Support for LGBT People Declines in a Recent Survey

News Commentary

Support and comfort with LGBT people has declined according to a recent LGBT acceptance survey from GLAAD, an LGBT visibility organization. The drop is significant.

From a Huffington Post article on the study:

The survey ― conducted in January 2019 by The Harris Poll, a New York-based research firm ― found that non-LGBTQ adults who said they felt “very” or “somewhat” comfortable in all of those scenarios was 49%, reflecting no change from 2018. For the 18 to 34 demographic, however, that percentage fell from 53% to 45%.  

As GLAAD representatives pointed out, 2019 marks the second year in a row that LGBTQ acceptance among Americans aged 18 to 34 has dropped. In 2017, that figure was at 63%. The most striking drop in acceptance appeared among young women, whose comfort level dropped from 64% last year to 52% in the newly published report.  

Right-wing rhetoric and activism is blamed as the cause:

In a statement issued Monday, GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis linked the two-year decline to “divisive rhetoric both in politics and in culture.” 

“Last year, when we saw an erosion in LGBTQ acceptance, GLAAD doubled down on our formula for making positive culture change,” she said. 

Though Ellis didn’t cite specifics, GLAAD has reportedly documented more than 40 incidents of anti-LGBTQ hate violence since the start of 2019. Policy setbacks, such as President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military, as well as religious liberty laws that essentially allow businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ customers, were also likely to have an impact, she said. 

Blaming the right wing may be confirmation bias. The biggest drop is among young women, generally a liberal, tolerant group. GLAAD, and the LGBT population in general, may want to consider if far-left ideological activism could be at least partially to blame for this drop, rather than Donald Trump’s policies or conservatives views. This would be in the interest of intellectual honesty, self awareness, and exploring all possibilities. There is a general wariness forming of leftist identity politics that dominates LGBT discourse from these organizations and media and on college campuses. Or perhaps, many middle-of-the-road people feel suing people over gay wedding cakes is an overreach or have a problem with young children in drag make-up at adult bars, who allegedly attract the attention of pedophiles.

Gender activism is affecting people in ways that LGB acceptance never demanded that some LGBT people are starting to oppose, even vehemently. Things like pronoun shares before social interactions and allowing more physically powerful MtFs on girls’ sports teams. What LGBT acceptance means has changed a lot to a lot of people in the last 5 years. And more people are becoming aware of extremism in gender ideology and activism that may wind up also negatively impacting homosexuals, as the LGBT moniker is marketed as one population, with one agenda, even though this narrative is false.

Understanding why this is all happening honestly is critical to understanding best ways to create an LGBT supportive environment for young people, who are at risk for bullying and mental health issues. The GLAAD survey as released to the public did not delve into anything illuminating as to why this is happening.

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

750 Academics Call for a Professor to be Fired for Statements About Transitioning Youth

News

There are some issues in the article “Academic faces sack for letter to Sunday Times that criticised training on trans issues” relevant to the GHQ section on trans activism and gender dysphoria in youth.

There are calls from academics from the UK to fire a professor of education and editor of the journal, Disability & Society for her concern about autistic youth and rigid thinking and gender dysphoria. It should be noted gender dysphoria experts such a Dr. Susan Bradley, some mental health professionals from the Tavistock clinic in the UK, and autism expert Tania Marshall, as well as others, have expressed the same concerns. Anyone who expresses worry about grey area dysphoric youth will be attacked by the academic left, including calls for censorship and job loss.

Another signatory of the Sunday Times letter, Michele Moore, honorary professor at Essex University, who has edited the journal Disability & Society for many years, is also facing calls to resign after warning that autistic and other children might be harmed if they are wrongly encouraged to question their gender, which could lead to taking hormones and later surgery.

A petition from 750 colleagues calls on her to step down. She said her career hung in the balance because of the campaign, but the journal’s publishers and people from around the world were being supportive.

She added: “Somebody has to say we will talk about the potential harm of transgenderism of children, as many with autism or other social learning problems are being caught up in this.”

The article also includes some lesbian academics who do not agree with current gender activism.

