Youngkin Turns to Racism and Homophobia to Rally His Base

Even before he won the GOP gibernatorial primary, there were disturbing signs that Glenn Youngkin is not what he is pretending to be.  The strongest sign was Younkin's support by The Family Foundation ("TFF"), Virginia's leading hate group with antecedents among segregationists and those who supported "Massive Resistance" and closed Virginia's schools rather than allow black students to attend and then set up all white "Christian academies."  TFF has also long been a leading disseminator of anti-LGBT lies and used gys as a perenial bogeyman to frighten the ignorant and bigoted. Now, in the final streach of the gubernatorial race, Youngkin is turning to open racism and anti-LGBT bigorty to rally the toxic base of the Virginia GOP.   Businesses and so-called country club Republicans need to wake up as to who they are getting in bed with if the support Youngkin.  Likewise, Democrats need a wake up call and need to get energized if they don't want to be shocked the day after election day like was the case in 2016.   A piece in the Washington Post looks at how Youngkin is using the cnard of "critical race theory" - which is nowhere in the curriculum of Virginia's public schools - to rally the racists and white supremacists who want to write blacks and minorities (and gays) out of America's history.  Here are excerpts:

Until recently, Lauren Shupp, a software designer who lives in Northern Virginia, paid little attention to state politics, convinced that her life was shaped more by policies made in Washington than in Richmond.

But Shupp’s focus has shifted in the past year, as she has grown dissatisfied with the public schools and convinced that teachers would educate her children “through a lens of race.” Shupp, who twice voted for Donald Trump for president after backing Barack Obama, attributes her concerns about this “lens of race” to the influence of the Democratic Party, which is why she is supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin.

But whether the uproar can help Republicans galvanize voters in left-leaning communities is a key question in the contest for governor. . . . .[Youngkin] also is trying to tap into the charged debates engulfing public schools, particularly in places like Loudoun County, where parents have protested equity initiatives they associate with critical race theory (CRT), the academic framework that examines how systemic racism is ingrained in the country’s history.

Despite the fact that it is not part of classroom teaching, CRT has catalyzed opposition in Virginia and across the country, as conservative leaders and pundits have invoked it to lambaste liberals. Trump, who endorsed Youngkin, has described CRT as a “toxic” and “poisonous left-wing doctrine” that is “flagrant racism, plain and simple.”

Stephen Farnsworth, a University of Mary Washington political science professor, said turning CRT into a target is a way to motivate Republicans in a nonpresidential election year, when voter turnout tends to be lower.

“The threat that there’s some evil outside force pushing a radical agenda into your elementary school is a vehicle for getting people energized,” he said. “It’s more about turnout of the base than persuasion.”

In Loudoun late last month , hundreds of people attended a rally outside the county’s school board meeting, cheering as a roster of speakers denigrated the district’s transgender policy and CRT. Alongside yard signs bemoaning “Critical Racist Theory,” there were others promoting Youngkin’s candidacy.

In early September, hundreds cheered when he repeated the promise at a rally in Loudoun County organized by conservative activists protesting CRT. “We’ve watched what this liberal-left-progressive agenda in Richmond has done to our children, and guess what?” Youngkin said. “We’ve had enough.”

McAuliffe responded that Youngkin was using CRT as “a big dog whistle. I really hate it. It divides people.”

It's not just racial minorities that Youngkin is using as a bogeyman to scare the "deplorables" in Donald Trump's base to support him.  He's also going after LGBT Virginians and signaling that he supports censoring gays out of the Commonwealth's public schools.  In this regard he is working hand in hand with TFF and other leading anti-LGBT hate groups as reported by the American Independent.  Here are article highlights:

Glenn Youngkin, the Republican nominee in the Virginia governor's race, spent Saturday night at an event hosted by an anti-LGBTQ political group based in Virginia.

The gala was hosted by the Family Foundation, a Richmond, Virginia-based group with a long history of anti-LGBTQ activism. Kayleigh McEnany, the former White House press secretary, was a keynote speaker at the event.

Youngkin's association with the organization comes after the release of Youngkin digital ad taking the side of two women who attended a Fairfax County School Board meeting on Sept. 23 to complain about public school libraries carrying "LGBTQ-themed books"

"I am here to protest the use of Fairfax taxpayers' money in a campaign to normalize homoerotic material with minors," Adrienne Henzel, one of the women featured in the Youngkin campaign ad, told the school board.

She added that the pro-LGBTQ library books were part of a larger "indoctrination effort."

In March, the Family Foundation filed a lawsuit challenging a Virginia state policy that aims to make schools more trans-inclusive by allowing trans students to use names, pronouns, and facilities that correspond with their gender. A circuit court judge dismissed the lawsuit in July.

The group has also opposed marriage equality and has expressed support for "conversion therapy," the harmful practice that operates under the falsity that LGBTQ people can be forced to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.

On Sept. 29, the organization posted on its website that "school boards across the state have become the epicenter for parents opposed to teachings incorporating the core tenets of 'Critical Race Theory' and LGBTQ+ ideology." It highlighted an exchange between Youngkin and McAuliffe during a gubernatorial debate on Sept. 28 where the moderator questioned McAuliffe on how he believes schools should implement these policies.

The Family Foundation event Youngkin attended listed the Alliance Defending Freedom, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated as an anti-LGBTQ hate group, as one of its sponsoring organizations.

In a gubernatorial debate last week, Youngkin claimed that public schools in Virginia have refused to "engage with parents" who were "so upset because there was such sexually explicit material in the library that they had never seen."

Youngkin has also spoken out against transgender equality during the course of the campaign.

On Sept. 29, Youngkin shared a campaign ad featuring parts of their exchange on education and video from the Fairfax County School Board meeting held on Sept. 23. Two speakers said they thought that two books, Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe and Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison, which were found in the district's high school libraries were inappropriate for students. The books were subsequently pulled from the shelves.

"Are you a parent who wants to have a say in your child's education? Too bad. Terry McAuliffe says you have to sit down and shut up," Youngkin's campaign tweeted alongside the video.

"If I had a statement, it would be 'Read the book or sit down,'" Evison told the Washington Post. "I feel like these people are frightened because they’re losing the culture wars."

McAuliffe, for his part, has slammed Youngkin for refusing to support LGBTQ students in Virginia. "People who want to demonize children — I just don't understand," McAuliffe said at last week's debate. "I want every child in Virginia to get a quality education."

We cannot afford to have Youngkin in the governor's mansion. Vote a straight Democrat ticket in November.