Friday, September 9, 2022
"The World Professional Association for Transgender Health is imminently expected to publish an update to its standards of care guidance. WPATH is the leading transgender health organization...."
This day in Herstory: Sonia Sanchez, born Wilsonia Benita Driver September 9, 1934, is an American poet, writer, and professor. She was a leading figure in the Black Arts Movement and has written over a dozen books of poetry, as well as short stories, critical essays, plays, and children's books. In the 1960s, Sanchez released poems in periodicals targeted towards African-American audiences, and published her debut collection, Homecoming, in 1969. In 1993, she received Pew Fellowship in the Arts, and in 2001 was awarded the Robert Frost Medal for her contributions to the canon of American poetry.[1] She has been influential to other African-American poets, including Krista Franklin.
US - At 14, doctors cut off her breasts and put her on testosterone
From Twitter
By Billboard Chris
September 9, 2022
At 14, doctors cut off her breasts and put her on testosterone. Now she’s 17, can’t accept what’s been done to her, is too sad to even go to school, and sees no reason to live.
Her less-than-useless therapist did nothing to question her ‘transness.’ Her mom blames herself but she was lied to by all the ‘professionals.’ Parents are often coerced and told they can have a dead daughter or a live son.
The suicide card is always what trans activists play. It’s a despicable manipulation, and it’s a lie. This girl’s story is the reality. Transition made her want to die, she’s an emotional wreck, and the only thing keeping her alive is her love for her mom.
Republished from the Twitter thread with the kind permission of Billboard Chris
US - Can children actually consent to gender surgeries?
From Washington Examiner (USA)
By Debra Soh
September 9, 2022
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health is imminently expected to publish an update to its standards of care guidance. WPATH is the leading transgender health organization, and its guidelines are followed in the United States and globally.
Expected changes in the forthcoming edition include the lowering of recommended ages for hormones and surgeries in minors, enabling access to treatment one to two years earlier than what is currently suggested. This would mean children are able to undergo cross-sex hormones at age 14, double mastectomies at age 15, and genital surgeries, including hysterectomies and removal of the ovaries or testes, at age 17. Considering that there exist cases in which children have undergone these interventions earlier than what is presently recommended, it isn’t far off to imagine that once these new guidelines are in place, minors may be granted access at even younger ages. … read full article
US - Democrat Mom Accuses Educators, Therapist of Driving Her Autistic, Gender-Confused Child to ‘Catastrophic Ruin’
From The Daily Signal (USA)
By Kelsey Bolar
September 9, 2022
After educators and a therapist drove her high-functioning autistic, gender-confused daughter to a mental breakdown, a California mother is speaking out about the “trauma” and “catastrophic ruin” that gender ideology has caused her family.
Vera Lindner (not her real name) says she worries that other parents’ children will be led down a path of delusion. … read full article
US - Florida nightclub denies claim by trans woman who says she was 'grabbed and shoved out by bouncers' after using women's toilets: Incident 'simply did not happen as it was described'
Dixie Roadhouse in Cape Coral, Florida was accused of shoving a transgender woman out of the club after she used the women's restroom
On Thursday, the club said the transgender woman had misrepresented the situation in the media and has private bathrooms its trans customers use
The woman, Piper Ayres, told Daily Mail that she was unaware of the private bathrooms otherwise she would have used them
From Daily Mail (USA)
By SOPHIE MANN
September 9, 2022
The south Florida club that allegedly 'shoved' and kicked a transgender woman off its premise says it will remove anyone who makes guests 'uncomfortable' but that it was misrepresented in the media by the woman.
Dixie Roadhouse in Cape Coral, Florida says it has 'two private restrooms that our transgender guests use often.' … read full article
US - Professor Sanctioned for Sexual Harassment over Not Using They/Them Pronouns
Theater prof Richard Bugg sues Southern Utah University for "compelled speech"
From 4W (USA)
By Dana Vitalosova
Sep 9, 20222 min
Richard Bugg, a tenured professor of acting at Southern Utah University (SUU) is suing the school after administration sanctioned him for refusing to refer to a female student with they/them pronouns.
Mr Bugg opposes to "being compelled to personally use whatever (...) pronouns a student demands" because he says it violates his strongly held political beliefs. … read full article
Nonprofit partnered with AFT provides books with sex imagery, drag queens and gender ideology to K-12 teachers
One of the books the nonprofit sends to teachers is about a little 'boy [who] loves to be naked.'
From Fox News (USA)
By Hannah Grossman
September 9, 2022
FIRST ON FOX – A nonprofit organization called First Book, which said it has partnered with Disney, the American Federation of Teachers and other entities, provides free and heavily discounted books to low-income schools. Some of those listed in its marketplace contain sex imagery or have been challenged by parents for promoting gender ideology.
First Book, which calls itself an "innovative leader in education equity," has been partnered with Randi Weingarten's AFT union for over 10 years. The AFT also promotes the First Book marketplace for its teachers. … read full article
US - Planned Parenthood now a top provider of transgender hormones after Roe
From Catholic News Agency (USA)
By Edie Heipel
September 9, 2022
The curtains have been pulled back on America’s top abortion provider: Planned Parenthood’s business model now offers “gender-affirming health care,” including prescribing life-altering hormone injections to children as young as 16.
According to Planned Parenthood itself, the abortion company has inched its way to becoming the second-largest provider of hormonal injections in America. … read full article
US - Heritage Foundation rates Florida and Arizona as top states for education freedom
From Washington Examiner (USA)
By Jeremiah Poff
September 9, 2022
The conservative Heritage Foundation has rated Florida and Arizona as the top states in the United States for "education freedom" in its inaugural "Education Freedom Report Card."
The report card , released Friday, ranks all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on a variety of factors, including access to school choice programs, academic transparency, regulatory freedom, and student success compared to annual spending on education. … read full article
US - The School Board Policy Meeting
Felice's first foray into the belly of the beast
From Felice J. Killer (USA)
By felice
September 9, 2022
How it went down:
I barely ate anything the night before from nerves. I slept okay, despite the anxious churning.
Evan rallied to support me in terms of helpful editing, feedback and support: Go kick ass! he texted before the meeting began. And he helped me with my day job so I could get to the meeting all while tending to his own job. Thanks hon!
Friends and clients texted too, along with so many of you who commented and liked my last piece. … read full article
US - Montana adopts permanent block on birth certificate changes
From The Washington Post (USA)
By Matthew Brown
September 9, 2022
BILLINGS, Mont. — Montana health officials on Friday made permanent a rule that blocks transgender people from changing their birth certificates even if they undergo gender-confirmation surgery.
The move by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration comes just days before a court will hear arguments over the legality of a similar rule that’s been in effect on an emergency basis since May. The ACLU of Montana has asked state Judge Michael Moses to strike down the emergency rule. … read full article
US - We made a 70-minute documentary on six Detransitioners - help us get the word out!
From Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans (PITT) (USA)
September 9, 2022
We made a 70-minute documentary featuring six Detransitioners.
Will you help us spread the word about it?
AFFIRMATION GENERATION: THE LIES OF TRANSGENDER MEDICINE (Documentary on YouTube)
Affirmation Generation: The Lies of Transgender Medicine, a 70-min. documentary, features the stories of six young detransitioners (three men and three women). They sought medical help but instead were irreversibly harmed by their doctors who followed the one-size-fits-all “gender-affirming care.” … read full article
US - Transgender rights supporters clash with anti-trans group in Downtown
From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (USA)
By Punya Bhasin
September 9, 2022
The City-County Building in Downtown was the site of a protest and counterprotest on Friday as speakers for the Rev Foxx USA group, an organization that is against gender reassignment in all forms, were quickly met with a larger group there to support transgender rights.
