How We Got Here; How We Might Get Out of Here
Part one of this two-part article is here.
Trans extremism has made extraordinary
advances in a short period of time. Powerful decision-makers in education,
medicine, law, politics, media, religion, and entertainment enforce trans
demands that would have seemed bizarre or merely comical in the recent past. In
spite of trans extremism's rapid advance, its days may be numbered. Trans
extremist ideology is the great-grandchild of Marxist ideology, but it
conflicts with classical Marxism. Too, more conventional leftists are
increasingly voicing resistance to trans extremism.
Trans extremism's rapid advance has
occurred on several fronts. Suddenly signs reading "men's room" and "women's
room" in a church are
condemned as discriminatory. Suddenly tens of thousands of people,
including children, are begging
strangers to give them money so that they can undergo medically unnecessary
double mastectomies or castrations. Suddenly Rob Hoogland, a
loving father, is jailed because he referred to his daughter as a "daughter,"
not a "son" and he used the pronoun "she" rather than "he."
Suddenly police interrogate Kellie-Jay
Keen-Minshull, a British housewife and mother, because she said that she
opposes the elective castration of a teenage boy. Jackie
Green, a sixteen-year-old British boy, was castrated. Keen-Minshull's
verbal protest of that castration was enough to bring police to her door. In
2018, Keen-Minshull paid to have a billboard put up in Liverpool. The billboard
read: "Woman: Adult human
female." The billboard was taken down because it offends men who
identify as women.
Suddenly the beloved, family-friendly,
all-American company, Hershey, manufacturer of chocolate kisses, chooses to
emblazon the face of a gay man, Fae Johnstone, aka Zach Johnstone, on its candy
wrappers. Johnstone's face is meant to celebrate International Woman's Day. Johnstone,
a man who identifies as a woman, has advocated
for male rapists to be placed in women's prisons. Johnstone has also called
for women to be "vilified" till "they don't dare to speak
their views publicly" if they refuse to acknowledge him as a woman.
Hershey's campaign is an attempt at woke-washing.
Hershey faces a lawsuit because of the lead
and cadmium contaminating its chocolate. Hershey has been accused of using child
slave labor. Putting a man in woman-face on its chocolate wrappers distracts
attention from Hershey's dark side.
Suddenly Christians can't wait to
announce their support for the word "woman" being redefined in a way
that erases women. John
Pavlovitz, a superstar Methodist pastor, struts his
moral superiority on social media: "I
can't support your transphobic lifestyle," he preaches to Christians who
question trans extremism. "I'm buying more" Hershey's chocolate, Pavlovitz
insists, because "You. Are. Not. Going. To. Erase. LGBTQ. People. On.
Our. Watch." Melodramatic, Captain-Kirk-style punctuation in the original.
Why are these events and others like
them happening now? Like all social trends, from the witch
craze to tulip mania,
trans extremism has many drivers. Those drivers include social media, social
contagion, money and power, Marxist-influenced ideology, the crisis of meaning,
and the elevation of claims of victim status to societal advantage.
Social
media is one factor driving trans extremism, combined
with social contagion.
"When I was fifteen, I was introduced to gender ideology on Tumblr and
began to call myself nonbinary," writes detransitioner Helena Kirschner. Like
many pubescent girls, Kirschner was experiencing discomfort. As with thousands
of other girls, she came to believe that she was a boy trapped in a girl's body
because social media peer pressure worked hard to convince her of that.
Dr. Lisa Littman has documented
ROGD, or rapid onset gender dysphoria. Peer pressure, often exercised in
online communities, causes girls to identify as boys. "The onset of gender
dysphoria seemed to occur in the context of belonging to a peer group where
one, multiple, or even all of the friends have become gender dysphoric and
transgender-identified … Parents also report that their children exhibited an
increase in social media/internet use prior to disclosure of a transgender
identity."
