Saturday, August 20, 2022
"Canada must reform its policies on treating youth who identify as transgender and put an end to blindly “affirmative” care that rushes children to medical transition."
This day in Herstory: Ranomi Kromowidjojo, born August 20, 1990, is a retired Dutch swimmer of mixed Dutch-Javanese Surinamese origin who mainly specialises in sprint freestyle events. She is a triple Olympic champion, winning the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay at the 2008 Olympics, and in the 50 m freestyle and 100 m freestyle at the 2012 Olympics. Kromowidjojo holds the world record in the 50 meter freestyle short course (25 m pool), and as part of the Dutch team she holds the world records in the 4×50 m, 4 × 100 m, and 4 × 200 m freestyle relays (short course). She has won a total of 39 medals in FINA World Championship events. (more)
Canadians often feel overshadowed by their monster-sized neighbor to the south, which is ironic, given how assiduously they follow that monster’s cultural footprints. If they want to actually wear the mantle of moral leadership that they so earnestly claim they aspire to, here’s a perfect opportunity. - Ed., GC News
Canada - NP View: Canada must slow down and reform transgender treatments for minors
Some doctors have been advised to start children on puberty blockers before they have had their first appointment at a gender clinic
From National Post (Canada)
National Post View
August 20, 2022
The modern revolution around sexual identity is an inspiring triumph of personal freedom: people are far more free to be who they are than they have ever been.
But recent events bring cause for a bit of caution involving minors who may be being rushed into decisions that can be difficult to reverse as they mature and evolve. Canada must reform its policies on treating youth who identify as transgender and put an end to blindly “affirmative” care that rushes children to medical transition. It should instead adopt the United Kingdom’s new treatment model, which focuses on mental health and recognizes that some young people identify as transgender to cope with trauma.
The United Kingdom recently shut down its sole youth gender clinic (the Gender Identity Development Service, known as Tavistock) after a scathing interim report was published by Dr. Hilary Cass, who led a government-commissioned independent review of British gender-identity services for youth. … read full article
US - San Diego schools want to ditch ‘gender binary’ they claim dominates racial, sexual minorities
‘Genderqueer,’ ‘non-binary,’ ‘pansexual’ are the new norm at San Diego schools
From Fox News (USA)
By Christopher F. Rufo | City Journal
August 20, 2022
San Diego public schools want to overthrow "heteronormativity" and promote "genderqueer," "non-binary," "pansexual," and "two-spirit" identities.
San Diego Unified is the latest school district to adopt the principles of academic queer theory and translate them into K-12 pedagogy, with the ultimate goal of dismantling "heteronormativity" and promoting a constellation of new sexual identities, such as "genderqueer," "non-binary," "pansexual," and "two-spirit."
I have obtained a range of publicly accessible documents from San Diego Unified that reveal the district’s new ideology. … read full article
US - Hopeful takes trans issue to state race
Candidate calls for end to transgender locker room policy
From Peninsula Daily News (USA)
By Peter Segall
August 20, 2022
PORT TOWNSEND — State legislative candidate Brian Pruiett says if he is elected he’ll seek to rescind rules that allow transgender people to access the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice.
Pruiett sent out a statement in light of a controversy in Port Townsend concerning transgender access to city pool locker rooms.
“I disagree with the law that Steve Tharinger passed that says anybody can go into a single-sex area, even if you’re a biological male,” Pruiett said in an interview with Peninsula Daily News. … read full article
US - SOLAS: Wokeness Is Ripping Through America’s Schools. Here’s How To Protect Your Children From It
From Daily Caller (USA)
By Nicole Solas
August 20, 2022
It’s back to school! You bought all the school supplies and new clothes, but what about insulating your children against school indoctrination? Sadly, indoctrination resistance is now part of going back to school so you must stay vigilant and teach your children personal boundaries.
Lesson plans about “social identity,” which may be called Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), Critical Race Theory, cultural competency, or other names, obliterate the personal boundaries of children in order to break down kids emotionally and build them back up as social justice activists. The process involves forging emotional bonds to influence children to become political proteges of the teachers and peers that emotionally manipulated them. ... read full article
US - DeSantis to campaign for school board candidates ahead of Tuesday primary
From Washington Examiner (USA)
By Jeremiah Poff
August 20, 2022
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) will begin a statewide tour Sunday to promote his education agenda and campaign for a slate of school board candidates that he has endorsed.
