The Escapist, for the unfamiliar, is an online magazine dedicated to pop culture with a very strong focus on video games. Earlier this week Alexander “Archon” Macris, GM & SVP of Alloy Digital, the parent company of The Escapist, had an announcement to make: two new writers have been hired on to the staff!

I’m also excited to report we’ll have content coming from @TheBrandonMorse and @lizzyf620. The evil web of evil expands. — Alexander Macris (@archon) February 20, 2015

Great news, given the site’s diminishing roster as of late. There’s just one problem though. That first name, Brandon Morse? Yeah…he’s kind of transphobic.

Morse lives in Waco, is a contributor for Rare.us – a right-leaning site that holds Herman Cain as one of their all-star voices – and thinks that transfolk are faking it:

If you want to be trans, then you go right ahead. Don’t force everyone else to pretend along with you.

— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) November 11, 2014

Right…because dealing with the emotional distress and social fallout, which includes astronomically high rates for being victims of violence and discrimination, is something people want to deal with. This is not a new attitude for Morse as past tweets show his contempt with full-blown mockery:

Trans sic kin boogity boogity goolah! RT @EWErickson: If you have an X and a Y, you’re a guy. It’s biology.

— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) August 7, 2013

The wingnuts at Michelle Malkin’s Twitchy are ecstatic over the news, mostly over the fact that it’s causing “butt-hurt”, but when a site that mocks the execution of homosexuals is in your corner perhaps it’s time to revise one’s perspectives on, well, everything.

Morse, however, is unlikely to revise anything as even his current posts show that he’s more content to double-down and even make the so-absurd-it’s-laughable comparison of trans discrimination to gamer discrimination:  

.@desertfox899 All gamers deserve not to be misgendered, oppressed, told their sock puppets, accused of racism, misogyny, called terrorists.

— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) February 24, 2015

Congratulations, The Escapist. That’s quite the winner you’ve got there.

“No one would dare to say a degrading remark about being black or dare to say a degrading remark on Instagram about someone being gay. But my age – anybody and everybody would say something degrading to me. And I always think to myself, why is that accepted? What’s the difference between that and racism, or any discrimination? They’re judging me by my age. I don’t understand. I’m trying to get my head around it. Because women, generally, when they reach a certain age, have accepted that they’re not allowed to behave a certain way. But I don’t follow the rules. I never did, and I’m not going to start.”

Following a 6-2 vote Tuesday by the city council, city employees of Conway, Arkansas can (for the time being) go to work with the assurance that they can’t be fired for their sexuality or gender identity. Conway mayor Tab Townsell threw his full support behind the decision to extend protections to the town’s LGBT population despite many of his more conservative constituents voicing concern for their religious liberties.

Mark Ledbetter and Mary Smith, the two council members who opposed the new protections, expressed their belief that the public had not been given adequate time to fully appreciate the implications of heightened job security for Conway’s queer workforce.

Conway’s move to legally protect its LGBT employees comes just days after Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson allowed SB 202 to become law – legislation that expressly forbids local town governments from enacting pro-LGBT policies like Conway’s. Specifically SB 202 requires that:

“A county, municipality, or other political subdivision of the state shall not adopt or enforce an ordinance, resolution, rule, or policy that creates a protected classification or prohibits discrimination on a basis not contained in state law.”

The law is set to go into effect 90 days after the state Legislature formally adjourns, which is currently set for May. After that, Conway’s ordinance will no longer protect LGBT folks. 

One of the chief concerns raised by opponents of SB 202 was the chilling effect that sanctioning discrimination against queer workers might have on the local economy. Following Hutchinson’s decision representatives from Tyson Foods and Walmart both spoke out on behalf of their companies, expressing their disagreement with the law.

Outcry from large LGBT advocacy organizations like the HRC were conspicuously missing immediately after SB 202 went into effect, prompting Michael Signorile to claim social “malpractice.” Not seizing upon any and all opportunities to draw attention to these kinds of injustices, Signorile reasoned, was irresponsible and linked to a broader sense of gay complacency:

“And it’s part of the right’s plan to roll back LGBT rights while many LGBT people become complacent or apathetic, buying into this idea that full civil rights are inevitable, pointing, for example, to polling about young people being more accepting, and, well, doing pretty much what many women foolishly did in the early years of the backlash against women’s liberation.”

Malpractice from @HRC, @ChadHGriffin, not even a tweet as Arkansas moved to discriminate vs. LGBTs. Shame. t.co/hj0papSSFW

— Mike Signorile (@MSignorile) February 24, 2015

HRC President Chad Griffin soon issued an official statement after widespread criticism for his organization’s silence on the developments in Arkansas:

“I’m proud to call Arkansas my home state—the place where my entire extended family has lived for years. I know these bills do not reflect the Arkansas values.

They certainly do not reflect this state’s commitment to growing a 21st Century economy that attracts good paying jobs—and to guaranteeing a business climate that welcomes everyone who is willing to work hard and build a better future for themselves and for their community. These kinds of political attacks have been rejected by Republicans and Democrats all across this country. Let’s not let Arkansas be dragged backward by an unrepresentative minority.”