Banning entire demographics is stupid no matter what the details are. Let’s PRETEND for a moment trans women did have an advantage on average (there is no evidence they do); I have a disability that makes my joints so wobbly that sometimes I can’t even walk. Yet I have an unfair advantage? I couldn’t even compete against women before HRT, yet I’m banned too? These people literally don’t understand what a population distribution is, and we are supposed to take them seriously?
There isn’t even a debate to have. Messi took human growth hormone as a kid, without which he wouldn’t be a top athlete, yet my testosterone as a kid means I can’t play now, despite not even being remotely competitive due to disability? It’s just hate, there is literally no other angle
Erin wrote “..Democrats potentially willing to bargain away transgender rights, putting the outcome in serious question”. Yeah. Except there is no “bargain”—those Dems are throwing away their integrity and commitment to their voters, and there is NO bargain because they aren’t getting ANYTHING back. And never will. It’s another example of “capitulation in advance.”
Erin, can we get a list of Dems who, such as Tammy Baldwin, are standing firm in their commitment? Because I get so many donation solicitations a day, and I’m going to tell every one not on that list why I will no longer support them.
One of the only ways to distinguish the centrist Dems from MAGAs was their support of Trans and LGBTQ Americans. Without that, why would we vote for a Democratic candidate vs. a Republican candidate? Seriously, they are relatively close on MANY areas, as a majority of Dems won't support universal healthcare, progressive taxation, banning corporate welfare, nuclear disarmament, or meaningful climate change mitigation.
LGBTQ+ rights and racial justice were two of the ONLY ways we the voters could differentiate.
They lost Black Lives Matter's phone number after George Floyd and losing the House in 2022/3, now they're dropping ours in 2024/5. Our Black and non-white allies warned we LGBTQ Americans back then, this was coming.
So again I ask...if Dems are declaring open season on Trans people, abandoning DEI, and abandoning racial justice policy, WHAT DO WE NEED THEM FOR?
I'll still vote Dem, but I won't canvas, I won't fundraise, I won't phone bank, I won't donate, I won't bundle, I won't LIFT A FINGER FOR THOSE WHO WON'T LIFT ONE FOR ME.
Democrats need we 30 million American queers more than we need them and I won't be held hostage by turncoats and transphobes proudly walking out of the MAGA closet still pretending to be Dems.
That's a great idea to have a list ~ I know that my rep, Marilyn Strickland doesn't walk her talk. She signed the military budget bill banning trans care for military members kids ~ this is cruel and she did get a letter from me about the issue. Her reply was that it's necessary to reach across the aisle ~ I had to write her back and firmly disagree. I'm also withholding my $5 a month donations. I'm giving it Trans Life Line instead.
Copying this from another post elsewhere that I made in response to CrossFit banning trans women from the women's competitons and trans men from any competition whatsoever earlier this week.
You know what's frustrating about all of this. Prior to medical transition I was 375 lbs of pure fat. I hadn't exercises in years. I started hrt and killed my testosterone. Got mentally better as a result. Started working out all losing weight and building muscle after a a year or so on HRT.
After 2.5 years of work I am just now getting to the point where I'd be low end competitive with cis women athletes. And it's sad. There is no where I can compete safely with out being at risk for becoming a national news story with our actually winning anything. They don't see all of the dedication and work I put in. They don't see that I did all of that after transition. They don't see that when I started I could barely ride my bike 4 miles at 8 mph and slowly worked my way up to 40 miles at 15 mph. They don't see that when I started weight lifting I struggled with the 8 lb dumbbells. Or that I could bench press only the 35 lb bar and maybe an extra 10 lbs of weight. They didn't see that I struggled just to get up from sitting.
No all they care about is that I was born with a d!ck and b@lls. None of the work or dedication. They don't care that I have done this for 900+ consecutive days only stopping for sickness or recovery from medical procedures. This all is just frustrating.
I think it's worth noting that this is a regional PBS program, not national. I am concerned about the fact that the host felt comfortable framing his questions in the way that he did. He appears to be a failed moderate Democratic politician in New Jersey. So the takeaway is the same; I call these folks "Chamber of Commerce Democrats" but whatever term works- they're not to be trusted.
The dumb and ironic thing about what this fool said is trans issues did NOT cost the Dems elections. However, if Dems start abandoning trans people *that* will cost them elections, hopefully in the primaries.