Another factor driving trans extremism
is profit. In June, 2022, Tablet published Jennifer
Bilek's exposé of the billionaire Pritzker family of Illinois. The
Pritzkers use their inherited $29 billion to push
trans extremism. Jennifer Pritzker, formerly James Pritzker, as well as his
cousin, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce
Penny Pritzker "appear to have used a family philanthropic apparatus to
drive an ideology and practice of disembodiment into our medical, legal,
cultural, and educational institutions."
Jennifer Pritzker's Tawani Foundation
funds the Human Rights Campaign, the American
Civil Liberties Union, the World Professional Association of Transgender
Health, and other institutions pushing trans extremism. Bilek documents the
Pritzkers donating to medical professionals and institutions, including the
Ronald Reagan Medical Center at the University of California Los Angeles, who
celebrate "gender affirming care."
Pritzker money influences education as
well. Nicholas Matte
is a woman who identifies as a man. Matte is one of the professors Pritzker
supports. Matte teaches "Sexual Diversity Studies" at the University
of Toronto. "It's not correct that there is such a thing as biological
sex," Prof. Matte
insists. Only "cisnormativity" and a "cisnormative culture"
delude people into thinking "that there is such a thing as male and female
... scientists have shown that that's not true." Even though male and
female don't exist, when her fellow professor Jordan Peterson referred to male
students as "he" he was "abusing" students.
According to online reviews left by
students, Matte has "zero sense of reality," and is an "ideology
pusher … Very similar to bigoted people who don't allow for debate." Matte
teaches "one of the few courses in the curricula that will make you less
qualified for a job." Another student of Matte reports, "Initially,
we thought we were getting pranked, like some Dadaist bizarro show with hidden
cameras." Other students say of Matte, "Everything that comes out of
this professor's mouth is absolute crap;" "I am ashamed of the school
I attend because of people like" Matte; and, "I am ashamed of the
University and will not be returning." Matte is also, according to one
student, a "total moron."
Pritzker money and power affects
elementary school students as well as students in universities. "In August
2021, Gov. Pritzker signed into law a new sex education bill for all public
schools in Illinois." As required by this law, second grade students "should
be able to define gender, gender identity, and gender-role stereotypes" as
well as to "discuss the range of ways people express their gender and how
gender role stereotypes may limit behavior."
Helen Joyce, author of the 2021
bestseller, Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, also covered Pritzker
money's influence. "In 2016," Joyce writes, Pritzker's Tawani
Foundation "gave the University of Victoria $2 million to endow a chair of
transgender studies, and throughout the 'bathroom wars' it supported Equality Illinois
Education Project, which is linked to a group campaigning for gender
self-ID in the state."
Bilek has done subsequent work naming other
very wealthy people pushing trans extremism. See for example here,
here,
here,
here,
here,
here
and here. The overall
message of Bilek's work is that trans extremism is not a grassroots movement in
which oppressed people organize with other oppressed people, rise up, and peacefully
demand that more powerful people grant them equal rights. Rather, she argues,
trans extremism is a top-down movement manufactured by very wealthy and
powerful people, most of whom have not been elected in any democratic process,
but who use their wealth to manipulate the institutions that, in turn,
manipulate the masses.
Money drives trans extremism in another
way. There are immensely wealthy and powerful people funding trans extremism,
and there are immensely wealthy and powerful people profiting from trans
extremism. People who identify as trans and attempt medical transition to the
sex opposite to their own must continue to take drugs and, given the high rate
of surgical complications, must possibly undergo follow-up surgeries for the
rest of their lives. Also, when trans people find that a given approach does
not resolve their gender dysphoria, they choose to undertake further medical
interventions. A double mastectomy might be followed by a phalloplasty. Breast
implants might be followed by facial feminization surgery, that involves the
cutting of facial bones with a laser or surgical saw, and the shaving of the
trachea. Trans people are cash cows for pharmaceutical companies, counselors, surgeons,
clinics, hospitals, and health care professionals.
The drug Lupron is currently used as a
puberty suppressant in children identified as trans. Journalist Pedro L.
