Tag: GOP culture war

GOP congressmen are upset that airlines are training pilots who aren’t white men

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Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) accused United Airlines of engaging in ‘progressive fascism.’

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) unleashed a racist and sexist attack on United Airlines on Thursday, demanding to know which pilots receive training as part of the company’s new effort to diversify its workforce.

“Airlines should advertise the exact flights flown by pilots who were chosen as part of their new diversity programs rather than the outdated programs based solely on skill, experience, and qualifications,” Massie tweeted.

Massie was apparently upset about an announcement by United on Tuesday of its plans to launch a pilot training academy: “Our flight deck should reflect the diverse group of people on board our planes every day. That’s why we plan for 50% of the 5,000 pilots we train in the next decade to be women or people of color.” Continue reading.

The GOP’s anti-trans bills are ignorance in action

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Under a newly proposed bill targeting transgender youths in North Carolina, government employees would be required to notify the parents of any minors they witnessed “exhibiting symptoms of gender dysphoria” or “gender nonconformity.” The Youth Health Protection Act specifies that the notification should come in writing, describing “relevant circumstances” with “reasonable specificity.”

It’s good for laws to be as specific as possible, and so it’s worth pointing out that this proposed wording is vague. What, precisely, does the bill consider “a desire to be treated in a manner incongruent with the minor’s sex”? Is it when a student known as Samantha asks to now be called Sam and happens to have primarily male friends? Is it when a girl signs up for shop class instead of home ec? If a bunch of boys flout a rule about warm-weather school uniforms by showing up to class in skirts — as several teens did in England a few years ago — are they exercising their right to protest, or are they now gender incongruent? What should a reasonably specific note to their parents say?

This bill is bad. This bill is bad for many moral reasons, not the least of which because it puts random government bureaucrats in charge of personally deciding who is gender appropriate, and because outing transgender kids to their guardians could actively put them in danger. Continue reading.