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FARGO — Kevin Cramer wants to keep the government out of your life until he doesn't. He's spent his years in the U.S. Senate fighting valiantly so his oil buddies can do whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want without evil bureaucrats being able to raise a peep. Pregnant women, however, don't get the same unwavering devotion from the North Dakota Republican. He supports the government telling them what do with their bodies.
Not that the hypocrisy bothers Kevin. He's certain he's doing the work of the Big Guy — God or Trump, take your choice — which according to the right-wing evangelical doctrine means worshiping at the altar of wealthy conservatives while stomping on the most vulnerable for political gain.
Who is going to be hurt by a nationwide abortion ban Cramer will certainly support? Hint: Not the rich, who can always find a way to safely stop a daughter's or mistress's unwanted pregnancy.
The latest group Cramer and his ilk are pursuing like rabid dogs are LGBTQ people. That's short for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer. It's likely somebody you know, or a closeted Republican politician, belongs to the group.
Cramer is throwing his Bible into the anti-LGBTQ ring by being among a group of Republican senators who want the country's television ratings system to warn parents about "sexual orientation and gender identity content" on children's shows.
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TV-PG, TV-14 and TV-GAY?
Presumably the fear of Cramer and other good Christians, and we use those words loosely, is that a red-blooded 6-year-old American boy utterly secure in his heterosexuality will take a break from reading the 1776 Project to flip on a cartoon (instead of Tucker Carlson, sadly) and see a child with two dads. Bam! Next thing you know, that 6-year-old boy is as gay as a closeted Republican politician.
Every good evangelical knows that, next to praying the gay away or shaming people into suppressing their true identity, the best way to prevent homosexuality is to keep impressionable children from knowing it exists. It's like Santa Claus in reverse. If you don't tell your kids Santa isn't real, they'll believe in him forever and ever.
This is the way to a morally pure, truly Christian nation. That, and punishing Disney because LeFou was totally flaming in "Beauty and the Beast."
Cramer's proposal is evil, of course. By including a "warning" label about gay or transgender characters, those characters are singled out as being unsafe or threatening. It's the GOP way — demonize those most in need of a loving hug and a word of encouragement.
Cramer and his fellow gay-obsessed Republicans laid out their concerns in a letter to the chairman of the TV Guidelines Ratings Board, saying "the motivations of hyper-sexualized entertainment producers striving to push this content on young audiences are suspect at best and predatory at worst."
Yes, folks, Cramer believes Hollywood is trying to turn your kids gay and it's his job to keep them straight. If kids don't see gay, they won't be gay. Science.
Lucky us manly males who grew up in the 1970s weren't able to get a steady dose of daytime TV like "Hollywood Squares" or "Match Game." Too much Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly might have a guy dressing up like Madison Cawthorn.
