Convinced of his own inherent superiority, Jason, sounding like an old-fashioned Ayn Rand acolyte, sees himself as bravely standing alone against the oppressive masses to declare his "spiritual sovereignty," all the while failing (refusing?) to face the fact that his "sovereignty" (which translates to "I figure I got mine, so screw you") exits only because of the decades of struggle by the members of that very coalition at which he now sneers because it dares address issues (trans rights) which he sees as no benefit to him and so is unwilling to comprehend and thus incapable of addressing honestly.
And is suspect that is one of the longer sentences seen here in some time. :-)
I get your point and agree. My only issue is with that take is I did not paint them as a good thing, but a reality in contrast to the argument/points being made.
Also consider that the argument/follow up - so part of this is just pre-empting the inevitable rebuttal.
You didn't paint them as a bad thing either, though. You left them unpainted, and we all know what particular shade of meaning bigots will cover them with. So yeah.
Hey AnCu, you raise a valid point about how silence can be interpreted, and I appreciate you challenging me on that. I also think there is something to be said about strategic messaging that might be missed in this context. It is a delicate balance.
Here's where I landed: When countering Jason's "kids are getting hormones like candy" propaganda, my primary audience wasn't just people who already support trans rights - it was also those who might genuinely believe his fearmongering. For them, learning that evaluation processes exist at all is the crucial first step in dismantling that lie.
You're right that I didn't paint extensive evaluations as bad. That was intentional. Opening up the gatekeeping debate in that specific context would have been like trying to discuss fire safety regulations while someone's yelling "THE BUILDING IS FULL OF GASOLINE AND ITS GONNA EXPLODE!" First, I needed to establish that no, the building isn't full of gasoline and it isn't going to explode. Then we can discuss the finer points of fire safety.
I've watched how ideologues like Jason operate - they're not engaging in good faith, they're looking for ammunition and I don't want to hand them any for free. If I'd written "while these evaluations can sometimes be excessive..." or "we already have too many hoops to jump through" they'd weaponize it into "EVEN TRANS ADVOCATES ADMIT WE NEED MORE RESTRICTIONS!" or "See? They want the HRT vending machine to be a free for all!" and the rest of the message and points get lost as they pivot to this new thing to generate fear. Now I have to play defense on that, instead of pushing the compatibility of community solidarity and individual autonomy for the LGBTQIA+ community, and the broader points of trans right, equality, and collective action, that is crucial to dismantling his article.
The gatekeeping conversation is absolutely vital, and you're right that it deserves to be painted as the problem it is. But that painting requires a different canvas with a different audience - one where we're not simultaneously playing defense against active disinformation.
Sometimes message discipline means choosing which battle to fight when. Not every article can fight every battle, and trying to do so often means losing them all at the cost of giving up free ammo. But I hear you - the silence does leave space for interpretation, and that's something I am aware of and I try very hard to balance. I hope this makes it clear the how and why I wrote it the way I did.
I'll give you a heart, because you're my buddy, but I cannot read any more bullshit garbage from goons like that. Indoctrinated against their will? I already know it's going to be a bunch of lies, missteps, disinformation, and nonsense. I don't know how you read that crap & rebut, PITT! 😆
Oh, and I maintain my distance from our community, because there's too much divide & conquer bullshit going on. I can't relate to it anymore.
Or, the religiously ossified father of a trans kid and he’s losing his shit over not being able to control everything in his world. That and his congregation now views him as a failure at both parenting and whatever form of conversion therapy they practice.
Wait... If what you say is true, then who were those lesbians in hooded robes who accosted me outside the Half Priced Books and handed me a copy of the "Gay and Trans Conspiracy Agenda Manifesto?"
I will put my two cents in. I'll try to say very little.
You nailed it. You covered everything. LGB people often cannot accept the transgender experience and that is that. When I show up to the LGBTQIA+ umbrella ☔ seeking shelter or solidarity, I arrive with my own identity already worked out. It is mine. I'm not forcing others to do anything except perhaps accept my identity. But being transgender is more than sexual orientation. It can be a bit complex in some ways. Get over it. Nobody's forcing anything on me. As you point out. What they're doing is silly. It's almost like Trump and the Christians wanting to turn America back to a simpler time and to a Norman Rockwell painting or a Leave it to Beaver family dynamic (but with gay and lesbian people allowed now). LGB people are free to just walk away. But many choose to create a transgender takedown culture. Essentially wanting to exclude us while asserting/ declaring their own (narrow) identity. I can't stop these people. But I can ignore them on Substack, and I do.
And people like this, troll and the like, use attention like oxygen, and without it, they suffocate. Relegated to shouting into the void where none will listen. Well, except those who enjoy being in the echo chamber with them. But I hope you get my point. You are doing your part to deny that oxygen, and that is a laudable goal! That is not nothing, as an old friend of my used to say :) Good for you!