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

A GHQ Supporter Statement

Opinion

by Concerned gay man

As a gay man I’m very concerned about the medicalization of children to change their “gender.” Not all children with dysphoria persist into adulthood, and those who desist often grow up to become healthy lesbian and gay adults. Puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries are extreme life-altering decisions that children aren’t mature enough to make. They may grow up to regret these decisions. I fear that as a society we may have become misguided into erasing lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth in an effort to relieve gender dysphoria.

Also, I’m concerned about the current trend in LGBT organizations to define sexual orientation as based on “gender identity” rather than sex. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are being taught to think that not dating transgender individuals is transphobic. I’m worried they are being pressured into sexual relationships that they may not want for fear of being called bigoted. Sexual orientation is based on biological sex, and the sexual boundaries of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals should be respected.

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

An Opinion Piece by Jordan Peterson, Clinical Psychologist, About Gender Ideology in Schools

Opinion

by Justine Kreher

Jordan Peterson is a clinical psychologist who is controversial because he does not believe the state should enforce pronoun use and for some of his views on the sexes and their role in society (which could be characterized as center right).

He has written an opinion piece in the the National Post called “Gender politics has no place in the classroom.”

He discusses the confusion he fears, as a clinical psychologist, will arise from telling children there is “no such thing as a boy or a girl.” This is something that happened in a classroom of six year olds and is now the subject of a complaint by the parents, as their child was upset. These ideas arose from postmodern influenced queer theory in academia, by people such as Judith Butler.

The bill he refers to is a human rights bill in Canada, Bill C16:

Worse is the insistence characteristic of the bill, the policies associated with it, and the tenth-rate academic dogmas driving the entire charade, that “identity” is something solely determined by the individual in question (whatever that identity might be). Even sociologists (neither the older, classical, occasionally useful type, nor the modern, appalling, and positively counterproductive type) don’t believe this. They understand that identity is a social role, which means that it is by necessity socially negotiated.

While some may see this as a conservative opinion in this day and age, it is actually shared by some leftists, LGB people, and trans people. The LGB community used to play with identity and use cross-sex pronouns at times. There wasn’t the obsession with pronouns and identity that there is today. Nor the desire (except some etiquette rules around drag shows) to invest in having the general public validate them. Some GenX LGB people, in particular, feel this is a step backwards. And some trans people do as well. They tend to be more conservative, or “transmedicalists,” who don’t deny the relevance of biological definitions of sex or believe society needs to embrace the concept of multiple genders. Some of the opinions of LGBT supportive liberals and LGBT people, which aren’t that different from Peterson’s, can be found here. While Peterson is speaking about confusion around gender ideology and children, examples of how gender ideology is causing some confusion and strife within the LGBT population can be found here.

I have a complaint with this article, as well as other articles that express worry that gender ideology will confuse and over-medicalize children. I agree we should be worried it will. However, these critical articles often fail to address any solution for the child who’s behaviors and interests are highly aligned with cross-sex stereotypes. These youths my be trans-identified or not. But either way, extremely effeminate boys and masculine tomboys are outliers that aren’t really incorporated very well into our society. They don’t see themselves represented anywhere. These children are often treated poorly, including verbal and physical abuse. And if people who do not like current gender ideology and trans activism want to create change, it would be best to address how these youth’s can be supported as well. Instead, they are forgotten about in these articles about maintaining concepts of “societal structure.”

Jordan Peterson is not a far-right person. But this point relates to why I am personally very skeptical about addressing this issue with any far-right conservatives that only frame this in terms of social order, with no regard for those children/teens who are harmed by the way that order currently exists.

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

A Student in the UK is Punished & For Not Believing in Multiple Genders

News

A student in the UK was removed from class and told he must adhere to a multiple genders worldview in school even though the teacher admits the view is unscientific. Gender identity laws are being passed all over the Western World and gender ideology (a subset of postmodern influenced queer theory) and there will be more attempts by private and public entities to force it on people who do not agree with it.

A link to the video can be found here.

The United States has free speech rights as part of it’s constitution. Forcing the public to adhere to pronoun demands, including third gender pronouns such as “zir” and “they” likely would not hold up in court even though these laws are being passed statewide and the federal Equality Act may make misgendering a crime.

Update 06/23/19: The student in question has apparently been suspended from school for three weeks over the incident.
Update 06/04/19: The student has apparently been expelled from school.

