Montel Williams Thinks I Stirred Up Fear in My Letter to Megyn Kelly
I appreciate Montel Williams taking the time to respond to my "Open Letter to Megyn Kelly," in which I referenced his appearance on The Kelly File last week, discussing North Carolina's Bathroom Privacy Act (H.B.2). I also appreciate him notifying me via Twitter of his article and then immediately accepting my invitation to join me on the air for further debate on the relevant issues (our teams are currently working out a time he can do this).
In his response, he claimed that my letter "lacks substance, deliberately misstates the facts, and makes entirely false assumptions," also claiming that I'm guilty of "spouting one wildly dramatized half-truth after another" while stating that my letter "conveniently ignores parts II-III of H.B. 2."
He further claims that my letter is a "desperate attempt to move the goalposts" and that I'm "stirring up fear of a vast 'left wing conspiracy' — and hoping that conservatives don't dig into the issue" and that, "unable to argue the facts raised in my segment, he resorted to emotion and wrote his grand and conspiratorial rebuttal to distract conservatives from a substantive and important argument."
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He is mistaken on each and every point, while his rhetoric distracts from the very real concerns raised of multiplied millions of Americans, as echoed by the majority of the population of North Carolina.
To respond, then, to Mr. Williams, my letter focused primarily on Megyn Kelly's responses to Mr. Williams rather than to his statements, but I did note that last year he "compared conservatives who oppose gay 'marriage' to ISIS and the Taliban."
Can I assume that Mr. Williams still defends these statements? If so, we must read the rest of his comments in that light, while also pointing out that it's a shame that he did not take the opportunity to denounce this ugly and dangerous misrepresentation of tens of millions of caring, loving Americans who simply believe that marriage requires a man and a woman.
In his response, Mr. Williams asks why I would "attack Fox News" for having him on to present an opposing view on the bill, even claiming that I'm engaging in left-wing tactics in doing so.
Actually, I always urge networks to present both sides of issues, which is why I wrote, "I encourage you [Megyn Kelly] to regain some lost credibility by doing some more study on the issue and having on some guests who can refute the Montel Williams talking points."
As a viewer, this is what I saw on TV: Kelly had North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory on to discuss H.B.2, as a major participant in the story, after which Mr. Williams joined Kelly as the only in-studio guest to rebut him. Had Gov. McCrory remained on the air with the opportunity to rebut Mr. Williams, that would have been fair. Instead, the governor functioned as part of the news story, Mr. Williams came on to rebut him, with Kelly's support, and there was no rebuttal to Mr. Williams.
That is one-sided, not two-sided, and I simply called on Fox, which is allegedly conservative, to balance the issue. How is that an attack?
More importantly, Mr. Williams wrongly claimed that, "Brown argues that I demeaned 'the idea that we are born with a biological sex.' I did no such thing."
Actually, I did not say this. I said that Megyn Kelly, not Montel Williams, demeaned this idea, and I quoted her words to that effect, including a relevant video link.
As to the substantive differences between us, Mr. Williams notes that, "The proponents of H.B. 2 argue this bill will allow for much-needed privacy and for restroom-goers to feel 'comfortable.' They ignore the fact, however, that many (if not most) transgender individuals look like their affirmed gender," and he illustrated this by showing pictures of two individuals that back his claim.
Actually, H.B.2 did not simply pertain to bathrooms but to school locker rooms (which include changing areas and shower stalls), and there is certainly the rightful expectation that a 15-year-old girl in a public school will not have to change and shower in the presence of a biological male peer (with male plumbing!) and that a 50-year-old woman at the YMCA will not have to change and shower next to a clearly biological male wearing a dress and wig.
Let's not forget that the federal government is threatening to withhold $4.5 billion in educational funding from North Carolina schools unless they make these bathrooms and locker rooms gender neutral. Does Mr. Williams really support this? And does he support the complete misreading of Title VII and Title IX in Loretta Lynch's statement in which "sex" was conflated with "gender identity"?
Does he also think it's fair that 7-year-old girls who last year knew a classmate named Johnny will now have to welcome Johnny into their bathrooms as Jane? Does he deny the documented instances where these girls have voiced concern over this to their parents — surely this cannot be attributed to them being bigoted transphobes; they're just recognizing that Johnny isn't really Jane — only for the school to tell the families there's nothing they can do about it?
Does he mock the concerns of 63 girls (ages 14 to 17) in one Illinois school district who have been forced to share locker rooms and bathrooms in their schools?
According to a lawsuit filed by the ADF, the girls "experience embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, fear, apprehension, stress, degradation, and loss of dignity because they will have to use the locker room and restroom with a biological male."
(The ADF has also filed a lawsuit on behalf of North Carolina students upset with the Department of Justice's intrusion into their state.)