Gonzalez covered Lupron in the New
York Post in 2021. "Lupron was initially developed to lower
testosterone levels in men with prostate cancer, effectively chemically
castrating them … Lupron manufacturer AbbVie made $726 million on the drug
alone in 2018. AbbVie has joined other major pharmaceutical companies in
lobbying to keep drug prices high while virtue-signaling about diversity and
inclusion." Pharmaceutical companies' cant about "diversity and
inclusion" while raking in big profits is another form of woke-washing.
AMAC
reports, "In 2009, a group of doctors began using Lupron to treat
autism – largely at the behest of Big Pharma, which was desperate to find more
uses for the drug, which cost millions of dollars to develop. But using Lupron
to treat autism was soon rejected as 'junk science,' and one noted professor
said the notion of prescribing Lupron to 'vulnerable children…fills me with
horror.' … TAP Pharmaceutical Products was forced to pay $875 million to settle
criminal and civil charges regarding the use and marketing of Lupron. According
to the New York Times, the company was illegally manipulating Medicare
and Medicaid Programs by providing free samples of Lupron, then collecting
reimbursements of 'hundreds of dollars for each dose' from the government
programs. In addition, six employees were indicted for conspiracy to pay
kickbacks to doctors if they prescribed Lupron … By some estimates, each
transgender child represents over $1 million to the pharmaceutical industry."
Scott
Newgent is a woman who attempted to transition to being a man. She required
repeat medical care, all of which cost her dearly and enriched medical
professionals. "I had seven surgeries to change my appearance to male. As
side effects, I also had a massive pulmonary embolism, a helicopter life-flight
ride, an emergency ambulance ride, a stress-induced heart attack, sepsis, a
17-month recurring infection … 16 rounds of antibiotics, three weeks of daily
IV antibiotics, the loss of all my hair, only partially successful arm reconstructive
surgery [from a failed phalloplasty], permanent lung and heart damage, a cut
bladder, insomnia-induced hallucinations and frequent loss of consciousness due
to pain from the hair on the inside of my urethra. All this led to a form of
PTSD that made me a prisoner in my apartment for a year. Now, the corrupt
forces pushing Lupron seem to have found a new cash cow in the sudden influx of
children identifying as transgender … We forget the massive amount of revenue
generated by pushing our kids to believe they are transgender."
In short, transitioning is expensive, it
can lead to a lifetime dependency on drugs and possible repeat
surgeries and other medical interventions, and transitioners' lifelong
dependence on medical attention generates massive profits for medical
professionals, especially if they can guarantee that the funding comes from
government programs bullied and shamed into covering trans treatments at
taxpayer expense.
The Kaiser Family Foundation's coverage
of trans Medicaid recipients includes a perhaps unintentionally revealing,
internally contradictory sentence. "Not all transgender … individuals will
want or seek any or all of these medically necessary services." If a
treatment is "medically necessary," it is not optional. That some,
not all, trans people seek, for example, castration, phalloplasty, or breast
augmentation, while others reject these procedures, reveals that these
treatments are not medically necessary, any more than any other plastic surgery
performed for cosmetic reasons. In any case, the KFF certainly feels that
taxpayers should cover these medically unnecessary procedures.
Matt Walsh uncovered
video in which a health care professional promoted trans extremism as a cash
cow. In this video, Dr. Shane Taylor, medical director of Vanderbilt University
Medical Center Clinic for Transgender Health, takes credit for establishing the
clinic. She says she did so by emphasizing to hospital bigwigs that the clinic
would be a gold mine. In a
livestreamed lecture, Taylor informed her audience of fellow health care
professionals that "gender affirmation surgeries" are "big money
makers." "Staring on January 1, 2017, according to the Affordable
Care Act, insurance companies are mandated to cover medical expenses for trans
folks … It's a lot of money. These surgeries make a lot of money. Female to
male chest reconstruction can bring in $40,000. A patient on routine hormone
treatment who we see only a few times a year can bring in several thousand
dollars. This makes money for the hospital … Vaginoplasty they're quoting
$20,000. This has to be an underestimate. That doesn't include your hospital
stay. That doesn't include your post-op visit. That doesn't include your
anesthesia, your OR. This is a gross underestimate. Female to male bottom
surgery, these are huge moneymakers. Phalloplasty can be up to $100,000. One
entire clinic is supported just by phalloplasties. These surgeries are labor
intensive. They require a lot of follow up. And they make money. They make
money for the hospital."
