There’s a particularly odious Trump ad playing around here that concentrates on Kamala Harris’s past remarks about ensuring that everybody gets the healthcare they need, including trans people.
I think this is a very good article but like a lot of articles in this space I think it’s mostly speaking to those of us the mid-to-far left about those on the mid-to-far right. That is, it describes what amounts to an unsolvable values clash between two extremes of the political distribution on this issue.
Which is fine, of course, we need that.
But we also need is a more nuanced conversation about the transgender issue that takes in the more moderate views of the 30-40% of the electorate who may not vibe with either the trans activist left or the MAGA right.
It’s only by listening to and speaking to those voters that we have a chance of persuading them with more reasonable, balanced ideas. Right now, anyone moderate person who cares about people and believes in science get shouted down by both sides.
My son is a trans man, and the they/thems are NOT the same as you/me. In fact, the they/thems have done terrible harm to trans people in this country. Trans activism has been hijacked by cis people who speak over actual trans people and alienate most of the electorate. How did Sam Brinton help trans people? Or Lia Thomas, for christ sake?!
Wanna help my son? Try this:
There are two sexes. Two. We are born male, female, or an intersex combination of the two that usually leads to infertility and other health complications.
Trans women are males with sex dysphoria who medically transition to ease the pain of dysphoria.
Transvestites are NOT trans; they are autogynophilic males who get off on dressing like women. They do not experience sex dysphoria and they love talking about their "lady penises". These are the most dangerous demographic claiming to be part of the "trans" community, and they are the most vocal.
Trans men are females with sex dysphoria who medically transition to ease the pain of dysphoria.
Trans women, being biologically male, have a huge advantage over female athletes if they have gone through a male puberty. Anyone who denies this will immediately lose trust with the general public who saw with their own eyes the huge advantage Lia Thomas held over the much smaller female athletes on the swim team. Once puberty begins, the sexes should be separated on competitive sports teams. The refusal to do this seriously undermines trans rights/trans acceptance. It is also grossly unfair to female athletes.
My son, like most trans men, has not had bottom surgery. Under no circumstances should trans men ever be put into a men's prison. And under no circumstances should a trans woman convicted of a violent crime be put into a women's prison. Incarcerated women should never be treated as sacrificial lambs in service to the gender ideology of the upper classes. Incarcerated women have already been both raped and impregnated by
these predatory con artists.
The best way to help trans people is to let the public know that you do NOT have to deny biological reality to support trans rights. In fact, the opposite is true.
Trans people need protection from being fired for being trans or denied housing/healthcare for being trans. That's it. That's what they need.
They don't need the right to expose their "lady penises" in women's locker rooms and they don't need the right to steal women's sports medals, records, and scholarships.
All of the above has done terrible harm to trans people and if you really care about trans rights, you will stop supporting this lunacy.
I’m not sure there is going to be one single moderate viewpoint on the issue. People in the center seem to be engaging with this issue from multiple entry points, and they are also keeping silent about it for the most part. I am making an effort to talk with people in this position to find out what their views actually are. I’ll get back to you when I know more.
Hmmm, do you still feel this way? It appears you and your readers are in the minority. Resoundingly so. Perhaps the lens by which you see things has been tainted.
Michael, you are one of my comedy heroes and I've been a fan of yours for a long time (especially loved the short-lived Michael and Michael have issues!).
But I think you're in a pretty big bubble on this topic, and your comments section mostly proves it (with the exception of commenter Dan T.). While it's true that the ad in question was pretty extreme, it tapped into legitimate issues that many voters of all different stripes have, including a Biden executive order that puts money into an unproven practice (gender affirming care), the changing of Title 9 rules to accommodate this ideology, state laws that prevent parents from knowing if their kids have adopted new genders, the stifling of medical science in the name of said ideology (attacks on so-called TERFs)... I could go on!
Additionally you said this: "Whichever group that is currently being attacked – Haitian immigrants, Latino immigrants, Muslims, trans people, whomever – will see increased threats and levels of violence against them."
I'm not looking forward to increased threats against these groups either and hope it doesn't happen, but it's worth noting (just to take one example) that Latinos voted in increasing numbers FOR Trump. So unless you want to tell them that they're self-hating Uncle Toms (Uncle Juans?), then I think you need a more complex analysis of what's going on.
Thanks for the thoughtful response, although I couldn't disagree more. My politics demand that I speak up for the disadvantaged, even when - maybe even ESPECIALLY when - they're losing allies left and right. These people have every right to live their lives as fully as they are able. Biden was right to support gender-affirming care, but that doesn't even matter. What matters is that people are saying, "We're being targeted, we're harassed, we're victims of sexual violence. We have high rates of both murder and suicide." I don't care what your story is, if I'm a politician, it's my job to ensure that my constituents are protected in their communities. It doesn't matter if they're Muslims or Jews or trans or immigrants or what. I hate that there are influential Democrats basically begging off supporting vulnerable communities. Not me. I think we should double down, not because of any specific group, but because it's important to lead with your principles and to stick to them unless there's a reason to change them. Political pressure is not a sufficient reason in my book. There are certainly specific issues around supporting trans people - I do think we have to look at public accommodations and elite sporting events - but those are a tiny subset of a problem that only affects a tiny subset of the population to begin with. To have the MAGA crowd run like this is some sort of threat to the nation is scapegoating of the worst kind. Fuck 'em.
First of all, trans people did not elect you to speak for them. Trans people are a very diverse group, and many of them voted for Trump. Yes, believe it or not, trans people are individuals, not clones.
Brianna Wu and Marcus Dibbs are brilliant on speaking for trans rights. Check them out if you want to know what actual trans people think about many of these issues.
Ms. Wu is a trans woman who is actually trans, not some cross dressing pervert like so many "trans women" who dominate trans activism.
If, as you say, public accommodations and sporting events are a tiny subset of the problem, then why do you insist on "doubling down" on these issues? Just stop. No dicks in the women's locker rooms. No dicks in women's and girls sports (post puberty). No dicks in women's prisons.
Trans activists have been total dicks to women, and that has harmed trans people (the real ones who medically transition) more than anyone else. Stop. Please.
Appreciate the reply. But I think you're presenting a false choice. One can be compassionate towards the LGBTQ and other vulnerable communities while also paying attention to science/reason/evidence. I myself have experienced gender dysphoria and am on the LGBTQ spectrum, and I really resonated with the way you talked about dysphoria in your initial post. And I have compassion for all those who've experienced it, often in ways that are likely more extreme than my experience.
But, if we care about science and reason and we are going to talk about misinformation on the other side (which is a problem), then we have to be honest about the misinformation on our own side. Gender affirming care definitely matters considering that at best the scientific evidence is inclusive regarding its effectiveness and at worst it is a harmful practice. Yet activists like many posting on your page are claiming that it is 100% effective and that it's transphobic to even question. This is where the problem lies, in my view, and this attitude of dismissal and judgmentalism is likely to cost democrats elections in the future. Just look at Seth Moulton, a democratic senator who lightly questioned trans ideology and now has thousands of people protesting outside his office, calling for his resignation. He's not a bigot, but they're treating him as one.
The last point I'd make is that if you want to help these vulnerable communities, you've got to listen to more people from within said communities. For example there are trans people who agree more with me on this than with you, such as Blair White and Brianna Wu, but who get little attention from the left. Going back to my point about Latinos, this is clearly what happened to democrats in the last election. They listened to the AOCs of the world rather than working class Latinos.
Thank You. My son is a trans man and I agree with you 100%. I'm willing to bet most trans people agree with you, but they are being shouted down by the they/thems who cosplay at being trans.
Thanks for the comment. Yes I suspect many more trans people have this opinion but the problem is that so many on the left listen to activists for their understanding of how minority groups feel.
Unfortunately, "trans people getting the healthcare they need" includes minors: more than 5000 minors had healthy body parts removed, from 2019 to 2023, influenced by gender ideology. Many more suffered the ill effects of hormones that were wrong for their bodies. These are in many cases children robbed of the chance of ever experiencing an orgasm or of having children, who cannot meaningfully consent to the giving up things they have no idea of.
Plus girls and women in single-sex spaces, including locker rooms, sexual assault shelters, and prisons, required to have their privacy, dignity, and safety violated.
Maybe you regard these numbers as too small to matter, but many don't. Moreover, many older trans-identified men are autogynophiles: they are turned on by the idea of themselves as women. Treating them as women is harmless, on an individual basis, but do we really want a world where participating in someone else's sexual fetish is required?
I voted for Harris, because Trump may well end democracy. But it was despite her acquiescence to gender ideology.
Even one is too many. Having stood on the shoulders of those who sacrificed so much for women to claim their rights, I can’t even understand how to countenance girls being hurt by biological males in their sports, much less the violation of privacy in women’s shelters, prisons, gyms, bathrooms.
If trans people don’t want to be among biological males build your own spaces. Don’t take mine.
I'd also like to recommend, if you really think there might be issues with trans inclusion in sports, you read Julia Serano's substack article published a couple days ago on the subject. "Trans people and sports: Everything you need to know"
Julia is a trans woman, biologist, best selling author, and one of the foundational writers and thinkers on trans issues, going back decades.
There she gives a comprehensive, sourced, and easy to understand breakdown of every issue involved.
I'll take a look. I do think we need to think about elite-levels of competition, but I will be the first to admit that I don't know enough about this specific issue to have a hard-and-fast opinion.
If you're going to read that report by a prominent trans woman, then please read this report by UN Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem: "over 600 female athletes have collectively lost nearly 900 medals to biologically male competitors across more than 400 events. The 24-page report, titled “Violence against women and girls in sports,” argues that the inclusion of male-bodied athletes in women’s sports categories compromises both fairness and safety for female athletes."
Do biological females matter? Or should they be required to sacrifice themselves to male interests?
Just remember there has never been a male athlete who has been disqualified for having a biological advantage, only women (including and mostly, in fact, cisgender women).
Could that have more to do with social pressure and misogyny than with biological reality? Male puberty gives huge advantages to trans women in sports, and most trans women have zero interest in competitive sports. Why is this issue being pushed when it so clearly harms trans women?
Every governing body in sports has requirements for trans women to have been on HRT and reached specific levels of hormones in the normal female range, and in many cases, below that range. I won't even go into the silliness that is bans in chess, or darts, or pool.
Even at elite levels, as Julia points out, there is evidence that HRT not only negates any advantages of having had a testosterone dominant endocrine system, but actually puts trans women at a disadvantage. As for the idea that such a puberty gave one height, for example...and this is somehow unfair, that's oddly separated out from all the other things that make elite athletes elite.
Michael Phelps is a freak of nature. He is celebrated. Serena Williams, Simone Biles. You can't tell me it's fine that they are superlatively head and shoulders above any competitor and that's fine, but the accident of someone else's birth is not, only for the reason they were assigned male at birth.
Like that is somehow magical or...oh my god...unnatural.
We accept all sorts of genetic advantages. Having grown up wealthy and well-fed advantages, etc etc. There are tall women, no one complains.
The best evidence is that there are trans athletes. It's a thing, and has been, and they are not dominating anything. Anywhere.
This is manufactured transphobia. Please do read her article :)
Julia’s books and articles are incredible. Not just because she’s well versed in the topic but because of her talent for explaining this stuff in a way that’s easy to understand.
As a Jew living in a world that always has and always will hate Jews, this piece really struck home for me. There is Jew hate on the far ends of both sides (even of those like me who are atheists and don’t practice the religion), but the ones on the MAGA side are the ones that would strive to destroy those they hate via any violent means possible. And Trump blows wind in their sails every time he opens his big fat fetid piehole.
Wonderful essay! We all should remember what we were taught as children (beside do unto others…etc. ) to put ourselves into the other person’s shoes. Michael, you demonstrated that perfectly. I remember the first time I ever saw a transgender or genderqueer person. I was 12 years old on the NYC subway enroute to school. The person seated across from me was dressed as a woman but with an adam’s apple and a strong jaw. I tried not to stare but our eyes locked and in that two second moment she looked wary, scared and vulnerable. I tried to communicate with my eyes that she needn’t be afraid of me and then quickly looked away. At times like this I return to that memory and think of all the people who still need to be on their guard at all times.
Such a great essay. If only everyone could reflect and put themselves in others shoes to see how much a person might be struggling or just trying to survive or live their life on their terms, we wouldn't have so much hate, fear, and division.
The person you quote recently shared their comment on a trans sub on Reddit and, curious, I figured I’d try to look up the original context (she didn’t link to the original post).
I never know what to expect when I hear that a comedian I admire has addressed the topic of being transgender on social media because oftentimes it isn’t good. The biggest lesson I’ve learned since coming out as trans five years ago is, simply: “just don’t have heroes.” Seriously.
To be trans is to never know if you should feel safe. Not safe as in “safe from physical harm” (although that’s a common worry), but also safe from psychic damage from seeing yourself misrepresented, mischaracterized, mocked and vilified by people who have public platforms.
So it’s nice to read this piece. It’s nice to know there are comedy people out there who don’t see my existence as a joke, and not just because of the whole psychic damage thing. Pre-transition I briefly did stand-up in the Bay Area and in the intervening years I’ve often contemplated getting into improv comedy and theater acting. But I always wondered if that would really be a safe environment for someone like me.
I see a lot of support of trans people coming from some parts of the entertainment world but hardly anything from mainstream comedians. I know your post was about more than just the trans community, but I thought I’d just say thank you for being the first comedian I’ve seen acknowledge any of this. It means a lot. I cried a little.
Thank you so much for this column! It's really the first time I've truly understood what it must be like to be trans. As a cis woman, I've never, since the day I was born, felt that I was in the wrong body. The best I could do was understand that there were people who felt this way.
Now, I think I understand better, and I realize that people who feel they have to "go along to get along" must be under just intolerable stress every day of their lives. How dare anyone deny others relief from that stress? How dare we, as a society, define so narrowly what is right for every living person?? The arrogance!!
And still, I can't understand perfectly. It may be beyond my understanding. But I'll try. And I'll accept and support those who live that experience, while I oppose the bigotry of people who try to define everyone by their narrow standards.
I keep alternating between trying to understand the fearful and distrustful attitude of TERFs and trying to address it.
For women I think becoming a TERF starts with a distrust of men who hurt them sexually. They are hurt by men and also women are stereotypically tasked with protecting children. Then they are surprised by transgender women and think they must protect children from dishonest men. I get it, but I wish they could heal enough to stop connecting sexual trauma to new meeting of strangers and casting an entire population of innocent strangers as a threat to them and their children.