The DeSantis Education Agenda Tour, which will feature stops in Miami-Dade, Sarasota, Volusia, and Duval counties, begins Sunday, ahead of the state's primary elections on Tuesday. … read full article
US - Five ways DeSantis has flexed his political muscle in Florida
From The Hill (USA)
By JARED GANS and CHLOE FOLMAR
August 20, 2022
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has thrust himself into the national spotlight as one of the most influential and controversial politicians across the country since becoming governor in 2019.
DeSantis has frequently taken action in his home state that has positioned him as a leader of the conservative movement in the country. He has been rumored to be considering a run for the White House in 2024 and is viewed as President Trump’s most serious competition for the Republican nomination if both enter the race. … read full article
US - ‘Ron DeSantis’s Florida is where free speech goes to die’: NY Mag’s Jonathan Chait
Chait admitted the 'illiberal' left is bad, but claimed it was nowhere near as dangerous as the right
From Fox News (USA)
By Gabriel Hays
August 20, 2022
On Thursday, The Intelligencer author Jonathan Chait claimed that no matter how "illiberal" the left has gotten, it will never be as authoritarian as Florida under Governor Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., has become.
In his piece, titled, "Ron DeSantis’s Florida Is Where Free Speech Goes to Die," Chait acknowledged that there is "spread of a strain of reductive, hypermoralized left-wing discourse on race and gender" but argued voting Republican to combat it will make it worse. … read full article
US - A battle is underway for the Republican party’s heart and Trump is winning
Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a protégé of Donald Trump, has been pitching himself as a younger, more electable, version of the 76-year-old
From The Telegraph (USA)
By Rozina Sabur
August 20, 2022
They have been waiting for a new warrior to reclaim the White House: a Donald Trump for the next generation.
Ron DeSantis promised just that as he strode onto stage in Pittsburgh vowing to don the “armour of God” and lead Republicans to victory. … read full article
US - Transgender treatment rule to face legal fight
From CBS News Miami (USA)
By CBS MIAMI TEAM
August 20, 2022
TALLAHASSEE - A legal fight is looming over a state rule taking effect Sunday that will end Medicaid reimbursements for transgender care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and gender-reassignment surgery.
Attorneys representing individuals and groups plan to file a federal lawsuit challenging the rule, people involved in the anticipated case said in interviews this week. … read full article
US - Education Schools Have Long Been Mediocre. Now They’re Woke Too
University of Wisconsin campuses openly embrace a Marxist program called ‘critical pedagogy.’
From Wall Street Journal (USA)
By Daniel Buck
August 19, 2022
I studied for a master’s degree in education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2015. My program was batty. We made Black Lives Matter friendship bracelets. We passed around a popsicle stick to designate whose turn it was to talk while professors compelled us to discuss our life’s traumas. We read poems through the “lenses” of Marxism and critical race theory in preparation for our students doing the same. Our final projects were acrostic poems or ironic rap videos.
At the time, I figured my experience was unique. Surely, I thought, other teacher-prep programs focused on human cognition, behavioral management, child psychology and other educational practicalities. Alas, my program was mild compared with what current graduates must suffer. … read full article
US - Transgender kids will be allowed to compete against biological girls after court reverses ban
From Washington Examiner (USA)
By Washington Examiner Staff
August 20, 2022
Transgender teen athletes will be able to compete against girls in Utah after a court stunningly reversed a previously implemented ban.
The decision, which goes against the will of most Americans according to a new Washington Examiner-YouGov poll, was made just ahead of the school year resuming in the state. A ban was passed by Republicans earlier this year, however, the reversal now gives transgender athletes a path to competing against girls. A new commission will rule on a case-by-case basis whether or not a trans student is allowed to compete against biological girls. ... read full article
US - Deeply flawed trans youth study shows desperation of LGBT activists
From The Christian Post (USA)
By Suzanne Bowdey
August 20, 2022
The mood was “super cheerful — giggly,” a woman who worked inside the clinic explained. They came in with other girls, laughing like they were at the mall. Only they weren’t at the mall. They were shopping for another gender.
