Ben Appel
@benappel
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Writer in @newsweek, @thefp, @queermajority, @dcexaminer, @quillette, @spikedonline, @unherd. Memoir CIS WHITE GAY: THE MAKING OF A GENDER HERETIC, Nov. 4.
Joined April 2009
IT'S HAPPENING! My book is available for preorder! CIS WHITE GAY: THE MAKING OF A GENDER HERETIC publishes on November 4. Pass it on!.
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I finally watched John Oliver's segment on trans athletes. All I can say is, if that episode had aired the week before the election, Trump might've won California and New York.
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I’ve been studying gender identity ideology for a few years now. Following the science, reading the studies, hearing the stories. I’m always questioning myself. But no matter which way I parse it, I always conclude that it’s a harmful and regressive pseudoscience.
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Praying for all of the Columbia students being misgendered by NYPD tonight.
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I’m a Democrat who didn’t cast his vote this year. Seeing Democrats and media pundits double down on their belief that males in women’s sports is no big deal makes me never, ever want to vote for that party again. Ever. Delusional people cannot and should not govern.
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I've already gotten so many emails from gay men and women, thanking me for writing this piece, which was just published by @dcexaminer. Apparently I'm not alone.
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I am a gay man. I am not affiliated with any organization or political party. I am neither right-wing nor left-wing. The experimental medicalization of so-called trans kids and confused teenagers is a horror.
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This is truly remarkable. SNL airs a sketch about the 16th century practice of castrating young male singers to block their natural puberty and preserve their high voices. And yet this is precisely what “gender-affirming care” clinicians are doing to young boys today: chemically
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A 16-year-old is arrested for sexually assaulting his 9-year-old sister. Later, for assaulting his girlfriend, he goes to prison, where he assaults an officer. After he says, "I'm a woman," he gets moved to a women's prison, where he assaults his cellmate. @JoyceCarolOates.
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As does decades of research and evidence. I’m sorry, but your brain has to be twisted into a pretzel to find this problematic.
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I was not all prepared for LGBT rights groups, activists, and so many others to start advocating for the transitioning of gays and lesbians and for the erasure of homosexuality.
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We live in an age when some of our most brilliant minds have to waste their time explaining to people things like “why males don’t belong in women’s prisons” and “why males don’t belong in women’s sports.” My patience for all of this is rapidly waning.
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Hey Dems, if a guy says he doesn’t want his daughter to have to compete against males in sports, it’s a really bad look when you respond, “But it’s just 1% of the population.” (It’s nuts that I even have to say this, but here we are.) We’re talking about women’s SAFETY.
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Imagine if white people started identifying as black, dressing stereotypically black, demanding inclusion in black spaces, and winning scholarships reserved for black people. Then imagine if white people ridiculed black people who objected, calling them trans-black exclusionary.
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Too angry to QT this. Just read it. Every LGBT org leader should be hanging their head in shame.
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A campground exclusively for gay males respectfully explains that it doesn’t allow trans-identified females because it wants to preserve the “comfort” and “shared lived experience” among “men who were assigned male at birth and who identify as men” in a space “where they could.
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Parents of gender nonconforming boys, try enrolling your sons in drama clubs and art classes instead of gender clinics.
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The hill I will die on:.Autogynephiles should have absolutely zero say in determining healthcare protocols for gender-nonconforming boys.
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I wrote about the medical scandal that is the transitioning of gay and lesbian youth.
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It's so awesome that college kids who don't know the difference between men and women have all become experts on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
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Congrats to this diva for her Best Actress Oscar nom. Making herstory!
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I strongly believe that a Democratic nominee would have won if the party hadn’t abandoned all reason by demanding everyone pretend sex isn’t real.
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It’s destroying lives. It’s in schools, institutions, everywhere. It’s demolishing all of the progress we’ve made for gay rights and women’s rights. Old tropes about homosexuality and pedophilia are back. Gays are being shamed by their own community for their same-sex attraction.
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@JoyceCarolOates A former inmate at Riker’s Island is now suing NY for ignoring her warnings about a trans-identified male inmate who groped her. He later sexually assaulted her while she slept. Two years ago, another trans-identified male inmate was sentenced to 7 additional years in prison. He.
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Every valid criticism of the medical transition of minors gets painted as “far right” or “anti-LGBTQ” when so many critics are liberal, leftist, and gay. It goes to show how powerful the lobby is, how lucrative gender medicine is, and how fundamentalist gender ideologues are.
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It is just so bizarre to see the party of oat milk, plastic straw bans, and socialism pushing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for kids.
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It’s strange to see people cite things I’ve written as evidence that I’m genderqueer or non-binary. I’m a man, and I have the autonomy to dress and behave as femme or as masc as I desire. I don’t need a trendy label—one that replicates conformity—for permission.