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

GHQ Board Opinion: Sexuality as Social Justice Creates Problems, Especially Among LGBT Youth

Opinion

by the Gender Health Query Board

To Dr. Karen Blair and Psychology Today,

We are writing this letter in response to a recent article in Psychology Today called “Why Are So Few People Willing to Date a Transgender Person?” Our organization was created for LGBT people concerned about the increase of medicalized, gender dysphoric youth, as well as some impacts of postmodern gender ideology on society (“your sex is what you declare it to be” “gender is a spectrum”).

The article fulfills a noble goal of expressing empathy for the rejection trans people face while dating. LGB people experience rejection in dating a lot as well. Dr. Blair wishes to correct people’s exclusionary behavior and increase the trans dating pool through public education:

Overall, it would appear that the most important step moving forward in terms of increasing the dating prospects for transgender and non-binary individuals is improving general education about the diversity of gender identities and what each identity means. 

There are many articles like this and the idea that excluding trans people from a dating pool is akin to bigotry has permeated all LGBT youth spaces online, in support groups, and at universities. People usually (not always), say it’s not ok to “force someone” to have sex with someone they don’t want to have sex with. But there is always a “But.”

Dr. Blair provides that “But…” But…you are like a bigoted racist if you don’t date trans people (emphasis below ours):

Ultimately, each individual has the freedom to decide whom they date or are interested in dating, and thus our research does not attempt to make any statements concerning whom an individual should date or consider dating. At the same time, however, understanding the extent to which trans individuals are excluded from the realm of dating can serve as a benchmark for where society currently stands with respect to including trans and non-binary individuals. Just as sociologists have tracked acceptance of inter-racial relationships as a metric of overall societal acceptance of racial minorities, future fluctuations in the extent to which trans and non-binary individuals are included within the intimate world of dating may help to illuminate progress (or lack thereof) with respect to fully including trans and non-binary individuals within our society.

A trans man (who is part of Lambda Legal’s team), describes sexual orientation as “s****y and bigoted” for not being gender identity based, a concept Dr. Blair doesn’t take issue with based on her response:

Here she responds to a trans activist known for harassing scientists and authors, targeting comments towards their children even:

There is a tone of judgement peppered throughout the original study (emphasis ours):

Just as other partner preferences that specify races, body types or other features…

…have been critiqued for supporting normative ideals of beauty and exposing societal biases…

…we must also consider how patterns of excluding trans individuals (and their bodies) from the realm of dating expose continuing cisgenderism and transmisogyny within society…

…perhaps our general willingness to excuse discriminatory preferences

This whole study frames sexual attraction in terms of social justice.

Not everyone believes in self-declared biological sex or multiple, non-binary genders. And sexuality is not race. And not being sexually attracted to trans people or being homosexual or heterosexual is not akin to white supremacy. And while mainstream heterosexual people may be uncomfortable with outlier identities that more trans acceptance may help, most of the “sexuality as social justice” ideology is directed at people within the LGBT community, mainly gay men, lesbians, and even bisexuals. These are people who already do not have problems pushing sexual boundaries.

It may be difficult for mental health professionals to understand why many homosexuals start to become nervous at even a hint of framing a person’s sexual orientation as problematic, but LGB people have a history of issues with abuses from the mental health profession. Not all LGB people agree sexual orientation should be based on gender identity. Some are vehemently opposed to the concept.

And when a psychology magazine supports the idea that anyone, and in this case lesbians and gay men, can date the opposite sex if they are “educated” appropriately to respect someone’s gender identity, the suspicion is justified. It’s not that different from, Joseph Nicolosi and Charles Soccarides, founders of the organization known as NARTH (National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality), who proposed they could cure homosexuality through therapy and education. NARTH is now defunct but has resurfaced as the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice.

90% of the “sexual orientation is problematic” viewpoint is not directed at straight men, or straight women, or gay men, but towards lesbians. Because wanting to force people to live in a world that ignores biological sex does not actually erase patterns of behavior based on biological sex. Most of this gets directed at people with XX chromosomes by people with XY chromosomes. And it’s obvious why.