In this small town of 30,000, abortions were still the local Planned Parenthood’s “bread and butter,” the former staffer explained. But “trans-identifying kids are cash cows.” They need follow-up appointments, bloodwork, more injections, drugs, meetings. It’s exactly what then-President Cecile Richards envisioned when she got in on the ground floor of the transgender craze in 2016: a new, never-ending stream of revenue. … read full article
US - Golfer is set to become the first transgender woman to win coveted Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour card after seeing-off competition at qualifier
Hailey Davidson, 29, is on her way to becoming the first transgender woman to earn an LPGA tour card after success in the first two days of Stage I qualifiers
She shot a 70 on Thursday and hit a 76 during the second round on Friday
According to the LPGA's rules, any player who shoots under 88 after all three rounds will earn a 2023 Epson Tour Status
Davidson last competed as a male golfer in 2015, undergoing hormone therapy and completing her transition in 2021
She said she now hits the ball 15 mph slower, and labeled the majority of criticisms against her dream of competing as transphobic
The LPGA Tour had removed its 'female at birth' requirement back in 2010
From Daily Mail (UK)
By RONNY REYES
August 20, 2022
A golfer is poised to become the first transgender woman to earn a Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour card after beating much of her competition in the first two qualifying rounds.
Hailey Davidson, 29, had a strong finish in the first two rounds of the first stage of the LPGA and Epson Tour Qualifying School in Palm Springs this week. … read full article
US - America is experiencing a self-censorship epidemic, study reveals
From Washington Examiner (USA)
By Brad Polumbo
August 20, 2022
The biggest threat to free speech in an open society is, always and inevitably, government censorship that threatens people’s lives and freedom over their views. But government overreach is not the only thing that can imperil free expression; social pressure and intolerance for dissenting ideas can, too.
A new study suggests that these malignant forces have risen in our society, so much so that the public is now experiencing an epidemic of self-censorship. … read full article
UK - The gender debate is getting nastier
From The Spectator (UK)
By Debbie Hayton
August 19, 2022
Elaine Miller is one of the grown-ups. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, with a specialism in pelvic health. She also jokes about it. Her comedy show, Viva Your Vulva: The Hole Story is currently playing at the Edinburgh Fringe. It's a good one: the production has won awards and a five-star review. Miller is forthright – her audiences are warned about ‘strong language and swearing’ – but her performance is more than mere entertainment. … read full article
UK - Pronouns, loos and uniforms: how schools became the gender wars frontline
Over the summer, ministers raised the temperature of the national debate, hitting out at ‘woke’ policies. But, as the new school year looms, are fears of a crisis justified?
From The Guardian (UK)
By Anna Fazackerley
August 20, 2022
Vic Goddard, principal of Passmores secondary academy school in Essex, has no desire to get caught up in a culture war. Instead he has spent the summer planning how to cope with a £320,000 deficit as a result of spiralling energy bills and a national teacher pay rise with no additional cash to pay for it.
“Why do politicians have an opinion on my school toilets? On our uniform policy?” he said. “Sort out the rocketing electricity bills and the cost of living. Don’t get involved in small decisions you don’t add value to.” … read full article
UK - NatWest to pay for hormone treatment for transgender staff
Taxpayer-backed lender overhauls practices to be more inclusive
From The Telegraph (UK)
By Lucy Burton
August 20, 2022
NatWest will pay for transgender staff to get privately-funded hormone treatment from next month as part of a wider overhaul aimed at making the taxpayer-backed lender more inclusive.
The bank, which earlier this year said branch staff could display their favoured pronouns and phonetic name spellings on new environmentally friendly bamboo badges, said it was "challenging the status quo" and overhauling its policies to better suit trans customers and staff. … read full article
UK - Woman Thrown out of Female Toilet after Telling a Man he was in the Wrong Bathroom
The male staff member claimed to be a woman and complained to a manager about being corrected
From 4W (USA)
By Andreia Nobre
August 20, 2022
Patricia Reid, a retired police officer, was told by a manager to leave the female toilet she was using after she challenged the presence of a man in the facility at the Old Dairy Farm Campsite, in Cropredy, UK.