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This person tweeted at me, saying something like Róisín Murphy is just paying the consequences for her poor choices. I asked this person for their thoughts on the affects of puberty blockers on males during Tanner Stage 2, how they will likely never experience orgasm if they
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“Australia’s biggest gender clinic…now admits that puberty blockers ‘might conceivably delay brain development’ and states in its June newsletter, ‘We do not know whether using puberty blockers affects development of the brain.’”.
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This movement is not progressive. It’s dropkicking our society—a society we’ve painstakingly built through trial and error—into the dark ages.
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Blockers for precocious puberty don’t cause infertility because those kids end up GOING THROUGH THEIR NATURAL PUBERTY at a typical age and don’t go on to take exogenous hormones. And yes, not all “trans kids” who take blockers will take hormones (which DO cause infertility). Only
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Look, everyone, I’m clearly not a woman, since a woman is defined by her shaved pits and long hair. Sure, I obsess about "gender" and my identity so much that I lose sleep and sometimes don’t eat. But by defying “normativity,” I’m helping to overthrow capitalism. Be like me.
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Every time I see a leftist journalist tweet to their gazillion followers about how we should be blindly supporting medical transition for kids and teens, I would love if they explained why they’re so confident we’re not actually just medicalizing gay kids.
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By expressing skepticism about “gender affirmative care” for kids and teens I’m seen by some as being against gender nonconformity. That’s literally the opposite of what I’m saying. I’m saying gender nonconformity is perfectly acceptable and shouldn’t need to be medicalized!.
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I believe that trans people are human beings deserving of respect. I believe that trans people do not identify as their natal sex. I believe that trans people sometimes take hormones and undergo surgeries to look more like the opposite sex. I do not believe that a person can.
I’ve said this before & I’ll say it again. Disagreeing with trans people about who they are fundamentally as people is textbook transphobia & bigotry. The question becomes how can we coexist in society? Trans people aren’t going anywhere. We must keep fighting to raise
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In the future, clips like this will be featured in documentaries about our current dark age.
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I know this is a rant. But I think it’s important to speak up and be loud about it. It sucks sometimes, being a heretic, but I believe there is no greater freedom than the freedom to think for yourself and say out loud what you actually think. Especially when harm is being done.
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My comment on this @nytimes article about the ongoing medical scandal of blocking the natural development of gender-nonconforming gay kids:. 'What this article fails to mention is that 62 of the original 70 kids were homosexual and only one was heterosexual. Which means that this.
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A boy struggles with being gay. Online, trans activists tell him he’s a straight boy trapped in a girl’s body. One sends him blockers and hormones. He becomes depressed and sex dysphoric. This is not a left/right issue. This is antigay abuse.
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Róisín Murphy is right. Puberty blockers are “fucked.” And drug companies are profiting off the experimental medicalization of gender-nonconforming kids, just like they’ve profited off the medicalization of homosexuality since synthetic hormones were first developed. When the.
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After speaking with a number of detransitioners it’s clear we’re not making space for and supporting gender-nonconforming children but rather validating everything the bullies are saying about them and then telling them that the solution is experimental medicine and surgery.
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I have a strong feeling that Ms. Rowling, like all the rest of us, can see that you’re full of shit.
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This is one of the most disturbing interviews I’ve seen. It makes me wonder what it is about this issue that makes otherwise intelligent, morally grounded people think these human experiments are OK. Is it because they occur at reputable institutions? And people think….
Here's the interview w/ Dr. Blair Peters, in full. He & his interviewer admit--quite openly--how little gender docs know about the outcomes for medically-transitioned minors . "We'll know more in 5-10 years." It will be "fascinating" to see how these young people fare.
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When Trump came along, @TheDemocrats had one job. TO BE NORMAL. But they couldn’t do it. Instead they said kids need “sex changes,” female inmates can be locked up with male rapists, and female athletes should be forced to lose to men. Congrats, Dems! Now Trump looks normal.
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Every thinking person knew how off the rails the left has gone. Every thinking person knew what an embarrassment the Democratic Party has become. No thinking person is surprised by what can only be interpreted as a resounding repudiation of their absolute bullshit.
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I get the sense that a lot of gays and lesbians have just about fucking had it with regressive assholes telling gay kids they were born in the wrong body. Goddamn, there will be a lot of news outlets that look back on their coverage of this issue with absolute horror.
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Kind of blown away by how stupid Judith Butler is. I mean, clearly she’s a hack. She evangelizes, mashes all the right buzzwords together to say absolutely nothing. And the brain-dead audience claps like a colony of seals.
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I just have to say IT IS SO WEIRD AND WILL NEVER NOT BE WEIRD to see U.S. institutions and mainstream media outlets and academic journals and leftists and Dems pushing for sex changes for kids and teenagers.
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The overlords have spoken. We are now allowed to acknowledge the reality of sex, comment on the regressiveness of trans ideology, say the radical trans movement swallowed the gay rights movement, and mock trans activists for calling everything “transphobia.”.
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Ana said she wanted to be called a woman, not a birthing person. Seven talking heads discuss the proper punishment for her transgression. This is what leaders of fundamentalist religious groups do when one of their own strays.
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It’s sad that when I see a guy with painted fingernails I assume he identifies as something other than male. Which means that my brain is being trained to think that painted fingernails is incompatible with maleness. Just another reason why gender ideology is so regressive.
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Just a reminder that there is nothing wrong with gender-nonconformity, gender-bending, androgyny, whatever. It’s fucking great. But it doesn’t mean you’re not the sex that you are. For the love of all that is holy, cut it out with this regressive, pseudoscientific bullshit.
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“I wanted to help create a world in which feminine boys and butch girls could exist peacefully in society. A world in which gender-nonconforming people were accepted as natural variations of their own sex.”.
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It is the coolest thing to imagine @jk_rowling reading something I’ve written. Just totally surreal. Happy Mother’s Day, Jo. ❤️.
"For voicing my concerns about gender-affirming care for minors, I have been called a transphobic bigot. If that’s what speaking out against the medicalisation of homosexuality makes me, then so be it." @benappel, on the new homophobia.
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“According to 11 studies, the vast majority of children with gender dysphoria will overcome their angst by the end of puberty — if they don’t socially transition to adopt a different gender identity. A majority, in fact, will turn out to be gay,” writes @LisaSelinDavis.
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This is what I think about when I see men ridiculing women who object to males in female sports, prisons, rape shelters, and locker rooms and who say that being a woman is not about having long hair and wearing a dress.
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Three years ago, when I learned they were giving puberty blockers to gender-confused kids, I knew instantly that it was the most insane fucking thing I had ever heard.
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I am never more ready for a giant meteor to strike than when I hear someone say “we need more research” on whether males have an advantage over females in athletics.
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Rowling posts a link to a mandatory read. Please check it out.
@bishovasimp @bumbeanbannana @soniasodha You’ve just said no trans person is saying this and were immediately shown evidence to the contrary. Here’s an article written by a trans woman about the lesbophobia you deny exists.
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It is so weird to write online that I don’t think gender-nonconforming kids, who will likely grow up to be gay, should have their natural development compromised by experimental drugs, only to be called a Nazi.
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Just so I’m clear, Canada is having a meltdown because one of its premiers said kids can’t commence sex changes before they’re 16. Is that right?.
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It’s actually frightening that The New York Times editorial board is that stupid.
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This guy is the future of the Democratic Party. Mark my words. @jonahowheeler.
Jonah Wheeler in New Hampshire
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I don't know how people who identify as nonbinary can think they are abolishing gender. It is the opposite. They are erecting a gender prison. "Nonbinary" makes the categories of man and woman smaller and reifies antiquated gender norms. Nonbinary is at odds with progressivism.
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Can someone tell me the appropriate tone one must take when objecting to medical protocols that result in the castration and sterilization of mentally distressed kids and policies that result in female prisoners having to share cells with male rapists? Seriously asking here.
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How clever of AOC to bring race into this issue, so that those who want to protect women’s sports are somehow transphobic AND racist. And what exactly is she implying by saying that black and brown women have always been unjustly held up against the white female norm? Is she.
Targeting trans children for playing sports makes all women, whether trans or cisgender, less safe. Sex testing is regressive, invasive, discriminatory, and a fundamental violation of our privacy as women and as Americans. This is shameful.
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There are gonna be so many kids who grow up to finally learn the truth about biological sex and suddenly everything will make sense and their minds will be blown. And boy, will they be angry.
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2023 Pride: “You cis gays are disgusting bigots! How dare you try and stand between gay adolescents and the medical industry looking to capitalize off their internalized homophobia! How dare you suggest that gender-nonconforming people don’t deserve to be chemically castrated!”.
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I will never get over the Democrats backing males in women’s sports… and then spreading BS like this to try to coerce sane people into siding with them. They have lost me for good.
The proposed federal ban on trans girls participating in school sports is cruel and poorly thought out. Forcing kids to undergo humiliating physical exams by strangers to "verify" their sex? That’s an attack on their dignity & privacy. I plan to reject this hateful legislation.
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‘“Heads down! Heads down!” a man in the audience shouted. He put his head in his arms and leaned against the chair in front of him. This, apparently, is one of the “jazzy tactics” the activists use to signal their collective disapproval of whatever is being said.’.Link below.
