Your Binary Way of Thinking About Politics Is Dumb

Please cut it out with the "left-wing/right-wing" BS.

You guys, we are way too far through the looking glass for you to still be accusing people of being “right-wing” just because they deigned to reject some random facet of modern-day progressivism, which we all know is patently insane. And for the love of God, Libs of TikTok, not every gender-bending dude is a left-wing radical who wants to trans kids.

I feel compelled to say this stuff not just because this way of thinking is corrosive to society, but also because it’s just so profoundly boring. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve expressed some common-sense opinion online and fifty anonymous jackholes have gone to my Twitter profile, noticed I’ve written for centrist outlets like The Free Press or Quillette, and been like, “Just what I thought—bro is a total Nazi.”

Yawn.

You’re boring. You’re dumb. Your whole way of thinking about the world is passé. Get with the times. Everyone is politically fluid now. Be cool.

OK, now, with all that out of the way… I’m currently en route to D.C. to share a stage with Matt Walsh. Yes, that Matt Walsh—the ultra-conservative Daily Wire guy who made the What Is a Woman (excellent) and Am I Racist? (haven’t seen it) documentaries. Well, he’s actually scheduled to speak about an hour after I am. So really, I’m like Matt Walsh’s opening act.

This particular speaking engagement is a rally in front of the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, SCOTUS is hearing oral arguments in the case of U.S. v. Skrmetti, which will decide whether Tennessee’s ban on puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender-reassignment surgeries for minors can stand. (I’m writing this on Tuesday but publishing it tomorrow, so by the time you read this, my speech—and Walsh’s speech—will be over.) Needless to say, this issue makes for strange bedfellows. People from all across the political spectrum are scheduled to appear tomorrow.

We’ll all be speaking in support of the ban. I didn’t always support bans on pediatric sex-trait modification, even though I’ve long known that Republicans enacting these bills are right about the science. For a while, I held out hope that doctors and clinicians would course correct on their own. But that hasn’t happened.

It’s only gotten worse.

Children and adolescents—most of them autistic, mentally ill, or gay—are being told that it’s possible for humans to change sex and then being put on medical pathways that often lead to sterilization, lack of sexual function, wrecked endocrine systems, bone-density issues, and even cognitive impairment. It is so royally fucked. And the fact that it’s being touted as “life-saving” by organizations that were founded to advocate for gay people is extra fucked.

Contrary to my opening diatribe, I’m often tempted to adopt a binary way of thinking about this—They’re evil! They just want to hurt kids and get rich from providing these expensive treatments! We are the good guys!—but I know for certain that it’s way more nuanced than that. Of course there are some or even many nefarious actors involved in this medical scandal. But there are also a lot of people who thought they were doing the right thing by stunting the natural development of little boys who like wearing dresses and autistic teenaged girls who are having trouble fitting in. “Every major medical association supports gender-affirming care,” they were told by doctors and therapists, who were told that by their medical associations, who were told that by absolutely batshit crazy activists. “And you don’t want your kid to kill herself, right?”

It’s tragic. All of it.

Here’s what I plan to say on stage tomorrow:

My name is Ben Appel, and I’m here today because I’m angry.

I’m angry that, for years, the valid concerns and heart-wrenching testimonies of detransitioners, parents, pediatricians, therapists, and whistleblowers have gone largely ignored by medical associations and the activist organizations they bankroll.

I’m angry that every systematic evidence review has shown that the studies purporting to prove the efficacy of pediatric gender medicine are low quality—and yet clinicians continue to mislead worry-sick parents and subject their children to this profound medical harm.

I’m angry that the World Professional Association for Transgender Health commissioned Johns Hopkins to perform a systematic evidence review, and then suppressed publication of that review when it, too, came to the same conclusion as all the rest.

I’m angry that the Biden Administration, specifically Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, was complicit in the suppression of this important data. Data that pertains to the health of vulnerable children and adolescents.

I’m angry that organizations that were founded by and for gay and lesbian people are now backing medical practices that attempt to medically engineer young gay people into straight adults.

And I’m angry that, for sounding the alarm on these backwards practices, concerned gay people like me have been slandered as transphobes, bigots, and Nazis by our own community.

I grew up not far from here, in the suburbs of Baltimore. I was tormented as a kid, because I was feminine. I loved My Little Ponies and playing dress-up and fashion shows. “Are you a boy or a girl?” my peers would taunt me. They called me every slur in the book. When I reached adolescence, and I realized that I was gay, I was consumed by fear and shame. I turned to drugs and alcohol, which landed me in emergency rooms and psych wards. It was hell.

When I recovered in my early twenties, and I slowly began to accept myself for who I am, I resolved to help create a world in which more space is made for people who are inherently gender-nonconforming. A world where sissy boys and butch girls are recognized as a valid minority of people that deserve to be happy and healthy, and protected from bullying and violence. A world where we might be able to say to a little boy—like the little boy I once was—“It’s OK to be different. It might not seem like it, but there are others out there who are like you. Nothing about you needs to change. Just be you.”

For a while, I thought we were on the right track.

How wrong I was.

Now, instead of making more space for gender-nonconformity, we’re medicalizing it. Instead of telling kids they’re fine just the way they are, we’re saying the opposite. “No, it’s NOT OK to be this way. There IS only one way to be a boy and one way to be a girl. You do not properly fit into society. We must fix you. You must fix yourself.”

It is a travesty. And I am angry.

These regressive, harmful, non-evidenced-based practices must end.

Thank you.

I might edit it a bit, since it’s supposed to be three minutes long, max. I’ll be sure to follow up with a post of the final version and hopefully a live recording of my speech. Here’s hoping I don’t get spat on by the opposition.

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One more thing. Last year, I cofounded an organization called the LGBT Courage Coalition with gender clinic whistleblower Jamie Reed and others. We've been doing some really cool stuff. Most recently, we put out this video, which I wrote and narrated:

There are more videos in the works, which we hope to debut soon. If you’re feeling generous, please consider donating to support our work.

Once again, thanks for reading and subscribing.