U.S. Sen Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) is doubling down on his criticisms of Huntsville's U.S. Space and Rocket Center Space Camp over a recent controversy surrounding a transgender camp worker.
On Monday, Tuberville and several other Alabama lawmakers responded to reports from Huntsville-based Clay Yarbrough, who learned that Molly Bowman, a biological male who identifies as a female, would be working in the overnight camp he planned to send his daughter.
Yarbrough included several screenshots from Bowman’s social media, which was replete with hyper-sexual commentary.
The story drew massive backlash from those on the political right who sympathized with Yarbrough and those on the left who argued Bowman was unfairly targeted after doing nothing wrong.
Tuberville was the first Alabama politician to make a statement on the ordeal, and on Tuesday, he made it clear he was not backing down.
“There’s no reason to have a transgender in charge of boys and girls at a space camp in Huntsville, Alabama; that makes no sense,” Tuberville said. “All you have to do is read the social media of this person and you’ll be aghast at what they talk about and the things that they believe in. You know. I believe in the nuclear family. I believe in men and women. I don’t believe in 64 different genders."
He continued, “Somebody told me, ‘Well, social media is not something that we get involved in.’ Folks get involved in social media because that’s where these young people talk and chat every day and share their true feelings. So, hopefully, we can work this out. Hopefully, it’s not a detriment to Space Camp because it’s a great entity. It’s done a great job for Huntsville, the state and young people all over the country; they’ve learned a lot. So let’s do this the right way. Let’s don’t put any question marks in the way of people and parents sending their kids to space camp to have a great opportunity.”
After Yarbrough’s initial post, several other parents commented and shared stories from their children’s time at Space Camp. One mother claimed Bowman entered the girl's shower area to tell the girls to hurry up. Those stories, combined with Bowman’s social media postings, increased calls for action from Space Camp officials.
Leadership for Space Camp has still not returned 1819 News’ request for comment.
“I’m not going to press judgment on this,” Tuberville said. “All I can say is that the Space Camp people that hired this person, she [sic] might be a great person, but you got to vet people. You’ve got to look at what they talk about, and you have to look at what they put on their social media. And I would think that the things that are going to be looked at from this point on will be a little bit different. But I just hope our space camps do not suffer from this hire.
“There needs to be priorities,” he continued. “You put people in charge of things, people in charge of young people, in this day and time, we all know that there needs to be rules and regulations. There needs to be a vetting of people that’s going to be around these young people. We don’t need to continue to destroy what we’ve built in this country.”
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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