They're scrambling for votes, so what do Dems do? They start to alienate one of their most reliable voting blocks.
What a gaggle of fools. It's a shame they're the only thing standing between us trans folks losing our rights. Ugh. It's going to be a really rough few years.
I'm so shook by this. Has this sentiment always existed in the Democratic party and people were afraid to speak out of line or is this coming from a place of blaming trans people for Trump.
Its probably always existed but its difficult to tell. You can never tell where politicians actually stand on anything. They adopt whatever position they think will increase their power.
For anyone who wants to attempt to combat this, especially on a local level where they might get a hearing, I am quite happy to share the resources I've accumulated for the book I'm writing about it; I have over 500 papers (many of which are behind paywalls, so one needs library access to get them). A few of the comments ahead of this one encompass many of the emerging themes (in particular: testosterone is complicated!): cis women's muscles are in fact as strong as men's (the athletic "gender gap" arises almost entirely from body size); changes in muscle mass with GAHT are not really important; testosterone *is* important in ways that aren't easily observed (because they depend on transient biochemistry, not anatomy).
As infuriating as the words of such politicians are for us, I think it's vital to try to combat the ignorance with education. So many people really have no idea of what the underlying physiology really is, and just think of some high-school girl playing against an NFL linebacker or some such imagery. The Nancy Maces of the world have their dedicated trans-eradication agenda; we know they're beyond hope. But we have to try to get the mainstream to understand.
Contact me on my Substack; together we're better than separate.
Some people mistakenly believe that a person's biological sex at birth, specifically genital size, is the sole determinant of their gender identity and whether they can be called a "man."
This view disregards the fact that masculinity can be demonstrated through character, actions, and deeds developed throughout life.
Furthermore, everyone deserves equal treatment and respect, regardless of their sex assigned at birth, race, or gender identity.
This principle of equality should be upheld by the law.
Despite our individual differences, we should all be treated with the same dignity and afforded the same opportunities.
We must strive for a society where everyone can reach their full potential without facing discrimination based on race or sex.
Eliminating racism and sexism is crucial for achieving individual liberty, freedom, and justice – fundamental rights guaranteed to all by the U.S. Constitution and inherent to all of humanity.
All these things were taught to me before I entered grade school.
This is Truely appalling, how hard is it for them to understand that there is currently no scientific evidence trans women have an advantage over cisgender women in a majority of sports aside from specifically 'handgrip strength' and that is only slight at best, less than a few percentage points. They like to point out testosterone as a major performance enhancer but fail to note that it has been proven to not predict athlete performance, nor do they like to here that elite cisgender men and womens testosterone levels actually over lap with eachother and are actually higher than tran women who have been on suppressors for 12 months. This is just another preconceived lie that men are better than women and is also the reason why there are gender separate sports to begin with because men are afraid they will lose to women.
I am absolutely exhausted by the typical democratic party game of "we lost an election, so obviously people like what the right is saying, and so that means that the progressive wing of our party must be the reason we lost! Let's ratchet to the right some more, that'll help!"
Kamala ran on a republican-lite platform. There was nothing remotely progressive about it. /That's why they lost!/. It's infuriating they can't see it. Why would I vote for republican-lite when I can just vote red? Why would anyone actually blue vote for you if your party does not actually meet the needs or wants of the constituents? And so, with the left continually ignored and silenced, we slide into fascism
I called my Republican representative about HR23, up for consideration tomorrow. I asked to speak with an LA, but I was only offered the option of leaving a message with the junior staffer. Grrrrr What does one say to a Republican, other than, "Please don't be a nazi?" I argued that I realized little Suzie winning a ribbon was an existential threat to western civilization that required emergency legislative action, but that Sec. 2(2) of the bill was gratuitous and unnecessary, to wit:
‘‘(2) For the purposes of this subsection, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.
I think that this would be the first time a "biological" definition of sex is inscribed into federal statutory law. I argued that instead, the bill could define "BIOLOGICAL sex" and could refer to "BIOLOGICAL sex" throughout the statute to achieve its primary goal of preventing the universe-swallowing rip in the time-space continuum that would result from little Suzie winning a ribbon. That would leave room for the radical notion (gasp!) that one's LEGAL sex could be different from one's BIOLOGICAL sex. As a result, it wouldn't result in the cancerous, creeping rot of cut-and-paste language that would ultimately define away my existence as a trans woman (the nullification of my legal status as female, which required that I literally have myself sterilized - i.e. back in the old days).
