Last Word

People say the queerest things.

Compiled by Rhuaridh Marr

You don’t do that shit. Fuck wrong with you? Gay ass bitch.

—A babysitter in a viral TikTok video, after slapping a young boy for dancing alongside his sister to the song “Savage.” The boy’s mother and godmother posted on Twitter that law enforcement “are already involved,” and that the babysitter would be turning herself into police. “My godson comes from a loving home & whether he’s gay or not we love him regardless,” the godmother tweeted, adding, “His mom thought she could trust this person to watch them for 10mins & this happened.”

We cannot be silent in the face of rising violence against transgender people of color.

—Former Vice President JOE BIDEN, in a tweet after the recent murders of transgender women in Missouri and Puerto Rico. “It’s our moral obligation to end this epidemic, and ensure everyone can live open and proud and free from fear,” Biden wrote.

I don’t fit the three-month abstinence policy, but why should I?

—Actor YUVAL DAVID, speaking to CBS News about an FDA policy which prevents him from donating his blood and plasma after recovering from COVID-19. David, who says he contracted the virus in March, falls afoul of a policy requiring gay and bisexual men to abstinent for three months prior to donating. That despite David’s only sexual partner being his monogamous husband.

The vast majority of the people in the city believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.

—Anti-LGBTQ preacher FRANKLIN GRAHAM, claiming without evidence that most people in New York City oppose same-sex marriage. Graham was speaking to the New York Times after being criticized for operating a COVID-19 tent hospital in Central Park that required medical volunteers to agree to a statement opposing LGBTQ people.

HHS is adopting changes that would be harmful in the best of times but that are especially cruel in the midst of a global pandemic.

—Georgetown University professor KATIE KEITH, speaking to Politico about the Trump administration continuing to pursue plans to rollback protections for transgender patients in the Affordable Care Act. Specifically, it would impact the Obama administration’s rule that the legislation’s ban on discrimination “on the basis of sex” applies to transgender people.