Walsh published another Vanderbilt video
featuring Dr. Ellen
Clayton. In that video, Clayton warned that any health care professional
who had a conscientious objection to participating in the transing of children
would face "consequences." "If you don't wanna do this kind of
work, don't work at Vanderbilt."
Dr. Clayton is "an internationally
respected leader in the field of health law, focusing on … protecting the
interests of patients and communities." Dr. Clayton holds an MS from
Stanford, a JD from Yale, and an MD from Harvard. The Vatican has invited
Clayton to participate in discussions
of ethics. Reading Clayton's formidable CV brings to mind a quote by Judge
Michal Musmanno. In speaking of the defendants before him, Judge Musmanno said,
"Each man at the bar has had the benefit of considerable schooling. Eight
are lawyers, one a university professor, another a dental physician, still
another an expert on art. One … an opera singer." Musmanno served as a
judge in the Nuremberg trials of Nazis.
Apparently Vanderbilt feared that "conscientious
objectors" might be lurking beneath the surface, so Vanderbilt deputized
thought police called "trans buddies" who would accompany patients,
including minor children, to every doctor's appointment. The "buddy's"
job was to police speech and behavior of health care professionals, to ensure
that that speech and behavior complied with the demands of trans extremism.
Doctors and nurses must never "misgender" children by, say, using the
pronoun "she" to refer to a girl. "Gender affirmation therapy"
insists that once a child is labeled transgender, that child must never be
exposed to the idea that he is not transgender. "Trans buddies" would
make sure that no health care professional allowed a child to be exposed to the
idea that God did not make a mistake when creating his body.
Ironically, Marx-influenced ideology is
another cause of trans extremism. Marx summed up his idea thus: he wanted the "Abolition
of private property." Marx might be rolling over in his grave to discover
that his ideas help rich medical professionals fleece children, insurance
companies, and American taxpayers.
Marx also called for the
abolition of the individual. "In bourgeois society capital is
independent and has individuality … the abolition of this state of things is
called by the bourgeois, abolition of individuality and freedom! And rightly
so. The abolition of bourgeois individuality, bourgeois independence, and
bourgeois freedom is undoubtedly aimed at … You must, therefore, confess that
by 'individual' you mean no other person than the bourgeois, than the
middle-class owner of property. This person must, indeed, be swept out of the
way, and made impossible."
Trans extremism, on the other hand, is most
popular among the bourgeois and it is extremely individualistic. "Radical
individualism is at the heart of gender theory," argues Michael
Cook, the Australian bioethics journalist. Trans extremists struggle so
hard to be their "authentic selves" that they doubt that they are "trans
enough." There are books, websites, and peer-reviewed scholarly articles
exploring whether or not any given person is "trans enough." There
are affirmations reassuring the doubter that he is "trans enough." see
here, here, here,
here,
here,
here.
Trans-identified young people struggling
to locate and act upon their authentically true individuality insist on inventing their own
individual pronouns like "doll," "fairy," "kitty,"
"star," "sloth," and "demon." Chloe Cole, a
detransitioner, said that her conviction that she was transgender took root
when she was alone in her room "ruminating" on her own self. She
advised parents that to protect their children from the kind of mistakes she
made, they need to keep their children away from social media, and keep the kid
active, and engaged in productive activity with other people.
In addition to their hostility to individualism,
Marx and Engels exchanged letters that, commentators argue, demonstrate
homophobia. See, for example, here.
Marxist states have not
been known to value LGBT rights.
