The newly confirmed Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland has issued a statement about International Transgender Day of Visibility, in which she said violence and discrimination against transgender people is an “epidemic”:
“There is nothing more powerful in this world than the act of living openly, authentically, and safely. On this Trans Day of Visibility, we recognize the hard-fought victories won by and for the transgender community, honor the transgender loved ones we’ve lost along the way, and recommit to the struggle for full equality. Transgender people continue to face an unacceptable epidemic of violence and harmful discrimination in access to health care, employment, and housing. Trans people are our neighbors, our family, our friends, and our colleagues, and they deserve to live with dignity and to be treated fairly in every part of life. Today, and every day, we stand in solidarity with the transgender community as we both celebrate our progress and continue our long march toward liberation, peace, and equality.”
Haaland was confirmed as the first Native American to head the agency, a vote in Senate that won approval from both of Alaska’s senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan.
Sen. John Barasso of Wyoming warned that Haaland represented extreme views regarding climate change, the Green New Deal, and oil and gas development, including the Keystone Pipeline, which was canceled by the Biden Administration.
Haaland’s answers during confirmation hearings, he said, were vague, and had a lack of substance which led him to vote no on her confirmation.
John Baskett / March 31, 2021
So if I wear a skirt and a cute halter top with falsies underneath I can run my boat through the Yukon-Charlie without harassment from the feds.
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Common Sense Folks / March 31, 2021
Have we not better tasks at hand?
She did this on tax payers time?
Truly banal.
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prevere / March 31, 2021
Great, a Woke Dope without a clue, undermining Alaska based on political correctness instead of facts. And our senators voted for her. We are screwed.
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Tim / March 31, 2021
Did anyone bother to ask Haaland what, exactly, this has to do with managing lands? Anyone?
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MPM / March 31, 2021
Just remember “Dan the useless Man” voted to confirm her.
Let’s get rid of Lisa then Dan. It turns my gut I voted for him.
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Daryl / March 31, 2021
Really Dan, You had to vote for that?
I’m speechless.
I think a vote not to confirm would have shown good judgment, leadership and been worth the fight. But in your letter explaining your reasons behind confirmation, you seemed to have rationalized away the irrational. The old saying “Birds of a feather flock together” still rings true. I would not want that confirmation on my record. C’mon Man!
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Lakreesha / March 31, 2021
Exactly WHO decides that there is now an international transgender day? This is the first time I ever heard of this day.
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Proud Alaskan / March 31, 2021
I agree vote out Dan too!
Plus next election let’s vote, kick Lisa to the curb
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Robert A Schenker / March 31, 2021
Too weird to contemplate, coming from a Sec. of Interior, this isn’t Wally Hickel beseeching Nixon to consider the youth of America and their message about Viet Nam. This is just insane.
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AKFireFlower / March 31, 2021
Well she was wearing moccasins and you know how Danny boy is…always voting for the minority special interest and never for the working middle class whom he despises.
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josephdj / March 31, 2021
Transgender is just a way to pretend they’re not really gay.
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MF / March 31, 2021
This is all so stupid. I long for the good old days when people had respect, good manners mattered, and we weren’t constantly being force fed tolerance by the most intolerant group of people ever to exist! Must we bow and scrape to every whack job group out there? Haaland is a big mistake and Dan Sullivan made a grave error voting for her.
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David Boyle / April 1, 2021
Ms. Haaland has a right to her PERSONAL opinion but not as the Secretary of the Interior.
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APEA's Catherine / April 1, 2021
Anyone know the country of origin of the flag in the background? Check out the photo.
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Ken / April 1, 2021
New Mexico state flag.
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NAV / April 1, 2021
Haaland is inexperienced and is a DEMONRAT puppet!!! Just another snake forming from underneath the carpet of corruption !!!
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G Aleutian / April 1, 2021
Inappropriate.
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Akwhitty / April 1, 2021
New Mexico country.
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AKFireFlower / April 1, 2021
That’s New Mexico’s flag.
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DukDodgers / April 1, 2021
New Mexico, she was a rep there.
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PJ Olson / April 2, 2021
If you believe that you’re something that you cannot possibly be…for example, a woman trapped in a male body…then you’re mentally ill.
It doesn’t matter how strongly you believe it or how much you mutilate your body or how often some idiot agrees with you – your genetics don’t change.
The belief that you’re of the opposite sex is, literally, all in your head, a delusion.
Anyone who allows peer pressure or popular consensus or their favorite entertainment figure to sway them into agreeing that men can become women or women can become men just by wishing it so are demonstrating their own form of mental weakness or illness.
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josephdj / April 4, 2021
Decades ago a bi-sex lady friend told me that when she made sex with a woman, it was like making sex with herself.
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