How to Debate a Plastic-Smiled Turd [UPDATED WITH VIDEO]

You simply let him hang himself by publicly denying biological reality and, then, by letting him add that even if biology is reality, if there’s not enough of you who have a particular life experience – you know, like one that throws a monkey wrench into that whole ‘chromosomes = sex, period!’ wish of the christianist right – to prevail at the polls, then you still don’t exist.

Tonight on the 9 PM news broadcast of Houston’s Faux affiliate, Ch. 26, Cristan Williams did a pretty good job of letting a plastic-smiled turd rhetorically shoot himself in the part of the body where most people have brains.

Now, to set the scene, we’re talking about a local Fox affiliate’s newscast – and a ‘debate’, replete with the mandatory equal-status-to-a-right-wing-christianist false equivalency that, sadly, all corporate media is known for. 

And, of course, the context is the ongoing Nikki Araguz case.

Cristan Williams of the Transgender Foundation in Houston is the representative of reality in this rigged (prior to airtime, Cristan posted on facebook: “a fox anchorman just called me a “he” LOL!”) ‘debate’.  As for treasonous, christianist anti-constitutionism?  That’s being represented by some clown named Dave Welch (I didn’t catch the beginning of the segment, so I don’t know if he’s related to the late former Houston Mayor, Louie ‘Shoot the Queers’ Welch or not), who – I doubt this will shock anyone – writes frequently for Wing Nut Daily.

What I’ve transcribed here is the last portion of the segment:

Local Faux ‘News’ Actress:  There is an argument out there: Some critics say that the government should not be involved in regulating relationships at all.  What do you say about that Dave?

Christianist talking-point spewer Dave Welch: Well that’s been an issue that has come up frequently during the debate over the definition of marriage. And of course we believe that the state has a compelling interest in what marriage is, because children raised in a marriage relationship with a male and a female as it should be are happier, healthier – its the foundation of our society.  So, when marriage breaks down, and, then the society breaks down.  And gender has always been accepted – what we are born with.  When that child comes out – we’ve been blessed with six of them – we don’t have to have a committee and a study on what that is.  We say its a boy or its a girl.

Cristan Williams: Unless one of them happens to be intersexed.

Welch: Well you can’t legislate and have public policy around a fractional percentage of a population.

Williams: Yes, but whenever that population has a basis in biology, we have to recognize that and we have to deal with that.

Welch: We can’t undefine an institution at the foundation of our society over a fraction of one percent.  That’s pretty clear at this point, and we have to defend what marriage is.

Williams: So your argument is majority rules and those people who are born this way – they’re just out of luck?

Welch: No we have to legislate on what is right.

Actress: Well, clearly you are both at odds.  It is certainly an issue with lots of complexities and, like I said earlier, there’s no way that we’re going to get through it all today….

And, yes, I know that the phrase “plastic-smiled turd” is pretty inflammatory.

However…

Whenever the video becomes available, watch it.  Judge for yourself if my description isn’t accurate (or, at the very least, too charitable to Welch.)  The clown sits there – not only spewing some of the most conclusively-disproven anti-same-sex marriage talking points but also denying the biological reality that intersex people live with every day – and the smile never breaks.  (I wonder if it would have if a real journalist had immediately thrown to some background footage about hospital intersex baby committees?)

[UPDATE]

Here’s the video: