The Daily Signal - This Student Refused to Bow to Trans Ideology at Berkeley

Episode Date: October 17, 2019

Isabella Chow recently served as a student senator at the University of California, Berkeley, one of the most far-left campuses in America. She received major backlash from fellow students when she abstained from voting on a measure to support transgender ideology. Today, we’ll share an exclusive interview with Isabella by our colleague Virginia Allen. We’ll also share an interview with a state senator from a deep blue state who’s a leading pro-life advocate. We also cover these stories: House of Representatives formally condemns President Trump's withdrawal of troops from northern Syria GM and United Auto Workers reach tentative labor contract that could end major strike China threatens to retaliate if U.S. passes Hong Kong bill The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet,iTunes, Pippa, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at [e-mail]. Enjoy the show!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Thursday, October 17th. I'm Rachel Del Judas. And I'm Daniel Davis. Isabella Chow recently served as a student senator at UC Berkeley, one of the most far-left campuses in America. She received major backlash from fellow students when she abstained from voting on a measure to support transgender ideology. Today, we'll share an exclusive interview with Isabella by our colleague, Virginia Allen.

Plus, we'll also share an interview with a state senator from, a deep blue state who's leading the pro-life cause. By the way, if you're enjoying the Daily Signal podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on iTunes and encourage others to subscribe. Now on to our top news. The House of Representatives officially condemned President Trump's withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria on Wednesday in a rare bipartisan rebuke. The House voted 354 to 60 on the non-binding resolution.

Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Democrat Elliot Engel, said, What kind of message does this sin to the world? How can America be trusted to keep its word when we betray one of our close partners? Congress must speak out against this disgrace. President Trump is now dispatching top officials to anchor a Turkey to try to persuade Turkish President Erdogan to embrace a ceasefire with Kurdish forces. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are expected to meet with Erdogan Thursday. Turkey unleashed a barrage of attacks on Kurdish forces in Syria after President Trump announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops. President Trump defended his decision to withdraw on

Wednesday. Our soldiers are not in harm's way, as they shouldn't be, as two countries fight over land. That has nothing to do with us. And the Kurds are much safer right now, but the Kurds know how to fight. And as I said, they're not angels. They're not angels. If you take a look, you're You have to go back and take a look, but they fought with us. We paid a lot of money for them to fight with us, and that's okay. They did well when they fought with us. They didn't do so well when they didn't fight with us. General Motors and the United Auto Workers may finally be reaching a deal to end a month-long labor strike.

While details are yet to be released, it's suspected that the deal will give raises and bonuses to some 48,000 members of the United Auto Workers Union who are employed by GM. GM is also expected to put between $7 billion and $7.7.7 billion into its manufacturing operations, and over the next four years, add thousands of new hourly jobs for union members. Reuters reports that the U.S. carried out a secret cyber attack on Iran after it reportedly attacked Saudi oil facilities back in September. The report cites two unnamed U.S. officials who say the cyber attack took aim at Tehran's ability to spread propaganda. One of those officials said that the attack affected Iranian hardware but gave no more details. Reuters also quotes Iran's communications and IT minister who denies the U.S. attack.

The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have blamed Iran for an attack last month on Saudi oil facilities, which temporarily blocked half of that country's oil production. China says we'll take action if the U.S. Congress passes legislation in support of the Hong Kong protesters. While China didn't say what its action would look like on Wednesday, China's foreign ministry said that strong countermeasures would follow if the Senate passes and the President signs pro-democracy legislation in support of the Hong Kong freedom fighters. The House unanimously passed that bill on Tuesday. Up next, Virginia's conversation with recent UC Berkeley student, Isabella Chow.

If you're tired of high taxes, fewer health care choices, and bigger and bigger government, it's time to partner with the most impactful conservative organization in America. We're the Heritage Foundation, and we're committed to solving the issues America faces. Together, we'll fight back against the rising tide of homegrown socialism, and we'll fight for conservative solutions that are making families more free and more prosperous, but we can't do it without you. Please join us at heritage.org. I am joined by Isabella Chow, a recent graduate of UC Berkeley. She served as a student senator on her campus

but faced severe backlash when she abstained from voting on a bill that would put the body on record as supporting transgender ideology. Isabella, thanks so much for joining me. Thank you for having me. Well, first off, congratulations on your recent graduation. That's a huge accomplishment.