Gah! I hate this stuff! I wish I had been more mentally prepared and could have argued other points too - with an actual LA. I am literally trying to get packed, so that I can hop a plane out of this hell hole!
Fun fact: The junior staffer had never heard Niemoller's poem ("First they came for..."). I was trying to tell him that not even Niemoller seemed to know that first "they came for" the trans women and the academic and medical community that supported them (i.e. Magnus Hirschfeld's clinic in Berlin). Many of these folks went to the first concentration camp (Dachau), about 5 years before "they came for" the Jews. Don't they teach these kids history anymore?
"Better to fight and fall than to live without hope" – Volsunga Saga, Chapter 12. We are real and authentic and that gives us power and strength that these weak and whining frauds will never be able to understand or match. We must now find joy and nobility in a fight not of our choosing but one that we can and must win.
With Democrats now predictably turning on trans people, the outlook for trans rights is getting so bad that I think only those who can be completely stealth, have had surgery and all their legal documents already changed, and who live in blue states may feasibly go forward smoothly, and even then only with some luck and a “don’t ask don’t tell” kind of life. That is now the sad reality. The hope that many had a decade or so ago to live their lives completely freely and openly is now gone, probably for decades.
The one thing about sports bans that advocates of such bans aren’t really considering is enforcement. Are we going to now expect that parents will have to produce their child’s birth certificate for any school athletics, and/or that the kids will have to undergo genital inspections?
Didn't the HRC leader tell the Harris campaign not to say anything on trans issues? In every case where Dems actually engaged, they won, but HRC tells the dems not to on a national level. Now the Dems want to blame us for that, when the truth is we win when people actually care enough to try. At this point, we're just going to have to reform the party ourselves. We did at state levels and now we got go national... mostly due to laziness.
Banning entire demographics is stupid no matter what the details are. Let’s PRETEND for a moment trans women did have an advantage on average (there is no evidence they do); I have a disability that makes my joints so wobbly that sometimes I can’t even walk. Yet I have an unfair advantage? I couldn’t even compete against women before HRT, yet I’m banned too? These people literally don’t understand what a population distribution is, and we are supposed to take them seriously?
There isn’t even a debate to have. Messi took human growth hormone as a kid, without which he wouldn’t be a top athlete, yet my testosterone as a kid means I can’t play now, despite not even being remotely competitive due to disability? It’s just hate, there is literally no other angle
Erin wrote “..Democrats potentially willing to bargain away transgender rights, putting the outcome in serious question”. Yeah. Except there is no “bargain”—those Dems are throwing away their integrity and commitment to their voters, and there is NO bargain because they aren’t getting ANYTHING back. And never will. It’s another example of “capitulation in advance.”
Erin, can we get a list of Dems who, such as Tammy Baldwin, are standing firm in their commitment? Because I get so many donation solicitations a day, and I’m going to tell every one not on that list why I will no longer support them.
One of the only ways to distinguish the centrist Dems from MAGAs was their support of Trans and LGBTQ Americans. Without that, why would we vote for a Democratic candidate vs. a Republican candidate? Seriously, they are relatively close on MANY areas, as a majority of Dems won't support universal healthcare, progressive taxation, banning corporate welfare, nuclear disarmament, or meaningful climate change mitigation.
LGBTQ+ rights and racial justice were two of the ONLY ways we the voters could differentiate.
They lost Black Lives Matter's phone number after George Floyd and losing the House in 2022/3, now they're dropping ours in 2024/5. Our Black and non-white allies warned we LGBTQ Americans back then, this was coming.
So again I ask...if Dems are declaring open season on Trans people, abandoning DEI, and abandoning racial justice policy, WHAT DO WE NEED THEM FOR?
I'll still vote Dem, but I won't canvas, I won't fundraise, I won't phone bank, I won't donate, I won't bundle, I won't LIFT A FINGER FOR THOSE WHO WON'T LIFT ONE FOR ME.
Democrats need we 30 million American queers more than we need them and I won't be held hostage by turncoats and transphobes proudly walking out of the MAGA closet still pretending to be Dems.
