On Tuesday, Michael Shellenberger and other anti-trans leaders who pushed the error-ridden and editorialized "WPATH Files" declared victory over WPATH... Turns out, it was just a website glitch.
To be fair, prematurely celebrating victories that later turn into defeats 𝘪𝘴 pretty on-brand for right-wingers... Mr. Shellenberger was just carrying on a long and cluelessly proud tradition.
Hmm. Does it count as a "Failure to fact check" if it was never their intention to post facts? They don't really care whether or not what they say is true becuase it enables them to feel justified in their hate and that's all they really care about.
I'm so glad to see your exposure of the vile fraud these fanatics have been trying to twist into reality. Thank you, Erin! From my position as a trans activist for over 30 years, and the first American trans president of WPATH, it has been difficult for me to watch, and awkward for me to rebut because I'm not a licensed medical or mental health professional, and WPATH's reputation as a medical association was always at risk if it looked like an activist was pushing an activist agenda. My term on the board ended in 2018, so I'm no longer in leadership, but I've been very frustrated that the Association policy in dealing with these attacks was to remain silent, let science prevail, and keep doing the professional education programs (that were launched in 2015, during my presidency). As a writer myself, I would like to rail against these fanatics, but I think I'll leave that to the louder voices of our community at the moment. I have lived (and sometimes led or innovated) the history of the changing laws and policies that have lifted us up, and I have instituted reforms within WPATH and other entities that have expanded access to care and better engagement of trans people in many industries. The legislative and media attacks need to be countered by facts of both science and history, but at the moment few seem to want to listen. One day, our movement, our people in all their diverse glory, will be able to tell its story, their stories, in a way that makes sense and removes the threats these fanatics are trying to smear over us and our allies. I will be part of that storytelling. For now, your journalism gives me hope. Thank you!!
Thank you for your time in an organization that spawned my endo doctor. But WHAT louder voices? Ours is no less or more than yours. It will take everyone, including you! They’re punching us in the mouth, for no other reason than they can. Please don’t leave us now.
I guess when I say "louder voices" I mean those who use social media, something I don't have patience for (though I'm on LinkedIn and Instagram, but not often -- I haven't looked at my FB account for about 5 years -- I miss people, and I feel bad, but I have no time). I'm engaged with activists in Texas, and I just spent 10 hours crafting testimony to submit later today to the Ohio Department of Health objecting to their proposed rules for trans-specific healthcare. I'm NOT giving up!! I'm just not willing to get in a shouting match with people who don't give a shit. I have actually spent hours trying to have reasonable discussions with some of the key players who developed the "WPATH Files," but I have found them to be disingenuous backstabbers. No integrity there, just bullies who care only about making their point. I will never give up or surrender or leave our cause until I die!!! I want my efforts to be strategic and impactful. And, you're welcome; I appreciate your acknowledgement. Thank you, KingRay!
Great! Many of us are coming at this from different angles. That's why it will take all our various ways of getting at this. I so remember the Civil Rights Era, even though I was a child. It took all of our leaders and their different ways. I'll never forget when Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. met. The media wanted to know what they talked about, but neither of those gentlemen would tell them. That was funny. Both had very different styles, but it took all of them to their demise. GOP are very dangerous people, and they had a hand in killing all our leaders.
This battle will be different because it's happening in offices instead of in the streets. Unless young people get riled up and start protesting. That never lasts and I'm not sure why they're so different than the young adults of my youth. Guess it will take a bunch of Black people again, who are far more tenacious than other kinds of people. Yup! <wink>
More pro-trans activists must get on local and national TV and speak out. Whoever it is has to have the science, medicine history and replies to transphobes' comments ready. Our entertainment industry folks who are trans and/or NB could be such a help in prepping someone to do this. I wish I were younger and hadn't gotten my bell rung with concussions so many times. I'd be chomping at the bit to do this. Can we assemble a team of folks to do this?
I just wrote to channel 55.3 WBNX, in Cleveland OH, after seeing the ADF anti-trans commercials asking for money to help in legal battles. Posted the letter on two of my FB groups (Trans Humanity and Fort Unicorn) getting good response on my writing. I could probably do some script writing and have already done quite a bit of reading on the topics I've mentioned above.
That's being done all over the place, Jamison. They're just not looking for those stories. I am a story-teller and am out there on the internet in numerous places. They're not looking for denials of those people's rants. They just aren't. Don't know what we'll do about it until we grab the attention of some mainstream media outlet(s). Sigh
A - I suppose we could call it - semi-dissent: Mass radio/TV media tend to be less right-wing than corporate, doing whatever brings in the most bucks. That favors right-wing views because right-wingers will just tune out progressive views or programming, while the left tends to keep listening/watching either to "see what the other side is saying" or on "the person they love to hate" idea. (For example, a not-insignificant part of Rush Limbaugh's audience was liberal for just that reason.) Which means favoring the right will gain them more or at least hurt them less than favoring the left. Red or blue, they don't really care as long as they get the green.