Let's get right into it, though. So let's go back to the beginning of when this controversy first started. as a student senator, you abstained from a vote that was in support of affirming transgender ideology. Why did you choose to abstain? Yeah, it's interesting because, you know, there are parts of the bill that I agreed with. For example, I don't think violence against transgender people is ever, ever okay. But at the same time, you know, most of the bill was asking me to affirm a gender fluidity, right?

And as a senator elected specifically by the Christian community at Berkeley and as someone who is openly Christian, on the Student Senate, I said, you know, I believe that God created male and female at the beginning of time. And I don't really feel comfortable supporting your resolution in its entirety. Now, you received quite a lot of backlash from the stance that you took. What was it like to have people being very open about opposing you and opposing your beliefs and even having hundreds of people protest you for your stance? Yeah, I guess in the moment it was really overwhelming. It was just hard, I guess.

In hindsight, you know, it was very difficult to just have to put my emotions aside and still do homework, still go to midterms. You know, and at the same time, like, respond to emails and figure out how to tell my story to the media, get enough sleep, you know. And, yeah, it was overwhelming in the moment. but I think as a Christian at Berkeley, what I'm most thankful for was, you know, the fact that I had to learn to understand the majority on campus, which was very opposed to many of my Christian views. And because I made sure, you know, that my friends and I, my advisors, the people who supported me, sought to understand even before we were understood, I think that sent a much stronger message than we would have if we had. just, you know, said the first words that came to our heads. Yeah. And how did you go about that? About, you know, trying to work to see the side that they were coming from. Yeah. Again, like when everything happened, I didn't feel like I had the answers. But I told myself that I would listen,

you know, and that meant sitting through that three-hour long protest where, like, people were honestly just like calling me the F word over and over. And, you know, looking back, that is absurd, that is outrageous. But at the same time, I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't sat there and listened to them, right? Because then I would have totally just perpetuated the stereotypes that, you know, Christians are hateful and bigots and we don't care about them. And sometimes I wonder, you know, if Jesus were in that position, would he have listened to? And I think the answer is yes. in the midst of that name calling and that controversy, what sustained you to keep going? Definitely the prayers of Christians on campus and also Christians all around, you know, all around the world, honestly.

But especially the people who were close to me on campus, the people who voted for me. You know, what a lot of people don't know is that the night of the protest, a week after the vote, actually 24 hours, less than 24 hours before, there were several leaders from different college ministries, that called for a prayer meeting. And they just jam-packed this room that one of the ministries

owned or rented, I guess. And it was just so beautiful because these students normally don't interact with each other. We normally stay. Like, you know, if you go to crew, you stay with crew. If you go to, you know, intervarsity, you stay with your intervarsity events and fellowship. But to know that people were coming together to pray not just for me as their representative, but for the LGBTQ plus students who genuinely felt hurt, genuinely felt misunderstood. and yet didn't know that Jesus loved them, didn't understand that I truly was not contradicting myself when I said, I love you, and yet I don't fully agree with what you're trying to get me to vote on. Yeah, yeah.

Wow, that's so powerful to feel that support from the community around you. That's amazing. Yeah. So what was the most important lesson that you would say that you've learned through this experience? I think on a personal level, I was so, so thankful, like I said, for the students around. me. I was so, so thankful that my freshman year I committed to joining a church to, you know, finding friends who would encourage me in my walk with God. I'm also very, very thankful that the Christian community at Berkeley is actually quite significant. And I actually attribute that to,

you know, you may call persecution on campus just because at Berkeley there's no middle ground, right? If you're Christian, you're a Christian. If you're not Christian or you don't want to go to church, don't call yourself a Christian. So I'm very, very thankful for the community at Berkeley that really strengthened me. I guess just in terms of like, you know, again, hindsight is 20-20, what I've learned. I was obviously forced to understand the complexities of the LGBTQ plus debate a lot more. And if there's anything that I would have done again, I would have sought to continue building bridges even before this happened. I wish that I had more capacity, you know, just as a person, to reach out to people in the LGBTQ plus community,

just to be proactive about building friendships. Even if they, you know, still turn their backs on me, I think I would have tried to reach out before, you know, controversy erupted. What was the response that you received from the administration? Did you have professors that were offering support or, you know, maybe even saying, I disagree, but I still don't want you to see you treated like this. What were those interactions like? Yeah.

