The ultra rich are using transgender phobia to hide their real agenda. Brian Heywood is a case in point. He is the man who is in charge of the organization Let’s Go Washington that organized the anti-transgender initiative I-638.
This is the initiative that claims to be about keeping transgender girls out of youth sports. Heywood not only organized the petition to get the initiative on the ballot, he contributed $2.23 million dollars of his own money to the effort.
I don’t believe he is really that concerned about a few transgender athletes. I think he is using hate toward transgender people to drum up support for his real target, preserving low taxes for the uber-rich of Washington.
Another one of his initiatives this cycle is I-645, the repeal of the millionaire income tax. He also contributed $2.23 million dollars (according to Ballotpedia in both cases) toward this initiative.
The extremely rich people in America have a problem in a democracy. How do you get people to vote for tax laws that favor the rich and drain the government of resources needed to fund programs a large number of people rely on? In Washington, wouldn’t it be better if we had a progressive tax system rather than a regressive tax system?
What people like Brian Heywood do is use “cultural war” issues to get people to think that he is someone who represents their point of view. Many people may have strong opinions about transgender issues, even though it really doesn’t affect them much. Voters may not realize they are voting away the free lunches at schools that they can’t afford to pay. They may just vote for it because they trust Let’s Go Washington due to the anti-transgender initiative.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has said it is aware of only 10 transgender athletes in Washington youth sports.
To cure this rare situation, Initiative 638 would require embarrassing and sometimes costly gender identification procedures for every athlete in public school girl sports throughout the state. Talk about the cure being worse than the problem.
Do you think Heywood is really that concerned about the effect that such a small number of student athletes have on girls sports?
I think Brian Heywood and his initiatives are all about helping the ultra rich avoid taxes. Rich people like Heywood know they need the votes of people who are not wealthy to keep from paying their fair share. They therefore come up with schemes to get common people to vote against their own self interest. Using transgender phobia is a tool to gain support.
Vote no on initiatives I-638 and I-645. Don’t let transgender phobia prevent the ultra-rich from paying their fair share.
Daniel Meekhof
Packwood