So you're right that they're not particularly interested in providing a venue for liberal views. Still, as the old saying goes, not to try is to fail.
And there is some liberal-to-progressive talk radio out there; Thom Hartman, Sam Seder, and David Pakman being three of the better-known examples. As for TV, Democracy Now! has been doing a M-F one-hour newscast for over 20 years.
So there is stuff out there and a whole bunch more on the internet. The two problems are first, finding them, and two, we lack the echo chamber nature of the right, where, as in the instant case, as soon as one right-winger says something, it seems like the entire right half of the US political spectrum knows about it and is piling on.
I don't really know what to suggest doing about that other than to encourage everyone to let others know about media sources they have found useful, don't be afraid to work the refs (i.e., complain to media outlets about biased coverage), and remember that the very old-fashioned method of letters-to-the-editor of your local paper is still a valuable approach.
Speaking to journalists outside our community these days is likely to lead to more confusion and opportunities to be misquoted. Getting the right message across in venues with wide circulation where "new" ideas are respected rather than dismissed or instantly doubted is very difficult in the current polarized cultural zeitgeist.
Yes, that could happen, but not to try is to fail. We're losing ground fast, and have to work expediently & efficiently. Nothing worse than feeling like a sitting duck with no voice.
"WPATH continues its mission to promote evidence-based care, education, research, public policy and respect in transgender health.” Excellent. Key words for yours truly" "...respect in transgender health..."
Thank you, Erin and Everyone for keeping us up-to-date. Sending lots of Love from London, Ontario, Canada.
This is going to have an even shorter shelf life than the Twitter files. It's too complicated for the average person, the great majority of whom don't care nearly as much about trans issues than right wingers think they do. However, it does say a great deal about how deranged and malicious people like Shellenberger are. Imagine taking to the net in triumph because you think you were successful in obstructing OTHER PEOPLE'S medical choices and treatment modalities. That's just f-g sick. Do these people ever stop to reflect for even 5 minutes to consider how they're spending their days? Or is the grift so lucrative they'll sell themselves like a cheap whore to the highest bidding right wing funder?
Is this shellenfreude?
Or perhaps Schellen-fraud
Shellenberger's fraudulent "journalism" in any case.
To be fair, prematurely celebrating victories that later turn into defeats 𝘪𝘴 pretty on-brand for right-wingers... Mr. Shellenberger was just carrying on a long and cluelessly proud tradition.
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/073/178/President-George-W.-Bush-Mission-Accomplished.jpg
Hmm. Does it count as a "Failure to fact check" if it was never their intention to post facts? They don't really care whether or not what they say is true becuase it enables them to feel justified in their hate and that's all they really care about.
It just exemplifies how utterly devoid of any integrity or honesty these anti-trans fanatics are.
I'm so glad to see your exposure of the vile fraud these fanatics have been trying to twist into reality. Thank you, Erin! From my position as a trans activist for over 30 years, and the first American trans president of WPATH, it has been difficult for me to watch, and awkward for me to rebut because I'm not a licensed medical or mental health professional, and WPATH's reputation as a medical association was always at risk if it looked like an activist was pushing an activist agenda. My term on the board ended in 2018, so I'm no longer in leadership, but I've been very frustrated that the Association policy in dealing with these attacks was to remain silent, let science prevail, and keep doing the professional education programs (that were launched in 2015, during my presidency). As a writer myself, I would like to rail against these fanatics, but I think I'll leave that to the louder voices of our community at the moment. I have lived (and sometimes led or innovated) the history of the changing laws and policies that have lifted us up, and I have instituted reforms within WPATH and other entities that have expanded access to care and better engagement of trans people in many industries. The legislative and media attacks need to be countered by facts of both science and history, but at the moment few seem to want to listen. One day, our movement, our people in all their diverse glory, will be able to tell its story, their stories, in a way that makes sense and removes the threats these fanatics are trying to smear over us and our allies. I will be part of that storytelling. For now, your journalism gives me hope. Thank you!!
Thank you for your time in an organization that spawned my endo doctor. But WHAT louder voices? Ours is no less or more than yours. It will take everyone, including you! They’re punching us in the mouth, for no other reason than they can. Please don’t leave us now.
Never give up; never surrender! 💪🏾
I guess when I say "louder voices" I mean those who use social media, something I don't have patience for (though I'm on LinkedIn and Instagram, but not often -- I haven't looked at my FB account for about 5 years -- I miss people, and I feel bad, but I have no time). I'm engaged with activists in Texas, and I just spent 10 hours crafting testimony to submit later today to the Ohio Department of Health objecting to their proposed rules for trans-specific healthcare. I'm NOT giving up!! I'm just not willing to get in a shouting match with people who don't give a shit. I have actually spent hours trying to have reasonable discussions with some of the key players who developed the "WPATH Files," but I have found them to be disingenuous backstabbers. No integrity there, just bullies who care only about making their point. I will never give up or surrender or leave our cause until I die!!! I want my efforts to be strategic and impactful. And, you're welcome; I appreciate your acknowledgement. Thank you, KingRay!