That's a great idea to have a list ~ I know that my rep, Marilyn Strickland doesn't walk her talk. She signed the military budget bill banning trans care for military members kids ~ this is cruel and she did get a letter from me about the issue. Her reply was that it's necessary to reach across the aisle ~ I had to write her back and firmly disagree. I'm also withholding my $5 a month donations. I'm giving it Trans Life Line instead.
omg—“reach across the aisle”?!!? wtf.
Lessee, who are the most value-less (to us) people we can throw away as bargaining chips for…um, nothing?!
Not surprised, but I’m disgusted.
I'm live in Wisconsin and have never from prouder to have the Honorable Tammy Baldwin as one of our Senators.
(too bad our other senator is a complete ass hair though)
Copying this from another post elsewhere that I made in response to CrossFit banning trans women from the women's competitons and trans men from any competition whatsoever earlier this week.
You know what's frustrating about all of this. Prior to medical transition I was 375 lbs of pure fat. I hadn't exercises in years. I started hrt and killed my testosterone. Got mentally better as a result. Started working out all losing weight and building muscle after a a year or so on HRT.
After 2.5 years of work I am just now getting to the point where I'd be low end competitive with cis women athletes. And it's sad. There is no where I can compete safely with out being at risk for becoming a national news story with our actually winning anything. They don't see all of the dedication and work I put in. They don't see that I did all of that after transition. They don't see that when I started I could barely ride my bike 4 miles at 8 mph and slowly worked my way up to 40 miles at 15 mph. They don't see that when I started weight lifting I struggled with the 8 lb dumbbells. Or that I could bench press only the 35 lb bar and maybe an extra 10 lbs of weight. They didn't see that I struggled just to get up from sitting.
No all they care about is that I was born with a d!ck and b@lls. None of the work or dedication. They don't care that I have done this for 900+ consecutive days only stopping for sickness or recovery from medical procedures. This all is just frustrating.
I think it's worth noting that this is a regional PBS program, not national. I am concerned about the fact that the host felt comfortable framing his questions in the way that he did. He appears to be a failed moderate Democratic politician in New Jersey. So the takeaway is the same; I call these folks "Chamber of Commerce Democrats" but whatever term works- they're not to be trusted.
The dumb and ironic thing about what this fool said is trans issues did NOT cost the Dems elections. However, if Dems start abandoning trans people *that* will cost them elections, hopefully in the primaries.
They're scrambling for votes, so what do Dems do? They start to alienate one of their most reliable voting blocks.
What a gaggle of fools. It's a shame they're the only thing standing between us trans folks losing our rights. Ugh. It's going to be a really rough few years.
He’ll quickly transition to it being “common sense” that trans people have no rights to restroom access or inclusion in human rights legislation.
He needs to have his leadership position revoked. It’s just common sense.
I'm so shook by this. Has this sentiment always existed in the Democratic party and people were afraid to speak out of line or is this coming from a place of blaming trans people for Trump.
Its probably always existed but its difficult to tell. You can never tell where politicians actually stand on anything. They adopt whatever position they think will increase their power.
Both!
For anyone who wants to attempt to combat this, especially on a local level where they might get a hearing, I am quite happy to share the resources I've accumulated for the book I'm writing about it; I have over 500 papers (many of which are behind paywalls, so one needs library access to get them). A few of the comments ahead of this one encompass many of the emerging themes (in particular: testosterone is complicated!): cis women's muscles are in fact as strong as men's (the athletic "gender gap" arises almost entirely from body size); changes in muscle mass with GAHT are not really important; testosterone *is* important in ways that aren't easily observed (because they depend on transient biochemistry, not anatomy).
As infuriating as the words of such politicians are for us, I think it's vital to try to combat the ignorance with education. So many people really have no idea of what the underlying physiology really is, and just think of some high-school girl playing against an NFL linebacker or some such imagery. The Nancy Maces of the world have their dedicated trans-eradication agenda; we know they're beyond hope. But we have to try to get the mainstream to understand.
Contact me on my Substack; together we're better than separate.
Some people mistakenly believe that a person's biological sex at birth, specifically genital size, is the sole determinant of their gender identity and whether they can be called a "man."
This view disregards the fact that masculinity can be demonstrated through character, actions, and deeds developed throughout life.
Furthermore, everyone deserves equal treatment and respect, regardless of their sex assigned at birth, race, or gender identity.
This principle of equality should be upheld by the law.
Despite our individual differences, we should all be treated with the same dignity and afforded the same opportunities.
We must strive for a society where everyone can reach their full potential without facing discrimination based on race or sex.
