Transphobic self-described “comedian” Alex Stein mocked the elevated risk of suicide amongst the transgender community, calling trans people “mentally ill” “sexual perverts” while spewing hateful diatribe during a Texas Senate hearing on a transphobic bathroom bill.

“I actually like transgenders in the military,” Stein said at the Wednesday hearing, “because, first of all, transgenders are some of the meanest people on planet Earth, so they make a good soldier, don’t you think? And then, you know, second of all, transgenders love to do mass shootings. So you know, that’s perfect for a military veteran. And then on top of that, the suicide rate is incredibly high among transgender people, so we could just use them. Like, the Taliban has suicide bombers. Maybe you guys can actually, you know, if you commit suicide, actually help us in the battlefield. So that would be good.”

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“I was actually walking over to deck him because if no one will protect us then I’ll do it myself but I needed to catch a vote more than a case today,” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said of the confrontation.

Stein, the right-wing host of the web show Primetime with Alex Stein, parroted baseless and biased transphobic talking points that have been echoed by numerous right-wing figures like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

The truth is that the vast majority of mass shooters in the U.S. are cisgender males, and that the higher level of suicidality among trans people is due to the vilification and mistreatment of trans people. Mental distress among trans people is largely encouraged by transphobic rhetoric like Stein’s and his fellow right-wingers. Major medical and psychological associations note that trans identity isn’t a mental illness.

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Stein spoke during a hearing for Senate Bill 7, legislation that would require individuals in public schools, prisons, women’s shelters, and other government buildings to use facilities matching the sex listed on their birth certificates. Places that break the law would face $5,000 fines for a first offense and $25,000 fines for subsequent violations.

Stein voiced his support for the bill, referring to trans women as “gargoyles in a dress”, “sexual perverts”, “mentally ill”, and accusing them of having autogynephilia (male sexual arousal at the thought of being a woman), and of getting “satisfaction from going there and looking under a stall.”

As he spoke, spectators in the gallery began booing in disapproval. He asserted his free speech rights and continued.

However, there’s no truth to Stein’s claims. There’s no evidence linking states with trans-friendly bathroom laws to any increases in restroom assaults as a result. Right-wingers like Stein repeatedly claimed that trans people are dangerous and “mentally ill,” especially to women and children, to justify violence and discrimination against them. 

It’s unclear if the bill will become law, especially since Democrats in the Texas House have fled the state in order to uphold a Republican gerrymandering effort, thus stalling other bill from passing in the lower chamber as well.

Source: LGBTQ Nation