I think we can all agree children should be safe. We disagree about when children are in danger and what actually keeps them safe.
People who reject transgender people are not seeing the existence of transgender children and are endangering their safety. To me, the safety of transgender children includes supporting their mental health by respecting their self concept by agreeing to use their preferred pronouns. The effects of being told you’re not who you say you are are expressed in the film I Saw the TV Glow where the main character half figures themself out but chooses the reality everyone else is guiding them into and the end effect is always supporting someone else’s party while being in mortal pain near death yourself. Some people in my community who I would otherwise like believe using proper pronouns in elementary school convinces kids to be transgender and places them at risk for getting surgery the TERFs are afraid of.
They don’t seem to realize that the key decision by middle school before puberty is not about surgery at all but is about whether to take puberty blockers to prevent the growth of breasts and start of periods for transgender men or the voice deepening and growth of hair in transgender women. That is the first major healthcare decision made by and with transgender family members. It is not surgery. It is reversible if it actually turns out they were just going through a phase where they confused liking an older sibling with being born in the wrong body themselves. How do you know you’re a tomboy and not a transgender man? Maybe the difference is wanting to pee in the backyard? Or wanting body hair? I am cisgender and a tomboy and don’t want these experiences but I do believe in learning from and emulating men as well as women. Other people I know are genderqueer or transgender men and wanted body hair and to dress more masculine. I don’t think it in any way compromises my femininity to acknowledge and support another person’s decisions to guide their physical appearance to make it easier for me to see their self concept.
What bothers me the most with the divisive rhetoric you call out here is that we don’t stop at rejecting transgender people but want to make laws to reverse family healthcare choices. We have a choice to learn and empathize or reject and run away, and there are politicians who think they know what is best for someone else’s family member and should control their healthcare without doing any of the research the family and their doctor have already done. I of course am talking about more than one family but still a vulnerable minority who don’t have voting power to challenge the decisions being made over their heads.
Thank you for eloquently phrasing the fallacy of targeting the victims.
I want to watch that show, "I saw the TV glow", I've seen good things about it, but reading your comment here does make it sound like it could be a tough watch.
It’s PG-13 but there are uncomfortable feelings and a suicide story and one scene of self harm without blood. It seems designed to make cisgender people feel the pain of being a closeted transgender person.
As an ally my realization was I don’t want to show transgender people how much I worry about them. I should think more about bringing them fun and making a party for them instead of making them support someone else’s party.
Michael, that's amazing. Especially the ending. Maga in general and Trump, specifically do seek to divide and conquer. One wonders where it will stop? Are my eyes the right color? Was I born in the correct state? Is my religion on the list? It seems fantastical and almost silly to ask these questions, but you only need to look to North Korea and their rules on proper clothing to see that it is not that far-fetched. Every citizen is a unique individual. We group ourselves in dozens of different ways to find community, support, information, and sometimes protection, but our thoughts and our feelings are our own. Trump seems to be using the middle school playbook here, by making anyone who is not close enough to him in ever-changing and ever-more toxic ways, the enemy. It's Mean Girls, but in the real world, with people's livelihoods and safety on the line. Transgender people, Trump's latest victims, are human beings. I don't know what it feels like to be in a body that does not fit what my mind feels that I am, but I can only imagine it is a horrible and scary feeling. Existing in this current world while being transgender must be hard enough without a commercial like this exposing these individuals to more ridicule and danger just to cull a few votes. What Trump does not realize, however, is that there are many folks in this country who do not hate people because they were born differently or have a different journey. In fact, I'd venture to say the majority of people don't hate other people in the way that some Maga and Trump does. The fear that he is stirring will reach some people, but not the majority. People who want everyone to be safe and have access to healthcare and education and food are the majority in this country. We don't often picket or storm buildings, but we do vote. And those people on the fence that saw that commercial may not have liked what they saw. He was preaching to the choir there, not to undecided voters. He made a mistake. Take it from this unmarried, childless, menopausal cat lady: my vote will not be for the divider who fosters fear. He labeled me and I could laugh about it. Transgender people do not have that luxury. Neither do Haitian immigrants. Neither do pregnant women in need of medical help. Dehumanizing people is wrong, and I suspect, through the make-up and the verbal faux pas, that Trump knows that. No one who would risk the safety of another to get power is deserving of that power.
I think this is a very good article but like a lot of articles in this space I think it’s mostly speaking to those of us the mid-to-far left about those on the mid-to-far right. That is, it describes what amounts to an unsolvable values clash between two extremes of the political distribution on this issue.
Which is fine, of course, we need that.
But we also need is a more nuanced conversation about the transgender issue that takes in the more moderate views of the 30-40% of the electorate who may not vibe with either the trans activist left or the MAGA right.