The original protest consisted of a group of 6 individuals chanting stances against gender reassignment and holding signs stating, “Dear Gov. Wolf no child is born in the wrong body” and “puberty is not a medical problem.” They were confronted by people who brought noisemakers, quickly drowning out any speeches made by the Rev Foxx USA group. … read full article
US - Why Radical Feminists Have to Go Further: A (Friendly) Critique of Helen Joyce’s Trans
Helen Joyce’s Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality is a tour de force, taking the reader through the recent history and current state of transgenderism. By tracing the development of gender ideology, and the mechanisms of its contagion among staggering numbers of young people, especially girls, the book does much to restore our collective sanity. But in the end, Joyce’s argument for the importance of the sex distinction is too thin.
From Public Discourse (USA)
By MARGARET HARPER MCCARTHY
September 8, 2022
The best thing about the latest battle in the culture war is that we are now talking about being. We have moved from what we should do with sex (and its fruit), to which sex to do it with (“orientation”), finally to what sex we are, if any at all.
With our being now thrown into question it is not surprising that some of the objectors to the latest wave of the sexual revolution find themselves allied for the first time with opponents to its previous waves. There is too much at stake, and no less so for radical feminists: when the embodied category of “woman” has been exchanged for the professed one, there’s no time to worry about being on the same side as the likes of Donald Trump and the Alliance Defending Freedom. … read full article
US - How Social Media Destroys the Things That Matter Most
We need freedom and structure. Digital platforms are eroding both.
From Persuasion (USA)
By Talia Barnes and Luke Hallam
September 9, 2022
A two-sided coin
Over the past 10 years, rates of social media use have climbed alongside depression and anxiety, political polarization, institutional distrust, and an array of additional worrying trends. As social psychologist Jonathan Haidt noted in his aptly titled Atlantic article, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid,” something has felt off in recent years, America seems to have had a worse time of it than other places, and anyone can see that social media plays at least some role in what’s happening.
Though many who use these apps or see their real-world ramifications recognize the sense of malaise that hangs over much of our interactions and experiences, it’s difficult to pinpoint the precise origin or nature of this cloud of problems. Attempts to do so often yield two seemingly contradictory throughlines. … read full article
Canada - How the Canadian Anti-Hate Network is Policing Thought Crime with Your Tax Dollars
From Gender Dissent (Canada)
By Eva Kurilova
September 9, 2022
Canada has a growing problem not only with free speech but free thought, and the Canadian Anti-Hate Network is leading the charge to silence unpopular opinion.
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) is a federally funded organization that claims to monitor far-right hate groups in Canada, including neo-Nazis. Among its other targets are anyone critical of gender identity ideology, including feminists, women’s rights organizations, and those advocating to stop the medical harm caused by childhood gender transition. … read full article
UK - Judge to consider trans charity’s appeal to strip LGB Alliance of legal status
Mermaids claims gay rights organisation was set up to lobby against rights of transgender people
From The Guardian (UK)
By Amelia Gentleman
September 9, 2022
A judge will consider an appeal by the trans rights charity Mermaids on Friday against the Charity Commission’s decision to award charitable status to the new gay rights organisation LGB Alliance. It is understood to be the first time one charity has attempted to strip legal status from another.
The highly unusual hearing will focus attention on increasingly fractious debates over sex and gender identity, and the legal definitions of same-sex attraction and sexual orientation. … read full article
UK - Don’t call mothers ‘she’ in advice on maternity, Stonewall urges Oxford
From The Times (UK)
By Lucy Bannerman
September 9, 2022
Stonewall told Oxford University to stop referring to mothers as “she” in order to win a higher place on its controversial employer scheme, new documents have revealed.
It told the university to post more about LGBT issues from its official social media accounts if it wanted to improve its ranking on Stonewall’s annual list of its 100 favourite UK employers. … read full article
UK - Serial Pedophile Sent to Women’s Prison Following Conviction on 30 Counts Related to Child Sexual Abuse
From Reduxx (Canada)
By Anna Slatz
September 8, 2022
A transgender serial pedophile is being sent to a women’s prison in the United Kingdom following a conviction on 30 charges related to the sexual abuse of 7 children.
