BROADview in Brief

Canucks + Democratic Socialists + the Perkiomen Valley Vikings

Parliament Hill, Ottawa. Photo by Bill Badzo on Flickr.

After watching the Global News video of Wednesday’s 1 Million March 4 Children protest across Canada and reading rapid responses by a variety of Canadian news outlets, I was impressed that thousands of people were willing to stand up and speak out about their concerns about parents’ rights in Canadian schools and the type of SOGI instruction that’s being implemented there (that’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity for us non-Canadians). On the other hand, I was disappointed that so many journalists could not grasp that there are meaningful and important disagreements in play that are not hate and not anti. When outlets like The Globe and Mail slap the facile label of “anti-LGBTQ” on those who oppose gender identity ideology a few things happen: they hide the the fact that the majority of Canadians disagree with extremist beliefs and practices around gender identity--see last week’s detailed and nuanced Angus Reid Institute polling results; they push widespread beliefs out of the public discourse and into hidden channels; they flatten understanding--there is only one way, the zealous activist’s way, to conceptualize gender identity; and they mask the conflict of beliefs within the LGBT community itself. Does this matter? I’m not sure. Certainly it can’t be helpful for one side of a partisan debate to not actually understand what the debate is about (see Friday’s Gender: A Wider Lens interview with Peter Boghossian for more on this). But the more adults find out what lurks under the gender label, the more tired they become of the whole discussion and the more they go back to believing there are simply two sexes (or umm, genders), as Brooke Migdon alluded to in The Hill back in June. It seems likely that some of the more radical aspects of the modern trans project (i.e. erasing the female sex category, medicalizing children, hiding gender transitions from parents, etc) will eventually become unsustainable simply because they are so very unpopular. A deluded press may be shocked by this, but they cannot stop it.

Are the mainstream US papers covering the Canadian protests? No. Are you surprised?

In the American media, there was some positive news on trans inclusion in politics, with new polling showing that transgender Delaware state senator Sarah McBride has a strong lead in the Delaware Democratic primary race for the state’s at-large US House seat. Delaware has a pretty crazy election calendar, with the state primary in September 2024 and the general election two months later in November, but it’s a very blue state--it’s highly likely that the Democratic candidate will win the general election. If the polls hold, McBride could well become the first transgender member of Congress. You may remember that back in July, I shared a Politico article about McBride being a close advisor to Joe Biden. 

Also in political news, the Daily Mail reported that the citizens of Nashville, Tennessee elected their first trans city council member last week. It’s an important milestone for the transgender community, but does this create a “historic female-majority in the city’s Metro Council” as journalist Bethan Sexton put it? Some might disagree.

Taylor Penley reported for Fox News that hundreds of students at Perkiomen Valley High School in Pennsylvania staged a walk-out to protest their school board’s current transgender bathroom policy which essentially allows students to use whatever bathroom they want to, while Evan Holden pointed out for NPR-affiliate KBIA that a number of high school students in Missouri joined a Young Democratic Socialists of America rally to protest the University of Missouri’s decision to end the medical transition of minors in line with new state law and the university’s concerns about its legal liability. Statistically speaking, I would expect more US high school students to align with the Democratic Socialists on gender than with the Perkiomen Valley Vikings. Is this a permanent trend because of modern educational practices and societal influence? We are in the waning days of Gen Z in the K-12 classroom, and it will be intriguing to see which direction Gen Alpha will go.

Bickering in the courts continued across the country, with active cases on medicalization bans in Montana and North Dakota. The New York Times shared that Kansas has officially put the kibosh on changing gender identities on birth certificates. I would have preferred it if reporter Anna Betts had consistently phrased the conflict as being about substituting gender identity for sex, but heaven forbid anything be completely clear.

There were important developments out of the UK this week. First, Amelia Gentleman (why couldn’t I be named Amelia Gentleman?!) and Richard Adams wrote for The Guardian that the NHS has provided the first national guidance for schools on the social transition of pupils. The training states, “Supporting a social transition without the involvement of parents or carers can create complex difficulties within families and is not recommended. Secrets between parents or carers and their children are problematic and are likely to create further issues in the future.” Thank you for the common sense, England. Meanwhile, Daniel Martin shared in The Telegraph that Scotland is rather surprisingly postponing its plans to bring in a conversion therapy ban, and Millie Cooke noted for GB News that the UK government is doing the same for fear of “unintended consequences.” 

Lest you worry that the UK is becoming too rational, fear not, there is still plenty of foolishness to go around over there. My particular favorite for the week was Alex Barton’s article for The Telegraph, where he revealed that  the UK General Medical Council has removed all references to mothers from its staff maternity documents and all references to women from its menopause policy. The British equivalent of Mother’s Day is Mothering Sunday…perhaps that will become Parenting Sunday if this keeps up!

I appreciated your many thoughtful responses to my musings last week on gender as a reflection of larger trends and patterns in human society--thank you! You made so many excellent suggestions for further resources that my autumn reading list is now packed. First up is The Sleeping Beauties on audiobook for my commute--I’ll let you know what I think. In the meantime, as always, please share your thoughts and insights in the comments below and through this form. Enjoy your weekend!

---

With much appreciated research assistance from Alejandra Q.