Own the hate: Why patriots should wear the ‘hate group’ smear with pride



Across the nation, radical activists and their allies in government wield accusations of “hate” as a weapon to silence dissent and shame those who dare protect children from harmful ideologies.

When my organization, Courage Is a Habit, was labeled a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center for our unapologetic stand against transgender ideology in K-12 schools and transgender trafficking bills, we faced a choice: Defend ourselves against the smear or redefine it on our terms.

Hate is the natural response of any sane person who sees children being indoctrinated, mutilated, or stripped of their innocence.

We chose the latter.

As I told Blaze News in April, “Absolutely we are a hate group. 100%. We hate what’s happening to children. We hate the people that pass transgender trafficking bills, which is what this HB 1312 is, essentially. We hate that children are getting sterilized and mutilated before they can even get their driver’s license. We hate everything that you stand for. We want to run you out of schools. We want to run you out of any political office.”

This is a call to American patriots to rethink the “hate” accusation and embrace it as a badge of courage. By reframing this tactic, we can neutralize its power, refocus the debate on protecting children’s innocence, and reclaim the moral high ground from those who seek to dismantle parental rights and our American way of life.

The weaponization of empathy

For too long, kind-hearted Americans have fallen into a trap. Radical activists, like those pushing HB 1312 in Colorado, exploit our empathy by framing their agenda as compassion and labeling opposition as “hate.”

HB 1312 seeks to undermine parental rights by prioritizing state control over children, allowing the government to facilitate transgender decisions without parental consent. When parents push back, they’re accused of being “hateful” toward the trans community.

“There’s no reason to go to the table with people who are echoing the hateful rhetoric going around about the trans community," Colorado state Rep. Javier Mabrey (D) asserted.

This tactic is deliberate and dishonest. It shifts the conversation away from their degeneracy and our mission to protect children from irreversible medical decisions and preserve parental authority. The “hateful” accusation forces good parents into a defensive crouch, justifying why they aren’t “hateful.”

This is a losing game. The more time we spend rebutting their labels, the less we focus on exposing their agenda: The erosion of parental rights, the sexualization of children, and the destruction of innocence under the guise of “inclusion.”

Redefining 'hate' as righteous indignation

At Courage Is a Habit, we’ve chosen to lean into the “hate group” label because we hate the ideology and policies that harm children.

Hate, in this context, is the natural response of any sane person who sees children being indoctrinated, mutilated, or stripped of their innocence. We hate that bills like HB 1312 enable schools to keep secrets from parents. We hate transgender trafficking bills that allow states like California and Maine to remove custody from out-of-state minors, simply for the fact that their parents do not agree with transgender treatments. We hate that kindergarten children are being influenced to believe they’re born in the wrong body.

Patriots must embrace this reframing. When accused of “hate,” don’t deny it. Instead, redirect it. Say, “Yes, I hate what’s happening to our children. I hate policies that put ideology over their safety, and I hate your dishonesty”

This approach disarms the accuser by rejecting the accuser's premise.

The moral high ground belongs to us

The radical left wants you to believe that opposing this agenda makes you a bigot. But protecting children is not hate. It’s the highest form of nobility. It’s protecting the most innocent among us who cannot yet make life-altering decisions. It’s love for truth, which demands we acknowledge biological reality over ideological fantasy.

When we stand against transgender ideology in schools, we’re defending the innocence and future of the next generation.

The moral high ground belongs to those who prioritize children over politics. Transgender child mutilation advocates may cloak their agenda in compassion, but their policies betray their true priorities.

The Cass Review, a comprehensive 2024 study from the United Kingdom, found that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones carry significant physical and psychological risks, with little evidence of long-term benefits. Yet radicals dismiss these findings, accusing critics of “transphobia” instead of engaging with the facts.

A call to courageous action

Patriots, it’s time to stop apologizing and start acting. Here’s how to reframe the “hate” accusation and turn it into a rallying cry.

  • Own the narrative: When labeled as “hateful,” embrace it with clarity. Say, “I hate policies that harm kids. I hate ideologies that confuse and exploit them.” This neutralizes the smear and keeps the focus on the real issue.
  • Speak with conviction: Don’t shy away from strong language. Call them what they are: Transgender trafficking bills that prioritize ideology over evidence. They’re an attack on parental rights and a betrayal of children’s trust.
  • Educate and mobilize: Share resources like the Cass Review or stories of detransitioners, young people who regret irreversible procedures pushed by activists. Attend school board meetings, write to legislators, and demand transparency in education.
  • Build community: Connect with other parents and patriots through organizations like ours or local groups opposing woke ideology. Together, we can amplify our voices and expose child mutilation advocates who constantly gaslight parents.
  • Stay focused: The left wants to distract you with bad-faith tactics. Don’t take the bait. Keep the conversation focused on the horrors these leftists support and why it’s noble to hate what they’re doing to children’s innocence.

Courage is a habit

We’ve learned that courage is a habit, built through small, consistent choices to speak truth — even when it’s hard.

