The Texas Republican Party has a new plank in its 2024 platform, pretty well hidden on page 44 as the last of 248 numbered items.

It asks the federal government to "disclos[e] to the American people all pertinent information and knowledge…regarding the nature and origins of non-American Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP)," better known as as UFOs.

Classified information on UFOs, says the Texas Republican platform, should be considered for "declassification and public release." If the government does not do this, it risks losing the "public trust." The government should "uphold the principles of transparency and accountability." Publicizing the information might somehow help with "national security" too, the Republicans say.

In one sense, "non-American Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP)" exist: Any airplane or drone you don't recognize is "unidentified."

Declassifying that information won't contribute to national security. If the U.S. military couldn't identify a foreign airplane, the general public probably can't either, and if the incident is publicized, whoever sent that aircraft will know that someone saw it.

The Republicans' reference to UAPs isn't primarily to airplanes or drones, though. The reference is to nonhuman extraterrestrials visiting us from space. Obviously!

Last year, the U.S. House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs had a hearing on UFOs. Some people believe the government is holding out on very interesting information and that there should be more organized, transparent, collaborative investigations.

More Prominently, The Republican Platform is Against Trans People

The Texas Republican platform has quite a bit more to say about trans people than it has to say about UFOs.

It tries to designate us as roughly equivalent to "minor children" up to age 26. Until then, we'd have no legal ability to change our own names. Through our mid-20s, our parents would be entitled to call up our doctors to ask for our medical records and our universities to ask what we're studying. Our parents could also find out where we live; I infer that's part of "other information normally afforded to parents of minor children."

We would certainly not be allowed to get jobs as teachers, nor could we join the military. Books that acknowledge our existence would not be allowed in libraries.

What Cover-Up Do They Expect to Find?

So, the Republicans want to investigate UFOs.

They already investigate trans people, as James Finn wrote a couple years ago in "Really, Texas? Compiling Lists of Trans People? Nazi Germany Did That." and in "Authoritarianism Surges in U.S. as Texas Attacks LGBTQ Families and Republicans Praise Putin."

In both Republican narratives — about the imagined space aliens, and about trans people — they point to an alleged cover-up and say they want to blow it open.

But there's a key difference.

They want the government to acknowledge UFOs

The Republicans seem to suspect the UFOs are real.

They chastise the government for supposedly refusing to share valuable information about the extraterrestrials.

If the government revealed an extraterrestrial, I don't know what the Republicans would do. I imagine they'd affirm its realness.

They want the government to stop acknowledging trans people

The Republicans insist that transness itself is a scam. No one is really trans, in their view; people can only try to disguise their true sex. Thus, the Texas Republican platform complains (Item 31) that hormones and surgery are "designed to fake transition from one gender to another."

The Republicans will seek information about trans people from any hospital or government agency that might have it. But such investigation isn't their primary weapon, as they don't really care about facts about trans people.

Instead, a major focus of the Republican attacks is government recognition of trans people's genders. They don't want to interact with someone who they believe or know to be trans, nor do they want anyone to transition at all. They will shut down any valid pathway to change legal sex/gender. They're outraged by anyone modifying their own body. They don't want to hear "please call me 'he'" or "that person's a 'she'" or "'they' is OK."

Their political assumption is that, by legally de-recognizing certain people's genders, they can establish a society in which certain ways of having a gender are considered "fake" and are penalized as fraud. This would give them more social control.

By making trans people more visible, the Republicans intend to label us as "fake" and force us back into the closet.

The Republicans themselves are engineering a cover-up.

They Want Gay People in the Closet Too

The Texas Republican platform calls for the end of any type of sex education in schools, except for being taught that a fertilized egg has dignity and full humanity and that it is homicide to end a pregnancy.

It says that "homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle choice," calls for the end of same-sex marriage, and would forbid the adoption of children by gay individuals or couples.

It calls for something "even more comprehensive than the Florida law that prohibits instruction in sexual orientation and gender identity in government schools and libraries." We call that law "Don't Say Gay" for short, but it's really quite extreme, especially for kids who are gay or bi or have family members who are, and for teachers too.

If the Texas Republican platform ever comes to pass, Texas won't hire gay teachers in public high schools or state universities. As they state: "We oppose using public funds for homosexuality, transgender, or diversity-equity-inclusion centers, employees, or programs." Teachers would be forbidden to practice "crossdressing" — and the Republicans didn't say just at work. They will police what you wear, anytime, anywhere.

Anti-gay discrimination would be legal, as there would (as they conceptualize it) be no "special status" for gay people, and instead religious people would enjoy the special status of "religious liberty" to discriminate as they please.

Hate crime laws would be overturned. Violence would remain a crime, but targeting someone specifically because they are gay would not be legally relevant.

How Would You Know If Someone Is Real Enough?

We are real. We look like this, as one human example. Gay and trans.⬇️

We aren't space aliens.

…or are we?

How would you know if I were a space alien?

Are you sure?

I guess it depends on whose perspective you'll listen to. The authority and expertise you accept may determine what you're willing to believe.

Thanks for the ride

I'm OK if the Republican Party doesn't see me. But you, kind soul, may follow me.

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