Psychologists, sociologists, and LGBT organizations should not be privileged to continue to ignore the unhealthy environment this has created for lesbian and female bisexual youth, who are in LGBT environments that promote the idea they are bigots if they have sexual boundaries. Lesbian and bisexual youth actually have high rates of sexual risk taking and pregnancy. Psychologists, and other mental health professionals, are well aware that teens and young women often do not have good boundaries. It is a problem if the LGBT groups they desperately need support from will ostracize them because of their sexual orientations. We are, in fact, seeing young women expressing guilt for lacking sexual attraction and know that they would be socially punished in ”queer” spaces if they admitted it. The rhetoric used by the people who do this is exactly the same as the rhetoric used by Dr. Blair.

Ideas have consequences. This is what some of those consequences are in the real world…

An expectation lesbians have penis in vagina intercourse with biological, most likely autogynephilic dysphoric males, because they like sex toys. This theme, “if you like sex toys it’s transphobic not to have p in v intercourse with trans women,” comes up frequently:

Some young people have come to believe they are owed sex. Rhetoric can devolve into extremely violent and sexually explicit comments. They are almost always directed at lesbians:

The concept that sexual orientation is problematic is creating confusion and poor sexual boundaries in LGBT youth (and adult) environments, particularly online but also in real life. You will find that these are not isolated incidences but part of a pattern on our site here.

It is also logically inconsistent for people to argue, be they gender activists or mental health professionals, that trans people have a right to body autonomy and body choice, but this is problematic when applied to lesbians or gay men or straight people. Yet that is what we are seeing day in and day out.

Imagine the outrage that would ensue from a Psychology Today article alternatively titled “Why Can’t Trans People Just Be Happy with Their Natural Bodies & Stop Having Sex Reassignment Surgeries.” Yet the study this article is based on is in the same vein.

Our board consists of a gay man well aware that only about 2% of the male population would be willing to date other men. This is a lower percentage than the rate of those willing to date trans people, which is 12.5% in this article. Our board also consists of two bisexual women, who also may be subject to dating exclusion but support the right of people to not have fluid sexual orientations and the rights of bisexuals to not be fluid and desire specific traits without guilt.

Sexually fluid people will be more willing to date trans people and social acceptance will make them feel more comfortable doing that. But it is not appropriate to tell people their sexual orientations are problematic because they are not based on another’s self-perception. And there are trans people who agree.

We are concerned that the social sciences are beginning to play an active role in feeling entitled to be intrusive into others people lives, sexuality, and opinions about gender. And we are concerned that mental health professionals are not properly managing the expectations of trans youth who are becoming angry when they learn body parts are important to other people’s sexuality.

You claim in the article that “Ultimately, each individual has the freedom to decide whom they date.” While this is a good caveat it isn’t protecting anyone from the harm that this is actually doing in some real-life situations. And gender ideology is now being reinforced to school children who are being taught to believe biological sex is literally based on identity alone, told they must use third gender pronouns, and that there are “dozens of genders.”

It is social scientists’ professional and moral obligation to consider unintended consequences and externalities to narratives and agendas they promote beyond unemotional presentations of data. The Psychology Today article is not an objective presentation of data.

DeeDee Massey:

I'd see value in psychologists using a study to derive questions to design another study to find out why trans people have problems, if any, finding dates. But this PT article seems to speculate and come to forgone conclusions.

By pushing these narratives, PT is helping to apply social pressure to coerce the public to play along with an agreed-upon fiction.

I've dated people of various gender expressions, from "GNC" to post-op TS. I've determined that I don't want to date someone who doesn't share my values of honesty and authenticity. Denying the truth of one's sex doesn't reflect my values.

We want everyone to have love and support. We want everyone in the LGBT community to be included in social and family institutions. We want an LGBT community based on mutual respect for other peoples’ personal boundaries. We think sexual flexibility is a great thing if that is someone’s true nature.

But people have a right to reject postmodern queer theory without being painted as “problematic” by the mental health profession. People have sexual orientations and a right to reject indentity-based views of how sexuality works. And the lack of acknowledgment of these rights has done a lot of serious, irrevocable damage within the LGBT population. Psychologists and sociologists need to be more aware of this because they are increasingly participating in promoting these ideas. Many in the LGB population and elsewhere, are not going to tolerate these recent attempts at sexual shaming from the left any more than they are from the right. It’s not enough to say “you can date whoever you want…but.” It’s time to role model sexual boundaries to LGBT youth and come out in favor of respecting them.

