Thread by @jbendery

Oh look, the GOP's much-publicized case of a sexual assault in a Loudoun County, Va. school is not at all what they said it was.

It had nothing to do with transgender-inclusive bathroom policies. But Republicans feigned outrage that it did. huffpost.com/entry/gop-virg… via @aterkel

This was not a case of a teenage girl being ambushed in a girls' bathroom by a "gender fluid" teenage boy.

It was 2 teens who had been regularly using the girls' bathroom for consensual encounters, and then one of these encounters apparently turned violent.

News of the incident was picked up, twisted and amplified by conservative media, which said this was evidence that policies allowing students to use public bathrooms that match their gender ID put girls in danger.

Total garbage.

News of this incident blew up so much in conservative media that it became a central talking point in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week for a nominee to a federal court seat... in California.

It made no sense that it came up in that hearing.

The nominee in that hearing -- again, up for a court seat in Calif. -- had no idea about this assault in a school bathroom in Loudoun County, Va.

Why would she?

That did not stop every GOP senator from talking about it and fueling transphobic garbage. huffpost.com/entry/republic…

One by one, Republican senators in this committee hearing brought up the Loudoun County incident and used it to bolster the bogus narrative that transgender-inclusive bathrooms endanger girls.

They spent the vast majority of their time in this hearing talking about this.

They all referenced a legal brief this nominee once wrote, saying that curtains + separate changing spaces were sufficient for ensuring girls’ privacy in trans-inclusive bathrooms.

They used this brief as a way to bring up the Loudoun County sexual assault.

Sen. Grassley: “How would privacy curtains or changing spaces have prevented the sexual assault in Loudoun County?”

Sen. Hawley: “Do you stand by your comments...that there is no evidence of violence...in restrooms by allowing biological males to use bio females’ restrooms?”

Sen. Blackburn to this judicial nominee:

"It should not be lost on you how unsettled that Tennesseans that I represent are by your nomination because of what you have said about the transgender rights and the assault that happened in Loudoun County."

Sen. Lee also brought up this nominee's past legal briefs relating to trans-inclusive bathrooms.

“You’re aware of the recent incident that’s come to light in the Loudoun County district?” asked Lee.

“Well, I wasn’t before this morning,” said the nominee.

Why did they all bring this up?

A pretty plausible reason is that Virginia governor’s race is in a dead heat, less than two weeks out from the election.

Ginning up GOP voters by stoking transphobia is one way to get them out to the polls and tip the election.

Ted Cruz went as far as to suggest this nominee was lying about not knowing about this incident, since she had "spent years as one of the leading activists for allowing transgender biological men to use girls’ restrooms and women’s restrooms.”

Just a transphobic spectacle.

Here's more on what went down in that Senate hearing, where Republicans amplified a false narrative about the dangers of trans-inclusive bathrooms for girls, based on a bunk story, to apparently try to influence a tight Virginia governor's race. huffpost.com/entry/republic…

And here's more on what actually happened with the Virginia bathroom sexual assault case, which was in May. huffpost.com/entry/gop-virg…