The GOP’s vice presidential pick is a vocal critic of gender-affirming care for minors and once opposed federal protections for gay and interracial marriages.

An image of JD Vance allegedly dressed as a woman and wearing a blonde wig was posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday. The unconfirmed image quickly picked up steam and began trending under the hashtag #SofaLoren, a reference to the iconic Italian actress Sophia Loren and false claims that the Republican senator had sex with a couch.

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Many commenters online connected Vance’s alleged history of cross-dressing with his legislative history—which has long been a point of concern for LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.

The Ohio senator introduced the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” which aims to criminalize medical institutions that provide gender-affirming care to minors.

The Republican vice presidential pick also supports measures to limit classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity, and labeled critics of so-called “don’t say gay” legislation “groomers.”

    • @MegaUltraChicken
      6•3 months ago

      I think there’s just a disagreement with your core premise.

      There is a subset of people that are not engaged and unaware of Vance’s legislative history or public statements regarding drag. Those people will generally not engage with long thoughtful nuanced discourse. Those are the people that pointing out hypocrisy speaks to. An article or long post just doesn’t work. A quick meme does. It’s a simple cognitive shortcut to get them engaged, and it’s effective. Yes, I get a bit of masturbatory joy when I see that stuff, but it shouldn’t be meant for me. This stuff is meant to go “viral” so it gets in front of the non-engaged eyeballs.

      We need to use every single goddamn tool in the toolbox we have to engage people and get them to turn out. All of it. Including pointing out hypocrisy.

        • @MegaUltraChicken
          6•3 months ago

          Fair enough on the terminology.

          Everyone is aware of the GQP’s obsession with drag queens/trans folks/bathrooms/etc. You can attack this obsession with this photo.

          So attacking their obsession is okay, but taking it one step further and explaining that they’re not only obsessed but hypocritical somehow makes it out of bounds?

          I am truly trying to understand your point, and I think others have too, but it simply isn’t there. Can you just specifically say what you would like to see written when communicating this information to someone? What specifically do you want said about JD Vance when someone posts this photo? I think that might help.

            • @MegaUltraChicken
              6•3 months ago

              It was a question, trying to understand what the hell you’re trying to say. Don’t really think it’s fair to call that “wildly mischaracterized” but you do you.

              Happy to move on. You should really work on communicating your thoughts though. You’re not making any sense and wasting a bunch of people’s time who are trying to engage with you in good faith, and then getting combative when it’s pointed out. We can’t see eye to eye while you’re facing the other direction.