Thank you for your time

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

The Struggles to See Quality Mental Health Support in the NYT

Opinion

By Justine Kreher

The New York Times published an article about non-binary-identified individuals called, “The Struggles of Rejecting the Gender Binary.”

Some observations:

Not everyone identifies as male or female.

One can’t identify as male or female. A person is male or female based on their chromosomes, regardless of how feminized or masculinized they my be and wether or not these traits contribute to a person having gender dysphoria.

In the New York Times article Salem is a troubled 20-year-old biological male. Many “non-binary” people rely on cloths and makeup to express what gender they are or what gender they feel like they are on that day (more on gender stereotypes in gender ideology here). Sam is no different:

'Why didn’t you wear makeup today?’

Jan Tate asked her client during a therapy session in May of last year.

“I didn’t feel the need to.”

“Would today be the day to begin using Salem instead of Hannah?”

There was a long pause and a hushed reply: “Yeah. But it would hurt a lot worse to start asking people to call me Salem and have them not do it than not to ask them.”

Another quote that demonstrates the centrality of hair and make up in current youth trans/genderqueer culture and to the journalists who report on it:

Their brown hair fell with a loose curl just past their slim shoulders. Unlike two days before, when Salem arrived for therapy with their full lips in dark red lipstick and a dash of blush across each cheekbone, and with their long fingernails painted a bright lavender, this afternoon there was only the nail polish.

Salem, like many non-binary-identified teens and young adults, is being given hormones despite lack of clarity about what s/he want to achieve with them:

Tate switched the subject to the hormones Salem had been taking for two months: a low dose of spironolactone, a testosterone blocker, and estradiol, a type of estrogen. Salem felt driven to feminize their body, to lessen their constant alienation from their own anatomy — and their self-revulsion — but wasn’t at all sure what the right combination of feminine and masculine would be. Different days brought different answers. From the hormones, their breasts were buds. “I could foresee breasts bothering me,” Salem told Tate, though they believed they wanted them. “I just have to hope the hormones don’t make too big of a problem.”

It’s good to remember hormones have health consequences.

An observation from the therapist:

Even so, Tate commented tentatively that Salem seemed more confident since starting the hormones, that Salem seemed to be making progress in accepting themself.

I am skeptical of the therapist’s observation that this person is truly getting better. “Seemed” is a week word. I have witnessed seemingly very nice mental health professionals at gender conferences who sincerely want to do some good by supporting social / medical transition in cases that involved very troubled people. It’s an environment ripe for confirmation bias.

“While I’m presenting myself as more comfortable,” Salem mumbled, head bowed, “the feeling I have is that I hate myself.” They sometimes called themself a monster. Tate has another nonbinary client who cut themself relentlessly across their shoulders, leaving “scars on scars on scars” that the client asked Tate to touch. Weeks before this session, Salem stripped naked in their bedroom and, with a marker, scrawled “tranny” and “faggot” all over their body, slurs that were inaccurate but screamed their self-disgust.

This is the background of the MSW, LCSWA, MED, CSOTP, therapist. It is a common profile for therapists who work with non-binary identified individuals. It is a profile of a therapist who specializes in supporting and validating what I would call “outlier” identities and behavior.

Jan Tate, MSW, LCSWA, MEd, CSOTP is a psychotherapist with a dual background in clinical sexology and clinical social work. Jan Tate earned her MEd in Human Sexuality alongside her Master’s in Social Work at Widener University in Chester, PA. Her areas of expertise include working with adults in the kink, poly, trans, GNC/NB, and LGBTQ communities, along with sexual disorders and general sex therapy. She encourages sex positivity for people across the spectrum of power role identification, sexual orientation, gender expression, as well as those who are unsure of, questioning, or evolving through identifications. e had no

All people should be supported in what is healthiest for them in their lives and sexuality as long as they are not impacting other people negatively. Of all of the identities and behaviors listed above, it is the validation of gender expression that requires the participation of the outside world. And this is something that concerns me greatly, that psychologists and social workers are enthusiastically validating this without considering externalities or that there may be downsides to the youths themselves. I believe young people are being trained to believe their value and happiness relies on other people and that they are entitled to force other’s to view gender they way they do. This is what a 3rd gender pronoun requires of society. We are already seeing examples of high school teachers and University professors claiming young people are manipulating adults with “queer youth” pronoun culture, where a pronoun can be changed day to day, and anyone not going along with current gender ideology may be severely socially punished.