You know, the student government at Berkeley interacts a lot with the chancellor and, you know, the administration at that level, and they pretty much stayed silent on the whole issue, which it was understandable because it's just a conflict between representatives and they didn't really want to take a side. I did have a couple professors who reached out to me. One in particular, I was taking his class at the time. He's, you know, definitely left leaning, but he, you know, invited me to his office and said, hey, I hope you're doing well. I read about you in the student newspaper, and I know that Berkeley can be a little bit weird sometimes, and I hope that, you know, I'm here to listen. And that just meant a lot to me because I know we're at complete ideological odds,

and yet to know that he had my back. Yeah. It was really powerful. That is really powerful. Wow. So what advice would you give to other conservative or Christian college student? who might find themselves in places where their opinions are controversial and where they know that they might face backlash for standing up for their beliefs.

Yeah. I think too many times we simplify issues as black and white. And that is what fuels the political wars of today. But what I've learned throughout this entire past year is that behind every war of words are people. And ultimately, at the end of the day, even what happened with me, it's not a transgender battle. It's not an LGBT Q plus battle.

It's a people issue, right? And it's people failing to understand each other. Most importantly, people failing to understand that we love them, that God loves them, even if that's not, you know, the way they expect it to be. So, yeah, realize that people are people. Yeah, yeah. That's so simple, but it's so profound. Yeah.

Wow. Yeah. So what are your plans for the future? Yeah, I'm currently at the John Jay Institute. It's a Christian Academic Public Policy Fellowship one semester long, really enjoying it. In 2020, I hope to be working in management consulting in San Francisco. And so, yeah, we'll see where that goes. I'm currently applying for jobs.

That's wonderful. Well, it's just so interesting to hear about what you've gone through and really the wisdom that is obvious that you've gained through this experience. So we really thank you for your time today and for standing up for your beliefs and your convictions. Thank you. What the heck is trickle down economics? Does the military really need a space force? What is the meaning of American exceptionalism? I'm Michelle Cordero.

I'm Tim Desher. And every week on the Heritage Explains podcast, we break down a hot button policy issue in the news at a 101 level. Through an entertaining mix of personal stories, media clips, music, and interviews, help you actually understand the issues. So do this. Subscribe to Heritage Explains on iTunes, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcast today. Recently, our editor-in-chief, Kate Trinko, got to sit down with Jessica De La Cruz. She's a state senator from Rhode Island, where abortion rights were just expanded. De La Cruz is a leading pro-life advocate. Here's that conversation. Okay. Well, we're joined today at Values Voters Summit with Jessica De LaCruz, a state senator from

Rhode Island. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. Okay, so you were speaking earlier at the Value Voter Summit about abortion. Tell me what happened in your state this year about that and how you dealt with it. Well, there was an expansion of Roe versus Wade in Rhode Island and it was unfortunate that the legislature did not really adhere to what the constituents wanted. And there was a signal pull done in Rhode Island and they pulled Rhode Islanders in the first. second and third trimester relating to abortion. And the first trimester, it was overwhelmingly that people agreed it should still be legal. But once it got to the second trimester, that number reduced dramatically.

And by the third trimester, it was about 74% of Rhode Islanders were very much opposed to the legislation. What was interesting was that, you know, Rhode Islanders is a blue state. And most of the people polled were Democrats, followed by unaffiliated voters. and then Republicans. So it wasn't, you know, a Republican versus Democrat issue. It was very much a Rhode Island issue. Like voters did not want this legislation to pass. So it was disheartening to see.

So what would the legislation specifically do? So the legislation, what we had in place before was something called the Quick Child Act. So it really prohibited post-viable abortions. So under the new law, you can have an abortion post-viability, some changes to the regulations of abortion facilities. So one of the things that I said on the floor when I had submitted an amendment was that these clinics need to be held to the same standard as any other facility providing medical care. And what's happened is the language has watered it down so that the Department of Health can't come in and enact new regulations. And so, as I said on the floor, it really comes down to, you know, Planned Parenthood's motto was safe, legal, and rare.