Given this hostility to profit, to
individuality, and to homosexuality, how can Marxist ideology be identified as
a source of trans extremism? The route from classical Marxism to trans
extremism is tangled and thorny; it is best depicted as a corkscrew, not an
arrow. Scholars Chris
Rufo and James Lindsay work out the complicated family tree of trans
extremism. In this video,
Lindsay describes Marxism as the template into which a variety of ingredients
can be plugged. Classical Marxism divides humanity into two irreconcilable
opposites: the oppressors and the oppressed. Virtuous action consists of
overturning the oppressors and uplifting the oppressed. For Marx, the
oppressors were capitalism and the capitalist class. The oppressed were the
workers.
As time has gone on, other would-be revolutionaries,
with other axes to grind, have adopted the Marxist template and plugged in
their own grievances. For Marxist-influenced BLM, the oppressors are all whites
and the oppressed are all blacks. For queer theorists and trans extremists,
normality itself is the oppressor, and the oppressed are those considered not
normal. Notions of normality must be obliterated, including, as Lindsay says,
the taboo against the sexual abuse of children.
The original Marxist template divides
humanity up into two perpetually irreconcilable groups: the oppressive
capitalists and the oppressed workers. Virtue, in this model, consists of
warfare between these two groups, till the oppressed finally defeat the
oppressor and usher in Utopia. This model can be applied to the transing of
children. The process is articulated exactly in the agonized confession of "Rose,"
an otherwise anonymous mother. In August, 2022, Rose confessed that she transed
her two sons. She later realized that her sons were not her daughters, but were
actually her sons. She deeply regrets what she did to her sons, and her sons
regret her actions, as well.
Why did Rose trans her two sons? Because
she embraced the
Marxist-influenced worldview. "I was on the forefront, introducing the
concept of intersectionality to progressive organizations, and having people
share their pronouns. My friends and I felt we were the cool kids, the vanguard
of revolutionary work to change the world, to achieve what people in the social
justice movement call 'collective liberation.' I was deeply committed to the
work of creating another world that was possible."
When her four-year-old son, being raised
by two lesbian mothers, asked if he were a girl or a boy, Rose introduced her
defenseless son to trans ideology. "What I know now is that … I was
leading my innocent, sensitive child down a path of lies that were a direct
on-ramp to psychological damage and life-long irreversible medical
intervention. All in the name of love, acceptance, and liberation." Rose now
admits that her behavior was the behavior of a member of a cult. (An interview
with Rose is here.)
Why are Marxism's great-grandchildren,
like trans extremism, finding adherents among young Americans? Because nature
abhors a vacuum. America is undergoing a crisis of meaning. Americans are
rapidly leaving organized religion, which had been a mainstay of American
culture. The family also used to be a bedrock. Americanness used to be mom and
apple pie. Mom is fading into extinction. The US has the world's highest rate
of children living in single parent households, according to Pew. According to
recent census data, "Just 18% of US households are 'nuclear families' with
a married couple and children, down from 40% since 1970s and the lowest since
1959," reports the Daily
Mail. Schools used to provide a sense of community and purpose.
Today American
schools are in crisis, as are American
students. Girls are in especially bad
shape. Since the Sexual Revolution, females have been stripped of the
protection of modesty and respect. At least one detransitioner, Chloe Cole,
admitted that she attempted to become a boy because she
was sexually assaulted in an eighth grade classroom by a boy who habitually
bullied her, and though others witnessed the assault, no one aided her or
protested the assailant's action. Cole said in a recent
interview that sexual assault is a significant cause of transing among
girls she knows. America's crisis of meaning is reflected in "deaths of despair."
Americans are lonely and are even having less sex (here, here,
here).
