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Pro-Trump lawyer compares Demi Lovato’s pronoun choice to Bible character possessed by demons

Attorney who worked to overturn 2020 election tweets that it’s ‘interesting’ that ‘only time in scripture an individual was referred to in plural’ is in reference to possessed man

Gustaf Kilander
Washington, DC
Monday 24 May 2021 22:20 BST
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Demi Lovato gives warning about weight-loss compliments

Pro-Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis compared Demi Lovato’s choice to use the pronouns they and them to a Bible character possessed by demons.

Ms Ellis, who was part of former President Donald Trump’s unsuccessful legal team attempting to overturn the election, tweeted on Monday: “Interesting that the only time in scripture an individual was referred to in plural ‘they/their/we’ pronouns is in Matthew 5:9. Jesus asked a demon-possessed man his name, and he replied, ‘My name is Legion, for we are many’.”

The tweet came in response to a Page Six article about Lovato suggesting to their fans that they stop complimenting Lovato’s weight loss because it can be triggering for someone who is recovering from an eating disorder.

Lovato announced that they were non-binary last week.

“Idk who needs to hear this but complimenting someone on their weight loss can be as harmful as complimenting someone on their weight gain in regards to talking to someone in recovery from an eating disorder,” Lovato, 28, wrote in a Saturday Instagram story.

“If you don’t know someone’s history with food, please don’t comment on their body,” Lovato added. “Because even if your intention is pure, it might leave that person awake at 2am overthinking that statement.”

While they said that hearing a compliment can feel good, the positive statement can be overcome by the “loud a** eating disorder voice inside my head”.

Lovato added that positive comments about their body can lead them to ponder what people thought of their body before the weight loss.

“Moral of the story: I am more than the shell for my soul that is my body and every day I fight to remind myself of that, so I’m asking you to please not remind me that that is all people see of me sometimes,” they wrote.

“I don’t count calories anymore, I don’t over-exercise anymore, I don’t restrict or purge. And I especially don’t live my life according to the diet culture . . . and I’ve actually lost weight.

“This is a different experience. But I feel full, not of food, but of divine wisdom and cosmic guidance, peace, serenity, joy, and love,” Lovato said.

Jenna Ellis has previously come under fire for her anti-LGBT+ views, like when she misgendered Dr Rachel Levine, the deputy secretary of health and first Senate-confirmed transgender government official.

Ms Ellis posted the tweet in August 2020 when Dr Levine was serving as Pennsylvania's health secretary.

In a 2017 homophobic remark, Ms Ellis wrote on Facebook: “Whether or not homosexuals are nice, wise people, or misunderstood, or mean is not the issue — God’s Truth is the issue. Sin is always sin, even if nice people commit it.”

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