![People with Inconvenient Truths about Transphobes [PITT]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YttD!,w_80,h_80,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F704ba0db-3e10-4112-9364-c2f224d0cfae_500x500.png)
![People with Inconvenient Truths about Transphobes [PITT]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!YttD!,w_36,h_36,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F704ba0db-3e10-4112-9364-c2f224d0cfae_500x500.png)
Convinced of his own inherent superiority, Jason, sounding like an old-fashioned Ayn Rand acolyte, sees himself as bravely standing alone against the oppressive masses to declare his "spiritual sovereignty," all the while failing (refusing?) to face the fact that his "sovereignty" (which translates to "I figure I got mine, so screw you") exits only because of the decades of struggle by the members of that very coalition at which he now sneers because it dares address issues (trans rights) which he sees as no benefit to him and so is unwilling to comprehend and thus incapable of addressing honestly.
And is suspect that is one of the longer sentences seen here in some time. :-)
Could we not talk about "extensive evaluations" as if they were a good thing? That's just a euphemism for gatekeeping.
I get your point and agree. My only issue is with that take is I did not paint them as a good thing, but a reality in contrast to the argument/points being made.
Also consider that the argument/follow up - so part of this is just pre-empting the inevitable rebuttal.
You didn't paint them as a bad thing either, though. You left them unpainted, and we all know what particular shade of meaning bigots will cover them with. So yeah.
Hey AnCu, you raise a valid point about how silence can be interpreted, and I appreciate you challenging me on that. I also think there is something to be said about strategic messaging that might be missed in this context. It is a delicate balance.
Here's where I landed: When countering Jason's "kids are getting hormones like candy" propaganda, my primary audience wasn't just people who already support trans rights - it was also those who might genuinely believe his fearmongering. For them, learning that evaluation processes exist at all is the crucial first step in dismantling that lie.
You're right that I didn't paint extensive evaluations as bad. That was intentional. Opening up the gatekeeping debate in that specific context would have been like trying to discuss fire safety regulations while someone's yelling "THE BUILDING IS FULL OF GASOLINE AND ITS GONNA EXPLODE!" First, I needed to establish that no, the building isn't full of gasoline and it isn't going to explode. Then we can discuss the finer points of fire safety.
I've watched how ideologues like Jason operate - they're not engaging in good faith, they're looking for ammunition and I don't want to hand them any for free. If I'd written "while these evaluations can sometimes be excessive..." or "we already have too many hoops to jump through" they'd weaponize it into "EVEN TRANS ADVOCATES ADMIT WE NEED MORE RESTRICTIONS!" or "See? They want the HRT vending machine to be a free for all!" and the rest of the message and points get lost as they pivot to this new thing to generate fear. Now I have to play defense on that, instead of pushing the compatibility of community solidarity and individual autonomy for the LGBTQIA+ community, and the broader points of trans right, equality, and collective action, that is crucial to dismantling his article.
The gatekeeping conversation is absolutely vital, and you're right that it deserves to be painted as the problem it is. But that painting requires a different canvas with a different audience - one where we're not simultaneously playing defense against active disinformation.
Sometimes message discipline means choosing which battle to fight when. Not every article can fight every battle, and trying to do so often means losing them all at the cost of giving up free ammo. But I hear you - the silence does leave space for interpretation, and that's something I am aware of and I try very hard to balance. I hope this makes it clear the how and why I wrote it the way I did.
I'll give you a heart, because you're my buddy, but I cannot read any more bullshit garbage from goons like that. Indoctrinated against their will? I already know it's going to be a bunch of lies, missteps, disinformation, and nonsense. I don't know how you read that crap & rebut, PITT! 😆
Oh, and I maintain my distance from our community, because there's too much divide & conquer bullshit going on. I can't relate to it anymore.
I appreciate the heart Ray!
I do it so others don't have to, I guess.
I just wish there was a greater effort to build bridges instead of walls right now.
Unfortunately, those walls were already there. I'm just too tired to tear them down. Too many people leaning up against them. Sigh
I mean he just comes off as yet another man who's angry that it's not all about him 🤷🏼♀️
Or, the religiously ossified father of a trans kid and he’s losing his shit over not being able to control everything in his world. That and his congregation now views him as a failure at both parenting and whatever form of conversion therapy they practice.
Wait... If what you say is true, then who were those lesbians in hooded robes who accosted me outside the Half Priced Books and handed me a copy of the "Gay and Trans Conspiracy Agenda Manifesto?"
I will put my two cents in. I'll try to say very little.
You nailed it. You covered everything. LGB people often cannot accept the transgender experience and that is that. When I show up to the LGBTQIA+ umbrella ☔ seeking shelter or solidarity, I arrive with my own identity already worked out. It is mine. I'm not forcing others to do anything except perhaps accept my identity. But being transgender is more than sexual orientation. It can be a bit complex in some ways. Get over it. Nobody's forcing anything on me. As you point out. What they're doing is silly. It's almost like Trump and the Christians wanting to turn America back to a simpler time and to a Norman Rockwell painting or a Leave it to Beaver family dynamic (but with gay and lesbian people allowed now). LGB people are free to just walk away. But many choose to create a transgender takedown culture. Essentially wanting to exclude us while asserting/ declaring their own (narrow) identity. I can't stop these people. But I can ignore them on Substack, and I do.
And people like this, troll and the like, use attention like oxygen, and without it, they suffocate. Relegated to shouting into the void where none will listen. Well, except those who enjoy being in the echo chamber with them. But I hope you get my point. You are doing your part to deny that oxygen, and that is a laudable goal! That is not nothing, as an old friend of my used to say :) Good for you!