Former American neo-Nazi Christian
Piccolini says he was recruited into hate groups because, like all young
people, he sought "identity, community, and purpose." Father Jim
Friedrich, an Episcoplian priest, observes that a loss of meaning can drive
young people to any movement that gives them that sense of identity, community,
and purpose. Friedrich writes that many young Nazis in 1930s Germany "weren't
looking for ideas, but meaning. They desired a cure for melancholy and malaise,
a pick-me-up to restore a sense of personal significance." Friedrich quotes
historian Richard J. Evans. Often, young Nazi recruits "had only the
haziest notion of what they were fighting for." "Hostility to the
enemy de jour – Communists, Jews, whomever – was the core of their commitment."
Trans extremists invented a new class of enemy – "transphobes" and "TERF"s.
Marxist ideology divided humanity into
oppressors and the oppressed. In this worldview, the oppressed have a monopoly
on victim identity, community, and purpose. They are above criticism. White, middle-class,
American children must resign themselves to despised oppressor identity. If
they can claim to be trans, they can escape their despised status as oppressors
and claim superior victim status.
It's undeniable that trans extremism is
a great-grandchild of Marxist ideology, but it's also undeniable that it doesn't
fit with classical Marxism. I was an active leftist for decades, on the east
and west coasts, overseas, and in Indiana. We focused on US military
intervention overseas, striking workers, environmental issues, feminism, black
liberation, wealth redistribution, gay liberation, nuclear disarmament. Garden
variety leftists felt free to make jokes about "trannies." To the
hardcore Marxists, trans people were not an issue; class revolution was.
"Marxism vs. Queer
Theory," a detailed 2019 essay by Yola Kipcak of the International
Marxist Tendency, outlines a classical Marxist rejection of queer theory.
Kipcak blasts gender-identity-based politics as leading to "a
strengthening of petty-bourgeois ideas." Class struggle, not gender,
should be the guiding light. "Declining class struggle" causes "identity
politics" to sink "ever deeper into a crisis." "Small,
subjective narratives" and "the psychology of individualization"
are not Marxist. To Marxists ,"matter is primary." "The dualism
of mind and body" – the idea that one can be a boy trapped in a girl's
body – does not comply with Marxism's emphasis on the primacy of matter. Queer
theory is nothing but "pompous" "intellectual games" that
cannot advance the revolution. "Oppression is rooted in class society"
and if you want to make the world a better place, you have to invest in
material reality and join the class-based revolution. "Gender roles are
thus not purely cultural fantasies derived from the world of ideas, but spring
from the material base of class society … as well as biological factors." "Queer
Theory and Marxism are irreconcilable," she concludes.
Classical Marxism, though, will not
spell the end of trans extremism in the US; the American left is not
classically Marxist. What will end trans extremism? A backlash from those who
initially supported trans extremism, that is, middle class people on the
American political left.
Straws in the wind suggest that a
backlash against trans extremism has begun in this population. "Whose ox
is gored?" goes the old saying. If people are being personally harmed,
they are more likely to act. The very demographic who initially advanced trans
extremism is now expressing opposition to trans extremism. Left-leaning women
are speaking up. Why? Because they see themselves and their kids being hurt.
Reader comments in left-leaning
publications reflect an undercurrent of resistance to trans extremism. These
comments are all the more remarkable given that any criticism of trans
extremism is immediately condemned as "transphobic" and critics
suffer penalties, from being doxed to losing jobs to death threats. In spite of
these punishments, not only can criticisms of trans extremism be found in
left-leaning publications, but the commenter frequently self-identifies as a
leftist, and offers bona fides. I'm a lifelong Democrat, they say. I hate
Republicans. I supported gay rights long before it was popular. I am gay
myself. I am myself a trans person, they say.
Of course not all comments on
trans-themed articles offer resistance. Things change in the comments sections
of articles focused more on identified enemies than on trans extremism per se.
When an article focuses on a prominent Republican who voices an
anti-trans-extremist stance, the comments section reflects the joy and bonding
that tribe members receive from ganging up on the hated enemy tribe. For
example, on March 5, 2023, the Washington Post published an article
entitled "Florida
Bills Would Ban Gender Studies, Limit Trans Pronouns, Erode Tenure."
The article featured a large color photo of Ron DeSantis. The article received
almost 14,000 comments. The most popular comment was an attack on Republicans.