John Robert Dixon, 58, carried out abuse against five girls and two boys from 1989 to 1996, the youngest victim being 7 years old at the time. In 2004, Dixon began identifying as a woman named Sally Anne. … read full article
UK - Where did the Great Awokening come from?
New research shows an abrupt post-2010 surge in academia and the media
From The Post By UnHerd (UK)
By David Rozado
September 8, 2022
The birth of the Great Awokening is said to be around 2010-2014. The abrupt surge in prejudice-denouncing terms such as racism, sexism and homophobia in the media preceded the political emergence of Donald Trump and has continued since he left office. Further work confirmed similar dynamics in UK and Spanish news media.
More recently, I have investigated the prevalence of the same terms in the academic literature. What I found is that in contrast to news media content, where the number of references to different prejudice types has been fairly flat since the 1970s and then rises sharply post-2010, in academic literature the prominence of prejudice terms has been steadily rising for several decades. … read full article
UK - ‘Sex work is a special hell that men have created for women’
Or ‘The costs of selling your soul to survive: it’s priceless’
From Nordic Model Now! (UK)
September 8, 2022
When I close my eyes, I can remember it. I am not going to mince words here. My life was hell. There has never been a time when I wasn’t unhappy, or depressed.
My own family scapegoated me and taught me that my worth was dependent on how well I pleased them – that not only should I not expect love or happiness, but pain and cruelty instead. Because of my disabilities, I was a prime target for bullying, I was never encouraged to be something beyond what others thought of me. I was told time and again how useless I was. … read full article
New Zealand - Trans Murderer Denied Appeal On Life Conviction For Killing, Torturing Teen Girl
From Reduxx (Canada)
By Genevieve Gluck
September 9, 2022
A trans-identified convict who was handed a life sentence for the senseless torture and murder of a teen girl in New Zealand has been denied leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. Toko Shane Rei Winter, who goes by Ashley, was found guilty in September 2019 of the abduction and murder of 17-year-old Dimetrius Pairama.
In July of 2018, Winter and his accomplice Kerry Te Amo kidnapped Pairama, taking her to an abandoned social assistance house in Middlemore. Two other teens were present during the five-hour ordeal, and one girl, who was 14 years old at the time, was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for a full account of the events.
… read full article
New Zealand - What Schools Are Teaching Your Kids About 'Gender'
It’s not about ‘acceptance’—it’s about compliance.
From Reality's Last Stand (USA)
By Laura López
September 9, 2022
Many parents are starting to panic about what schools are teaching their children about gender. Here in New Zealand, increasing numbers of parents are withdrawing their children from school due to concerns about gender identity instruction. In the US, after sustained pressure from angry parents, Florida recently passed controversial legislation prohibiting, among other things, classroom instruction on gender identity for students below the age of about ten.
These parents are concerned about the influence of a belief system called gender identity theory, or more informally gender ideology. Gender ideology is tremendously unpopular with everyday people, as highlighted by a recent cover story in The Economist, which described efforts to “relabel women as birthing people” as one of the “most extreme and least popular ideas” of the US Democratic Party’s activist wing (the phrase ‘birthing people’ is a hallmark term of gender ideology). … read full article
Israel - Right-wing MK holds protest against transgender boy in religious school
Religious LGBTQ+ group says right-wing Israeli activists are protesting "against the well-being of a child, while messing with his genitals."
From The Jerusalem Post
By TZVI JOFFRE
September 9, 2022
The Religious Zionist Party helped hold a protest in front of a religious public elementary school in central Israel on Friday after the B'Sheva newspaper reported last week that a transgender boy had been accepted into the school without the parents being informed of the boy's sex assigned at birth.
