There's nothing like a local Twitter brawl to kick off the weekend.
Cincinnati Councilman Chris Seelbach stood up for the LGBTQ+ population after Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes tweeted anti-transgender remarks on Jan. 22.
Rhodes' fuse was lit on Jan. 20, when new U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order expanding the definition of and enforcement against sex discrimination. The lengthy order includes language specific to schools and youth sports.
"Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports," the order states.
Rhodes, who is a Democrat seemingly in name only, criticized the order, tweeting "I want to be there when the first 'suburban Republican woman' who wouldn't vote for President Trump learns her teenage daughter will now have to share her locker room with biological males."
Seelbach responded with fury via quote-tweet. "You are such a bigoted piece of trash. Luckily, you probably won't run for re-election because you are smart enough to know you'd get clobbered. Fuck off Dusty Ass Rhodes," he said.
Seelbach became the first openly gay person elected to Cincinnati City Council in 2011 and was deemed a national Harvey Milk "Champion of Change" by the Obama administration in 2013. He announced this year that he plans to run for mayor.
Rhodes, whose Twitter bio yells "STAND UP FOR YOUR COUNTRY!", is known for bigoted and misogynistic views. In 2020, he tweeted "Just wondering when they are going to paint 'Black Lives Matter' on Auburn Avenue, you know, in front of that building where they terminate black lives and white ones, too, almost every day of the week" on Juneteenth, the holiday that celebrates the emancipation of American slaves.
