Israeli ambassador stands for trans rights. I know it's not Pride Month anymore,
yall, but we have to talk about this. In this article, in
a notable stand, Israel's ambassador to the US says trans rights are human rights.
This is in an article from the Jewish Telegraph Agency by Ron Campeius,
which came out on June thirtieth of this year. And in this article we
learned that the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Hertzug, called for
a stand against intolerance and bigotry targeting the LGBTQ community in the US and Israel
at a Pride event that was held at the US Embassy, and during that
event, he said that gay rights and trans rights are human rights and that
ultimately love prevails. And additionally attending that event was Rachel Levine, the Jewish
and openly transgender Assistant US Secretary for Health, who is an awesome person,
who also spoke out in support of trans rights and healthcare, saying these ideological
and politically motivated attacks in numerous states are not grounded in science or evidence of
any kind. Ginger affirming care is essential healthcare. And then they all proceeded
to have what sounded like a fabulous party at this event, So THEO give
us your thoughts on this. Well, for me, it's kind of interesting
because oh they have they have the original books that gave people, you know,
many, so many reasons to you kate trans people or homosexual people or
over the world. But I wonder it's because they are not Christians, because
you know, despite them being the reason why their religion exists, they do
not believe in Jesus as Christ. So they are not Christians. Is that
quite? Because they are you know, not openly as transphobic as certain people
from the USA that we have seen. I'm I'm not sure, but I'm
quite sure that Helen has way more to say than me in here, because
I see a certain flag over there that gives me the clue that maybe,
Helen, maybe you have something more interesting to say than me. Yes,
maybe, I don't know if it's more interesting, but I definitely have opinions.
So, um, I little rais of sunshine, you know, UM,
I will take them. I love my little rays of U of queer
sunshine makes me super happy. Um. So, we as we know and
our regular views know, that's one when we're on the show. Sometimes we're
talking about things are are usually a bummer. But the fact that um Michael
Hurstbach with the Israeli Israeli Ambassador of the US calling for a stand against intolerance
and bigotry against the lgbt Q plus community and calling for hay spechi and violence
that kept happening in Israel the United States needs to stop. That is a
big deal because he could have touted party lines, He could have kept his
mouth shut. He could have just said, you know, I'm just gonna
get my job. You know, I'm gonna I'm gonna pretend it's not happening.
And he was like, no, it's Pride Month, and I'm gonna,
you know, stand up for people. And the fact and the fact
that he's lying with Rachel Levine, as you mentioned, Kara, who is
Jewish and openly transgender and as an assistant for the Secretary US Secretary for Health
appear and she appeared in person in her uniform, and she appeared before on
video at the at this event, and she was, you know, speaking
about her experience and how um, you know, even as a government official,
that oppression and those feelings are still very real. And the fact that
you know, you know which was you know, um good on the US
the embassy um that they were like, well, we're gonna throw a bomb
mass party and we're gonna speak about you know how. You know, everybody
should have equal rights in the US and Israel and really it should be happening
everywhere people. So um, I'm really glad to see this happened. Like,
like I said, little little oh Dash is a queer sunshine and it
makes me super happy. So Kelly, what do you got to say about
this? I thought it was really interesting that. I mean, there is
a conservative wave that's happening in the world today. It's it's happening in India,
it's happening in United States, it's happening in parts of Europe. It's
definitely happening in Israel too. So it was really good to see this bucking
that trend. And I hope that other countries can see this example being set
and follow that example. You know. M Herzog did say that gay rights
and trans rights are human rights, and I think he's correct when because let's
face it, gay people and trans people are people. They're humans too,
and they say rights. So I yeah, I'm just hoping that this is
going to be a really good I'm not going to sing it, but a
really good step in the right direction, and we're going to see this being
copied more and more and more. Well, Kara, what do you think
about it? Where do you think we should go with this? Yeah,
I completely agree with your assessment that, yes, we are people, and
it is a strange world we live in where it is, you know,
potentially a political landmine to say X group of marginalized people should be considered part
of the category of human. That's a little weird that we have to say
that. Yeah, I find that just distressing even right, I'm sorry,
but sorry forgotten it off. No, not at all. Yeah, I
think that is wild, but I am nevertheless glad that it is being said,
and it's being said publicly and loudly by some people, or at least
one person who I wouldn't have necessarily expected to come out saying that at that
event, given you know, the conservative stance of his government at this time
and of ours as well. These are hot button issues. You know,
they could have said something different, and they didn't. They said this,