Being called a “hate group” isn’t a scarlet letter; it’s a badge of honor. It means you’re a threat to those who would harm children and erode freedom. So wear it proudly. Hate what’s happening to our kids. Hate the policies that betray them. And let that passion fuel your fight.

The time for defense is over. It’s time to go on offense. Run these ideologies out of our schools. Run their champions out of office. Protect our children, not just for today, but for generations to come. As I said, “We hate everything that you stand for” — and we’re not backing down.

Make courage your habit.

Blaze News investigates: ​Democrats attack parents and parental rights in Colorado



Democratic lawmakers in the Colorado Senate are poised to pass a controversial piece of legislation that would grossly undermine parental rights and compel speech.

House Bill 1312 would, specifically, classify "misgendering" and "deadnaming" as child abuse; define both perceived offenses as discriminatory acts under state law; force schools to honor students' "chosen names" for any reason; and prohibit educational institutions from enforcing sex-based dress codes.

Democrats in the state legislature not only invoked House Rule 16 to kill debate before passing HB 1312 in a party-line vote on April 6 but smeared parental rights organizations critical of the legislation as hate groups on par with the Ku Klux Klan, indicating they were undeserving of consultation by virtue of their opposition.

Leftist lawmakers' latest attack on parental rights in the Centennial State might have largely gone under the radar had they not also viciously attacked those parents who expressed concern. The rhetorical attack has, however, helped draw attention to the legislative attack.

Blaze News reached out to some of those parental groups that Democrats have smeared as hateful and apparently want to ignore as well as to other critics of the "unlawful" legislation.

It appears that what leftists regard as "hatred" is actually an admixture of Americans' fidelity to the U.S. Constitution and their concern over further encroachments on parental rights.

As for the legislation, critics made clear that it will be challenged in the courts if ratified — although Focus on the Family culture and policy analyst Jeff Johnson indicated there was hope yet as of Thursday that the bill could die before reaching Democratic Gov. Jared Polis' desk.

Hatred, redefined

When Republican state Rep. Jarvis Caldwell raised the matter last week of whether non-LGBT parent groups were consulted ahead of the bill's passage in the state House, Rep. Yara Zokaie stated, "A well-stakeholdered bill does not need to be discussed with hate groups," adding, "We don't ask someone passing civil rights legislation to go ask the KKK their opinion."

'Colorado parents should be concerned.'

State Rep. Javier Mabrey later noted, "There's no reason to go to the table with people who are echoing the hateful rhetoric going around about the trans community."

Caldwell told Blaze News in a statement that "equating caring and concerned parents to 'hate groups' and the KKK is typical Democrat propaganda."

"Colorado parents should be concerned," continued Caldwell. "It's not hateful to be outraged by their agenda. We have crossed the Rubicon for parental rights in this state."

Blaze News reached out to Zokaie and Mabrey as well to Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie (D), the office of Gov. Jared Polis (D), and the Colorado House Democratic Caucus about the Democratic smear of parents across the state. They did not respond by deadline.

The El Paso County chapter of Moms for Liberty is among the groups critical of the legislation that were not consulted and then smeared as hateful by the Democratic lawmakers.

Chapter chair Kristy Davis clarified to Blaze News that Moms for Liberty's opposition to HB 1312 isn't rooted in hatred but rather in the U.S. Constitution. After all, the Democratic bill "infringes on parental rights and compels speech."

"Our advocacy for parental rights is rooted in the U.S. Constitution and should never be labeled as 'hate,'" wrote Davis. "We strive to ensure that all parents' rights are protected, and we oppose HB25-1312, which seeks to use legislation to separate parents from their children."

"Sections 2 and 3 [of HB 1312] represent government overreach by mandating the judicial system to apply transgender ideology in custody cases, while Sections 4, 5, and 6 force policies that limit parental authority over their children's names and gender expression," wrote Davis. "This legislation appears to be anti-family, pushing an agenda that appeals to only a fraction of Colorado taxpayers. It is harmful to both parents and children, creating unnecessary stress, fear, and separation and negatively impacting their mental health."

Davis, who has faced apparent threats online in recent months, noted that "parents have every right to be concerned about policies that affect their children's well-being and their ability to make decisions for their families."

'We hate that children are getting sterilized and mutilated.'

Corey DeAngelis, senior fellow at the American Culture Project and executive director at the Educational Freedom Institute, told Blaze News that Zokaie "let the mask slip."

"She detests parents who disagree with her so much that she doubled down on comparing them to the KKK," said DeAngelis. "Colorado Democrats are control freaks trying to force their insane ideology onto the rest of society. Colorado Democrats want to punish parents who don't accept the delusions of a small child."

"They're stomping on the rights of parents and hoping no one notices," added DeAngelis.

Alvin Lui is the president of the parental rights advocacy group Courage Is a Habit — a group that has furnished some parents in the state and elsewhere with tools to tackle gender ideology and has, along with Moms for Liberty and Parents Defending Education, been designated an "extremist group" by the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center. Lui told Blaze News that his group has neutralized the "hate group" label in part by adopting it.