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I can be self-centered and maybe even self-important, but I can’t imagine the level of narcissism that would be required to believe that I, a male, have the right to compete against females in sports.
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I am a gay man. All of my adult life, I have found myself attracted to very masculine men, very feminine men, and all kinds of men in between. Sexuality is not about gender. Sexuality is about sex.
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When there is a conspiracy to stunt the natural development of gender-nonconforming kids by feeding them experimental medications, it’s hard not to sound like a crazed conspiracy theorist when you publicly oppose it.
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It’s deeply troubling to hear people say “LGBTQIA” as if it’s actually a coherent description of anything.
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Democrats appointed as Assistant Secretary for Health an old straight guy who insisted he was a woman. The White House called him "the first 4-star female officer in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps." He advised doctors to give puberty blockers to troubled kids.
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To all the people who are somehow STILL advocating for puberty blockers for trans-identified kids:.The use of blockers for this population started specifically with gender-nonconforming, mostly homosexual boys in mind. The idea was that, if they went through puberty and.
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I gotta tell you, it is the strangest thing, listening to Democrats (Dem women in particular) talk about how they’re the party that stands for women, when they’re the ones who are advocating for males in women’s prisons and sports and locker rooms.
"To the women listening: We have every right to demand the men in our lives do better by us. We have to use our voices to make these choices clear to the men that we love. Our lives are worth more than their anger and disappointment" —Michelle Obama
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About a year ago I was talking with a very “progressive” friend. I said that if I was a kid today there is a good chance I would transition, since I was a very gender-nonconforming gay kid. She said, “So what? You don’t think you could be happy as a trans woman?”.
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Dems were like “we must stop Trump” and then paved a way for him to easily retake the WH and make a bunch of changes that the majority of Americans support, but not before putting themselves in a position where they now have to defend men in women’s prisons and child sex changes.
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People ask me why I write so much about the gender issue. All I can say is that it’s hard to think about much else when a government-endorsed religious movement has created such a massive medical scandal. At times, the implications seem endless.
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I’m not in denial about the reality of my sex. I’m not in denial about the difference between sex and gender. But I do appreciate you stopping by and trying to sort me into one of your confining little categories that for some reason you need in order to make sense of the world.
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It is not progressive to medicalize gender nonconformity in young people. Pass it on.
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It’s insane how antigay LGBT orgs have become. We’ve all been aware of it, but to see it so blatantly argued during a tribunal (Mermaids v. LGBAlliance) is dystopian. Sorry gays, you’re now bigots if you’re same-sex attracted. Oh, and piss off while we medicalize the young ones.
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If you think medical transition for minors and males in female sports are ‘left-wing’ versus ‘right-wing’ issues, you likely have a facile understanding of politics, are blinded by tribalism, and are terrified of thinking for yourself.
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Coworker just used the phrase “LGBTQIA plus community” in a conversation with me. I responded by telling her about the findings of the systematic evidence reviews in Finland, Sweden, and the U.K. She sits quietly, deep in thought.
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It royally sucks that we’ve arrived at a point where sticking up for gays and lesbians is interpreted by some as animus towards trans people.
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@BriannaWu People who deny the reality of sex differences and think their constituents are stupid enough to do the same do not deserve my vote. Yes, there are a gazillion issues facing the nation. But the bare minimum that I expect of a leader is acknowledging reality. And they can’t even.
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How does arresting a feminine male child’s natural development, feeding him synthetic estrogen so that he might pass as the opposite sex, and amputating his genitals contribute to the goal of liberating society from regressive gender norms?.
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If a little boy says he’s a girl and you say “You’re right, sweetie!” and tell him his sex is inconsequential to his gender and get everyone in his life to lie to him, OF COURSE he’s going to suffer mental distress when he reaches puberty. You don’t need to be an MD to know this.
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Progress has been derailed by gender theology. It’s OK to be different. It’s OK to be gay. Fuck off with your puberty blockers, your synthetic hormones, and your scalpels.
Dear Gays and Lesbians,.Most gender nonconforming kids grow up to be one of us. Stop transing gay kids. Pass it on.
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@AriDrennen @Ansleigh_mma @Riley_Gaines_ @joerogan @Martina @icons_women @ReduxxMag @Lea_Christina4 @JaydenScrappy @DSgear It’s not just about winning. It’s about women not having to compete against men. In this case, wrestle with them.
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The elevation of an entire class of people to sainthood has been a bizarre thing to watch. It’s no wonder that so many people who do not have gender dysphoria (but who have more than adequate persecution complexes) are identifying as trans.
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A boy behaving differently from other boys and more like the average girl doesn’t mean he’s not a boy. It means that boys can be feminine too. Same goes for girls. Stop telling kids lies. Stop confusing them. Let them be who they are.
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