When Josh Mandel announced in February that he was running for the Republican nomination to replace retired Senator Rob Portman, few thought that by the end of July he would be the frontrunner. But, according to CNN, it is.
Of course, the elections are still 10 months away, and keeping the favorite status in an overcrowded area of about a dozen people and counting is no easy task.
Which may explain why Mandel recently decided to incorporate vehemently opposite gender pronouns into his campaign platform. Because every Republican politician knows that when you want to rally the grassroots, just attack LGBTQ people. It is a proven strategy.
In the past week, the mediocre 43-year-old straight white man has tweeted three times about how he personally thinks there are only two genders and how he doesn’t understand what even the pronouns “they” mean. / them “and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
There are only 2 genres. Science.
– Josh Mandel (@JoshMandelOhio) July 24, 2021
I just saw them in someone’s bio. What does this mean in the world?
– Josh Mandel (@JoshMandelOhio) July 21, 2021
As well as being a painfully obvious attempt to flatter his base, it’s also clear that Mandel has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about as he continues to confuse gender with sex and science with bigotry.
Here is how the folx reacted …
Why are you so obsessed with this particular topic? pic.twitter.com/VVazkPY6sT
– JenYoung (@readreadready) July 25, 2021
Sex and gender are not the same
– b_methe vaxxed / masked (@b_methe) July 25, 2021
When you don’t believe in science but use the word science.
– JG (@joshgargiulo) July 25, 2021
MDR. You really don’t understand that, do you, man?
– Rorty McSnorty (@RortyMcSnorty) July 26, 2021
pic.twitter.com/kS0QGRaTlu
– Taner (@ Taner4285) July 21, 2021
Gender is a social construct. There are several genres … look for them
– tedbembo (@tedbembo) July 25, 2021
There are only 3 colors. Potato.
– Kristian Orr (@KristianOrr) July 25, 2021
Please know that the majority of us don’t think like @JoshMandelOhio. You ALL have an advocate in me and most of the others in #Ohio. Josh is only doing this to flatter his base. His tweets are offensive to many. He doesn’t have to pretend to be in charge in my state.
– Adam Dudziak (@DudziakOhio) July 21, 2021
Why don’t you do a real job, instead of harassing the GNC folks online and pissing off your klan base?
– Alexander Marsh (@ AdjectiveNoun11) July 21, 2021
This is incorrect according to the literal definition of the word “genre”. It would be more correct, but not quite, to say “there are only two sexes”.
– 🇺🇸 Trip the Light Socratic 🇺🇸 (@LightSocratic) July 25, 2021
Mandel’s obsession with LGBTQ people is one of the few things that has remained constant throughout his 15-year political career.
In addition to opposing both same-sex marriage and domestic partner benefits after previously supporting them, he also voted against extending employment nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ people while serving on the Ohio State House of Representatives. Oh, and he supports reinstating the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, despite having two gay cousins, one of whom served in the military.
Graham Gremore is editor and editor at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
