Proud to Fight for Equality in Gettysburg!

Abolish I.C.E. Pledge

One of the rights I cherish as an American citizen is the right of DUE PROCESS (having a warrant signed by a judge, etc.), granted by the 5th Amendment.

Fifth Amendment:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

And the Fifth Amendment applies to ALL ON U.S. SOIL.

“The Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause protects all persons within U.S. territory, including corporations, aliens, and, presumptively, citizens seeking readmission to the United States.” – (Constitution website noted in comments)

In other words, if you are on US soil as an undocumented immigrant, you are under US jurisdiction, which means you are under Equal Protection of the the Law and that means…DUE PROCESS.

However, Immigration Customs and Enforcement (I.C.E.) is violating that law, both by kidnapping people without due process at all and falsely claiming that undocumented immigrants aren’t entitled to due process.

And because they are violating the constitutional law and our rights, they are snatching American citizens off the streets, even when the citizens provide the correct identification papers.

“The young mother of four, who is Spanish-speaking, was already anxious as she approached the checkpoint that morning, because her baby daughter was spiking a high fever. At the agents’ request, she showed her ID and social security card. But they called it fake, and she was detained, handcuffed, shackled at the ankles, interrogated, and ultimately transported to South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile. ICE held here there for about five hours, away from her sick child, and released the woman around 2 a.m. after a lawyer intervened on her behalf.”

I am here to say that it is NEVER worth Americans losing our precious freedoms for I.C.E. to round up undocumented immigrants, on whose labor and payment of local, state, federal, and sales taxes we rely.

If you choose to give up your freedom to walk the streets, then I suggest you take yourself to an I.C.E. detention center now because if they keep getting away with this Gestapo behavior, it will only be a matter of time that they come for you under other pretenses.

This is why I am proud to sign the Abolish I.C.E. pledge and I hope you will join me. When elected to Congress, I will gladly support expansion of immigration courts, community safety, and expanded pathways to citizenship so that we can streamline the process and help new generations find their piece of the American Dream.

Together, we #ChooseDemocracy and DUE PROCESS!

Children Are Not Their Parents’ Property

They are thinking human beings full of curiosity, heartfelt sentiments, and developing independence.

While parents are absolutely responsible for them, there can be tension as children grow into adults and their caregivers accept their independence.

But it is a process, not a switch, and so parents learn to let go a little at a time.

One of the ways children can assert themselves is to tell others what they prefer to be called.

This happened with a close family member of mine, in fact.

Most of his life, he had spent with a nickname, like “Davy” short for David. However, in a new school and living situation, he reverted to his first name, something like Thurston.

I kept checking in with him because I had known him as Davy, but I was willing to call him by his new name if that was what he preferred. No, he responded to my frequent inquiries, he was fine with the family still calling him Davy, so we did. And the people newer in his life called him Thurston, but we all understood we were talking about the same person who had initiated the request in the first place.

AND IT WASN’T A BIG DEAL.

If he had said, “I’m a girl, call me Margaret,” I would have been surprised, but again, it wouldn’t have been A BIG DEAL.

Yet, just a few weeks ago, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 2616, poorly named, the “Stopping Indoctrination and Protecting Kids Act” which PREVENTS FEDERAL FUNDING TO SCHOOLS THAT ALLOW CHILDREN’S PREFERRED NAMES AND GENDERS TO BE USED ON SCHOOL FORMS.

First of all, there aren’t that many children who choose names beyond what their parents call them.

Second, there are even fewer children who are born of one sex, but present differently.

Third, if the parents don’t know their child’s preferred name and/or gender, there might be hostile reasons for that. Why should the student bury their emerging identity at school to appease people who tell them they won’t love them if those same children express who they are?

Fourth, and this takes the minds of people who aren’t pedophiles to understand, THERE IS NO INDOCTRINATION. Teachers accepting the name and gender preferences of students are NOT telling them what and who to be, they’re accepting what the children asserted FOR THEMSELVES and that is a huge difference.

Fifth, it is unconscionable that anyone would allow this bill to go through, threatening to WITHHOLD FEDERAL FUNDING to ALL PUBLIC STUDENTS of that school simply because the school supports the emerging identities of students.

Sixth, legislators like our own U.S. Representative, elitist multimillionaire John Joyce, are far too excited to vote on a bill about the gender policing of minor children then they are about releasing the Epstein files and it’s GROSS. Remember, Joyce never signed the petition to force the vote to the House floor and he only voted to release them after Trump okayed it. Now he is perfectly silent about not all the files having been released, that the Epstein victims are named in the report, not redacted, and the names of alleged abusers are redacted. Meanwhile, he says nothing about the Louisiana representative, where child marriage is still legal, voting against releasing the Epstein files. EWWW.

Seventh, if we want to be honest, it’s not trans students who sexually assault female students in Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional District, it’s straight, older, white men, exactly the people who are trying to make Everyday Americans look anywhere else but at the sex crimes of THEIR DEMOGRAPHIC.

Eighth, if a child is so very insistent about being recognized as the opposite sex, then responsible parents do not seek surgery for that child, but work with licensed pediatricians to prescribe puberty blockers which are safe medications (supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics) that prevent the child from going through a permanent puberty until the  child reaches the age of majority to make that decision for themself.

Make no mistake, the members of the Epstein class in Congress do not actually care about children, they care about POWER. And when they give absolute POWER to parents over children, they get votes, as well as a continuation of the philosophy that there is a hierarchy of existence, of which they find themselves at the top.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Children can express who they are at school. If their actions and words are not actively harming anyone, let their voices be heard.

I am fighting for LGBTQ+ rights, including those of minor children, because I recognize them as fully human and our Democracy depends on recognizing ALL members of society. Additionally, OUR tax dollars should never be withheld from public school funding because a few religious zealots want to be sure about what genitals children have based on their names or presented gender.

Let’s remove the Epstein class members from Congress.

Please vote for me on November 3rd and #ChooseDemocracy!

FYI, I’m attaching a gallery of screenshots of news articles about those who have actually been accused of, charged with, convicted of, and/or imprisoned for sexually assaulting girls and women in our 13th Congressional District – mostly straight, white, males – NOT trans youth.