GOP rep blasted over parody of appeal for trans tolerance
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM and MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf is denouncing a Republican state lawmaker and self-styled opponent of mask-wearing for mimicking the words of the state’s health secretary, who is transgender, by appealing for tolerance of the “unmasked community.” Lebanon County Rep. Russ Diamond on Wednesday released a nearly word-for-word parody of Dr. Rachel Levine’s call for tolerance and acceptance of LGBTQ people. Diamond swapped out her references to “LGBTQ” with “unmasked.” Diamond’s parody drew the wrath of the Democratic governor, who on Thursday called it “abhorrent, disrespectful, dangerous” and a “thinly veiled attack on the LGBTQ community” and Levine. Diamond responded by calling Wolf’s pandemic policies “abhorrent, unlawful, political and deadly.”