Reid was attending the Cropedy Music Festival with her husband on August 12, 2022, and they had their campervan “in one of the official campsites, which was about 500 meters away from the one in question.” She says that she and her husband went to the Old Dairy Farm Campsite in Cropedy for lunch only. When she went to use their toilets, Reid came “face-to-face with a man coming out of the first cubicle,” who told her to “not go into that cubicle.” … read full article
UK - The Myth Of 'Both Sides'
Only ONE side is intent on silencing the other using threats, intimidation and violence. And it isn't the feminists
From The Glinner Update (UK)
By JL
August 20, 2022
Commentators on the gender debate are fond of the ‘both sides’ trope. But it is a myth. In truth, only one side is trying to impose a political dogma on the other using intimidation, violence and the forcible suppression of any opposition.
Examples follow. … read full article
UK - Graham Linehan: On Newsnight
From Gender Critical Woman Blog (UK)
By womangendercritical
August 20, 2022
As an archivist I have tended to cover people who are key influencers in this debate, but I have probably focused too much on those with whom I disagree. To remedy this I am going to give Graham his own series. I know it’s not exactly Netflix but his role needs to be on the record. I will start with his appearance on Newsnight, interviewed by Sarah Smith. Transcript below and a link to the YouTube. … read full article
UK - 'I was sacked for suggesting that drag acts were a gross caricature of femininity': Music academy lecturer who lost her job in latest transgender controversy is taking legal action
Cathy Boardman claims she was sacked for asking if 'womanface' is demeaning
She said a group of students were 'out to get her' and is pursuing a legal battle
Ms Boardman, who is a lesbian, claims she was also told she was homophobic
Ex-employer says she failed probation and key facts are missing from account
From Daily Mail (UK)
By SANCHEZ MANNING
August 20, 2022
A lecturer at a prominent music academy says she has been forced out of her job after she suggested drag acts could be viewed as sexist.
Cathy Boardman, a lecturer in cultural studies, had asked her class to reflect on 'womanface' – a critical term for female impersonation – and whether or not it was demeaning. … read full article
UK - Virgins get more done
Joan of Arc knew men are a distraction
From UnHerd (UK)
By MARY HARRINGTON
August 18, 2022
Feminist heroine, Catholic martyr, patron saint of France, LGBTQ icon. During the nearly six centuries since she was burned at the stake, Joan of Arc has been many things to many people. Today is no exception: she’s causing a furore again, as the central figure in I, Joan, a new play in which she’s represented as “non-binary” and using “they/them” pronouns. … read full article
Scotland - Male period dignity officer? This woke joke is a period pain, says CAROLE MALONE
SOME utterly damaging and destructive stuff has been done in the name of inclusivity and diversity but none as ludicrous as a group of councils and colleges in Tayside appointing a bloke as a Period Dignity Officer.
From Express (UK)
By CAROLE MALONE
August 20, 2022
Yep, Jason Grant, a macho, heavily tattooed, chunk of beefcake and former personal trainer, whose previous jobs include selling tobacco, is going to be lecturing pre-pubescent teens about periods, sanitary products and how to access them (they are now free in Scotland).
Oh, and that ridiculous title earns him a very tidy £36,000 a year. But even in this crazy, woke world in which we now live, a man lecturing women on menstruation is lunacy beyond words - mainly because he has zero experience of it. ... read full article
Australia - Gender change agents: when pressure from outside complicates the pressures within
From The Australian (Australia)
By Natasha Robinson
August 19, 2022
Ollie Davies was 26 years old and at the lowest ebb of his life when he made a decision to come out as a trans woman.
Estranged from his family, he was suffering depression, anxiety and behavioural problems as well as a crisis of self-identity. He existed in what felt like a dissociative state. “I felt as if I had no free will,” Mr Davies says. “I was completely nihilistic and lonely and self-hating and had no self-esteem. I was experiencing a total loss of identity and lack of sense of self.” … read full article