In a few studies non-binary-identifed youth have more problems than trans youth. It may be a manifestation of other mental health issues related to the gender dysphoria or something masking as gender dysphoria. There isn’t enough research to say for sure. But other examples in the media paint pictures of youth with shifting identities, body hatred issues, and a strong need for validation from others.

nonbinary mental illness cited by the APA

Effeminate males and masculine females have almost no acknowledgement in society, except often to say something mean. Even butch lesbians and effeminate gay males have been looked down on within their own communities by more mainstream acting gay men and lesbians. This happens generally for two reasons. Because they aren’t attracted to that (“no fats, no fems”) or they want the community to appear more “normal.” I think recognizing this is an important part of understanding why so many same-sex attracted young people are adopting trans identities. Gender “outliers,” for the most part, haven’t been celebrated in popular culture. They aren’t always even universally accepted within the gay or lesbian community. Now that the media is celebrating trans issues, a non-binary identity, from a youth who isn’t undergoing full medical transition even, makes them special. They become worthy of newspaper articles and magazine covers. They aren’t awkward boys or girls or young men and women any more. They have power to demand acknowledgment through a 3rd gender pronoun request. They are unique. Their style is unique. Their pain is unique.

But it’s not unique anymore. It’s trendy. And these youths aren’t like David Bowie or Boy Goerge who’s genius needs no special pronoun. They are just citizens. And the public will get board of this the way they got board of “lesbian chic’ in the nineties and move on. And do you know what “lesbian chic” brought lesbians and bisexual women like me who take their relationships with women seriously? We got chewed up and spit out by women who wanted to look edgy. The media isn’t interested in lesbians at all anymore.

And when society moves on from their current gender fixation we will be left with a generation of gender nonconforming youth who have been raised by media, LGBT organizations, university campuses, validating parents, therapists, and teachers, to believe that for them to be accepted, for them to be valuable, for them to be loved, the entire society must have mandatory pronoun email signatures and pronoun acknowledgment moments before all social interactions. Then, what will make them worthy?

Tate said to me that “I often find myself gut-knotted after sessions with Salem, because of the things they don’t say” — because of the feelings Salem kept locked away, even from her, for fear that their experience was inexpressible, incomprehensible. She imagined Salem in an “abyss,” undergoing a torture that was the emotional equivalent of “taking a saw blade and cutting into the skin of an arm.”

I’m sad and feel for Salem as someone who struggled with serious generalized anxiety disorder that manifested itself as intense body dysmorphia when I was 20. I do not know what Salem needs. But I question if a they/them pronoun is it. And I question why psychologists and social workers aren’t asking the same thing.

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

Recent LGBT Protests Against Other LGBT People Who Are Skeptical of Medical Protocols on Minors and Aspects of Gender Ideology

NEWS COMMENTARY

Two recent protests in British Columbia exemplify some of the fractures occurring within the LGBT population around the medical treatment of minors and gender ideology.

A near riotous protest erupted (near Victoria) against a transgender activist who opposes medical treatments on minors and aspects of trans activism. Jenn Smith identifies as transgender and bisexual. Smith is active with churches and holds some conservative viewpoints but does not consider himself (he uses male pronouns) as a right-wing Christian. Smith is an example of how the LGBT community, or even trans community, is not a monolith where the opinions promoted by LGBT rights organizations are universally shared.

Jenn Smith opposes aspects of SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) mandated education in Canadian schools due to the inclusion of certain viewpoints of gender identity seen to conflict with girls’ rights in schools. These are views that biological sex is determined by gender identity alone, and that gender is a spectrum. Another fear is that they are contributing to a social contagion aspect to gender dysphoria in youth and large increases of medicalized children and teens.

Smith is dismayed by trans activism extremism, which is a newer phenomenon from Smith’s personal historical perspective. Extremism is something our website addresses. Smith also considers gender activism as trendy and thus problematic.