It’s only by listening to and speaking to those voters that we have a chance of persuading them with more reasonable, balanced ideas. Right now, anyone moderate person who cares about people and believes in science get shouted down by both sides.
What would you say is the “moderate” view of the issue?
My son is a trans man, and the they/thems are NOT the same as you/me. In fact, the they/thems have done terrible harm to trans people in this country. Trans activism has been hijacked by cis people who speak over actual trans people and alienate most of the electorate. How did Sam Brinton help trans people? Or Lia Thomas, for christ sake?!
Wanna help my son? Try this:
There are two sexes. Two. We are born male, female, or an intersex combination of the two that usually leads to infertility and other health complications.
Trans women are males with sex dysphoria who medically transition to ease the pain of dysphoria.
Transvestites are NOT trans; they are autogynophilic males who get off on dressing like women. They do not experience sex dysphoria and they love talking about their "lady penises". These are the most dangerous demographic claiming to be part of the "trans" community, and they are the most vocal.
Trans men are females with sex dysphoria who medically transition to ease the pain of dysphoria.
Trans women, being biologically male, have a huge advantage over female athletes if they have gone through a male puberty. Anyone who denies this will immediately lose trust with the general public who saw with their own eyes the huge advantage Lia Thomas held over the much smaller female athletes on the swim team. Once puberty begins, the sexes should be separated on competitive sports teams. The refusal to do this seriously undermines trans rights/trans acceptance. It is also grossly unfair to female athletes.
My son, like most trans men, has not had bottom surgery. Under no circumstances should trans men ever be put into a men's prison. And under no circumstances should a trans woman convicted of a violent crime be put into a women's prison. Incarcerated women should never be treated as sacrificial lambs in service to the gender ideology of the upper classes. Incarcerated women have already been both raped and impregnated by
these predatory con artists.
The best way to help trans people is to let the public know that you do NOT have to deny biological reality to support trans rights. In fact, the opposite is true.
Trans people need protection from being fired for being trans or denied housing/healthcare for being trans. That's it. That's what they need.
They don't need the right to expose their "lady penises" in women's locker rooms and they don't need the right to steal women's sports medals, records, and scholarships.
All of the above has done terrible harm to trans people and if you really care about trans rights, you will stop supporting this lunacy.
I’m going to have to think about what you’ve said, Penny. I’ve not heard some of these perspectives before and I appreciate you bringing them up. :)
I’m not sure there is going to be one single moderate viewpoint on the issue. People in the center seem to be engaging with this issue from multiple entry points, and they are also keeping silent about it for the most part. I am making an effort to talk with people in this position to find out what their views actually are. I’ll get back to you when I know more.
Please see my comment above. Ian is actually harming trans people by promoting his view of trans "rights".
Hmmm, do you still feel this way? It appears you and your readers are in the minority. Resoundingly so. Perhaps the lens by which you see things has been tainted.
Michael, you are one of my comedy heroes and I've been a fan of yours for a long time (especially loved the short-lived Michael and Michael have issues!).
But I think you're in a pretty big bubble on this topic, and your comments section mostly proves it (with the exception of commenter Dan T.). While it's true that the ad in question was pretty extreme, it tapped into legitimate issues that many voters of all different stripes have, including a Biden executive order that puts money into an unproven practice (gender affirming care), the changing of Title 9 rules to accommodate this ideology, state laws that prevent parents from knowing if their kids have adopted new genders, the stifling of medical science in the name of said ideology (attacks on so-called TERFs)... I could go on!
Additionally you said this: "Whichever group that is currently being attacked – Haitian immigrants, Latino immigrants, Muslims, trans people, whomever – will see increased threats and levels of violence against them."
I'm not looking forward to increased threats against these groups either and hope it doesn't happen, but it's worth noting (just to take one example) that Latinos voted in increasing numbers FOR Trump. So unless you want to tell them that they're self-hating Uncle Toms (Uncle Juans?), then I think you need a more complex analysis of what's going on.
Thanks for the thoughtful response, although I couldn't disagree more. My politics demand that I speak up for the disadvantaged, even when - maybe even ESPECIALLY when - they're losing allies left and right. These people have every right to live their lives as fully as they are able. Biden was right to support gender-affirming care, but that doesn't even matter. What matters is that people are saying, "We're being targeted, we're harassed, we're victims of sexual violence. We have high rates of both murder and suicide." I don't care what your story is, if I'm a politician, it's my job to ensure that my constituents are protected in their communities. It doesn't matter if they're Muslims or Jews or trans or immigrants or what. I hate that there are influential Democrats basically begging off supporting vulnerable communities. Not me. I think we should double down, not because of any specific group, but because it's important to lead with your principles and to stick to them unless there's a reason to change them. Political pressure is not a sufficient reason in my book. There are certainly specific issues around supporting trans people - I do think we have to look at public accommodations and elite sporting events - but those are a tiny subset of a problem that only affects a tiny subset of the population to begin with. To have the MAGA crowd run like this is some sort of threat to the nation is scapegoating of the worst kind. Fuck 'em.
