JD Vance, no fan of gender-neutral bathrooms, was photographed in his high school yearbook next to three girls posing in front of urinals in a bathroom during his senior year.
I’m no fan of Vance, but I’m really struggling to see why this photo matters.
He supports criminalising people of the ‘wrong’ gender using the wrong bathroom.
That really isn’t what’s happening in the photo, as I’ve said in more detail elsewhere in the thread, and pretending that’s what’s being depicted makes the attack look foolish and desperate.
I see girls in a boys’ bathroom for a joke picture? Is that not what it is? That’s what he’s advocating to criminalise.
No, what he advocates is legislation that forbids trans women from using women’s bathrooms. Women in women’s bathrooms is what he’s arguing against, his problem is that some of those women are transgender and his platform is one of virulent transphobia and persecution.
To argue this demonstrates some element of hypocrisy requires one to say they see transgender people as their assigned gender at birth and not their current gender.
All bathroom bills mention you need to use the bathroom of the gender assigned to you at birth and don’t mention trans status at all. Those bills target anyone that goes into the ‘wrong’ bathroom and they would see what’s in this picture as a crime as well.
State Reps. Beth Lear, R-Galena, and Adam Bird, R-New Richmond, introduced House Bill 183 which would require Ohio K-12 schools and colleges to mandate that students could only use the bathroom or locker room that matches their sex assigned at birth. It would also prohibit schools from allowing students to share overnight accommodations with the opposite sex.
Under this new Ohio bill, what’s in the picture would be a crime.
To pretend this isn’t specifically targeting transgender people is cognitive dissonance.
Of course it is targeting trans people, I wasn’t saying anything else. I don’t understand what you’re misunderstanding here. JD Vance supports bathroom bills that will bar people from going into the ‘wrong’ bathroom, but he was totally ok with it back in high school is the point we’re making.
And obviously a side effect of those kinds of laws is that they affect all of us. Make a mistake and accidentally walk into the wrong bathroom? If the wrong cop is around you could be arrested and branded a pervert.
The gender sports bills are the same, now some pervert coach from the opposing team can demand to inspect everyone’s genitals, that doesn’t just affect trans people, it affects every woman.
No one is pretending anything, and no one is claiming these laws aren’t specifically targeting trans people, of course they are. What they are claiming is that the same law would apply to what is being depicted in the photo, which is true.
Dude, what? Do you think trans adults just materialize fully formed? They’re attempting to criminalize their ability to understand who they are before graduating high school. It’s fucking insane, and if you actually cared about them you’d easily see how these things are inextricably connected.
Yeah honestly I dont think this photo is anything. Vance is a piece of shit, and we have plenty of evidence. A photo of people in the bathroom that was clearly set up as a bit isn’t really demonstrating anything here
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Where did the trans stuff even come from, my dude? No mentioned it until you - weirdly - brought it up.
His hypocrisy between what he’s done and what he says.
I dunno man, downvote me or whatever, but this really feels like it’s reaching? This is literally just him fucking around as a kid in high school. Who cares?
He’s a piece of shit no doubt, but hate him for the stupid shit he’s saying and doing now and recently. Not for some random photo of him from over 20 years ago.
For what it’s worth, I have to agree with you. I guess people forget that kids do stupid shit in high school, and this photo isn’t really that stupid. Now if this was a photo of Vance organizing a right-wing group in high school, that might be noteworthy.
So it’s fine for teenage girls to go into the boys bathroom because “teens will be teens” but it isn’t ok for trans boys to go to boys bathrooms because… why, exactly?
Like how are you not seeing the blatant hypocrisy between this action and the rhetoric he spews?
So it’s fine for teenage girls to go into the boys bathroom because “teens will be teens” but it isn’t ok for trans boys to go to boys bathrooms because… why, exactly?
You’re making a lot of assumptions here; correlation does not mean causation. You don’t know of the circumstances behind the photo. You only know that there are girls in a men’s bathroom and Vance happens to be in the photo.