"I say, 'Absolutely we are a hate group. 100%. We hate what's happening to children. We hate the people that pass transgender trafficking bills, which is what this HB 1312 is, essentially. We hate that children are getting sterilized and mutilated before they can even get their driver's license,'" said Lui. "'We hate everything that you stand for. We want to run you out of schools. We want to run you out of any political office.'"

'Colorado Democrats just told Virginia's Terry McAuliffe "hold my beer."'

Regardless of what parent groups do with Democrats' "hate" label, its use in the first place is telling.

"What these assertions reveal is a troubling disconnect between some Democrats and the real, everyday concerns of parents," said Davis. "It feels as though they're dismissing the legitimate worries of moms and dads who simply want to have a say in their children's well-being. Parents are the ones who know their children best, and when they speak up, they should be heard — not labeled as radicals or adversaries."

Battle lost, war undecided

"Colorado Democrats just told Virginia's Terry McAuliffe 'hold my beer,'" DeAngelis told Blaze News. "Mr. McAuliffe, a Democrat, lost his race for governor after revealing he didn't want parents to have a say in their children's education."

McAuliffe was governor of Virginia from 2014 until 2018. He ran again for governor in 2021. Whereas his opponent, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), championed parental rights — particularly parents' prime authority over their children's education — the former Democratic governor signaled a desire for a difference balance of power.

During a gubernatorial debate in September 2021, McAuliffe stated, "I'm not going to let parents come into schools and actually take books out and make their own decision."

At the time, the battle over critical race theory and LGBT propaganda in the classroom was a hot-button issue for Virginia parents.

"I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach," added McAuliffe.

Youngkin handily beat the critic of parental authority and remains governor of the state.

With McAuliffe's defeat in mind, DeAngelis told Blaze News, "Colorado Republicans should follow Glenn Youngkin's playbook and capitalize on this issue. They need to fight back to rescue parents from socialist takeover."

Numerous Republican lawmakers in the state Senate — where they are outnumbered 23-12 — have indicated they will oppose the legislation, which as of April 9 had not been assigned to a committee.

In a statement shared with Blaze News, Colorado Senate Minority Leader Paul Lundeen (R) noted that "HB25-1312 undermines one of the most sacred and time-honored principles of our society: the right of parents to raise their children in accordance with their values, beliefs, and faith."

"When government policies attempt to substitute the judgment of bureaucrats for that of parents, we risk eroding a foundational pillar of liberty and personal responsibility," added Lundeen.

'Colorado used to be very red.'

Lundeen insinuated that the legislation would not only undermine the "sacred right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children without unjust interference," but "pave the way for future intrusions into how families educate, discipline, or spiritually guide their children."

Lundeen vowed to "stand firmly" against the bill and comparable legislation.

While Republicans could, as DeAngelis suggested, capitalize on this issue, it will take time to gain ground in the state legislature.

Both Brittany Vessely, executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference, and Jeff Johnson of Focus on the Family separately told Blaze News that Colorado's political capture by leftists was decades in the making, orchestrated in part by a cabal of billionaires who poured billions of dollars into the state to strategically flip local districts.

"Colorado used to be very red," Vessely told Blaze News. "It was more of a libertarian state — very rancher-dominated."

"But [entrepreneur] Tim Gill, Jared Polis, and a couple others poured money into the state and flipped these districts," said Johnson. "Once Democrats had control, they passed legislation that appealed to the left, to radicals."

The legalization of marijuana, the promise of other forms of social deregulation, and the state's general leftward shift apparently drew multitudes of radicals to the state, especially from California.

"So there's just been, in the last 10 years specifically, a huge move from Colorado being very red to purple for a while to now being dominated with majorities of progressive Democrats in both chambers and an LGBTQ progressive governor and very progressive courts," said Vessely. "So we have a trifecta in Colorado in the legislation where parental rights are being completely violated."

'HB 1312 is going to end up in litigation.'

The disconnect between leftist lawmakers and traditional Coloradans has been enough to drive majorities in numerous counties to vote either to break away and form their own state, "North Colorado," or to become part of Wyoming.

For the time being, they are stuck with lawmakers who are keen to undermine parental rights; to force them to fund abortion; to bar health benefit insurance plans from denying or limiting coverage for sex-change mutilations; and to keep up the lies about transvestites' sexes even after death.

From Polis' desk to the courts

Opponents of HB 1312 do not presently have sufficient time to change the state of play politically; hence the ongoing discussions of legal action.

Colorado state Rep. Brandi Bradley (R), for instance, vowed to sue and "keep suing" if the bill succeeds, stating, "I've birthed five children" and "will protect them to the Nth degree."

Brittany Vessely told Blaze News that "HB 1312 is going to end up in litigation because it directly impedes upon the religious freedom of conscience and expression for all Coloradans across the state but especially for the faith-based community."

