BROADview in Brief
Compassion-not
We lead off this week’s news in Virginia, where the family of teenager Sage Blair has filed suit against the Appomattox County School Board, two school counselors, and the local public defender. Sage’s school did not tell her parents that she was struggling with her gender identity, and Sage ran away immediately after she finally told them. As a runaway, she was trafficked, raped, drugged, and tortured. Sage was eventually rescued, but the cycle of sexual violence apparently repeated itself after the public defender pushed for her parents to lose custody because they weren’t “sufficiently affirming.” It’s such a sad story. I’m also troubled by the photos in the New York Post, Daily Mail, and elsewhere. There are good reasons why sexual assault victims’ pictures aren’t published. News organizations should stick to standard ethical guidelines—even if a family provides the photos. They may not understand the full ramifications of having personal images permanently in the public arena, but journalists do. I wish Sage and her family all good things and will follow this lawsuit closely over the coming months.
In North Carolina, Maddie Policastro reported in the Daily Tar Heel on the mid-August override of Governor Roy Cooper’s veto of HB 808, another bill banning youth gender medicalization. Since that article references LGBT youth suicidality, I’ll share again that approximately 60% of trans people have mental health co-morbidities, while others have elevated rates of autism and other neurological differences that are not addressed in any of the national surveys. Is a teen suicidal because they’re trans? Or because they’re bipolar? We don’t know. We do know that there is no good evidence that affirmation or gender medicalization reduces suicidality, despite Ms. Policastro’s references.
In California, Attorney General Rob Bonta won a temporary restraining order against the new parental notification policy adopted by Chino Valley Unified, but a fifth district has passed a similar regulation, with the Orange Unified School Board ready to become the sixth [late breaking news, parental notification has passed in Orange]. So far it’s been districts with more conservative voters taking action, but many of the parents involved are not conservative. The Economist made note of this in their recent article, An Unusual Coalition Is Emerging in California School Board Fights. The subtitle is “Democrats in Sacramento May Want to Pay Attention to It,” and I couldn’t agree more. Last week, I mentioned three citizen initiatives coming forward that are sponsored by Protect Kids CA. Journalist Benjamin Boyce interviewed that organization’s leaders this week, and a repeated theme was how out of touch progressive politicians are from mainstream voters on gender issues. Lawyer Erin Friday pointed out that California has declared itself a trans sanctuary state where any gender-questioning minor can run away from their home in a non-affirming state to become a ward of the State of California and receive drugs and surgeries without parental permission. Families across the country should pay attention to what’s happening in the Golden State. It could affect you.
The Associated Press published a round-up of last week’s transgender court action across the Midwest and South. Judges are definitely struggling to find where the balance of compassion lies. As one judge noted, “I feel like there’s compassion in both directions…It’s not crazy to say that there’s a compassionate component to the other side of this — that maybe this is the kind of thing people might regret if they do it at age 14, 15.” In addition, the injunction against a ban on youth gender medicalization in Georgia was lifted this past week after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a similar injunction in Alabama. There’s so much back-and-forth in gender rulings and appeals that it feels like we’re all in a constant state of whiplash.
In national news, Kate Anderson reported in the Daily Caller that a citizen petition was filed with the FDA asking them to investigate the off-label use of puberty blockers. To be honest these petitions seem to be denied most of the time, but it’s important to try.
Speaking of compassion, I’ve been mulling over how sometimes what we do in the name of kindness may, ultimately, be so cruel. At work, we don’t know if the inclusive initiatives our employers are trying out will help or hurt us. At home, parents who just want to make their kids happy may end up with children who struggle. In public policy, attempts to improve the lives of the most vulnerable may unintentionally make things worse. And with gender, those stuck in the “affirmation is compassion” bubble may instead be practicing the opposite of compassion--a “kindness” that is heartfelt but harmful. Joseph Figliola from The Manhattan Institute had an thoughtful essay on reframing the gender debate this week that would be a good one to share with friends and family on the left. Many of us first felt that something was not quite right in how Democratic leaders were pushing gender affirmation but couldn’t grasp why what sounded so compassionate felt…off. Writing like Figliola’s helps clarify the issues.
Let’s see, where were we in the international news round-up last week. Oh yes, Canada! Americans have been trickling back to school since mid-August, with most K-12 districts open by this past Tuesday. Canadian students in the Hamilton-Wentworth District in Ontario, Canada had their first day on Wednesday. Among the almost 50,000 excited children and relieved parents flooding district schools, there was a new high school shop teacher named Kerry Lemieux, who’d been transferred from the nearby Halton District for the new school year. As the Daily Mail enthusiastically observed, Kerry once went by Kayla and caused a bit of a stir last year with the oversized, umm, prosthetics he used at work to express his then gender identity. Halton District administrators could not develop a professional, safety-focused dress standard for their employees, which seemed quite odd to me at the time. So has Lemieux detransitioned, is he gender fluid, or was he trolling the global media and Halton District the whole time? Who knows, but at least he’s less likely to have a run-in with a circular saw at work this year. I hope some school boards are able to learn a lesson about faculty dress codes from this debacle.