First of all, trans people did not elect you to speak for them. Trans people are a very diverse group, and many of them voted for Trump. Yes, believe it or not, trans people are individuals, not clones.
Brianna Wu and Marcus Dibbs are brilliant on speaking for trans rights. Check them out if you want to know what actual trans people think about many of these issues.
Ms. Wu is a trans woman who is actually trans, not some cross dressing pervert like so many "trans women" who dominate trans activism.
If, as you say, public accommodations and sporting events are a tiny subset of the problem, then why do you insist on "doubling down" on these issues? Just stop. No dicks in the women's locker rooms. No dicks in women's and girls sports (post puberty). No dicks in women's prisons.
Trans activists have been total dicks to women, and that has harmed trans people (the real ones who medically transition) more than anyone else. Stop. Please.
Appreciate the reply. But I think you're presenting a false choice. One can be compassionate towards the LGBTQ and other vulnerable communities while also paying attention to science/reason/evidence. I myself have experienced gender dysphoria and am on the LGBTQ spectrum, and I really resonated with the way you talked about dysphoria in your initial post. And I have compassion for all those who've experienced it, often in ways that are likely more extreme than my experience.
But, if we care about science and reason and we are going to talk about misinformation on the other side (which is a problem), then we have to be honest about the misinformation on our own side. Gender affirming care definitely matters considering that at best the scientific evidence is inclusive regarding its effectiveness and at worst it is a harmful practice. Yet activists like many posting on your page are claiming that it is 100% effective and that it's transphobic to even question. This is where the problem lies, in my view, and this attitude of dismissal and judgmentalism is likely to cost democrats elections in the future. Just look at Seth Moulton, a democratic senator who lightly questioned trans ideology and now has thousands of people protesting outside his office, calling for his resignation. He's not a bigot, but they're treating him as one.
The last point I'd make is that if you want to help these vulnerable communities, you've got to listen to more people from within said communities. For example there are trans people who agree more with me on this than with you, such as Blair White and Brianna Wu, but who get little attention from the left. Going back to my point about Latinos, this is clearly what happened to democrats in the last election. They listened to the AOCs of the world rather than working class Latinos.
Thank You. My son is a trans man and I agree with you 100%. I'm willing to bet most trans people agree with you, but they are being shouted down by the they/thems who cosplay at being trans.
Thanks for the comment. Yes I suspect many more trans people have this opinion but the problem is that so many on the left listen to activists for their understanding of how minority groups feel.
Unfortunately, "trans people getting the healthcare they need" includes minors: more than 5000 minors had healthy body parts removed, from 2019 to 2023, influenced by gender ideology. Many more suffered the ill effects of hormones that were wrong for their bodies. These are in many cases children robbed of the chance of ever experiencing an orgasm or of having children, who cannot meaningfully consent to the giving up things they have no idea of.
https://benryan.substack.com/p/at-least-14000-us-minors-have-received?utm_source=%2Finbox%2Fsaved&utm_medium=reader2
More than 700 women have been shoved aside from sporting medals and other recognition, due to this ideology. To say nothing of injuries.
https://hecheated.org
Plus girls and women in single-sex spaces, including locker rooms, sexual assault shelters, and prisons, required to have their privacy, dignity, and safety violated.
Maybe you regard these numbers as too small to matter, but many don't. Moreover, many older trans-identified men are autogynophiles: they are turned on by the idea of themselves as women. Treating them as women is harmless, on an individual basis, but do we really want a world where participating in someone else's sexual fetish is required?
I voted for Harris, because Trump may well end democracy. But it was despite her acquiescence to gender ideology.
Even one is too many. Having stood on the shoulders of those who sacrificed so much for women to claim their rights, I can’t even understand how to countenance girls being hurt by biological males in their sports, much less the violation of privacy in women’s shelters, prisons, gyms, bathrooms.
If trans people don’t want to be among biological males build your own spaces. Don’t take mine.
Amen
Michael, all,
I'd also like to recommend, if you really think there might be issues with trans inclusion in sports, you read Julia Serano's substack article published a couple days ago on the subject. "Trans people and sports: Everything you need to know"
Julia is a trans woman, biologist, best selling author, and one of the foundational writers and thinkers on trans issues, going back decades.
There she gives a comprehensive, sourced, and easy to understand breakdown of every issue involved.
I'll take a look. I do think we need to think about elite-levels of competition, but I will be the first to admit that I don't know enough about this specific issue to have a hard-and-fast opinion.
If you're going to read that report by a prominent trans woman, then please read this report by UN Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem: "over 600 female athletes have collectively lost nearly 900 medals to biologically male competitors across more than 400 events. The 24-page report, titled “Violence against women and girls in sports,” argues that the inclusion of male-bodied athletes in women’s sports categories compromises both fairness and safety for female athletes."