Vessely explained that the public accommodation section of HB 1312 requiring compliance with gender ideology-based speech codes refers to the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act — the law at issue in the case 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis decided by the Supreme Court in 2023 — which was amended in 2021 to add the terms "gender expression" and "gender identity" to statutes prohibiting discrimination against members of a protected class.

While there is a religious exemption in the state anti-discrimination law, Vessely indicated it really protects only places like parishes and church halls — not diocesan offices, not Catholic schools, hospitals, homeless shelters, or cemeteries.

"These are areas where a lot of our Catholic ministries are going to be directly impacted by the effects of this bill," said Vessely, adding that Christian publications could similarly be impacted.

Jeff Johnson suggested to Blaze News that HB 1312 is clearly unconstitutional and fit for a challenge, adding that he has never seen a piece of legislation "try to do so many things at once."

"So you have the attack on parents' rights, which is unconstitutional," said Johnson. "The Supreme Court has said over and over again that parents have the right to raise their children — they're the ones in charge of their nurture and care and education — and this bill basically usurps that and says, 'No, it's abusive if a parent doesn't go along with the child's sexual identity confusion.'"

Johnson noted that while the bill presently targets court decisions in custody cases, once so-called "deadnaming and misgendering" have been "defined as abusive in this realm, it would be pretty easy for regulations to follow along saying, 'Hey, if you're not affirming your child's sexual identity confusion, that's abusive in any case. And [Child Protective Services] could step in and start taking children away."

In addition to standing on shaky ground because of the abuse classification, Johnson said that HB 1312 is vulnerable to legal challenges both because it tells the court to ignore other states' court mandates regarding parenting and because "it also coerces speech, requiring schools and businesses and employees to agree to the idea that a man can become a woman or a woman can become a man, and it forces people to use a person's 'chosen name' and pronouns rather than going by the biological sex."

'They're waking up to the agenda, and they're saying, "No."'

Courage Is a Habit's Lui suggested that besides legal challenges, Coloradans also have the choice of civil disobedience.

"They can arrest one or two people" for reality-affirming language, said Lui. "They're not going to arrest 1,000 people. They're not going to arrest 5,000 people for calling a man a man."

"It's not an easy answer once you get to this point," continued the parental rights advocate. "Once you make fear a habit, they keep pushing you until they've got you over a barrel. And that's why we always remind people: You got to make courage a habit."

Vesseley noted that while the pro-life cause is presently facing neglect, especially at the federal level, there is a "tremendous amount of momentum right now for the parents in those organizations that are fighting back against the LGBTQ narrative that's happening, especially in schools. We're seeing that across the nation."

Johnson suggested that Democrats have unwittingly awoken the sleeping giant by "trying to get every area of society in Colorado to comply with this agenda."

"I don't know if the pushback is from [the transgender agenda] or if it's the parental rights issue, but I think people are starting to wake up and say, 'A man can't become a woman, a boy can't become a girl, and vice versa.' They're waking up to the agenda, and they're saying, 'No, this is harmful to children and adults, and you can't force me to go along with this,'" said Johnson.

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Teaching the 'Habit' of standing up for kids​



Like most political exiles, Alvin Lui and his wife were happy with their life and didn’t expect it to change. His career as an illusionist had made him a local celebrity in the pleasant San Francisco suburb of Dublin, and he took any opportunity he could to give back to the community.

The way he saw it, it was a long-term investment. “My wife and I are planning on staying in this city for quite a while, so it's our privilege to be able to donate our time and money to the very schools our future children will be attending," Lui told a reporter at a 2014 fundraiser to benefit a local educational charity.

Lui and his wife eventually had a daughter. It was when it came time for her to attend the local schools that Lui realized how much everything had changed. Gender ideology — the notion that children should "choose" whether they feel like a boy, a girl, or something in between — had crept into the curriculum for even the youngest students.

For Lui, a first-generation Chinese-American whose parents fled Communist China, this LBGT-powered cultural revolution was disturbingly familiar. So he packed up his family and headed for Carmel, Indiana, lured by the excellent schools and the promise of a sensibly traditional small-town life.

When Lui noticed the same ideology beginning to undermine the Carmel school system, he decided that he had to act.

As president of the parental rights advocacy group Courage Is a Habit, Lui offers educational materials that simplify and expose the machinations of the transgender activists’ playbook.

Courage Is a Habit also fights local legislation around the country that attacks parental rights.

The group recently scored a victory over a bill in Maine that, as Joe MacKinnon reported for Blaze News, "would allow the state to take custody of children whose families refuse to subject them to sex-change mutilations and other irreversible medical interventions."

The narrative surrounding the bill’s collapse was, predictably, head-spinning. The Advocate blamed conservative account Libs of TikTok and other “right-wing extremists online” for targeting “lawmakers who were considering the legislation.”

Yahoo! News reposted another article from the Advocate claiming that the “bill aimed to protect transgender youth’s access to care trigger[ed] outlandish claims of child-snatching as right-wingers wage a war of words on the proposed legislation.” Even local news furthered the myth of “gender-affirming care.”