I never said in any way shape or form that it wasn’t okay for transgender people to use their respective bathrooms. I sure as Hell have never defended Vance’s stances. But if you want to go putting words in my mouth because it fits your narrative, you go right ahead. But know this if you do: that makes you no better than them.
Like how are you not seeing the blatant hypocrisy between this action and the rhetoric he spews?
Honestly, if you want to rip on Vance for the things he’s done, it’s probably wise to choose more relevant situations to criticize him for; not some picture from high school that he was a part of simply because the student body president (not him) wanted to make a joke about the patriarchy of the time.
I’m making assumptions? I’m putting words in your mouth when the only thing I’ve done is criticize JD Vance?
Good god, sea lions are fucking exhausting. Very weird.
Under his proposed law, these girls would be guilty of a crime and would be sex offenders for using a bathroom that doesn’t match their birth sex. The fact that it’s in a school makes it “worse”.
You might say that’s unreasonable, but the unreasonable thing is the law, not the kids.
I don’t know what these psychopaths have to do before people like this (not you if that wasn’t clear) listen to what they’re saying. It’s unbelievable. Vance openly supports legislation that would literally make these girls criminals, period.
They’re telling us who they are, and exactly what they will do. Please listen.
Under his proposed law, these girls would be guilty of a crime and would be sex offenders for using a bathroom that doesn’t match their birth sex. The fact that it’s in a school makes it “worse”.
Yes, he’s a hypocritical misogynist, and he’s obviously an opportunist who will do and say whatever it takes to appeal to his base — even if it means throwing his wife under the bus with blatant racism. You’ll get no argument from me about that. But this photo is not the smoking gun everyone seems to be making it out to be. There is nothing revolutionary about it at all. It’s not even his photo. He just happens to be in it.
You might say that’s unreasonable, but the unreasonable thing is the law, not the kids.
Get upset for the right reasons. This photo isn’t one of them.
I went from super conservative evangelical, even harder right than my parents in many ways, in high school, very nearly got pulled into even further right stuff in young adulthood, and now am basically the opposite of all of that. Had facebook been a thing when I was that age, who knows what nonsense I would have been spouting or doing.
I despise Vance and all the he and his ilk stand for, but I agree this just doesn’t feel right to me.
Yeah this is a reach. He’s a big enough turd we really don’t need to stretch this much.
Back to the couch people!
I’m thinking, if you got to have fun, minding your own business… not hurting anyone; No matter how much you may have grown or changed and no longer like or approve of doing those activities, you don’t get to be part of a brigade that strips the rights from people who DO choose to and again, aren’t hurting anyone. You don’t get to incite violence against people who are Minding Their Own Fucking Business without the bare minimum of getting exposed for being a fucking hypocritical piece of shit.
Again, he’s a piece of shit and deserves to be called out for it. But like, this is the equivalent of putting out a hit piece about how he didn’t share his juice box in elementary school, showing that he’s always been against social welfare programs. Like, what?
Even if that is true, I’m not the same person with the same views as I was in high school, and I imagine most aren’t. You’re not a hypocrite for that; you just grew up. Unfortunately he grew up in the wrong direction, but I think holding people to things they did and believed in a completely different stage of their life is wrong.
Judge people for who they are here and now. There are FAR more consequential and important things that energy is better spent attacking him on than a joke picture in a yearbook from 22 years ago.
Sure, but he’s unwilling to let others grow and make their own choices in their time. Just because you don’t do something anymore is no reason to ban everyone else from doing it now, let alone criminalize it. He got to be curious and explore who he is, he should be letting others do the same. Exposing this stuff helps show what he is taking away from others even though it was OK when he did it.
This really isn’t that, though. These women aren’t using a men’s room, they’re posing for a photo. They certainly aren’t trans men using a men’s room, as is their damn right should they wanna.
It’s high schoolers being silly.
Vance is a deplorable man with deplorable ideologies but this doesn’t demonstrate any hypocrisy.
This kind of “gotcha” is uncritical, unserious, and looks desperate.