Do biological females matter? Or should they be required to sacrifice themselves to male interests?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/un-sounds-alarm-nearly-900-medals-lost-as-report-demands-female-only-sports-amid-trans-athlete-controversy/ar-AA1sUtU0
Just remember there has never been a male athlete who has been disqualified for having a biological advantage, only women (including and mostly, in fact, cisgender women).
Could that have more to do with social pressure and misogyny than with biological reality? Male puberty gives huge advantages to trans women in sports, and most trans women have zero interest in competitive sports. Why is this issue being pushed when it so clearly harms trans women?
Every governing body in sports has requirements for trans women to have been on HRT and reached specific levels of hormones in the normal female range, and in many cases, below that range. I won't even go into the silliness that is bans in chess, or darts, or pool.
Even at elite levels, as Julia points out, there is evidence that HRT not only negates any advantages of having had a testosterone dominant endocrine system, but actually puts trans women at a disadvantage. As for the idea that such a puberty gave one height, for example...and this is somehow unfair, that's oddly separated out from all the other things that make elite athletes elite.
Michael Phelps is a freak of nature. He is celebrated. Serena Williams, Simone Biles. You can't tell me it's fine that they are superlatively head and shoulders above any competitor and that's fine, but the accident of someone else's birth is not, only for the reason they were assigned male at birth.
Like that is somehow magical or...oh my god...unnatural.
We accept all sorts of genetic advantages. Having grown up wealthy and well-fed advantages, etc etc. There are tall women, no one complains.
The best evidence is that there are trans athletes. It's a thing, and has been, and they are not dominating anything. Anywhere.
This is manufactured transphobia. Please do read her article :)
Julia’s books and articles are incredible. Not just because she’s well versed in the topic but because of her talent for explaining this stuff in a way that’s easy to understand.
Michael,
Please do use the entire post. I kinda think the ending is the most important part :)
This right here, Mike. Well done. And that ad ought not to have passed the FCC filters. Geezus.
As a Jew living in a world that always has and always will hate Jews, this piece really struck home for me. There is Jew hate on the far ends of both sides (even of those like me who are atheists and don’t practice the religion), but the ones on the MAGA side are the ones that would strive to destroy those they hate via any violent means possible. And Trump blows wind in their sails every time he opens his big fat fetid piehole.
Wonderful essay! We all should remember what we were taught as children (beside do unto others…etc. ) to put ourselves into the other person’s shoes. Michael, you demonstrated that perfectly. I remember the first time I ever saw a transgender or genderqueer person. I was 12 years old on the NYC subway enroute to school. The person seated across from me was dressed as a woman but with an adam’s apple and a strong jaw. I tried not to stare but our eyes locked and in that two second moment she looked wary, scared and vulnerable. I tried to communicate with my eyes that she needn’t be afraid of me and then quickly looked away. At times like this I return to that memory and think of all the people who still need to be on their guard at all times.
I'm currently rewatching The X-Files from the beginning. I just heard this line in Season 2, episode 3:
Mulder: "Fear. It's the oldest tool of power. If you're distracted by the fear of those around you, it keeps you from seeing the actions of those"
This was written 30 years ago, and nothing has changed.
Such a great essay. If only everyone could reflect and put themselves in others shoes to see how much a person might be struggling or just trying to survive or live their life on their terms, we wouldn't have so much hate, fear, and division.
The person you quote recently shared their comment on a trans sub on Reddit and, curious, I figured I’d try to look up the original context (she didn’t link to the original post).
I never know what to expect when I hear that a comedian I admire has addressed the topic of being transgender on social media because oftentimes it isn’t good. The biggest lesson I’ve learned since coming out as trans five years ago is, simply: “just don’t have heroes.” Seriously.
To be trans is to never know if you should feel safe. Not safe as in “safe from physical harm” (although that’s a common worry), but also safe from psychic damage from seeing yourself misrepresented, mischaracterized, mocked and vilified by people who have public platforms.
So it’s nice to read this piece. It’s nice to know there are comedy people out there who don’t see my existence as a joke, and not just because of the whole psychic damage thing. Pre-transition I briefly did stand-up in the Bay Area and in the intervening years I’ve often contemplated getting into improv comedy and theater acting. But I always wondered if that would really be a safe environment for someone like me.
I see a lot of support of trans people coming from some parts of the entertainment world but hardly anything from mainstream comedians. I know your post was about more than just the trans community, but I thought I’d just say thank you for being the first comedian I’ve seen acknowledge any of this. It means a lot. I cried a little.
Thank you so much for this column! It's really the first time I've truly understood what it must be like to be trans. As a cis woman, I've never, since the day I was born, felt that I was in the wrong body. The best I could do was understand that there were people who felt this way.
Now, I think I understand better, and I realize that people who feel they have to "go along to get along" must be under just intolerable stress every day of their lives. How dare anyone deny others relief from that stress? How dare we, as a society, define so narrowly what is right for every living person?? The arrogance!!