In this endeavor, Lui has had to contend with EqualityMaine, which he describes as “the most radical transgender cult organization.”

On the national level, he has drawn more formidable, and more well-funded, adversaries, including the Southern Poverty Law Center. That group recently put Lui on its Hatewatch list, arguing that “radical parents’ groups including … Courage Is a Habit also took the opportunity to purchase some ersatz blue-tick legitimacy” on X.

“Each is part of a wave of such parent groups that galvanize followers to attack members and allies of the LGBTQ community, mask and vaccine mandates, and inclusive curriculum, such as critical race theory.”

For his part, Lui remains unbowed. As he often says, “you may not care about politics, but politics cares about your children.” Lui recently spoke with Align about the lure of the Midwest, finding a voice as an activist, and why he believes that courage is a habit.

ALIGN: You grew up in California, right?

ALVIN LUI: I did, I did. I was born in California. I lived there most of my life except for about four years in the East Coast, you know, early on. But other than that, yeah, I'm a California boy.

ALIGN: So it must've been pretty serious for you to pack up everything and move to Indiana.

LUI: Nobody just picks up and moves like that. It's tough, of course. But we didn't want to raise children there for a lot of reasons. I think your audience would probably understand that.

'All parents know how to defend their kids. They've crossed rivers and oceans, deserts to give their child a chance of a better life. So what makes this time so special that someone can point a finger in your face and call you a bigot and it makes you stand down?'

But when I got to Indiana ... people asked me why I would move. Because a lot of people who grow up in Indiana take it for granted. They don't understand how amazing it is to grow up in the Midwest.

Because all they see of California is Hollywood and the media. They don't see how it really is. And so, the easiest way I would [explain it] if I had 10 seconds is I would say, “Well, if I were to raise a daughter there, they would tell her the two most important things in her life are that she's female and she's Asian. And that everything bad that happens to her, every failure she'll ever have is because of one or both of those things.”

And that's just the culture. That's the entire culture of California. And at the time, I didn't understand why. I just knew it was really bad on top of the crime and the sanctuary states and the taxes going to everybody but the taxpayers. Coming to Indiana was like going back in time 20 years ... in a good way, a very good way. So it's been a blessing for sure

ALIGN: Was it a slow boil, or was there a particular incident that changed your mind and made the decision for you?

LUI: It was pretty sudden. [It's like that saying], a fish doesn't know [it's] wet. And so, when you're living in California, you don't realize it until you have a family, until you start being a business owner.

They want to get to the kids very early on. They want to get a 16-year-old to vote. Because you simply have no rearview mirror of life [at that age]. Let's face it: When you're 25, you barely have a rearview mirror of life. And until you start failing in life; until you start paying taxes; until you start building something, then failing, then building again; until you have something to worry about other than yourself; until life knocks that narcissism out of you, you don't really understand. .

[Look at] the way they throw up all this red tape, to make it as difficult as possible for you to be successful and to be financially independent. But if you're a failure, they make it as easy as possible for you to stay a failure.

And those are the policies in California.

For me, it was two things. It was the sanctuary state, sanctuary city, opening up the borders. I know today you and I are having this conversation — today in 2024 and the whole country is talking about it, but this has been a problem in California for 20 years.

And then when transgenderism came again and they started really saturating our young people with it.

Your family, your safety, and keeping a child's innocence are the most paramount. You could be poor. You could always make money. But when you rob somebody's physical safety, which is what illegal aliens do, and then you take a child's innocence — those two things. If it goes wrong, you don't get those things back.

A girl in a city right next to mine got killed by an illegal alien in San Francisco walking around with her dad. It was heartbreaking. She died in his arms, and she was in her late 20s.

And I thought, "God, this man raised her through all the barfing and the diaper-changing and then hurting herself and then worrying about her friends and worrying about her grades and making sure she came home on time and graduating high school and maybe she went to college.

"But then she's 27 and he's thinking, 'I've done it, she's a woman and she's moving on with her life and she's doing great.' And they're spending time together walking around San Francisco in Pier 39 — a touristy place — and she died in his arms."

And it was because of an illegal alien who had been was deported five times. They kept letting him come back into San Francisco because it's a sanctuary city at the time. San Francisco was the first sanctuary city in the country, and they would not work with ICE to arrest him. And he shot her.

ALIGN: What you're doing with Courage Is a Habit is offering educational tools to people and letting them decide for themselves. Talk to me about that mission and what pulled you in that direction, where the idea came from, and what you offer with Courage Is a Habit.

LUI: So I guess let's start with the name. When I got to Indiana, I was quite naive, because I really loved Indiana. But [I realized] that the one thing that makes no difference in a red or blue state is public education, K-12.

There's no difference when it comes to red and blue states. The indoctrination is the same, and that's one of the things that parents have a hard time accepting.

So I saw a lot of the same seeds that were planted in Indiana that will eventually grow to the policies that destroyed my old home in California. Obviously to a lesser degree because we're not as far along in Indiana as California, but all the pillars and the foundations were already laid in K-12.