Now it's safe and legal, but can we really call it safe if we're not allowing the Department of Health to come in and inspect? And on top of that, when I reached out to the Department of Health, I said, I'd like the last 10 years of inspection reports for the facility. And the woman on the phone said to me, oh, that's really easy. There's only two. Well, there's only two inspections in 10 years. Are we talking about like this is safe for women? And that has nothing to do with abortion. It's really about keeping women safe.

So I was very, very disappointed that my amendment didn't pass because I thought it was very reasonable. And it certainly did not prevent abortion in any way. But, you know. So we saw this spring so many states looked at, you know, expanding abortion rates, as they call it, in the third trimester. some past, some failed. Why do you think it ended up becoming law in Rhode Island, despite so much public opposition against it? And you just mentioned the poll that showed a lot of people didn't want it. You know, I was sitting in judiciary. And one of my Democratic colleagues, because I'm the only Republican sitting on the committee, because there's just so few of us in the Senate. And he said,

you know, I've never seen so many young people come and testify against this bill. And he said, the future is bright for Rhode Island. And so it was very apparent that there was an overwhelming, just like people descending down on the stayhouse. And I was there for 13 hours listening to testimony, you know, on both sides. Why did it pass? That's the million dollar question. Are we following what our constituents want? You know, for me, it was a 15 to 1 ratio.

That's a huge ratio. 15 to 1. Going to Dunkin' Donuts and, you know, constituents stopping me. if it's email, if it's phone, other senators, they were 10 to 1 or 5 to 1, but still, those are big margins. And that's a problem. When our legislature is not listening to the people, then we need to act and elect people that are going to vote how the people want. Now, we often see in media that it's depicted that abortion is a women's rights issue. And there is an assumption among many pundits that virtually all women must be pro-choice.

How do you feel about that as a female politician yourself? Yeah. You know, I feel like I was at the right place at the right time because I was the only woman on the committee that was against the legislation. That wasn't a co-sponsor of the legislation. So I knew that I was going to have to say something and be vocal in that committee. And mind you, I'm a freshman senator. I was not accustomed to public speaking or questioning, you know, individuals. And so I knew that I was going to have to jump in and say,

you know, just ask the tough questions and see if I was able to, you know, at least from the other side, get the answers. I do think it's important. I don't think it's a women's issue or a men's issue. It's really a civil rights issue. You know, do we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? You know, in time gone by, it was the slave trade, you know, can we own slaves? You know, we have a dark period in history in which we would say they're not people. They're less than human.

And we're saying the same thing about the unborn. We're saying they're not people. They're less than. And we're going to look back as we do now on slavery and say, my God, that was a great injustice of that time. Do you think there's any hope for this law being overturned or a change in Rhode Island in the next few years? You know, I don't know that it will be overturned next year or two years or three years or years or four years. But one thing I have learned from history is you never, never, never, never, give up. And if we have that mentality where, well, you know, maybe I move to a different state

that aligns more closely with my beliefs, no, that's not, that's not the answer. The answer is get involved, run for office, help candidates that are running for office that align with your beliefs, but we can't give up. We can't just throw in the towel and say, oh, it's a blue state, or it's this, there's no excuse. We have to keep fighting. So tell me about yourself. You mentioned that this is your first term. Why did you, have you ever won anything before?

Is this your first office? Nothing, not even dog catcher. Like I've never run for office. Not even a school race? No, not even a school race. In fact, my rep had said, you know, you should probably start with school committee. I was like, nah, I'm going to run for Senate. So there was an incumbent in the seat for 20 years, and he wasn't a bad guy.

He's a really nice guy, and he was actually pro-life. But, and pro second amendment like myself, he was very on the social issues. He was conservative like myself. I like to think of myself as more fiscal conservative than, you know, than my counterpart. But he ended up retiring, great family, you know, and so it became an open seat. So why did I decide to run? It really came down to, I felt like our voices weren't being heard at the stayhouse. And as I, you know, discuss or go back to what we were just talking about, how, you know, the State House, thousands of people showed up to speak out against these bills.