The second most popular comment was a warning about the danger of "white
Christians." The third most popular griped about "damage" to "higher
ed." None of these top comments mentioned trans; rather, they focused on
the hated enemy.
On March 6, 2023, the New York Times published
"Tennessee
and the Anti-Drag Race." This op-ed demonized Republicans, whites, and
Christians, all of whom are "waterboarding" LGBT people. The most
popular comment says Tennessee wants to return to the "Dark Ages."
The second and third most popular comments call for "Economic pressure on
our enemies." The fourth most popular comment compares "regressive
and medieval" Republicans to Russians and Saudi Arabians. In short, when
the focus is on bashing the left's enemy tribes, that is, white people,
Christians, Southerners, people in flyover country, and Republicans, the
comments section erupts in the enthusiastic bonding of shared hate.
Things change in the comments section
when the piece being responded to argues for trans extremism per se. On March
6, 2023, New
York Magazine responded to Michael Knowles' CPAC comment that "transgenderism
must be eradicated from public life." As with other articles that focus on
attacking the right, the most popular comments also attacked the right. An
unpopular comment, though, is a straw in the wind. An anonymous poster wrote, "The
trans activist lobby and by extension, Joe Biden and the Democratic Party have
ZERO empathy for women or the children who are pushed into gender affirmation care,
which, because of the serious and irreversible consequences, will end up being
the WORST medical scandal in history. Not only is it malpractice, it's
Frankenstein-level malpractice – being committed on KIDS! I say this as a
liberal woman who has voted D for over 25 years. No more. If the Ds want my
vote they can stop being a men's rights org that promotes the maiming of
children!"
This comment is fairly typical of
comments that depart from gender extremism. The poster self-identifies as a
left-wing woman. She expresses concern for trans extremism's erasure of women,
and she protests the transing of children. This comment is unpopular, though. Are
comments that criticize trans extremism, comments appearing in left-wing
publications, and by commenters who self-identify as left-wing, ever popular?
Yes, yes they are.
On February 16, 2023, left-leaning Slate
published an
article alleging that JK Rowling is a transphobe. Note that this article
did not go after what leftists perceive as an enemy tribe, that is, white,
conservative Christians living in the South or the Midwest. This article
criticized a beloved author. The most popular comment defended Rowling and
stated that "Reasonable people can have disagreements on trans-women in
women's shelters and hormones/puberty blockers in young kids." The next
most popular comment defended Rowling and condemned attacks on Rowling. The
third most popular comment stated, "People have to be able to discuss this
topic without instantly starting a firestorm. From the left, you're reprimanded
that any questions about transgenderism deny the humanity of trans people …
this is a relatively new phenomenon. People need to be able to openly ask
questions and have their opinions respected … Accept that people are confused
on this, that many are repelled or frightened by it and that some have
legitimately thought out objections to the concept." This comment is
extraordinary in its rationality and humanity. It directly contradicts trans
extremism. The fourth most popular comment defended Rowling and condemned the
attacks on her. And so on. Granted, these departures from trans extremism were
immediately attacked by trans extremists for the posters' departures from the
party line.
On February 16, 2023, the New York
Times published a
defense of JK Rowling. Again, readers were not offered the raw meat of an
attack on their hated tribe, but rather a defense of a charismatic author. The
most popular comment, which received 6,212 upvotes from New York Times readers,
defended JK Rowling, and condemned men who identify as women invading women's
spaces like sports. The poster self-identified as "a pro-LGBTQ liberal bio
woman." The second most popular comment is worth reading in full. "As
a transgender woman, I find nothing at all offensive from Ms. Rowling. As this
essay shows, she has expressed great compassion for those who are vulnerable.
My political views lean left, but I have grown so weary of all this language
policing, the them/they pronouns, and using words like 'harm' when one is
merely offended by others' writing or speech. 'Witch trial' is an excellent
phrase to describe it all, especially in our academic institutions."
