You are an inspiration. I am definitely "not really a protestor," but I'm really glad you and others showed up to represent this gay perspective.
I listened to the oral arguments on Wed and I've read or watched numerous stories and opinion pieces about the case. This case makes me glad we have a conservative majority on the court. Which is a little ironic in my case since I'm pretty liberal, but I feel like this whole transgenderism thing is red pilling me.
Annette Benning thinks having a "transgender child" makes her, the mother of the child, more interesting? Wow! It's not about you Annette. It is about why your child thinks that they were "born in the wrong body", the body that you gestated for nine months! Can you really look at your child's body and think that healthy sexed body is somehow the "wrong body" for them? That they would be better off amputating healthy organs? That they would be better off taking large doses of hormones in order to somewhat alter their physical appearance to being more like bodies of the other sex, while wreaking havoc on their endocrine system, with a high risk of becoming sterile and greatly increased risk of cardiovascular problems and some cancers? With a decreased life expectancy? Yes, it certainly will make your life more "interesting" in coming years as your child's health deteriorates.
Wait, I just woke up so maybe that's why but several people have mentioned Annette Benning and in the body of this piece I'm not seeing where she's discussed. To what story are you referring?
"It was a long morning. Speeches began at 8:00. I spoke around 8:40, and then it was one speaker after the other until noon. The opposing side started to trickle in around 9:30. By 10:30, their side had really grown. Annette Bening was there. “To have a transgender child has made me so much more interesting,” she told the crowd. And Ellen/Elliott Page croaked out a speech about her trans joy. (Seems like just yesterday she was talking about the thrill of coming out as a lesbian.)"
Thanks for showing up. I’m a retired pediatrician who just thinks this is bad medicine. Gay kids, autistic kids, traumatized kids, kids who are searching for attention - have gotten caught up in this madness and the guardrails are off. People are so upset that Republicans are leading the bans on pediatric gender medicine but the routine supposed guardrails are gone. The AAP has lost itself. My profession suddenly forgot about evidence based medicine and do no harm.
Thank you Ben for getting out there and speaking up. I wish I could have been there too, but I was in a classroom yesterday.
I’ve worked in K-12 education for over 20 years and from what I’ve seen, working with children and teens from a variety of backgrounds over a long period of time, is that the majority of students aren’t as interested in this stuff as adults are. Terms like “trans kids” and “gay kids” land like adults foisting adult perceptions about identity onto kids who have other wants and needs: they want to been acknowledged, they want to be included, they want to be engaged, they want to lean and they want to have fun. The trans-activist perspective on youth is selfish in my view. But I’m not sure the other side has it totally right either. Although I was flamboyant, I sincerely had no idea I was gay until I was 17. I honestly did not know. So while activists may have called me a “gay kid” before I was 17, I’m not sure that would be accurate. Simply put, I was just a kid in the process of discovering my identity - and lucky I grew up in the 80’s when adults left me alone.
I’ll never forget the summer when I taught at a theater camp and, for the first time, we had female teen campers showing up as boys. One bunked in a boys’ cabin. One afternoon I was on the porch with the camp nurse and she quietly said, “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ve never seen anything like this… and it’s not right.” Many of the adult staff were thrilled by the identity expression of these campers. Much like Annette Bening in your essay, they seemed to think the presence of these campers made them more enlightened, holy people. The nurse and I were not as enthusiastic.
I had one of those campers in the show I directed (Twelfth Night was a perfect fit for this young person). I believe in a “live and let live” approach, so I showed this camper the same dignity and respect I showed everyone else. I did not talk to the teen cast about anyone’s personal sex, gender, or sexual orientation or my own, I talked about the show we put on that summer.
“Hey teacher! Leave those kids alone!” is sometimes the best approach. I
Thank you for your bravery. I knew I was against giving these drugs to kids (and in fact i think ANYONE is a fool for taking them). A few years ago, I worked at Stuart Weitzman selling shoes. A young man called me early in the morning and poured out his heart about thinking he should transition for his boyfriend. I could have probably gotten fired, but I begged him as a mother to please not transition. (he did not want to be a woman, he just wondered if he should for the guy) I told him you will live a life of medical issues and you will never have another orgasm in your entire life. He was 27. We talked for 45 minutes. I hope that I helped him to decide to not do it. You face actual persecution, and you have clarified for me why I felt this way in my gut. THANK YOU!