And it's still passed. We are not being heard. I had one senator to say, well, you know, I'm going to vote the way I want to vote because I was elected. No, you're going to vote the way you vote because your constituency put you there and you're going to represent them. So I think that for me, the straw that broke the camel's back was, you know, I applied for a license to carry in my town, and I lived there for 34 years before I moved to Nurse Smithfield four years ago. And I showed proper need, and I, you know, crossed all my teas, dotted all my eyes,

and I was unfairly denied my license to carry. And so I had to have my case heard before the Rhode Island Supreme Court. The court admonished the police chief at the time, but he decided he was going to continue to fight it and give me now a long, list of reasons why he didn't want to issue me the license. And so what happened was I had a choice to make. Do I, you know,

take out a second mortgage to keep fighting this? You know, do I put my kids' future, you know, their financial future at risk? Do I, you know, it came down to that fear that if you're well-connected or you have deep pockets, then you get justice, then you get what to do. But if you're just a little guy

and at the last day of the state house, last day of session at the state house, I was speaking to someone and I won't say who, but, you know, the words came out of his mouth. Well, now you're a senator. And I was like, no, that's wrong. It has nothing to do with who you are, what your title, how much you, you know, is in your bank account. It really comes down to what's right is right. And so that was one of the issues, you know, as I said, broke the straw that broke the camel's back. but I had been to pro-life rallies. I've spoke right-to-life rallies.

So those two issues, those were issues that I'm, you know, as I tell my husband, those are hills I'm willing to die on. And why you've made me curious now? Why was it so important for you to be able to carry? Well, first of all, it's a constitutional right, you know. And I want to exercise all of them. And also, too, as a property owner, and I was collecting some Brent at the time, and that's, you know, large amounts of cash.

And I thought, you know, it might be good. I'm a woman. I'm alone. You know, someone, you know, knows that I'm carrying large amounts of cash at a certain time of the month, you know. So I thought I'm going to exercise that Second Amendment right. And, you know, everything happens for a reason. So you're a pro-lifer in a blue state. So I'm sure you encounter a lot of people who disagree with you.

How do you handle those conversations and how do you think pro-lifers should engage with people who disagree with them? So in my blue state, I would say that most people are pro-life. And it comes down to that what trimester. So first trimester, most Rhode Islanders are going to say it's okay to have an abortion. When it comes to second and third trimester, they're going to agree with me and other Rhode Island residents that it's, It's wrong. It's just, it's not just. And as I was talking to my constituents, which I do a monthly, you know, coffee with Jess at a multiple locations, you know, throughout town. And I would have Democrats come up to me and say, you're not going to vote for this, right? And I said, nope, I'm not going to. Good, because this is too far. I think when it comes down to other issues, I think we need to listen with the intent to understand instead of the intent to respond. And I think that that's, that's a good rule of thumb for. any topic. And lastly, you know, as conservatives, we often say how important it is that the government

be closer to the people, the decisions be made more at the local level, the state level, the county level. But, you know, Daily Signal, of course, as a national news outlet, that's what we focus on. And it seems increasingly that people are more focused on the national news than what's happening at the state level. How would you, you know, you're going into state government. What kind of decisions are you making? What has that experience been like for you as a freshman?

what would you say to someone who's maybe thought about trying to run for state office, but isn't sure they want to deal with it? I did one run to for state office, and it was never an intention of mine. It was never on the radar. It wasn't, you know, like a dream or aspiration of mine. In fact, I would run in the opposite direction. And I was at a Second Amendment event, and I met a rep on the House side, and she said, Jessica, we need more women to run, and we need more conservative women to run.

I was like, oh, God, no. I was like, I will help, but I don't want. too because politics is dirty. And she said, yeah, but we need women. We need conservative-minded women. And she stuck with me. She'd text me. She said, let's go for coffee. So I went for coffee. And one night I'm sitting in my bed and my husband's like, what are you going to do? You know, have you decided? And I said, really came to the realization where I said, you know, if I can do something and I don't, am I part of the solution or part of the problem? And at that point, I said, I'm going to run for office. I'm jumping in feet first and let the chips fall where they may.

And I was very fortunate as a political newcomer to win the confidence of the people in District 23. Okay. Well, Jessica Daly-Cruz, again, Senator from Rhode Island. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to The Daily Signal podcast brought to you from the Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio at the Heritage Foundation. Please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, or PIPA, and please leave us a review or a five-star rating on iTunes to give us any feedback. See you again tomorrow. The Daily Signal podcast is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Daniel Davis. Sound design by Lauren Evans and Thalia Ramprasad.

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