The B'Sheva article referred to the "transgender phenomenon" and repeatedly referred to the boy in the feminine, expressing concerns that children could be "exposed" to the existence of transgender people and that this could cause "trauma." … read full article
Japan - Transgender admission issues arise at women’s universities
The Asahi Shimbun (Japan)
By AYA SHIOIRI
September 9, 2022
Satoko Oyama, a professor of social welfare at Japan Women's University, stared in surprise at the results of a survey of the university’s staff about a proposal to admit transgender women.
The largest portion of the respondents, at about one-half, said they believed the proposal was feasible. About one-quarter, however, said they did not believe it was feasible. Another one-quarter said they did not know if it was feasible or not.
Concerns were raised in free-text answers, which said, for example, “I am not opposed, but I don’t think we are prepared.” … read full article
India - Four Years Since 377 Got Struck Down – India at the Cusp of a New Homophobia
The ‘LGBT’ movement has repurposed itself to cater to a group that never belonged in conversations around sexuality
From Vaishnavi Sundar (India)
September 9, 2022
The year was 2018, a large group of anxious people were waiting patiently for a verdict that was due on the 6th of September. The Supreme Court of India had put together a five-judge bench to determine the fate of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Indians on whether their sexuality could land them in prison. Post-colonial India retained its archaic sodomy law Section 377 based on the buggary Act of 1533. The hearing was a culmination of years of protests and advocacy by the gay liberation movement, led by several lesbian feminists, demanding acceptance and dignity. With a positive SC verdict, the antiquated Section 377 was struck down– same-sex attraction was no longer a criminal offence. The fruits of the movement’s labour couldn’t have been sweeter. … read full article
Thank you!
Re "Why Radical Feminists Have to Go Further: A (Friendly) Critique of Helen Joyce’s Trans" by Margaret McCarthy at Public Discourse.
You may want to implement a system of awarding points or including Editorial comments as another of McCarthy's articles explicitly rejects the sex-gender dichotomy:
"The contemporary distinction between sex and gender downgrades human beings to 'biological' males or females with detached 'identities.' We should reject this, and insist instead that sexual difference is a fundamental component of personality, one of its modes of being."
https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2022/06/82723/
Though she may have something a point, something to build a consensus on in apparently accepting sex and gender as "components of personality", though she apparently still thinks they're "immutable". Given her position at "The Catholic University of America" and manifest reliance on religious woo, one might reasonably surmise that her own "prior commitments" are to Genesis 5:2:
"Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created."
Maybe great that the "religious right", in the person of McCarthy, is apparently ready to make common cause with "The Left" by her endorsement of Joyce's book, and it's maybe great that you draw attention to that "rapprochement", but you might want to be a bit more circumspect about what's riding in on their coattails.
Apropos of which and more specific to the linked article is this bit of gobsmackingly idiotic incoherence and illogicality, even if she's only following Joyce over the same cliff:
"As for the common appeal to disorders of sexual development ('inter-sex') to 'argue' that the sexes for mammals are not two, distinct, and correlative, Joyce dismisses it with a single stroke: anomalous development of reproductive organs in one person doesn’t change the nature of the sex distinction any more than the absence of legs in one human being changes the nature of the human being as an upright animal."
While both are quite correct to argue - in effect - that just because humans are TYPICALLY "upright animals" that does not preclude the "absence of legs in one human", it is equally true that just because humans are TYPICALLY male or female that does not preclude the absence of sex in some humans. Something which neither McCarthy nor Joyce seem much willing to even entertain.
Although McCarthy may have some reason to take a few shots at Joyce, particularly for Joyce's assumed endorsement of the view that people can "behave however they damn well please”. In which McCarthy may find some common cause with Kathleen Stock who's argued, rather convincingly though somewhat surprisingly, that radfems who wish to "abolish gender" are "barking (mad)".
In any case, it is rather "disconcerting" that the positions of all three - and of the cohorts they're leading - are so profoundly unscientific, if not egregiously anti-scientific. Largely why I've argued that the only way off the horns of that particular dilemma is to fall back on the biological definitions for the sexes by which to have a sex is to have functional gonads of either of two types. From which it necessarily follows that those with neither are, ipso facto, sexless.