And still, I can't understand perfectly. It may be beyond my understanding. But I'll try. And I'll accept and support those who live that experience, while I oppose the bigotry of people who try to define everyone by their narrow standards.
I keep alternating between trying to understand the fearful and distrustful attitude of TERFs and trying to address it.
For women I think becoming a TERF starts with a distrust of men who hurt them sexually. They are hurt by men and also women are stereotypically tasked with protecting children. Then they are surprised by transgender women and think they must protect children from dishonest men. I get it, but I wish they could heal enough to stop connecting sexual trauma to new meeting of strangers and casting an entire population of innocent strangers as a threat to them and their children.
I think we can all agree children should be safe. We disagree about when children are in danger and what actually keeps them safe.
People who reject transgender people are not seeing the existence of transgender children and are endangering their safety. To me, the safety of transgender children includes supporting their mental health by respecting their self concept by agreeing to use their preferred pronouns. The effects of being told you’re not who you say you are are expressed in the film I Saw the TV Glow where the main character half figures themself out but chooses the reality everyone else is guiding them into and the end effect is always supporting someone else’s party while being in mortal pain near death yourself. Some people in my community who I would otherwise like believe using proper pronouns in elementary school convinces kids to be transgender and places them at risk for getting surgery the TERFs are afraid of.
They don’t seem to realize that the key decision by middle school before puberty is not about surgery at all but is about whether to take puberty blockers to prevent the growth of breasts and start of periods for transgender men or the voice deepening and growth of hair in transgender women. That is the first major healthcare decision made by and with transgender family members. It is not surgery. It is reversible if it actually turns out they were just going through a phase where they confused liking an older sibling with being born in the wrong body themselves. How do you know you’re a tomboy and not a transgender man? Maybe the difference is wanting to pee in the backyard? Or wanting body hair? I am cisgender and a tomboy and don’t want these experiences but I do believe in learning from and emulating men as well as women. Other people I know are genderqueer or transgender men and wanted body hair and to dress more masculine. I don’t think it in any way compromises my femininity to acknowledge and support another person’s decisions to guide their physical appearance to make it easier for me to see their self concept.
What bothers me the most with the divisive rhetoric you call out here is that we don’t stop at rejecting transgender people but want to make laws to reverse family healthcare choices. We have a choice to learn and empathize or reject and run away, and there are politicians who think they know what is best for someone else’s family member and should control their healthcare without doing any of the research the family and their doctor have already done. I of course am talking about more than one family but still a vulnerable minority who don’t have voting power to challenge the decisions being made over their heads.
Thank you for eloquently phrasing the fallacy of targeting the victims.
I want to watch that show, "I saw the TV glow", I've seen good things about it, but reading your comment here does make it sound like it could be a tough watch.
It’s PG-13 but there are uncomfortable feelings and a suicide story and one scene of self harm without blood. It seems designed to make cisgender people feel the pain of being a closeted transgender person.
As an ally my realization was I don’t want to show transgender people how much I worry about them. I should think more about bringing them fun and making a party for them instead of making them support someone else’s party.
Excellent
Michael, that's amazing. Especially the ending. Maga in general and Trump, specifically do seek to divide and conquer. One wonders where it will stop? Are my eyes the right color? Was I born in the correct state? Is my religion on the list? It seems fantastical and almost silly to ask these questions, but you only need to look to North Korea and their rules on proper clothing to see that it is not that far-fetched. Every citizen is a unique individual. We group ourselves in dozens of different ways to find community, support, information, and sometimes protection, but our thoughts and our feelings are our own. Trump seems to be using the middle school playbook here, by making anyone who is not close enough to him in ever-changing and ever-more toxic ways, the enemy. It's Mean Girls, but in the real world, with people's livelihoods and safety on the line. Transgender people, Trump's latest victims, are human beings. I don't know what it feels like to be in a body that does not fit what my mind feels that I am, but I can only imagine it is a horrible and scary feeling. Existing in this current world while being transgender must be hard enough without a commercial like this exposing these individuals to more ridicule and danger just to cull a few votes. What Trump does not realize, however, is that there are many folks in this country who do not hate people because they were born differently or have a different journey. In fact, I'd venture to say the majority of people don't hate other people in the way that some Maga and Trump does. The fear that he is stirring will reach some people, but not the majority. People who want everyone to be safe and have access to healthcare and education and food are the majority in this country. We don't often picket or storm buildings, but we do vote. And those people on the fence that saw that commercial may not have liked what they saw. He was preaching to the choir there, not to undecided voters. He made a mistake. Take it from this unmarried, childless, menopausal cat lady: my vote will not be for the divider who fosters fear. He labeled me and I could laugh about it. Transgender people do not have that luxury. Neither do Haitian immigrants. Neither do pregnant women in need of medical help. Dehumanizing people is wrong, and I suspect, through the make-up and the verbal faux pas, that Trump knows that. No one who would risk the safety of another to get power is deserving of that power.