“So one day you’re posing with girls in the boys bathroom and 22 years later you’re against it. WHICH IS IT VANCE???”
I guess it’s just another Phone-it-in-Friday.
Edit: Shit I’m tired. Forgot what damn day it was.
It shows he’s changed: he’s no longer cool, man.
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I totally agree with you about right wing hypocrisy and bigotry, I just don’t think this will serve as a good example of it. Being transphobic wouldn’t preclude him, or anyone that could be swayed to vote for him, from thinking that gender bending (mocking trans people) comedy is funny… not all performances are endorsements. Things like minstrel shows and blackface were also considered funny at a point in time and it’s not because anyone involved thought blacks were people or deserving of equal rights.
They know all of this, but the only thing that matters is making the opposition look bad. The narrative is the only thing that matters, and reality or context are mere inconveniences. It’s a politics thing. Annoying if you want the truth, but unfortunately effective in a popularity contest like the US elections.
I mean sure. But if anyone sees their pleas as anything other than a smoke screen, I don’t think we are in the same game. I have no way of taking them as anything other than just gaslighting.
He’s pushing for laws that make what you see in that pic a crime.
This is a picture in a High School yearbook.
It’s not a picture of trans people exercising their rights to use a bathroom that fits their gender.
It’s ridiculous to make those things equivalent and say it demonstrates some hypocrisy makes the author look foolish and desperate.
It’s ridiculous to make those things equivalent
Yet the laws proposed by Republicans do just that.
Do you think it’s useful to say that the horrendous bigotry and transphobia put out by the RNC is also a threat to teenagers taking goofy photos for their high school yearbook or does that perhaps strike you as an unserious critique?
You’re getting unreasonably cross about the obvious thing to say about a meme. Go shout at some pigeons or something and let people make fun of intolerant bigots on the Internet it peace.
“I’m not being serious, I’m not being serious, you’re being serious” I shout as I curl into the fetal position.
If anything it’s just a bit… weird…
Because he’s purportedly a man of family values and that includes strict gender lines.
I tend to agree and give a ton of leeway to stupid, offensive stuff from years past that people have evolved from. We all said and did stupid stuff that we regret. However, this isn’t offensive, and that’s to highlight that Vance either A. regressed in his values from being normal to being weirdly pro-hyper-traditional gender roles or B. has no true beliefs and is just saying what he says because he thinks it wins him votes.
Thank the gods they didn’t have the internet in my younger days. Still, fuck that guy.
So JD Vance has proven to be one of the most hypocritical people in politics, which is a lot to say, like saying he is the one of the people with most guns in Texas or something like that.
This pic, and others like it, are basically checking ALL boxes on the stuff he seemed to be OK with before but now denounces because he is a weird hypocrite.
Now all we need is for those who support people like him to care about their leaders being exposed as hypocrites, but they’ve proven over and over that they don’t, so this kind of story has zero impact on them.
True, but if we join them in not caring, then the hypocrisy is completely normalized
It’s by slinging this kind of juvenile and insignificant shit that you are joining them. There is plenty more relevant, serious, and recent shit to criticise him for, hypocrisy and all.
Nah, to the violent, non violence means nothing
Taking the “high road” means nothing to the Maga crowd. Once the cult is over, we can return to normal times if we all behave
Lmfao, this isn’t violence.
E: and that’s my point exactly: want to have an impact? Go punch this fucker in the face (or follow him around or camp out outside his home, or anything that actually makes him feel threatened, or if you can’t, donate to and support those who can). This joke of a “gotcha” achieves nothing but giving libs a dopamine hit.
Lmfao, this isn’t violence.
I know, it’s an expression. I then adjusted it to our actual case in discussion
You seem to be missing the point on purpose at this point
Not everything has to “matter”.
Also, Lemmy is not the target audience that these revelations are meant for.
