veneer of religious freedom but only on the communist party’s terms, and the state employs advanced surveillance methods to be sure that the content of Christian worship coheres with the ideology of Maoist socialism. Children under the age of 18 are not allowed in church for any reason.”

Williams does not exaggerate. They have a “Smart Religion” app that requires the faithful to register with the government as a condition of  attending services. In other words, church attendance is not a private affair—it is the business of the communist government. Surveillance is ubiquitous.

According to China watcher Gordon Chang, the government is “moving in the direction where there will be no religious ceremonies or services ever permitted in China, because Beijing does not want religion in any place in China, even if it’s controlled religion.”

President Xi, the Chinese dictator, has instituted “Sinicization,” a policy  where the government seeks to bring religious entities under his control, mandating eventual assimilation under the communist party’s rule. Those who are seen as resisting this forced compliance are punished. In fact, Christians are told they must display “enthusiasm, fervor and love for the party.” They must abide by what the Communist Party mandates, “Love the Party, Love the Country, Love Socialism.”

Xi chose to single out Cardinal Joseph Zen, the 91-year old former archbishop of Hong Kong, for a public display of his iron rule. Zen was arrested last year on trumped up charges of “colluding with foreign powers.” Zen’s layman counterpart in Hong Kong, Jimmy Lai, was sentenced to jail before Christmas last year for challenging the increasingly tyrannical rule; it is a reflection of Hong Kong’s subordinate status vis-à-vis China.

Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega has been cracking down on the Catholic Church for the past five years. Priests have been arrested, missionaries expelled, and Catholic institutions have been shut down. A human rights organization, Nicaraguan Nunca Más, estimates that dozens of religious leaders have fled since 2018, and that Church personnel have been deported. In 2019, the regime blocked entry of international donations.

Bishop Roland Álvarez was sentenced to 26 years in prison last month and stripped of his citizenship. He was falsely charged with treason and undermining the regime. Pope Francis blasted his imprisonment, comparing what Ortega did to the Bolsheviks in 1917 and Hitler in the 1930s. In response, Ortega closed two Catholic universities and Caritas Nicaragua, the Church’s aid organization. More important, Nicaragua has recently suspended relations with the Holy See, and on March 18 the Vatican’s diplomatic headquarters in Nicaragua was forced to close.

All totalitarian regimes fear internal threats to their power. Old-fashioned authoritarian regimes, such as Franco in Spain or the Czars in Russia, didn’t care what anyone believed in, just so long as they were in control. They are examples of political dictatorships. Totalitarian regimes are political, economic, social and cultural dictatorships, and as such they are very much concerned about what its people think. Thought control is their signature.

Religion and the family stand in the way of totalitarian rule, and that is why they must be crushed. China and Nicaragua are nervous about Christianity, and Catholicism, in particular, because they divert allegiance of the people away from the government. Hence, the move to force fidelity to the state.

For reasons not completely understood, Pope Francis has taken a hard stance against Nicaragua and a soft stance against China. Catholics living in both countries deserve the strongest possible rebuke from every nation-state, and that includes the Holy See.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on why climate change is a religion for some people:

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy recently said that climate change has become a religion because it “actually has nothing to do with the climate,” and is instead all about power and control. To test if the public agrees with this assessment, a Rasmussen Reports survey found that 60 percent of likely voters agreed with him; 35 percent disagreed.

The poll did not reveal who the minority is, but we know from other surveys who they are.

The Pew Research Center found in 2021 that those who express the most concern about climate change are young people and those on the left. Younger adults, for obvious reasons, tend to be more concerned than older Americans about the dangers of climate change. Ideologically, those on the left are considerably more concerned about this issue than those on the right. This pattern is generally true in other developed countries as well.

Those who say they are the most concerned about climate change would argue that it is their genuine concern for the environment that makes them more sensitive to this issue; conservatives, they would maintain, just don’t care that much about it. But most Americans aren’t buying it. They say it’s because the “pro-environmentalists” are motivated more by power than purity, and that they have made a religion out of it.

There is no doubting that power is the signature of the left. From the time of the French Revolution to the latest antics of Antifa, the desire to control the words and deeds of the masses has been their overriding goal. So when surveys show that most Americans believe that those who are the most concerned about climate control are really obsessed by power and control, they are referring to those on the left. Conservatives favor small government, not large government.

There are good grounds to conclude that the left has made climate control a religion. For example, a Gallup poll released last year found that young people, liberals and Democrats are the most secular of any demographic group in the nation: they are the most likely to say they are religiously unaffiliated, agnostic or atheist.

It does not follow that those who have no conventional religious beliefs are without an ersatz religion, or something which functions as a religion for them. In the case of young people and those on the Left, their devotion to climate control acts as a ready substitute.

So yes, there are good reasons why the public agrees with Ramaswamy. Climate control occupies such a central place in the lives of young people and those on the left precisely because it gives them something to believe in, bringing purpose to their lives. That’s a good thing.

But it makes no sense to put these people on a moral mantle—not when what is really driving them is their quest for power.