Republican governor candidate is making his entire campaign about hating trans kids

Businessperson Chris Miller is running in the GOP primary for governor of West Virginia next month, and his campaign has one clear message: he simply hates transgender children.

His recent ads have focused on promising to roll back the rights of transgender students, lying about gender-affirming care to make it sound scarier, and accusing his opponents of supporting gender-affirming surgery on minors, something that is almost never performed on minors.

Related:

West Virginia GOP wants to jail librarians who provide “obscene” books to minors

“This is a very dangerous bill,” one legislator said of the proposed law, which now heads to the state senate.

One ad released by Miller’s campaign earlier this month accused one of his primary opponents, state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R), of lobbying for a “woke hospital” that wanted federal funds for “sex changes for minors.”

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“His pronoun? Money-grubbing liberal,” the voiceover said, accusing Morrisey of “mutilating kids for cash.” Gender-affirming care for minors generally involves supporting their gender expression and possibly taking puberty blockers and other reversible hormonal treatments. Presenting this kind of health care – which is supported by major medical associations in the U.S. as the standard of care for trans youth – as “mutilation” is a common transphobic tactic.

“The Pat transitioned from lobbyist to politician, masquerading as one of us,” the voiceover says. “But the real Pat Morrisey is a pro-trans liberal.” The ad then shows a picture of Julia Sweeney’s early-90s SNL character “It’s Pat.”

A video Miller posted to social media shows him in a locker room saying that because he is the father of a girl, he opposes letting transgender girls use the locker room associated with their gender.

“If we expect our kids to tell the truth, we can’t let the woke left redefine it,” he said, implying that trans people are lying about their identities, another common negative stereotype. In reality, trans people will sometimes pretend to be cisgender to avoid discrimination, and it’s when they live their lives authentically and express their gender identities that they are being truthful with others.

🚨#MillerforGov releases new TV ad, “Locker Room” 🚨

As the father of an 11-year-old girl, you’re darn right I don’t want her sharing a locker room with biological males. Girl’s locker rooms are for girls. And they’ll stay that way when I’m Governor. #WVpol pic.twitter.com/cNO2mUntiu

— Chris Miller (@chrismillergov) February 21, 2024

Another ad he posted to social media shows a girl saying that she had to take a dance class with a transgender girl as dramatic piano music plays in the background. She said that Morrisey refused to remove the trans girl from the dance class locker room, and her mother says it’s because Morrisey was a lobbyist for “this transgender clinic in New York, giving children gender transition medication.”

Morrisey “is not a strong man. We need a strong man with a strong voice,” the mother insists.

🚨#MillerforGov releases powerful testimonial from Kanawha high school student, Nila Thompson🚨

“I was in a dance class. And I went into the locker room on the first day, and there was a boy in there.

He is trans. He would go in there every day and just watch.

I spoke to… pic.twitter.com/W9ALs579RE

— Chris Miller (@chrismillergov) April 1, 2024

“The trans shouldn’t get more rights than what our kids have,” a woman in another Miller ad says. She is in the video with another woman who says that Morrisey “turned us away” when they tried to talk to him about transgender people existing.

Moms of Bridgeport athletes in their own words:

"When we reached out to Patrick Morrisey, he just turned us away…we can't trust him…I don't think he stands up for what he says he's going to do." pic.twitter.com/6e6lL7Wnml

— Chris Miller (@chrismillergov) April 22, 2024

LGBTQ+ people in the state denounced Miller’s campaign for demonizing transgender youth.

“I think it is exploitative to children,” out Wheeling city council member Rosemary Ketchum told West Virginia Public Broadcasting. “Ultimately, those ads are not for West Virginians, those ads are for funders. It is a very popular and successful fundraising strategy to attack marginalized communities. And they’re looking to pull money from California and Florida and other states to fund their elections here in West Virginia.”

“They’re talking about our kids, our children, and they’re putting them on television and parading them around to look like clowns.”

“Their campaigns are built on demonizing people and villainizing people to score cheap political points,” said Billy Wolfe of the West Virginia ACLU, who organizes the Appalachian Queer Youth Summit. “We know that this kind of rhetoric not only affects young people, it also leads to legislation that causes real harm. These messages are damaging. Studies show that this rhetoric is extremely harmful. It can lead to suicidal ideation and worse.”

The GOP gubernatorial primary is scheduled for May 14.