What a bunch of drama queens. A realtor is helping LGBT folks in Texas “flee” the state, likening it to the Underground Railroad, which is historically illiterate and downright insensitive at worst. Being gay isn’t like slavery; stop it. Nevertheless, being in a red state has become too much for the 27 people who have used this service. The state’s supposed anti-transgender laws, which prohibited minors from being mutilated and pumped full of hormone blockers by their parents, proved to be the last straw for some of these folks. This is America; you can go wherever you want. But don’t whine when the blue state paradise comes with hefty taxes and burdensome regulations (via KFOR):
The end of this month can’t come soon enough for Paul Lewis. He’ll get to hand over the keys to his house in a Dallas suburb and start a long drive north, where he’ll become the latest LGBTQ+ Texan to leave the state in hopes of finding a friendlier place to call home.
“Part of me hates the fact that I’m leaving Texas, the home I’ve always known,” Lewis said. “But part of me is also excited by the fact that I get to start a new chapter.”
The lifelong Texan committed in January to begin looking for somewhere else to move. He explained how two factors ultimately solidified that decision, pointing to the growing number of LGBTQ+ restrictions introduced this legislative session as well as the frequency of deadly mass shootings happening in the state. He noted his home in Carrollton is 20 minutes from the Allen Premium Outlets, where a gunman killed eight people in May. Plus, the governor recently signed a bill into law that would ban transgender minors from receiving certain health care options to help in their transition.
“I don’t feel like Texas is my home anymore,” Lewis said simply.
He ended up selling his home through a real estate service launched last summer by the Dallas-based broker, Bob McCranie, who sought to help LGBTQ+ people list their homes in Texas and then connect them with an agent in another state or even a different country where they’d like to go next. McCranie initially called it “Flee Texas,” but soon changed the name to reflect a broader group of people expressing interest in the service.
“What we discovered was we got so much response from other states that we decided to expand and become ‘Flee Red States,'” McCranie said Tuesday. “We’ve helped 27 groups of people so far get out.”
[…]
“We’re calling it kind of the ‘rainbow Underground Railroad,'” McCranie said. “We’re trying to get people out quietly and get them to someplace where they feel safer.”
What do you mean you helped people “get out,” man? Is this the withdrawal from Afghanistan? But most find this man trying to compare what he’s doing to Harriet Tubman to be the most offensive:
Only a white liberal dude could appropriate this hard https://t.co/RwcOie7Gqf
— Sean Agnew (@seanagnew) June 16, 2023
Translation: gay people sell homes in Texas and move.
— Ian Haworth (@ighaworth) June 16, 2023
JUST LIKE SLAVERY...
— Ian Haworth (@ighaworth) June 16, 2023
Well, one important difference is that the abolitionists - who risked their lives to help escaped slaves navigate the actual Underground Railroad - didn’t receive a 3% commission on the sale of the slaves’ (non-existent) homes.
— AJ Kay (@AJKayWriter) June 16, 2023