It just hasn't saturated yet into the community and into legislation. It was starting already, and even in the four years that I've been here, we can already see a difference.

This was something people didn't know. So I was very naive when I got here and I said, “Oh, I know what's going on. These people just don't know. I'm a nobody. I'm just gonna say, ‘Hey, look, I'm gonna be super honest. I'm from California and here's the reason why I left: You guys are already having these things in there.'"

And so I thought that if I would just get my dumb ass on the radio and maybe in some newspaper articles and just say, “Hey, I love Indiana. Love you guys. You guys have been great. You've welcomed us. I just want you to know, just to say thank you.

"And, look, you guys aren't racist. Don't fall for that. Don't go down that path. Don't go down that path because this is where it leads.”

I thought that if I said that, people would go, “Oh, man, yeah,” and then they'd rise up and speak out.

I was wrong. People reacted the same way that we did in California when people told us this 25 years ago. It won't happen here, you're fear-mongering, it's just white privilege, it's all that stuff. So I was really taken aback by how afraid people were. How afraid people were to speak up even though the people knew what I was saying was true.

But waiting for it to happen was better than speaking out and having an insufferable white woman in your neighborhood call you a racist and a bigot, right?

So anyway, I found myself starting to go around speaking to parents, mostly focused on education. And I eventually started off my speech with this little blurb.

I said, “Isn't it kind of funny that all of you very wonderful, successful people find yourself on a Friday night or Saturday night in a strange auditorium listening to a stranger from another state tell you how to defend your children? This has never happened before in the history of parenting, right?"

And I said, “Why is that? You know, all parents know how to defend their kids. They've crossed rivers and oceans, deserts to give their child a chance of a better life. This is what the American dream is made out of, inviting immigrants, legal ones, to come here. So what makes this time so special that someone can point a finger in your face and call you a bigot and it makes you stand down? Why is that?”

Then I said, “Well, in order to understand why that is, you have to go back a little bit as to how you got here over the last, let's say, five to seven years.

"And it started with something very simple. Maybe it was at your workplace. They asked you to put up a Black Lives Matter or a rainbow flag, or asked you to take this anti-bias training and said you had unconscious this and unconscious that. And you knew this was wrong. You knew that wasn't true, but you went along with it.

"So over time, you've made fear a habit.

"It wasn't one or two things, it wasn't four or five things, but it was just over time, you made fear a habit.

"So now, they're coming after your kids, and you told yourself, 'When it really counts, I'll be able to stand up.'

"But the problem is, that's not how habits work. If you make fear a habit, even when they come after the thing that you love most in life, which everybody in this room," I said, "obviously it's your children and grandchildren, because you would run into a burning building for them.

"But you wouldn't go fight for them if someone calls you a bigot. And now, you find yourself in an auditorium asking me how you defend your children."

I said, "You know how to defend your children. You just have to make courage a habit. And every time you want to speak up and your heart's coming out of your chest, and you know someone's going to call you a bigot or a transphobe or whatever, and you say it anyway.

"The next time is not gonna feel easier, and the next time after that it won't. And I can't tell you, because I don't know your psychological makeup, how many times it'll take, but I can promise you, one of those times, it might be the 15th time or the 25th time, you will not feel fear any more, because you've made courage a habit instead of fear. But those first six times are gonna suck.

"No matter who you are, those first six times are gonna really suck. But when you can push past that, once you make courage a habit, you will never go back. You will never one day say, you know what, I think I'm gonna shut up again."

So that was how I used to start my little talks in Indiana.

When I saw that this education issue was not just isolated to big cities like Indianapolis, I started to realize that the thing that destroyed California has now escaped from the lab, so to speak.

It escaped Wuhan. And now it's everywhere. Now it's everywhere.

My great-grandfather ran from communism. He was an older man, you know, the Red Guard dragged him out of his little bakery. He wasn't rich; he was just a small business owner. He had two bakeries. They dragged him out and beat him. And he ran from communism so that his family could have a chance of not growing up in China, in Mao's China.

I never thought that I would have to move my family from one place to another because I was fearing the same thing. Obviously, it's nowhere near life and death as it was for my great-grandfather, but the idea was the same thing.

My father always made sure that my siblings and I felt very lucky to be born here. He never let us forget that.

If America goes the way of the Cultural Revolution, your children and my children will have nowhere to go. I wanted to do something that would spread nationally and not just locally, and that's how Courage Is a Habit was born.

When it was time to think of a name, I thought about that little opener I had; I also wanted a name that every time someone said it would give encouragement.

Those are the kind of subtleties we don't do enough of; our opponents do. They see the message in a name. And I wanted a name that every time someone said it, even if in a negative way, it reminded people that you don't need an organization. You know how to defend your children. This is in you.

This is why I very rarely say courage is contagious. That's a great saying, by the way. I love that saying. It's a beautiful saying, courage is contagious. The reason why I don't say it is when you say something is contagious, it inherently means you need other people around for that contagion.