In Australia, popular TV news magazine 7News Spotlight ran a hard-hitting special on gender called “De-Transitioning” (easiest for Americans to watch here). It came across as pretty skeptical of the affirmation and medicalization model to me and particularly made pro-affirmation professor Ian Hickie from Sydney University look like a dolt. What did you think? The episode predictably caused outrage for some members of the Australian LGBT community, but it’s hard to judge its overall impact from afar. Weigh in, Australians!
And in the UK, the Brits are so far ahead of us in their political discussions about gender that at this point I feel like the US has been lapped. Steven Swinford reported in The Times this week that Prime Minister Sunak is “expected to block legal plans that would bar schoolchildren from changing their gender identity amid warnings that they could leave the Tories on the ‘wrong side of history.’” They’ve moved beyond the suddenly no-duh policy that parents must be consulted and agree to a school social transition to debating whether any children should be allowed to transition at school at all—even when requested by parents—given the conflicts that then arise within a school community. Wasn’t it yesterday that English schools were also secretly transitioning students like so many in the States? Gender does indeed move fast. This seems like the right time to thank a subscriber for also pointing out that Jenny Watson of lesbian speed-dating fame has now received permission to go ahead with her women-only event from Stonegate, the largest pub chain in the UK. Cheers, Jenny!
In Ireland, after much drama about the public cancellation of singer Róisín Murphy over her comments on puberty blockers, writer John Boyne of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas fame came to her defense…and then in a shocking display of heartfelt contrition, apologized beautifully to Irish screenwriter and outspoken gender critic Graham Linehan for attacking him in 2019 when Linehan first stepped into the gender wars. There’s a lot going on in that wee country!
I’ll leave you with all that to meditate on and hope your September has started off slow and oh, so mellow. Thank you, and please share your thoughts in the comments below and through this form.
With much appreciated research assistance from Alejandra Q.
Absolutely top notch roundup, once again. Thank you so much! Love your paragraph of commentary on compassion. I look forward to reading the article you link. I have watched the Channel 7 documentary and commend it. My own view is that it presented a solid case for the gender critical/detrans POV, though I felt one of the detransitioners was put in the spotlight too much. Her case is particularly sad, and even though she was willing, for example, to disrobe, I don’t think this was necessary and it felt exploitative. Other than that, I’d say very well done, and Hickie made a fool of himself. But I am weighing in from very far away and would be interested in the Aussie POV, too.
Re England: it is heartening to see such robust, varied activism, and that it truly is making such a difference. Sex Matters is pushing really hard on the school guidance issue. Their argument is no legislation is needed, just publish the guidance--and they’re aware this needs to happen before the next general election, as it is likely Labour will take over. Also, applause to the LGBAliiance, whose advocacy is credited with the win for Jenny’s lesbian speed-dating event. A sweet victory, and thanks for including it. PS: speaking of Labour, Rosie Duffield, the fearless Labour MP, has taken her leadership to task in no uncertain terms here: https://unherd.com/?p=484734 She is, as they say, completely out of f**ks. Cannot imagine something like this happening in the US.
Also want to encourage folks to write at least a brief comment in support of the citizen’s petition. As Kate rightly notes, it’s unlikely to succeed, but the key is to use it as a vehicle to demonstrate a LOT of concern about this, and those numbers, in turn, can be used in future advocacy. I’ve read through the petition: it’s well done, carefully argued, and the proposed actions are completely reasonable. You can also comment anonymously (which I have done). Ben Appel, BTW, is a proud early signatory. Here’s a link to the petition: https://www.regulations.gov/document/FDA-2023-P-3767-0001 If you choose to comment, the category to use from the drop down list appears to be "Category: Drug Industry C0022." You can also read the comments submitted so far to get a sense of what others have written.
OK, I have gone on too long once again, so just to say THANK YOU to Kate, for your wonderful work, and to Lisa for coming up with this idea and finding such a marvelous correspondent!
The De-transitioning program was really good. I just wish the interviewers would ask the pro transition proponents about the fact that no one can really become the opposite sex. We are lying to those with gender dysphoria. Removing breasts or a penis will not make the person the opposite sex. Wouldn’t it be healthier to help children to embrace the broad spectrum of temperament within each sex?