Last night’s Daily Show was devoted to the anti-trans measures sweeping the nation in the name of “religious freedom” and in the form of “bathroom bills,” which hatefully and illogically require trans people to use public bathrooms whose labels match the gender on their birth certificates. One segment focused on trans panic featured Jessica Williams interviewing a variety of trans people about their experiences with transphobia, including Megan Taylor, who was arrested last year for being trans and held in jail for eight days because she wasn’t carrying a prescription for a drug in her hormone replacement therapy.



Williams also interviewed Colorado Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt, whose anti-trans rhetoric goes something like, “They not only want to be confused about their own identity, but they want the rest of us to be confused with them. Now they want the government to join them in this pretense. They’re making us into liars.” Klingenschmitt believes that trans people are possessed by demons. He also believes that gay people and pedophiles are possessed by demons, but different demons. Thank god for small distinctions.

The entire trans-panic segment is great, but the highlight in my opinion is when Williams asks Klingenschmitt, a self-identified chaplain who makes a big show of protecting women and children from predatory trans people (and the men who aspire to be them) even though this is utter horseshit, “Is it fair to say that because you’re a priest that you’re a pedophile?”



“Well, of course not,” responds Klingenschmitt.

“Why, ‘Of course not’?” wonders Williams. “Why?”

“Because some people are criminals and some people are not criminals,” says Klingenschmitt.

“Could you take that logic and apply that to the transgender community?” asks Williams.

“They’re apples and oranges,” says Klingenschmitt, despite there being piles of recorded instances of sexual abuse at the hands of religious officials.

“By apples and oranges do you mean apples and apples?” asks Williams.

Gordon Klingenschmitt is a fucking moron.