I Do Not Give Bigots My Consent to Use My Trauma to Advance Hatred

Luzerne County, PA is fighting a political battle that could determine the outcomes of the 2026 and 2028 elections. Far right Republicans are mobilizing the most violent extremists in the county in order to repeal a local anti-discrimination ordinance.

The group spearheading the repeal, Citizens Advisory of Pennsylvania, are funded by out of state gambling tycoons, Michael and Karmin Pace and function in coordination with Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania, which collects the data of far right Republicans for mobilization purposes. They are also connected to the same networks that support Scott Preslers' efforts to purge Democratic voters from PA voter rolls.

Their klan-like activities center around a petition gathering campaign that fraudulently messages that if the petition is kept in place, local bigots will not be able to forcibly keep trans women out of public bathrooms. It's basically an effort to terrorize trans women in an attempt to overturn the Civil Rights at the local level.

They need to be stopped, and SIIPP is dedicated to supporting the efforts to countering them. If they are successful in overturning this local Civil Rights Ordinance, they will likely take this strategy nationwide. We can't let that happen.

I recently submitted a piece for publication in a local paper describing my reaction to their work as a rape survivor. It was heavily edited when it was published, so I am submitting the full piece here. If you'd like to join the effort to combat Citizens Advisory of Pennsylvania and their efforts to repeal Civil Rights Protections, please email info@strategycamp.org

I Do Not Consent to Bigots Using My Trauma to Advance Hatred

When I was raped, it didn’t happen in a bathroom. The perpetrator wasn’t a trans woman. It wasn’t a stranger that followed me into a stall.  I wasn’t saved by the other men in the vicinity.

When I was raped, it was at gunpoint.  It was by a well-known first responder. It was someone I knew.  His 5-year-old daughter was playing with dolls in the other room. 

Almost every minute, someone is sexually assaulted in the United States. Every nine minutes that person is a child.  80% of the time, the perpetrator is someone close to the victim. 70% of the time it is at or near the victim’s home. 60% of the time, the perpetrator is a straight white man.

100% of the time I am forced to relive my assaults when the straight white men that laugh about grabbing women in the pussy, vote convicted sex offenders into office, harbor pedophiles, and work tirelessly to strip women’s rights away use my pain and trauma to advance their own perverted agendas.

They are the threat. Not trans women.

Cisgendered men are the group of people most likely to sexually assault women, yet the leaders of the pro-discrimination movement don’t seem to have a problem with them going into girls’ bathrooms so long as they wear pants.

Their campaign is exclusively about hate.

Forty-two percent of women experience discrimination in the workplace. Twice as many women as men experience discrimination in health care. Twenty percent of women in higher education experience discrimination.

Women need the Luzerne County Anti-Discrimination Ordinance. We don’t need predators speaking on our behalf. I do not give the Citizen’s Advisory of Pennsylvania my consent to use my gender or my trauma to advance hate or repeal my rights.  I hope more women, especially survivors, will join me.