Careful i said something similar about the ‘yep’ comment from 2020 and i got some aggressive replies on here. (Apparently im an enlightened centralist or something haha) I agree with you though theres so much worse out there on this weird fella
I’m a fan of the semi-newish tactic of making the RNC look like hypocritical weirdos. It’s effective and there’s plenty of material to work with. These kind of reaches look desperate and that’s really not the position the DNC is fighting from nor needs to.
I’m a fan of the semi-newish tactic of making the RNC look like hypocritical weirdos
“Making them look”?.. I think you misspelled “exposing them for being”
It’s like Trump and the Koi fish feeding nonsense. Or Obama and Tan Suits. Just weird shit to fixate on
It’s just plain weird
I came here to say this. I’m not a fan but who fucking cares about this shit? It just seems petty and desperate.
Are we a week away from a picture of him in blackface?
I just about guarantee such a picture exists somewhere.
Party with Trudeau?
and about 17-21 days from legitimate gay sex
That may get him more votes
“Kamala Harris created inflation that’s crushing American families, caused a historic crisis at our southern border, and allowed deadly fentanyl to flood into communities across our country,(complete bullshit) and this is what the media is worried about,” a spokesperson for Vance told The Daily Beast in a statement when asked about the photo.“A goofy high school yearbook from over 20 years ago? Get a life,” the spokesperson concluded (I actually 100% agree with this.)
This is just fucking stupid. There are half a billion more important things to discuss, we don’t need this kind of stupidity in the national conversation.
You might actually be right for all the wrong reasons, actually. This IS a critically important issue for many voters, as JD Vance is making the subject of this photo strictly illegal with criminal charges for minors or even justifying “self-defence” style assaults on minors.
However, anybody who cares about this issue likely isn’t a swing voter, we’re not going to attract moderates with this sort of publicity.
no you get a life
I went to a summer camp in the 80s and 90s and we had this big event where the camp was separated into groups and each given a country. There were a ton of events, but some of the events were writing a song about the country and then another where you would act out some spirit event for the country. Always points for being dressed up with “traditional” clothing from the country.
It was a wretched hive of cultural appropriation and stereotypes. The song I remember the most is about how everyone was starving in Ethiopia. I saw some pictures of us all dressed and man oh man, if I were running for office those would be incredibly embarrassing.
Know what I know now, I realize how wrong the whole thing was and doesn’t represent me at all 30 years later. In fact I even stand against these things now.
One could easily look at these and claim im some massive hypocrite. But the reality is that I was a dumb teen having fun and now I’ve grown up.
On some level, I feel bad for people who think we should hold shit that happened as a teenager against us…like were you not out having fun being an impetous dumbass? Is these nothing you did as a teenager that you wouldn’t do now or think is wrong?
I basically agree with you, but the subtext is a little different.
I don’t think this photo is damning in any way. It looks like some kids having fun in a pretty typical way. It’s pretty normal for kids to “joke,” and play around with gender. But this dude had some fun as a teen and now he’s trying his damnedest to ensure no one ever gets to express themselves in a way that is incongruous with their agab. It’s worth pointing out that that’s shitty for some specific reasons.
He’s a piece of shit because his policies are terrible. Whether or not his current actions are congruent with his actions as a teen, which is true for most all of us, are two separate things.
I don’t believe he’s genuine, but if he is, like I am with my current beliefs, stupidity as kid shouldn’t be held as some evidence against who he is now.
Don’t get me wrong, when I first saw this my reaction was “he’s the gift that keeps on giving” but after some introspection, the more I think about it, the less I like it.
See that’s just it I don’t think this picture shows that he was stupid as a kid I think it shows that he’s unwilling to grant the freedom of self-expression and self-discovery that he went through to kids today.
It’s not his participation in this picture that is damning in any way, It’s who he is now that damns him.
The kid in this picture was doing normal kid shit, I can’t even figure out why someone might be offended by it but I know a Republican WOULD immediately reach for their pearlsif they saw this picture thinking it was taken recently. They would call it wokeness, and attribute it to the deep state.
That’s a good point. It’s just kinda funny because my reaction to it is basically “wow. maybe he actually used to be a real human.”
