BROADview in Brief
Elephants on parade
As Republican presidential candidates continued to hold their debates without that party’s leading contender--elephants wrastling without the elephant in the room, so to speak--it was much easier for them to sidestep a discussion on CNN’s Republican Town Hall about how their party’s unpopular position on abortion led to the horrendous medical abuse of Texas resident Kate Cox this week and talk instead about trans issues. Restricting youth gender medicalization and banning transwomen in female sports categories is much more in line with mainstream American opinion, as has now been noted in too many polls to count (including this one reviewed in the Washington Post last May). Ron DeSantis, in particular, is trying to use his conservative activism on trans legislation to bolster his chances in the Iowa caucuses on January 15th. The problem with this strategy, in the long run, is that close to 100% of US voters either are a woman or have a personal connection to a woman, and they would never want what’s just played out in Texas to happen to themselves or anyone they know. As the Wall Street Journal reported last month, Americans support abortion rights, and the issue highly motivates Democrat and left-leaning voters. Meanwhile, although the number of trans-identified Americans has skyrocketed, and goodness knows they are constantly in the news, they still represent only 2-3% of the overall population. Most US voters are likely to find trans issues abstract and of little relative importance compared to female reproductive care. Sorry, DeSantis, your strategy might help in the primaries; however, it will fail in the national election. still, when you look at recent Republican polling, it seems pretty clear DeSantis won’t be on next November’s ballot anyway.
The problem with Republicans treating trans healthcare as a culture war issue, of course, is that Democrats then respond as if it’s a culture war issue, too. Hence, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s release this week of its bizarre report “Combating Anti-LGBTQ+ Pseudoscience.” Filled with factual errors, misspellings, misinformation, and its own pseudoscience, it was a disheartening reminder of how far the mighty institutions of our liberal past have fallen, as pointed out so thoughtfully by Lisa on Wednesday. If you’d like an apolitical peek at how screwed up the rationale is behind much of North American gender medicine, check out Eliza Mondegreen’s latest reporting on the secret life of gender clinicians in Unherd.
And on that happy note, let’s take a look at what else has been going on across the US:
Speaking of Florida, the Biden administration has filed an amicus brief with the 11th District Court of Appeals supporting a lower court ruling that Florida’s ban on using state Medicaid funds to pay for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones violates federal law. Also, a new Florida bill, HB599, would ban the use of preferred pronouns at businesses and agencies that receive state funds. Call me crazy, but that seems like as much a violation of the First Amendment as forcing them to use preferred pronouns. We’ll see if it dies before it comes to a full vote.
Ohio became the latest state to pass legislation restricting youth gender medicalization and banning trans-identified males from playing on female school sports teams. The bill now moves on to Republican governor Mike DeWine for his signature or veto within the next ten days.
In Illinois, patients will be able to choose X instead of male or female on their intake forms at several Chicago area hospitals starting next week. Trans and non-binary people worry a lot about misgendering in healthcare settings. Of course, there are also dire consequences if they are mis-sexed. It’s quite the conundrum.
It’s amusing to see that the first college to violate the new ban in Kansas on transwomen in female sports was none other than Ottawa University, a private Christian institution.
In California, the teachers in Escondido who won an injunction against their school district requiring them to hide student gender transitions from parents are still battling to get back into their classrooms.
Minnesota has the largest contingent of Somali refugees in the United States--a progressive state, it has a history of welcoming newcomers. But now that Minnesota public schools are teaching Somali Muslim children that, for example, it’s fine for boys to wear dresses, some Somali parents are taking their school district to court. What do you think of My Shadow Is Pink? I love its gender-expansive theme, although I might quibble that the little boy’s dad could make clear that interests and tastes may or may not change over time. Is it appropriate to read this book to children in public schools where there are families with a variety of backgrounds and beliefs?
And in New York, Queers for a Liberated Palestine held a rally in Brooklyn and took over the Manhattan Bridge, chanting slogans like “queer! trans! no peace on stolen land!”
