Rick Santorum Confronted By Transgender Activist Kneena Raheja

[Shana A]

Rick Santorum Confronted By Transgender Activist Kneena Raheja

Posted: 1/19/12 05:43 PM ET

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/19/rick-santorum-transgender-kneena-raheja_n_1217344.html

In South Carolina, Rick Santorum has fielded fewer questions on LGBT rights than he did in New Hampshire, but things got tense on Thursday when a transgender activist stormed his press conference in Mt. Pleasant.

Kneena Raheja, 20, yelled, "Mr. Santorum, you have spilled queer blood!" as the GOP presidential hopeful finished speaking, according to BuzzFeed. It was a tough crowd; just one man reportedly snickered.

Raheja, who was born a boy, later told Buzzfeed that she thinks "people like Rick Santorum are actively violent towards the queer population."

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A Lone Transgender Activist Confronts Santorum

"I think that I'm scaring people, and that's what i'm trying to do right now because I'm scared," says Kneena

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/a-lone-transgender-activist-confronts-santorum

MT PLEASANT, S.C. -- Kneena Raheja, 20, has lived in the South her whole life and was born as a boy. She now considers herself transgender. The College of Charleston student came to Rick Santorum's press conference this afternoon to give LGBT activists' most-hated politician a piece of her mind. Holding a "Trans Visibility" sign, Raheja shouted "Mr. Santorum, you have spilled queer blood!" as the former senator left the podium. The crowd didn't react much; one man snickered.

Afterwards, Raheja told BuzzFeed that "I think people like Rick Santorum are actively violent towards the queer population."

"I'm just here to let him know that the longer he silences us, the longer he does not acknowledge that we, the trans population exist, the harder we will bash back."

[Jamie D]

Kneena Raheja, 20, yelled, "Mr. Santorum, you have spilled queer blood!" as the GOP presidential hopeful finished speaking, according to BuzzFeed. It was a tough crowd; just one man reportedly snickered.

Raheja, who was born a boy, later told Buzzfeed that she thinks "people like Rick Santorum are actively violent towards the queer population."

Not a shred of evidence to support this crass hyperbole.

"I'm just here to let him know that the longer he silences us, the longer he does not acknowledge that we, the trans population exist, the harder we will bash back."

Doesn't seem to have been silenced.  Seems violent.

[batgirl]

voting is rigged. Vote just in case it isn't. but it is

[Michelle-G]

Jamie makes a good point.  This sort of unsubstantiated invective only serves to make conservatives view the trans community as a bunch of rabid nut cases.  How unfortunate that a more sensible voice could not have cut through the clutter at that moment.

However, it is worth noting that Rick Santorum was the main attraction at the Charleston Values Voter Rally this past Thursday, Jan 19.  The rally was sponsored by the Family Research Council, which has also endorsed Rick Santorum as the Republican presidential candidate.

The Family Research Council is the so-called educational and research arm of Focus on the Family, and the FRC has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.

While I cannot support the transactivist's public tirade that does not diminish the fact that Rick Santorum has an unsavory and very dangerous political agenda.