I think probably this just illustrates that he’s not genuine. That said I like your reflection that past behaviour should not be used as evidence against who a person is currently. That’s probably a good baseline, even if the past evidence could actually be viewed in a positive light.
Anyways. Thanks for the thoughtful exchange.
I agree with the teen stuff. At some point, we expect that people quit the dumb, attention seeking behavior. If they don’t learn, it becomes weird. It also is why the weird meme sticks so hard. It is MAGA signature brand.
TLDR: Kleenex became synonymous for tissues. MAGA is weird in the same way.
I’ve always said that you can’t just take one piece of a person’s life out of context to judge them. You have to look at the complete picture. You from 30 years ago doesn’t represent who you are today. BUT…it can inform a complete picture.
Remember the news articles about teenaged Mitt Romney holding a classmate down and forcibly cutting the kid’s hair? By itself, it just said Romney was a jerk as a kid. If Romney turned into an upstanding person over the years, it would be unfair to judge him based on what he did as a teenager. But we have the family dog incident and the numerous Bain articles to add to his teenaged antics, and we can build a complete picture of him, a picture that shows year after year, he was a jerk that liked to lord it over ‘inferiors’. We harped on that, all the way to his 47% comment, to illustrate that he thinks people who aren’t multi-millionaire hedge-fund conservatives should shut up and take the boot to the face. We convinced enough people in 2012 that despite Obama’s handling of 2009 through 2012, Obama should get a second chance rather than let “Better Than Thou” Romney get into office.
JD Vance (and his boss) fit in the same boat. We’re NOT just hammering him based on the fact that he did stupid stuff as a kid. We’re pointing the hypocrisy of getting all up in other people’s business while having some really weird shit going on in his business. And his history of telling other people what to do extends all the way to the present day.
In short, Vance hasn’t changed, so his teenage antics are fair game.
I don’t see how this picture shows that he was getting up in other people’s business while a kid. Besides, why not just focus on the BS he is doing now? That should be enough.
Why did this matter? At all?
For normal people? It doesn’t matter in the slightest.
For MAGA? Who knows. Probably something something trans ruining society
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Ironic because well known fact Vance always sits to pee
Yeah who cares
JD Vance puts his cast iron in the dishwasher pass it on
These were his early years, where he was only experimenting with dry humping ottomans.
Jorkin Depeanus Vance uses sugar substitute in his sweat tea. Pass it on
who cares about this? I mean if it’s something he’s still into yeah but teenagers will take lots of photos that are not to be taken seriously
Weird photo.
I mean I don’t care about the bathroom stuff, he’s just weird.
The three other girls in the picture were the president, treasurer, and secretary, according to the outlet.
Are they trying to bait him??!! 😂
This is high school stuff. Humorous for the yearbook, not a big deal even with his current position on trans people. I’m far more concerned about him being supportive of book writers on fascist movements. As Obama has said in the past, stay focused. We don’t need to make things more than they are when there’s bad stuff readily available to attack.
He’s so classy, no wonder Yale wanted him.
I’m convinced at this point that these so called elite institutions are fertile grounds for most of the rich sociopaths that are root cause of majority of current problems
And the entry requirements are mostly money.
Hahahaha perfect
this shit just keeps getting better and better
Seeing this picture of JD Vance made it all make sense.
The suits, the apparent eyeliner, the sudden radical changes of viewpoint, the book, the sucking up to fascists as long as they will keep paying his bills and tell him he’s acceptable. All of it. It just kind of all clicked into focus.
No hate for people who were big and awkward in high school. It’s all good, and you don’t have to grow up into the modern monstrosity that is Vance just because this is where you started. He’s actually clearly smarter than a lot of the people in that orbit. He should know better; that’s one of the things that made it all weird and hard to understand. I’m just saying that seeing where he started makes it make sense all the little incongruities about where he ended up, as of now.
18-year-old JD Hamel
The HAM
Bruh, this ‘journalist’ is fucking struggling with the point of his work.