So it means that if you don't have enough people to spread that courage contagion, then you don't have it. Or you might have it, but then when enough people fall away, and you look around and you go, "Oh, I only got like two people that believe me," then you start to be silent again. But when you make courage a habit, it doesn't matter if you have a thousand people behind you or nobody behind you.

'They want to trans children so badly': Maine's 'transgender trafficking bill' likely to pass and trigger interstate battle



Democratic state Rep. Anne Perry's LD 227, dubbed the "Transgender Trafficker Protection Act" by critics, is a radical piece of legislation that would codify the right to sex-change mutilations and abortion in Maine, shield sex-change surgeons from consequence, and bar authorities from notifying parents of the locations of their kidnapped children if those kids are said to be seeking "gender-affirming care" in the state.

In recent weeks, LD 227 was condemned by Republican lawmakers, the Maine Sheriffs' Association, and 16 state attorneys general who indicated that it was unconstitutional.

The parental rights advocacy group Courage Is a Habit led a massive campaign this month to raise awareness about LD 227 and get it killed in committee.

The eight Democrats on Maine's Joint Standing Committee on Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services were evidently unswayed by parents' concerns and the overwhelming backlash, voting Thursday to advance LD 227.

Fellow travelers in the Maine Legislature and the governor's mansion will now likely see LD 227 through to becoming law, thereby setting up an interstate battle.

"This was already defeated in January," Courage Is a Habit president Alvin Lui told Blaze News, referencing the death of LD 1735, a similar piece of legislation killed in committee. "But they want to trans children so badly, and they want to separate them from their parents so badly, that they're getting it through by piggybacking on the abortion bill."

The bill

Blaze News previously reported that in addition to codifying the legal right to sex-change mutilations and abortions without age or time limits, LD 227:

  • helps health care practitioners escape professional discipline and legal accountability for crimes related to sex-change procedures performed in and outside Maine;
  • authorizes persons targeted with criminal or administrative action to sue those seeking to hold them accountable;
  • requires insurance companies to cover sex-change procedures but not the health care needs of detransitioners;
  • effectively prevents law enforcement from reuniting parents with children who have run away or been taken to Maine for abortions or sex changes; and
  • allows virtually any adult to take a child across state lines for "gender-affirming care" even if the kid is not their own or is "incapacitated."

Republican state Rep. Laurel Libby confirmed that under LD 227, an individual could take a child "from another state against the parents' wishes" to Maine for sex-change procedures.

"And Maine law enforcement would have their hands tied. Maine judiciary would have their hands tied — would not be able to actually help return that child to their lawful parents," added Libby.

Lui previously told Blaze News, "This is the nastiest bill I've ever seen. Even worse than anything that I've seen come out of California. I never thought I would say that."

The opposition

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and 15 other state attorneys general, convinced the bill was animated by a "totalitarian impulse to stifle dissent and oppress dissenters," told Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills in a March 11 letter that LD 227 is unconstitutional and "seeks to contravene the lawful policy choices of our States' citizens by imposing on the rest of the country Maine's views on hotly debated issues such as gender transition surgeries for children."

The attorneys general indicated they would take action if the bill was passed and ratified. Now that federal battle is all but guaranteed.

Mary-Anne LaMarre, executive director of the Maine Sheriffs' Association, stressed to the committee members Thursday that LD 227 "has unanimous opposition of Maine Sheriff's Association's legislative policy committee."

LaMarre noted that the association was "unable to find anyone that was consulted on the language of the bill."

Maine law enforcement fully rejects this horrendous Transgender Trafficking bill, LD 227
— (@)

Courage Is a Habit, various individual parental rights advocates, and some critics of gender ideology, including All-American swim star Riley Gaines, rallied against LD 227 and attempted to focus pressure on the Democratic committee members who ultimately supported the legislation.

The result and response

The bill cleared committee in an 8-4 vote along party lines.

Sens. Donna Bailey (D) and Cameron Reny (D), along with Reps. Poppy Arford (D), Anne Perry (D), Sally Cluchey (D), Anne-Marie Mastraccio (D), Kristi Michele Mathieson (D), and Jane Pringle (D) voted in the affirmative.

It will now go to the state House floor for a vote.

Video of the vote, with all 8 Democrats voting for the revamped Trans Trafficking bill to pass committee
— (@)

Planned Parenthood, an incentivized champion of the legislation, celebrated the advancement of LD 227.

Lis Margulies, vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, said in a statement, "Mainers can be proud today that 8 elected leaders said loudly and clearly: We will protect our state's health care providers and access to care from extremist attack."

"We have seen over the past few weeks that people both inside and outside of our state who are opposed to this safe, legal medical care will not stop their attempts to take away our rights and freedoms, and the protections provide [sic] by LD 227 are a step forward in ensuring Maine's clinicians can continue offering safe, legal medical care without fear of hostile actions from out-of-state actors," added Margulies.

When previously blasting the state attorneys general for taking issue with LD 227, Planned Parenthood recycled the now-debunked suggestion that sex-change procedures amount to "life-saving medical care."

