A "free speech" bus dedicated to an anti-transgender message has sparked protests by the LGBT community and its supporters who have vandalized the bus, blocked its path, and smashed a window in recent days.
The orange bus is emblazoned with the slogan, “Boys are boys ... and always will be. Girls are girls ... and always will be. You can’t change sex. Respect all.”
On a trip through Boston and into Cambridge, Massachusetts, protesters blocked the bus' path and threw a cup of coffee at its door, according to The Washington Post. But that’s nothing compared to its Manhattan stop, where the bus was sprayed with graffiti reading “trans rights” and its front window was smashed.
The bus originated in Spain with the group CitizenGO, which decided to bring the tour to the U.S. to speak out against transgender rights laws, such as the right to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity rather than their gender, according to The Associated Press.
“Words, in this setting, are violence,” said executive director of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition Mason Dunn, who helped engineer the Boston protests, The Associated Press reported.
But National Organization for Marriage spokesman Joseph Grabowski asserted there is nothing violent about the bus or its message.
“People have the right to live their lives the way they want,” he said, the AP reported. “But they don’t have the right to impose their values and beliefs on others, which is unfortunately what a lot of sexual orientation and gender identity non-discrimination laws do.”
"We're calling for a healthier conversation. Let people be respected and heard," Grabowski said, the AP reported. "A lot of people are afraid to speak out. We want them to be able to stand up and know that we've got their backs.”
Many Twitter posts about the bus were too vulgar and violence-inciting to share, but a few pointed out the hypocrisy of calling the bus hateful while vandalizing it.
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