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Christian radio: Including trans students in high school sports is a ‘sign of the end times’

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Christian radio: Including trans students in high school sports is a ‘sign of the end times’

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Michele Lentz, spokesperson for the anti-LGBT Minnesota Child Protection League, has been on a whirlwind tour of conservative radio over the last few days. She’s been drumming up opposition to a policy proposed by the Minnesota State High School League which would provide schools with a framework for including transgender students in extracurricular activities such as athletics.

Lentz appeared on AM 980 KKMS’ On the Way with Ridgeway on Tuesday hosted by Paul Ridgeway who called the policy a “sign of the end times.”

“I just had a listener text me, and I hope he’ll call in and he said, ‘This is loony tunes.’ I think this is really, and I don’t say this lightly, I think it’s another sign of the end times, where we are taking a very small — not even a percent of people that are transgender — I don’t even know what it is, I think it’s probably less than even a tenth of a percent, and we are changing the complete moral direction of what we believe. I think what most people would believe their children should have — boys shower with boys, girls shower with girls. The transgender issue which is so minute… I just can’t get over we are doing this, and I am really upset as a parent and a taxpayer.”

Later in the interview, Lentz said:

“It’s one thing to allow a female to participate on a boys team, but she’s still participating as a female. It’s quite another thing to allow a female to participate on a boys team and we all pretend that she’s a boy. I mean, this gets to the heart of the matter when the Minnesota State High School League tells us that we have to understand that a boy that feels like a girl is every bit as much a girl as a girl is, you know, all of our head’s explode. That’s not biology. That’s not what you are taught in science class, and for them to tell us why have to swallow that lie. It’s just a bridge too far for most people.”

People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch flagged Lentz’ appearance on the Wisconsin-based VCY America’s “Crosstalk” radio:

Insisting that “it’s all fair the way it is” now, she described the proposal as a “reckless policy that puts children in danger,” and accused advocates of lying about religious exemptions for parochial schools and local control over rollout of the policy. “A look at this policy shows that it is dangerous to all kids, including transgender kids,” she said.

Lentz also used the opportunity to criticize other efforts to combat bullying in schools and ensure equality for LGBT students. “The anti-bullying movement is a precursor that opens the door to all kinds of curriculum and policies of sexually explicitly material, ideas, themes,” she continued. “And this may be the pattern we are seeing all across the country. It is necessary for us as a people to stand up against these policies when they are harmful and put children at risk.”

Lentz also appeared on the Dennis Prager Show on Tuesday.

Lentz: The one thing that people should know is that the Minnesota High School Sports League is telling the public that they need to understand that a boy who feels like a girl is every bit as much a girl as a girl is and the people just won’t accept this because it’s simply not true.”

Prager: These people don’t really care what the people think because they know they are more enlightened than everyone else.

On the conservative Up and At ‘Em on AM 1130 KTLK on Wednesday, Lentz gave her spiel, but Ben Kruse wasn’t having it.

Lentz: So the MSHSL is putting out this article that came down from the National Federation of High Schools and this is at the heart of their policy. This article said in essence I’ll paraphrase it that a boy who feels like a girl is every bit as much a girl as a girl is. And if you don’t accept that premise you are just a hate-filled bigot.

Kruse: That’s kind of jumping up a level isn’t it? You can disagree with that and not be a bigot.

Lentz: I would say 99 percent of your listeners people out there can see that it’s simply not true based on science alone. Look at their rhetoric.

Kruse: That’s not what the high school league is saying. The high school league isn’t saying that if you disagree with this ruling you are a bigot.

Lentz: Well, I don’t know what the high school league is saying because they are being very hush so we don’t know what they feel about this. This premise that, for example a boy who feels like a girl is every bit as much a girl as a girl is, so let’s just leave it at that then. Anyone who has teenage girls probably can see how strange a statement that is but that’s at the heart of it…

Later in the interview Lentz again defended her stance that OutFront is calling anti-LGBT activists “hate-filled bigots”

“The MSHSL isn’t saying this but certainly OutFront has one line, and that is that if you don’t agree that a boy who feels that he’s a girl is every bit as much a girl, as a girl is, then you’re just filled with hate.”

Kruse: That’s their official line?

Lentz: Well, if you look at what’s on their blogs and what they are saying and what they are emailing us, yes, this is what they are saying. That we somehow hate trans students and we don’t want them to participate in high school athletics. It’s completely untrue. The fact is we want all students to have the same opportunity to participate in athletics based on, you know, their eligibility, There are requirements that you go to school, that you get good grades, and that you participate on the team of your biological sex.

Jack Tomczak: I don’t doubt that they’ve thrown the word bigot around at all in this conversation.

Kruse: If you are accusing someone of using that word, I need to have evidence of that word. I don’t want to assume anything anyone said.

Lentz: Well, you know, I’ve got one segment with you folks otherwise I’d email you all the emails I got or show you the blogs where they are making those statements about us….

Kruse: We would love to see proof of an organization calling people bigots.

The Column checked email alerts, Tweets, and Facebook updates from OutFront Minnesota over the last two months and did not find any mentions of the words “bigot” or “bigotry.” The only place the word “hate” appeared on OutFront’s website is in connection to hate crimes. A search of the word “hate” doesn’t bring up any results within the last two months.

They have called Lentz group “inflammatory,” “derogatory,” and “anti-LGBTQ” in email alerts.

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Andy Birkey has written for a number of Minnesota and national publications. He founded Eleventh Avenue South which ran from 2002-2011, wrote for the Minnesota Independent from 2006-2011, the American Independent from 2010-2013. His writing has appeared in The Advocate, The Star Tribune, The Huffington Post, Salon, Cagle News Service, Twin Cities Daily Planet, TheUptake, Vita.mn and much more. His writing on LGBT issues, the religious right and social justice has won awards including Best Beat Reporting by the Online News Association, Best Series by the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and an honorable mention by the Sex-Positive Journalism awards.

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