Eliminating racism and sexism is crucial for achieving individual liberty, freedom, and justice – fundamental rights guaranteed to all by the U.S. Constitution and inherent to all of humanity.
All these things were taught to me before I entered grade school.
This is Truely appalling, how hard is it for them to understand that there is currently no scientific evidence trans women have an advantage over cisgender women in a majority of sports aside from specifically 'handgrip strength' and that is only slight at best, less than a few percentage points. They like to point out testosterone as a major performance enhancer but fail to note that it has been proven to not predict athlete performance, nor do they like to here that elite cisgender men and womens testosterone levels actually over lap with eachother and are actually higher than tran women who have been on suppressors for 12 months. This is just another preconceived lie that men are better than women and is also the reason why there are gender separate sports to begin with because men are afraid they will lose to women.
I am absolutely exhausted by the typical democratic party game of "we lost an election, so obviously people like what the right is saying, and so that means that the progressive wing of our party must be the reason we lost! Let's ratchet to the right some more, that'll help!"
Kamala ran on a republican-lite platform. There was nothing remotely progressive about it. /That's why they lost!/. It's infuriating they can't see it. Why would I vote for republican-lite when I can just vote red? Why would anyone actually blue vote for you if your party does not actually meet the needs or wants of the constituents? And so, with the left continually ignored and silenced, we slide into fascism
I called my Republican representative about HR23, up for consideration tomorrow. I asked to speak with an LA, but I was only offered the option of leaving a message with the junior staffer. Grrrrr What does one say to a Republican, other than, "Please don't be a nazi?" I argued that I realized little Suzie winning a ribbon was an existential threat to western civilization that required emergency legislative action, but that Sec. 2(2) of the bill was gratuitous and unnecessary, to wit:
‘‘(2) For the purposes of this subsection, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.
I think that this would be the first time a "biological" definition of sex is inscribed into federal statutory law. I argued that instead, the bill could define "BIOLOGICAL sex" and could refer to "BIOLOGICAL sex" throughout the statute to achieve its primary goal of preventing the universe-swallowing rip in the time-space continuum that would result from little Suzie winning a ribbon. That would leave room for the radical notion (gasp!) that one's LEGAL sex could be different from one's BIOLOGICAL sex. As a result, it wouldn't result in the cancerous, creeping rot of cut-and-paste language that would ultimately define away my existence as a trans woman (the nullification of my legal status as female, which required that I literally have myself sterilized - i.e. back in the old days).
Gah! I hate this stuff! I wish I had been more mentally prepared and could have argued other points too - with an actual LA. I am literally trying to get packed, so that I can hop a plane out of this hell hole!
Fun fact: The junior staffer had never heard Niemoller's poem ("First they came for..."). I was trying to tell him that not even Niemoller seemed to know that first "they came for" the trans women and the academic and medical community that supported them (i.e. Magnus Hirschfeld's clinic in Berlin). Many of these folks went to the first concentration camp (Dachau), about 5 years before "they came for" the Jews. Don't they teach these kids history anymore?
"Better to fight and fall than to live without hope" – Volsunga Saga, Chapter 12. We are real and authentic and that gives us power and strength that these weak and whining frauds will never be able to understand or match. We must now find joy and nobility in a fight not of our choosing but one that we can and must win.
Losing elections is definitely a reason to betray one of the only constituencies that voted almost entirely for you, genius! ✨🧠✨
With Democrats now predictably turning on trans people, the outlook for trans rights is getting so bad that I think only those who can be completely stealth, have had surgery and all their legal documents already changed, and who live in blue states may feasibly go forward smoothly, and even then only with some luck and a “don’t ask don’t tell” kind of life. That is now the sad reality. The hope that many had a decade or so ago to live their lives completely freely and openly is now gone, probably for decades.
The one thing about sports bans that advocates of such bans aren’t really considering is enforcement. Are we going to now expect that parents will have to produce their child’s birth certificate for any school athletics, and/or that the kids will have to undergo genital inspections?
Didn't the HRC leader tell the Harris campaign not to say anything on trans issues? In every case where Dems actually engaged, they won, but HRC tells the dems not to on a national level. Now the Dems want to blame us for that, when the truth is we win when people actually care enough to try. At this point, we're just going to have to reform the party ourselves. We did at state levels and now we got go national... mostly due to laziness.