Scotland lead the international gender headlines: First, the Scottish parliament lost its case against the British government’s veto of Scotland’s gender self-ID legislation. The Scottish parliament has 21 days to appeal, but it seems unlikely they’ll try. Thank you to a subscriber for sharing the LGB Alliance’s statement on the ruling: “Our opponents have attacked us with a series of outlandish accusations. Let’s be clear. It is not bigotry to assert that men cannot be lesbians and women cannot be gay men. Safeguarding is not “right wing”. The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill is a ridiculous piece of legislation that should now be consigned to oblivion. We are proud to defend the rights and interests of LGB people and we will continue to do so.”
It is perhaps not surprising that NHS Scotland also intends to go its own way on the use of puberty blockers and will continue to medicalize Scottish children with gender distress. The thinking seems to be that more children want the drugs therefore more children should get them.
In other international news:
British psychotherapist-in-training James Esses has reached a settlement with the UK Council for Psychotherapy. Esses had taken both the UKCP and the Metanoia Institute (what a name!) to court after Metanoia expelled him in 2021, three years into his five-year program. His crime? He expressed concerns about the gender-affirmation model of treating trans youth and started a parliamentary petition asking the British government not to ban exploratory therapy as an option for gender dysphoria. The UKCP has now issued a statement agreeing that British psychotherapists have the right to hold gender-critical views—really, it’s much more extensive than that so see below and at the link. Metanoia literally means “changing one’s mind,” so hopefully, the Institute will soon follow suit and reinstate his training.
In Canada, a transwoman/trans-identified 50-year-old male who apparently identifies as a 13-year-old girl was allowed to both change and compete with a group of 8 to 16-year-old girls in a Swimming Canada-sanctioned swim meet in Barrie, Ontario, last week. Seriously, people, what in the heck is wrong with Swimming Canada?
And in Australia and New Zealand, there was a crack in the monolithic institutional support for gender-affirming care as the organization responsible for training all psychiatrists in those two countries, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, issued a major new position statement that acknowledges the wide range of professional views on treating gender distress and references Britain’s Cass Report. Still, for heaven’s sake, don’t say out loud that transwomen are biological men down there. An Australian city councilwoman is charged with inciting hatred for sharing that truth that dares not speak its name.
In proper Commonwealth fashion, my Christmas pudding from Fortnum and Mason is arriving tomorrow, a jar of mincemeat is in the fridge (ready to liven up my Greek yogurt since I’m too impatient to make mince tarts), and I’m stocking up on Christmas crackers for a festive table—these are all the ways I soothe a British husband who misses his homeland at this time of year. May you have a peaceful and gender-drama-free weekend and enjoy the rest of your December, whatever winter festival you celebrate this month. Please share your comments below and through this form!
Thank you, as always, for the tremendous research assistance of Alejandra Q.
The example of the man in the changing room with girls seems a perfect example of the ridiculousness that ensues with a strict adherence to a hierarchy of oppression. And in this hierarchy a transwoman outranks girl children. It doesn't matter if the children are extremely uncomfortable (as they should be, if they begin to feel comfortable being around adult men who are strangers and naked, that is not good, it's bad). If the transwoman will feel hurt by being banned from a girl's locker room then that is the priority. Adults need to put their foot down. And yes, I think it is particularly important for men to have a strong voice in these types of instances, that they can and will protect girls when needed.
Kate and Alejandra, a terrific, jam-packed round-up as always, thank you so much. I watched My Shadow Is Pink with interest. While I would love to hear from parents in the thick of this about their views, my preliminary thought is that while, in the absence of current context, the video could be seen as simply supporting different ways for children to express themselves, unfortunately, in the current environment, I am concerned that its use is likely to be quite problematic. Many schools right now can be fairly seen as pipelines for fostering a belief that a child can be born in the wrong body and that the “fix” for that is medicalization. My Shadow Is Pink can easily fall right in line with that: boy likes pink, teacher says maybe you’re really a girl, boy then socially transitions, and on it goes. Until and unless we can be confident that teachers will not use the video in service of those ends, I am uncomfortable with using it as a teaching tool. I would instead encourage, for example, use of books like Rachel Rooney’s My Body Is Me, and a whole host of other books/videos that don’t wade into these dangerous waters. (Michael Rosen is another terrific children’s author. Here, from him, is “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt”: https://youtu.be/0gyI6ykDwds).