and I think it needed to be said because, as the article goes on,
to note. You know, this was to some people perhaps surprising given
the conservative stance of Israel's government, which has you know, other members of
that government have made homophobic statements recently. You know, they do not have
particularly pro LGBTQ plus policies there. And of course in the US similarly,
we've been seeing a lot of rollback or threats to the rights of the queer
community here too. And so this, this statement was meaningful. It was
important and notable that it was said so publicly. So I do appreciate that
that was done. And yeah, I'm glad that we have an article that
was positive. This is nice. I'm excited. I mean, like,
you know, rainbows and unicorns and sprinkles going on in the background. I
put on my unicorn crown. Better. That's better. Yeah, okay,
now we can carry on. Okay, Tello, what else? Did you
have any other comments? Yeah? I want to bring the moot down in
here, because well, first of all, yes, I'm going to admit
it finally a step in the right direction. You know, Michael Harsl,
who is the Israeli ambassador and sorry, he represents the most right wing government
in the country's history. So a person like be saying, as you said,
oh, you know what, people are people and their rights are human
rights. Finally it's something good. It means, yeah, they're starting to
wake up. I hope this is not just you know, political how to
a political strategy to gain forwards or something like that. But as you know,
I'm obsessed with the harms of religion. One of the biggest harms of
religions is that we have to say, guys, people are people. And
we have to because I don't like having to use specific types for people.
I mean, we are people, You are people, I am people,
will are people sowever it sounds, but yes, having to say, oh
no, trans people, trans people are humans, it's terrible. It's something
that should not happen. And I'm pretty sure some hundred years ago we have
to say, hey, women are people, or slaves are people. You
know, people with different color skins are people. It happened here in South
America with the genocide that certain Catholic church brought here. It happened in the
USA with the slavery, it happens in Europe. But then with women rights.
I'm still nowadays and it's extremely sad that we have to explain to people
that, a, it doesn't matter what your religion says, people are people
and their basic rights are human rights and you should respect those. And it's
extremely sad that we need people in power saying oh, yeah, I just
realized that people are people just in order to reach you know, those people
who don't realize, oh, those who are discriminating are people actually, and
so that is for me, the very, very depressing part of this,
that we have to remind people that people are people. So people are people.
People, I am people are people. So why should it be that
we're not living in harmony? As a song sex, I'm not going to
sing because I'm not. I'm not. I don't want torture anybody. So,
um, you know, I really wish this happened more often, especially
living in the United States, because our leaders tend to be kind of terrible,
and especially when they're working so hard to suppress rights of people. And
the thing is, though, is that life falls like so if you if
you're you know, elected officials says that, you know, trans people,
queer people don't get equal access to healthcare, jobs, education, you know,
whatever, discrimination or people of color. Let's just you know, let's
just go ahead, like if you're not assist white straight mail, you know,
um, you can even deal in with some problems. And I think
that it would be really nice if people on the other side would speak up.
It'd be really great, Um, I wish. I mean, because
even you know, UM Democrats and UM left wingers in this country tend not
to speak out as much as they should and fight against this um And I
think I think we're seeing the trend of that changing right now. Yeah,
we can see, but I think we're seeing that changing. I think it's
a good thing just to have voices, more voices on both sides. But
go ahead, Helen, I'm sorry, Yeah, no, it's fine.
We're very opinion people on the show. But I just because there's so much
terrible rhetoric going on, I do kind of forget that sometimes, especially amongst
young people, like they're screaming from the raptors, like I'm done with religion,
I'm done with this bigotry. I'm done with like, you know,
not being able to make a living wage. You know, they're done,
you know, And I think that's great because then it's silences the terrible as
the more that you shout and make a fuss. So I'm hoping that this
will inspire also, right when people that you know don't think there's anything wrong
with queer people, you know, to speak up more, because it would
be kind of a really nice thing to not be, you know, a
big you know, I'm just hands you know, I have I have issues
with Bigger Tree, as you all know. So my duck is you know,
he wants, he wants, you know, David Duck wants to quack,
but I'm just not gonna land him right now. So um So,
Carr, you have something else you want to say, I will just say
that I need to get one of y'all's ducks. But I do have with
me here my dog snows Duck for the Bigger Tree Duck in this episode,
and I think he's doing a fabulous tree. He is doing a very good
Bigger Tree duck. Yes he is. He's he's not a big at himself,
but he's happy to help us make those points. So that's that's snows
duck. Um that that was the main point that I had prepared at this
time. Kelly, you have something. I do have a few things.
