Anti-trans rhetoric and policy dominates CPAC, where Republicans invoke the Bible and a ‘war on families’

When he addressed this year’s Conservative Police Action Conference, right-wing commentator Michael Knowles addressed what he called a “kerfuffle” from last year’s remarks, when he said “transgenderism must be eradicated from public life.”

Last year’s statement – widely seen as a call for violence against trans people – was condemned by LGBT+ civil rights groups and the White House, amid an avalanche of anti-trans legislation aimed at young people across the country and fears of abuse and violence fuelled by the denial of trans existence.

At this year’s CPAC, he said he stands by his “observation” that “men can’t become women,” and that the backlash to his statement reveals the “identity crisis” facing an America in decline without religion.

His remarks on Thursday – part of a relatively lengthy diatribe condemning not only trans people but marriage equality, abortion rights and surrogacy – drew little attention outside the poorly attended convention hall, but underscored the ubiquity of anti-trans rhetoric that is threading nearly every single event at the conference and throughout Republican politics.

As LGBT+ communities and families across the nation are reeling from the death of a bullied gender-fluid 16-year-old in Oklahoma, CPAC’s attendees – including close allies of Donald Trump and activist influencers dedicated to ending affirming healthcare – repeatedly misgendered and ridiculed trans people, all while invoking Christianity and Biblical passages.

At last year’s CPAC, Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville dismissed trans girls and women as “biological boys”; sports, he said, must be “protected” because “sports have built this country”.

This year, he promoted legislation to “prohibit any governing body recognized