The third most popular comment is
similarly attention-worthy. "I'm a gay man but do not want to be
associated with the current extremism of many LGBTQ organizations. In fact, I
don't see the trans movement as a gay/lesbian issue at all. Sexual orientation
and gender identity are separate issues in my view and should not be confused.
Rowling clearly supports trans rights, but she has a realistic view of when
women's rights and trans rights collide. I believe gay rights organizations
that have adopted the cause of the trans extremists are endangering all the
progress that has been made in recent decades for our cause."
If space allowed, I would continue
quoting from all the top comments. They are remarkable. Readers, again and
again, self-identify as left, as Democrats, as gay-friendly, or as gay or trans
themselves, and they forthrightly condemn trans extremism. They don't like the
hysteria, the accusations, the cancelations, the transing of children, the
invasion of women's spaces including sports, prisons, and shelters.
On February 10, 2023, the Washington
Post published "Missouri Atty. Gen. Calls For Halt To Drug Care For
Transgender Youth." The article mentioned Jamie Reed's devastating expose
of trans extremism in a Missouri clinic. Some comments focus on bashing the
left's chosen demons, those pesky medieval, backward, hateful, white, Christian
conservatives in Missouri, flyover country. But other comments, which often
receive upvotes, focus on the dangers of trans extremism. From one popular
comment, "If you think this is one clinic in Missouri, you are in for an
ugly surprise. How do I know? My own daughter was prescribed testosterone at a
highly-regarded clinic - before the bloodwork was back. That's not medic. It's
political advocacy with a prescription pad." Another popular comment, "Let's
face it - in our well-meaning desire to be supportive of people with gender
dysphoria, we've gone waaaaayy overboard. Hopefully this scandal will bring
back some of the caution this illness used to be dealt with." Subsequent
comments, often from self-identified, left-leaning parents, voice concern about
trans extremism.
Two recent media resisting trans extremism
are remarkable because they are products of women who self-identify as left. On
February 9, 2023, Jamie Reed, a "a queer woman, and politically to the
left of Bernie Sanders … married to a trans man" published a detailed
account of abuse of trans-identified children at The Washington University
Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital.
On February 18, 2023, left-leaning filmmakers
released the documentary Affirmation
Generation. The filmmakers self-identify as "lifelong, West
Coast Liberal Democrats." On February 17, 2023, the Dallas Morning News
published an
op-ed by one of the filmmakers of Affirmation Generation. On one
level, the article reads like a parody. First, the filmmaker is anonymous.
Others less wealthy, connected, and powerful than she have had the courage to
criticize trans extremism under their real names. She hides behind a pseudonym.
The filmmaker repeats again and again that she is "liberal." She's
not one of those bad, bad conservatives who produce "hit pieces." In
fact it was her fellow leftists who damaged her son through trans extremism,
and it is conservative values that will rescue her son. The filmmaker, who never
stops emphasizing how "liberal" she is, went along with the transing
of her son, till she realized how much harm that transing was doing to her
child.
And there you have it. Leftists are
steering the trans extremist car. Leftists' children are being transed. Some
leftists are realizing that trans extremism is hurting their children, and also
reversing feminism's gains. Their ox is gored, and they will be the ones who
derail the trans extremist train. The other factor that will help to defeat
trans extremism is lawsuits, like this
one and this one.
Once institutions and health care professionals have to pay for the damage they
have done to children, that damage will begin to wane.
As mentioned in part
one, trans extremism is a distinct approach. This article is not critical
of people who identify as trans. Indeed, concerned citizens agree with trans
people who resist trans extremism, for example, Buck Angel, a woman who
identifies as a man and who has vociferously condemned trans extremism. This
author opposes any dehumanization, bullying, persecution, or discrimination
against trans people. Trans extremism is not trans people. Trans extremism is
not about tolerance, dignity, or respect for anyone. Trans extremism is a
societal trend, one that is doing harm, and that will some day end.
Danusha Goska is the author of God through
Binoculars: A Hitchhiker at a Monastery
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