I get that you don't want the movement to stop PGM to be coded as entirely right wing--as its ideologues like to claim.
But I have liked the overlap and the coalition building. It's fascinating to see people coming from such different places with a common goal. The more that happens, the more publicly people of different political beliefs stand together on this issue, the more likely we can pull this issue out of a right/left paradigm.
That's true but I get shitlibs arguing with me that they must support everything trans just because Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh are against it. Personally, I was really glad when the American right finally woke up and noticed the issue but their involvement does have the deleterious effect of making shitlibs believe it's a right wing issue.
Yes, "... has 𝘮𝘦 so much more interesting" made 𝘮𝘦 want to scream. That sums up what I've always thought about parents who are enthusiastically in favor of mutilating their children and poisoning them with wrong sex hormones and cancer drugs used when they're not medically indicated. It's such ostentatious virtue signalling, the problem being it's so obviously at their child's expense.
I'm sorry there seems to be so much homophobia in the world, and especially in the US... that's the message we're getting anyway. Here in Australia, we're trans ideology captured, but homophobic? I really don't think so. Maybe immigration has brought some homophobic views with them, but I do not know a single person who is.
Homophobia is dead and should stay dead and not be dressed up as "interesting".... Shame on Annette Benning.
Thank you for sharing this overview of your experience at the rally.
I applaud Queer Majority’s editor for inviting all sorts of viewpoints. Don’t agree with all of course, but there’s a definite healthy diversity of perspectives.looking forward to reading your contribution.
You are an inspiration. I am definitely "not really a protestor," but I'm really glad you and others showed up to represent this gay perspective.
I listened to the oral arguments on Wed and I've read or watched numerous stories and opinion pieces about the case. This case makes me glad we have a conservative majority on the court. Which is a little ironic in my case since I'm pretty liberal, but I feel like this whole transgenderism thing is red pilling me.
Keep up the good work.
Annette Benning thinks having a "transgender child" makes her, the mother of the child, more interesting? Wow! It's not about you Annette. It is about why your child thinks that they were "born in the wrong body", the body that you gestated for nine months! Can you really look at your child's body and think that healthy sexed body is somehow the "wrong body" for them? That they would be better off amputating healthy organs? That they would be better off taking large doses of hormones in order to somewhat alter their physical appearance to being more like bodies of the other sex, while wreaking havoc on their endocrine system, with a high risk of becoming sterile and greatly increased risk of cardiovascular problems and some cancers? With a decreased life expectancy? Yes, it certainly will make your life more "interesting" in coming years as your child's health deteriorates.
Wait, I just woke up so maybe that's why but several people have mentioned Annette Benning and in the body of this piece I'm not seeing where she's discussed. To what story are you referring?
Close to the beginning of the substack:
"It was a long morning. Speeches began at 8:00. I spoke around 8:40, and then it was one speaker after the other until noon. The opposing side started to trickle in around 9:30. By 10:30, their side had really grown. Annette Bening was there. “To have a transgender child has made me so much more interesting,” she told the crowd. And Ellen/Elliott Page croaked out a speech about her trans joy. (Seems like just yesterday she was talking about the thrill of coming out as a lesbian.)"
Oh gosh! Thanks.
Thanks for showing up. I’m a retired pediatrician who just thinks this is bad medicine. Gay kids, autistic kids, traumatized kids, kids who are searching for attention - have gotten caught up in this madness and the guardrails are off. People are so upset that Republicans are leading the bans on pediatric gender medicine but the routine supposed guardrails are gone. The AAP has lost itself. My profession suddenly forgot about evidence based medicine and do no harm.
Thank you Ben for getting out there and speaking up. I wish I could have been there too, but I was in a classroom yesterday.