It appears protestors tried to aggressively shut down Jenn Smith’s speaking event using air horns and by creating enough fear for safety that Smith had to leave. A video of the event may be found here.

This Medium piece is a fairly typical response from gender activists. It demonstrates the unfortunate impasse between many in the “queer left” and LGBT people critical of current gender ideology. Critical LGBT people generally believe caution is warranted in treating dysphoric minors and that it is important to maintain biological definitions of male and female for the purpose of empiricism and female sex-based rights to privacy and sports.

Anything less than a full endorsement of a dysphoric child’s medical treatments and full validation of a trans identity in law and every area designated for females, is considered hate speech. “Hate speech” some believe that should be prosecuted by the government and is being prosecuted.

It doesn’t matter that Jenn Smith is trans. Jenn Smith is a “transphobic bigot” in these protesters’ view.

LGBT youth are at increased risk for bullying and schools can be abusive environments. All LGBT youth are at increased risk for mental health problems. Protecting these youths and giving them a sense of belonging are some of the valid goals of SOGI.

However, some people beyond the usual right-wing opposition to sex ed programs and LGBT rights have concerns about gender identity ideology in SOGI, including LGB people who agree with some of what Smith says.

There is a link with these programs and increases in trans-identified females after them. And this increase in trans-identification is looking like a social contagion in female youth. And because of fast-track medical treatments, people fear for the safety of struggling youth who may not be helped by medical treatments.

These concerns occur alongside concerns for the safety and inclusion of gender nonconforming young people and trans-identified youth.

Another ironic protest involving LGBT youth medical transition activists protesting an event attended and supported by other LGBT people, occurred in Vancouver. This was at a presentation by feminist Meghan Murphy, Dr. Ken Zucker (a psychologist), and Dagny, a detransitioned young women. What is ironic is that Dr. Ken Zucker is worried the current protocol of social transition and hormone blocker use is likely to medicalize would be gay and lesbian people. And that Dagny, is a same-sex attracted female who discusses how the affirmative model was harmful in her case and the negative ways “queer” youth culture is currently affecting young females. There were many LGB people who attended the event to hear what the presenters had to say. Detransitioned LGB youth are an LGB community issue.

It was good this call to action did not encourage any violence or major disruption.

However, there was still verbal abuse directed at attendees. A protester lunged at one woman. And there were many accusations of “murdering trans children” by protestors.

A description of the event:

A crowd of about 260 gathered at the Croatian Cultural Centre in Vancouver on Thursday night to hear three perspectives on the issue of gender identity and kids. Event attendees had to face about 100 protestors holding signs with slogans such as “Transphobes Kill” and “Support our Trans Sisters or Fuck Off” before entering the venue.

The term TERFs means “trans exclusionary radical feminists” who don’t believe trans women are literally women. It is now applied to everyone not in full alignment with current transgender activism.

Another woman spoke with a protestor who screamed hysterically “F*** you, you fucking ***” and accused her of “killing trans children.” The woman went out to explain that some dysphoric youth may be gay or bisexual, not trans. This viewpoint is validated by the fact that the detransitioner at the presentation, who came out as trans at 15, now identifies as a bisexual woman. And desistance statistics point to reasons to be concerned about this as well.

The identity politics are untenable when what is at stake is sterilizing minors, some of who may be confused LGB you. These protestors, as well as gender clinicians themselves, do not have any perfectly clear picture about the effect of the youth medical transition movement on borderline, gender nonconforming, same-sex attracted youth.

Whatever one believes about giving tweens hormone blockers and performing surgery on minors or postmodern gender ideology, what is true is that critical LGBT people, so far, are not attempting to no-platform and threaten the pro-child/teen medical transition movement.

Megan Murphy event on trans youth desistance protested

Update 06/22/19: A University of B.C. professor and student group tried to ban Jenn Smith from speaking on campus.
“UBC staff and students want presentation cancelled over concerns of hatred towards trans people”

Update 07/10/19: The Vancouver Pride Society banned the University of B.C. from participating in the Vancouver Pride parade because they allowed Jenn Smith to speak on their campus.
“UBC banned from marching in Vancouver Pride Parade after allowing ‘transphobic hate speech”

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.