Jeis Whittaker
Role at the time: Private individual interviewed by Chron; a native Texan who identifies as non-binary
Statement summary
Speaking to Chron, Jeis Whittaker, a native Texan who identifies as non-binary, said they agreed with Hinojosa that Republicans use transgender people as a wedge issue to distract from their own failings, but warned that commentary on that point slides easily into apathy about transgender issues. Whittaker said they could not tell what the ad's pronouns line was meant to communicate and doubted swing voters would understand it either.
“Republicans are using people like me and my friends as a wedge issue to distract from their own failings - on that much, I agree with Hinojosa But it’s really easy for commentary about that problem to descend into complete apathy about trans issues. I’m unsure what 'my pronouns are mom, Texan, and soon-to-be Governor' is supposed to communicate And I don’t think actual swing voters will get it, either.”
Why we used this label
The case asks whether the closing line of Hinojosa's September 9 "Pronouns" ad — "My pronouns are Mom, Texan, and soon to be: Governor" — mocked transgender Texans, not Abbott's attacks on her record. Whittaker's response to the line is critical throughout: it is unintelligible, it will not land with the voters it targets, and the genre it belongs to tends toward apathy about transgender people. The closest competing label is “Mixed or conditional”, because Whittaker expressly agrees with Hinojosa on one point. That loses because the agreement is about Republican tactics, a different target from the ad, and we do not reverse a label by treating agreement with a speaker's diagnosis as support for the conduct at issue. Whittaker does not say the line mocked transgender people, which is why condemns rests on the criticism actually made rather than on the case question's strongest form.