The LGBT outfit Equality Maine similarly was delighted by the result, calling it "great news."

LGBT activist Erin Reed, Montana Democratic state Rep. Zooey Zephyr's boyfriend, tweeted, "A huge number of people emailed the legislators to let them know that bomb threats and the 'terrorists veto' should not be respected in Maine. But the work isn't done for those seeking to make Maine a safe state for all."

Courage Is a Habit responded on X, writing, "This is an all out war on children."

— (@)

Lui told Blaze News that there are two big takeaways for Americans. First, it is important to recognize that gender ideologues are playing a "long game." Accordingly, they are not dissuaded by short-term losses. By the same token, conservative victories — such as the defeat of LD 1735 — cannot be taken for granted or treated as definitive.

Second, Lui indicated that while critical battles are fought at the legislative level, the bulk of the war against radical gender ideology is cultural and fought locally.

"It's a good reminder that people transform their culture. [Gender ideologues] will stop at nothing to come after your children — until the cult is completely dismantled, until they're sued into oblivion," said Lui. "The transgender social contagion begins at school with school counselors; pronouns; keeping things from parents; all the transgender propaganda within the culture of the school; the teachers; the social workers; equity policies."

"So if parents really want to dismantle the cult, to end the social contagion, [they have to do it] at the school level," said the parental rights advocate.

Lui further suggested that a failure to prevent the indoctrination of younger generations in schools will guarantee more victims for the "cult" and an uphill battle in legislatures around the country.

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Parental rights advocates secure victory in Maine with death of 'transgender trafficking bill'



The Maine House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee was poised Thursday to advance a bill that threatened to allow the state to seize custody of children whose parents refused them sex-change mutilations and other irreversible medical interventions. It was evidently not meant to be.

Following some Republican backlash and a successful pressure campaign led by the parental rights advocacy group Courage Is a Habit, the committee voted 12-0 on the motion that LD 1735 — dubbed the "transgender trafficking bill" by critics — "ought not to pass."

Courage Is a Habit said the victory demonstrated "what happens when you stop letting the Transgender cult emotionally blackmail you. The every-day-American Patriot is not helpless."

The so-called "Act to Safeguard Gender-affirming Health Care" was the handiwork of Democratic state Rep. Laurie Osher, leader of the Legislature's LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus.

The bill would have:

  • prevented courts from considering the abduction of a child from a parent who has legal custody "if the taking or retention was for obtaining gender-affirming health care";
  • authorized courts to "take temporary jurisdiction because a child has been unable to obtain gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care"; and
  • prevented law enforcement from participating in the "arrest or extradition of an individual pursuant to an out-of-state arrest warrant" based on laws against the sexual mutilation of children.

Republican state Rep. Rachel Henderson warned, "This gives the state jurisdiction to effectively come into your home and take your kids based on a medical decision you made for the well-being and mental well-being of your child."

Courage Is a Habit president Alvin Lui stressed to Blaze News that LD 1735 was a "sex trafficker's dream come true."

Lui previously indicated that an early death for LD 1735 was critical, as the Democrat-controlled state House and Senate would likely pass the bill if given the chance. That opportunity was wrested away from them Thursday.

State Rep. Katrina Smith, a Republican on the judiciary committee who has been critical of the bill, confirmed the result of the successful 12-0 vote, telling the Daily Signal, "Today we won a victory for our children who have been fooled into thinking they are not perfect the way God made them."

"With the death of LD 1735 we have proven that when evil is brought out of the darkness and exposed in the light, it can be vanquished. The people spoke loudly and it mattered," added Smith.

Shawn McBreairty, a parental rights activist who campaigned against the bill, said its defeat was a "massive win for parental rights all over our nation."

"This is not Tennessee or Indiana or Oklahoma," Lui stressed. "This was 12-0 in Maine."

Lui highlighted that even Democrats who have supported other radical legislation — legalizing abortion at nine months and sex-change surgeries for minors without parental consent — were not able to bring themselves to vote in favor of LD 1735. The parental rights advocate does not credit the bill's fate to a change of heart on the part of the committee members, but rather to their inability to pass it on the sly.

Despite having previously supported the bill, Democrats on the committee retroactively claimed its language was flawed, reported WGME-TV.

While her bill was thwarted Thursday, Osher threatened to keep trying.

"We will make sure that people are protected, that our care providers are protected," Osher told WGME. "Today was a moment where we're not getting that done, but we will get that done."

"The national significance of [the bill's failure] is twofold. First, it's one less state where children who have been lured into the Transgender Cult can go to and risk being trafficked," Lui told Blaze News. "Second, it sends a national message that the emotional blackmail hold the Transgender Cult has over parents is breaking."

Lui, who credited the hard work of his co-founder Jennifer McWilliams, indicated the fight is not over.

"Currently there are 15 states with a Transgender Trafficking Bill (12 legislative bills and 3 by executive order)," said Lui. He indicated his group will now work to "ensure not another state passes a Transgender Trafficking Bill."

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