The freakouts from the left over the overwhelming reelection of former President — now President-elect — Donald Trump just keep getting more and more hysterical. We've seen everything from leftist women shaving their heads and going on sex strikes to Hollywood nitwits threatening to leave the country — to which few will object.
Among the freakouts are some from the transgender community. A recent Associated Press piece documents some of those freakouts — and, as one might expect, the claims made are, under scrutiny, much ado about nothing.
For transgender Americans, it’s personal: There is palpable fear of potential Trump administration steps to further marginalize them. But there is also a spirit of resilience – a determination to persevere in seeking acceptance and understanding.
Nobody's trying to "...further marginalize" transgender people per se. If a man wants to identify as a woman, or a woman as a man, or any of the many variations, nobody cares, inside the Trump team or outside. "Identify" as a bologna and cheese sandwich if you like, as long as you are a consenting adult and paying for all your treatments and therapies yourself. But there are some specific issues that the Trump administration will want to address. Some of them are issues of fundamental fairness, some are issues of education and parental rights — and some are issues of national security.
Anti-trans momentum has been growing for several years, with Republican-governed states enacting dozens of laws restricting trans people’s options for medical care, sports participation and public restroom access.
Activists fear the movement will grow, with the Trump administration taking power as many Americans question the trans-rights agenda. Overall, 55% of voters — and 85% of Trump backers — said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 people who cast ballots nationwide.
Why do you suppose that 55 percent of voters think that the transgender movement has gone too far?
First is the issue of men in women's sports. No matter what you call them, no matter what they call themselves, boys and men have significant advantages in speed, strength, agility, and stamina over girls and women. These are facts. That's why we have separate leagues for men and boys, and women and girls.
Trump has pledged to impose wide-ranging restrictions on transgender students. His administration could swiftly move to exclude them from Title IX protections, which affect school policies on students’ use of preferred pronouns, bathrooms and locker rooms.
Of course, this should happen. This issue isn't just about pronouns. It's about girls suffering boys in their locker rooms and showers — something the overwhelming majority of parents abhor. This issue isn't about sports participation in and of itself; it's about the hideously unfair practice of policies that let a middling male athlete suddenly decide he is female and start shattering records and stealing awards and scholarships. That's one reason the general public thinks that the transgender movement has gone too far.
See Related: JK Rowling Shuts Down John Oliver for Defending Trans-Identified Males in Women's Sports
Next is the matter of transgender people in the military. The armed services are not a jobs program. They do not exist to provide free transgender treatments, therapies, and surgeries, and those things should not be paid for by the American taxpayer in any case, military or otherwise. The armed services serve one purpose: to protect the liberty and property of the American people, and to do that, the armed services, above all else, exist to close with and destroy the enemy with fire, maneuver, and shock effect. For the armed forces to maintain readiness, the readiness to find bad guys and un-alive them, they must be deployable. Transgender people are not deployable.
See Related: YES! Pete Hegseth Takes Aim at Gender Ideology in Service Academies.
Next is the issue of pushing the transgender agenda in the schools. The schools exist for one purpose: to produce young adults with marketable skills. Pushing pronoun nonsense, "social transitions," and gender ideology in the schools does nothing to further that goal and is an utter waste of money and resources. Parents don't want their kids' noses shoved into gender theory and transgender ideology; parents want their kids taught to read, to write, to do arithmetic — to be trained in skills that will help them succeed in life.
Of course (as I keep saying), the best answer here would be to completely privatize the schools and let the market play out, but I'm resigned to the notion that I can't have this.
The left just doesn't seem to understand why they are losing on this issue.
See Related: AOC Explains Trump's 'They/Them' Transgender Ad, and It Tells Us So Much About Why Democrats Lost
Look, gender dysphoria is a real thing. It's been recognized by the psychiatric sciences for decades. It has been, traditionally, treated with therapy. But today's "transgender" movement has little to do with gender dysphoria. It's a social contagion — a fad — and until some sanity returns to the issue, the Trump administration is justified in reining in some of the excesses. It is, in no small part, what we elected them to do.