Great! Many of us are coming at this from different angles. That's why it will take all our various ways of getting at this. I so remember the Civil Rights Era, even though I was a child. It took all of our leaders and their different ways. I'll never forget when Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. met. The media wanted to know what they talked about, but neither of those gentlemen would tell them. That was funny. Both had very different styles, but it took all of them to their demise. GOP are very dangerous people, and they had a hand in killing all our leaders.
This battle will be different because it's happening in offices instead of in the streets. Unless young people get riled up and start protesting. That never lasts and I'm not sure why they're so different than the young adults of my youth. Guess it will take a bunch of Black people again, who are far more tenacious than other kinds of people. Yup! <wink>
This episode was fueled on hysteria. Another tell.
More pro-trans activists must get on local and national TV and speak out. Whoever it is has to have the science, medicine history and replies to transphobes' comments ready. Our entertainment industry folks who are trans and/or NB could be such a help in prepping someone to do this. I wish I were younger and hadn't gotten my bell rung with concussions so many times. I'd be chomping at the bit to do this. Can we assemble a team of folks to do this?
I just wrote to channel 55.3 WBNX, in Cleveland OH, after seeing the ADF anti-trans commercials asking for money to help in legal battles. Posted the letter on two of my FB groups (Trans Humanity and Fort Unicorn) getting good response on my writing. I could probably do some script writing and have already done quite a bit of reading on the topics I've mentioned above.
Unfortunately much of the radio TV and internet media is right leaning and not interested in a fair argument or providing a venue for liberal views
Telling positive stories of trans lives could help, if venues would produce them.
That's being done all over the place, Jamison. They're just not looking for those stories. I am a story-teller and am out there on the internet in numerous places. They're not looking for denials of those people's rants. They just aren't. Don't know what we'll do about it until we grab the attention of some mainstream media outlet(s). Sigh
A - I suppose we could call it - semi-dissent: Mass radio/TV media tend to be less right-wing than corporate, doing whatever brings in the most bucks. That favors right-wing views because right-wingers will just tune out progressive views or programming, while the left tends to keep listening/watching either to "see what the other side is saying" or on "the person they love to hate" idea. (For example, a not-insignificant part of Rush Limbaugh's audience was liberal for just that reason.) Which means favoring the right will gain them more or at least hurt them less than favoring the left. Red or blue, they don't really care as long as they get the green.
So you're right that they're not particularly interested in providing a venue for liberal views. Still, as the old saying goes, not to try is to fail.
And there is some liberal-to-progressive talk radio out there; Thom Hartman, Sam Seder, and David Pakman being three of the better-known examples. As for TV, Democracy Now! has been doing a M-F one-hour newscast for over 20 years.
So there is stuff out there and a whole bunch more on the internet. The two problems are first, finding them, and two, we lack the echo chamber nature of the right, where, as in the instant case, as soon as one right-winger says something, it seems like the entire right half of the US political spectrum knows about it and is piling on.
I don't really know what to suggest doing about that other than to encourage everyone to let others know about media sources they have found useful, don't be afraid to work the refs (i.e., complain to media outlets about biased coverage), and remember that the very old-fashioned method of letters-to-the-editor of your local paper is still a valuable approach.
Very smart, Larry. Now to get folks on it. NOT TO TRY IS TO FAIL! I'm going to send your response to some people and see where it goes.
Speaking to journalists outside our community these days is likely to lead to more confusion and opportunities to be misquoted. Getting the right message across in venues with wide circulation where "new" ideas are respected rather than dismissed or instantly doubted is very difficult in the current polarized cultural zeitgeist.
Yes, that could happen, but not to try is to fail. We're losing ground fast, and have to work expediently & efficiently. Nothing worse than feeling like a sitting duck with no voice.
Look at me! I’m a CiTIzun JerNalist!!! Just chasing the facts wherever they lead; no agenda here!
The agenda for many is just racking up clicks
Well, here, clicks don't get anybody paid. Only paid subscribers do.
Idiots! SMFH
"WPATH continues its mission to promote evidence-based care, education, research, public policy and respect in transgender health.” Excellent. Key words for yours truly" "...respect in transgender health..."
Thank you, Erin and Everyone for keeping us up-to-date. Sending lots of Love from London, Ontario, Canada.
This is going to have an even shorter shelf life than the Twitter files. It's too complicated for the average person, the great majority of whom don't care nearly as much about trans issues than right wingers think they do. However, it does say a great deal about how deranged and malicious people like Shellenberger are. Imagine taking to the net in triumph because you think you were successful in obstructing OTHER PEOPLE'S medical choices and treatment modalities. That's just f-g sick. Do these people ever stop to reflect for even 5 minutes to consider how they're spending their days? Or is the grift so lucrative they'll sell themselves like a cheap whore to the highest bidding right wing funder?