I’ve worked in K-12 education for over 20 years and from what I’ve seen, working with children and teens from a variety of backgrounds over a long period of time, is that the majority of students aren’t as interested in this stuff as adults are. Terms like “trans kids” and “gay kids” land like adults foisting adult perceptions about identity onto kids who have other wants and needs: they want to been acknowledged, they want to be included, they want to be engaged, they want to lean and they want to have fun. The trans-activist perspective on youth is selfish in my view. But I’m not sure the other side has it totally right either. Although I was flamboyant, I sincerely had no idea I was gay until I was 17. I honestly did not know. So while activists may have called me a “gay kid” before I was 17, I’m not sure that would be accurate. Simply put, I was just a kid in the process of discovering my identity - and lucky I grew up in the 80’s when adults left me alone.
I’ll never forget the summer when I taught at a theater camp and, for the first time, we had female teen campers showing up as boys. One bunked in a boys’ cabin. One afternoon I was on the porch with the camp nurse and she quietly said, “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ve never seen anything like this… and it’s not right.” Many of the adult staff were thrilled by the identity expression of these campers. Much like Annette Bening in your essay, they seemed to think the presence of these campers made them more enlightened, holy people. The nurse and I were not as enthusiastic.
I had one of those campers in the show I directed (Twelfth Night was a perfect fit for this young person). I believe in a “live and let live” approach, so I showed this camper the same dignity and respect I showed everyone else. I did not talk to the teen cast about anyone’s personal sex, gender, or sexual orientation or my own, I talked about the show we put on that summer.
“Hey teacher! Leave those kids alone!” is sometimes the best approach. I
Thank you for your bravery. I knew I was against giving these drugs to kids (and in fact i think ANYONE is a fool for taking them). A few years ago, I worked at Stuart Weitzman selling shoes. A young man called me early in the morning and poured out his heart about thinking he should transition for his boyfriend. I could have probably gotten fired, but I begged him as a mother to please not transition. (he did not want to be a woman, he just wondered if he should for the guy) I told him you will live a life of medical issues and you will never have another orgasm in your entire life. He was 27. We talked for 45 minutes. I hope that I helped him to decide to not do it. You face actual persecution, and you have clarified for me why I felt this way in my gut. THANK YOU!
I get that you don't want the movement to stop PGM to be coded as entirely right wing--as its ideologues like to claim.
But I have liked the overlap and the coalition building. It's fascinating to see people coming from such different places with a common goal. The more that happens, the more publicly people of different political beliefs stand together on this issue, the more likely we can pull this issue out of a right/left paradigm.
Precisely! It was wonderful seeing so many different people come together on this issue!
That's true but I get shitlibs arguing with me that they must support everything trans just because Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh are against it. Personally, I was really glad when the American right finally woke up and noticed the issue but their involvement does have the deleterious effect of making shitlibs believe it's a right wing issue.
People who care only about the identity of the speaker instead of the content of what is said will always pull that move.
Maybe hearing it from others will help but in any case it’s sad so many people act that way. They lose my respect right away!
They lose all my respect too!!
Thank you so much, for stepping up, for being there, for reporting out, and, well, for everything you do.
Thank you! You guys who spoke there rock.
Love the ad! Thank you for your work, it’s important
Good for you!! I love to see this.
Applause!
Excellent work- thanks for protecting our children!
Yes, "... has 𝘮𝘦 so much more interesting" made 𝘮𝘦 want to scream. That sums up what I've always thought about parents who are enthusiastically in favor of mutilating their children and poisoning them with wrong sex hormones and cancer drugs used when they're not medically indicated. It's such ostentatious virtue signalling, the problem being it's so obviously at their child's expense.
Also, CONGRATULATIONS on getting the message out there to the press!!
I'm sorry there seems to be so much homophobia in the world, and especially in the US... that's the message we're getting anyway. Here in Australia, we're trans ideology captured, but homophobic? I really don't think so. Maybe immigration has brought some homophobic views with them, but I do not know a single person who is.
Homophobia is dead and should stay dead and not be dressed up as "interesting".... Shame on Annette Benning.
Thank you for sharing this overview of your experience at the rally.
I applaud Queer Majority’s editor for inviting all sorts of viewpoints. Don’t agree with all of course, but there’s a definite healthy diversity of perspectives.looking forward to reading your contribution.