One of the things I was talking to my evangelical friend, I actually do
have one, and he brought something up. We're talking about being humans,
and he actually thought that trans people were possessed by demon He literally thought that.
And I thought to myself, well, it wouldn't it be true then,
that you, as a good Christian, would want to help them instead
of hating them the way you're doing. But no, I don't think it.
Even even after I brought it up, it didn't register in his mind
that even if they were possessed by demons, as he thought that they needed
his help and not his hatred. And I thought that was a pretty interesting
thing. Is that he that because it's not at that point. It's not
about as religion. This is an ingrained bigotry. It's an idea that I
just don't like these people. It doesn't matter what my religion says. Even
if I should be accepting these people and helping him with their demon problem,
I don't care. I just don't like them. I don't like them,
you know. So I know, Kara, I know you had some about
human rights you'd like to say, so let's hear that. Yeah, yeah,
you know, I don't want to, you know, put too much
of a damper on the good mood here. But you know, since you
bring up demons and you know, people just hating people for no reason.
Um, I think it's also you know, fair to mention it's It was
interesting to me the way this, uh, this comment was packaged around this
idea that, oh, well, we need to support the LGBTQ plus community,
you know, because their rights are human rights. And I just wonder
how effective that packaging is, you know, given that this is the Israeli
ambassador to the US, and I'm not sure either of our countries have the
best, most spotless record when it comes to human rights and taking care of
all of the other marginalized groups that we live with and around. And I
wonder if y'all have any any thoughts on that piece of it. I don't
know TA does what I do going forward. It was so um so yeah,
the fact that we're we're still talking about human rights, and you would
think in twenty twenty three this would just be like a basic thing that everybody
has the right to, you know, basic human rights. You would think
that this would just be a thing that you know, people are people.
But apparently we still have to have these discussions. And as you pointed,
out Israel and the United States. Our history there are histories are not a
very good shining example. I can we got close to four hundred and fifty
years even sooner earlier than that of some really terrible things, um just in
the United States alone. So you know, I am glad that we are
making a little bit of progress, you know, but we still have a
long way to go because until every single human, all the people have equal
rights, we are constantly going to be liliming this hell so um so I
you know, treat people like their people. That's all you gotta do.
It's super easy, you know, it takes more energy to hate people,
and you know, so don't do that, you know, clear up of
your mind for like you know, watching Netflix or something like that and now
walking around with like a stick up at your bum that's my feeling on it.
That was it. Yeah, people, that's it's a good, good,
good idea to tie all this episode that people the science is in.
Yeah. Does anybody think that her Zags might be setting him up for himself,
up for a failure? Do you think that his endorsement of trans rights
through the US government is going to hurt him in any way? I don't
know. I think in the context that it was done, uh, probably
not. I feel like it fits. They're at a Pride celebration. It's
probably expected that people are going to make pro LGBTQ plus statement. I think
that it was probably very strategic that he said it at that time, because
had he said it at a different occasion, I think it may have hit
differently. So perhaps that was a strategic decision on his part, which I
think that's an interesting point. I will now be doing some research later on
with my friend Google to see if he has made similar comments elsewhere, or
you know, to follow along and see if more statements come after this.
I don't know what do y'all think. I think it depends on the we're
under. It was under a different administration, you know, maybe a little
bit of backlash, but he has he does have support within the government,
so I think that he felt a little bit more free to express that.
You know, I'm not sure what previous administrations how that would have gone.
You know. I'm you know, just just seeing, you know, because
I know our track record, Taylor, do you have anything else do you
want to say about this? I'm done. I'm enjoying my queer sunshine,
and I'm going to sit back and sit by la Qui. Yeah, I'm
mostly done as well. I guess the only thing that I would say,
as you mentioned, the USA and Israel don't have the cleanest history, so
do we have to applaud them? Of course we have to applaud this change,
But does it mean that they're really changing? Let's hope, Let's hope,
so let's see what Time says. Let's get hopeful because we cannot be
as deppressive always, so let's hope and let's see what this leads to.
That's all I want to close with. All Right, Well, hey,
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