Sex and Gender

Gender Warfare

 

Ignorance is the mother of bigotry. Most bigotry and prejudice is founded on ignorance. That was why I decided to learn a little bit about gender issues that have become so much a part of the culture wars not just in the west but nearly everywhere. That was why I attended the event in Steinbach about Gender experiences. I am glad I did because I learned a lot. According to the Sexual Education Resource Centre of Manitoba Sex and Gender are not the same thing. Here is how it explains the difference:

 

“The words sex and gender mean very different things.  Sex is the difference in biological characteristics of males and females, determined by a person’s genes.  For example, only some bodies produce sperm.  This is a biological characteristic determined by the person’s genes.  Alternatively, only some bodies have egg cells and can come become pregnant.  This is another biological characteristic determined by a person’s genes.  A person’s sex is typically assigned at birth by a doctor or a medical professional.  Designations are usually “male” or “female”, despite there being many variations between them (this is called “intersex” or a “difference in sex designation” and there are over 47 known versions).  Sex is not the same as gender.

 

Gender refers to socially or culturally defined ideas about masculinity and femininity.  Society has its own ideas of what makes a girl a girl and a boy a boy.  For example, there may be roles, attributes, or behaviours associated with masculinity – like enjoying sports.  And there may be roles, attitudes, or behaviours associated with femininity – like wearing makeup.  These ideas are learned from family, friends, communities, opinion leaders, religious institutions, schools, the workplace, advertising, and the media, and can be very limiting for individual people.  But these expectations do change over time.  For example, less than one hundred years ago, people thought that pink was the best colour to dress boys in, and blue for girls.  Typically, pink is now considered to be a feminine colour.  Gender is not the same as sex.

 

How people identify their gender is called “gender identity”.  Gender identity is about how someone thinks and feels about the sex they are.  It’s about a person’s core sense of who they are.  It’s about whether someone identifies emotionally and spiritually as a man or a woman or both or neither.  Gender identity is not determined by a person’s biological sex.  Most people have a gender identity that matches their biological sex.  For example, a biological male might identify as a man.  Sometimes, a person’s gender identity does not match their biological sex.  For example, someone born with a penis and testicles may identify as a woman.  Gender identity is self-determined, and may change over a person’s lifetime.

A simple way of explaining the difference between sex and gender is: sex = what is between our legs, and gender = what is between our ears.  SERC values and respects all gender identities, and provides affirming supports and services for folks of all genders.”

I remember years ago when on of my sons wanted to have purse.  A pink purse at that. two of his uncles were appalled.  Boys don’t do they they insisted. We insisted to let play with whatever he wanted to play with. I don’t think it ever harmed him. At the time we did not understand the issues aIt is unfortunate but true, that many people experience stigma, abuse, prejudice, discrimination and even assault or death as a result of their gender or gender identity. All of these can have profound adverse health consequences for people, none of which are earned or justified. Transphobia is world-wide and real and it can be a serious menace. Many of  us had transphobia at one time. I admit that in the days of my youth I had transphobia because I did not understand gender issues. Frankly, I was ignorant.  I am still woefully ignorant but at least I am no longer consciously choosing to express transphobia. I choose instead to be an ally of trans people, though acknowledge I have a long way to go be a very good ally.

 

I think the key is that people should allow other people to be the person they want to be. None of us should try to impose our views of gender on others, even parents with their children. Let the children choose when they are old enough to do so.

Do Americans care about democracy?

Death of Democracy, Democracy, Trump

 

It turns out Bill Maher was wrong. Democracy in America is not dead. It is clinging to life by its fingernails. I hope people don’t think the issue has gone away.

Benjamin Franklin said America had a republic, if it could keep it.

According to Bill Maher

 “They can’t. They don’t want it. They want theology instead…Democracy is on the ballot on Tuesday and unfortunately it’s going to lose. And once it’s gone it’s gone. It’s not something you can change your mind about and reverse.  That’s gender.”

Thank goodness is seem Maher was wrong. For now.

Some of Donald Trump’s anti-democratic partners appear to have lost their bids for election yesterday. Others seem to have won. Some results are uncertain. Some of the luster of Donald Trump seems to have fallen down. There is hope, but democracy must be struggled for.

Many people point out truthfully that America has been in highly divisive  spots before. And they have survived. Americans are nothing if not resilient. But there are 2 differences that I see now.

One is the incredibly corrosive power of the Internet and how rapidly lies can travel on that medium. Much faster than truth. Lies and hate feed the Internet because they are immensely profitable. How does anyone fight that?

Secondly, many Americans, but thankfully not all,  seem to have given up on democracy. They literally  don’t seem to care any more if they have a democracy of not. And that is a very large group. They just care if their side wins. That is all that matters. How does anyone fight that?

The problem is that many people in America have demonstrated they don’t care about democracy. The Republican who was up for election  as governor in Wisconsin said ““Republicans will never lose another election in Wisconsin after I’m elected governor.” But he appears to have lost. But he lost narrowly. He got more than a million votes, less than 100,000 votes behind the winner.

Maher made another very important point about how democracies can be lost if we are not vigilant:

“This is how it happens. Hitler was elected. So was Mussolini. Putin. Erdogan. Viktor Orban.”

That has not happened.  I would say today it looks more like it won’t happen then yesterday. There is hope. But there is not certainty.

 

We are Doomed

American Fascism, Death of Democracy, Death of Truth, Decline of the west, Democracy, The Sleep of Reason, Trump, Trumpism

 

Not every one likes Bill Maher.  I know he is the worst interviewer on television.  Often he does not let his guests speak, but speaks up for them instead.  As well, when he lets them speak, he has some very interesting guests from all ends of the political spectrum from Steve Bannon to Nancy Pelosi.  And he sometimes makes some very interesting points.

For example, he was the first one to predict that Trump would never resign after he was elected president. He said that almost immediately after the election in 2016!  Now every one knows that. But not many said that in 2016. But Maher has also appreciated, as few others do, that this refusal now has important consequences.  Americans seem to be tolerating, if not encouraging,  this refusal even though the peaceful transfer of power has for long been considered the most important characteristic of democracy. It is what distinguishes democracy from autocracy.

And now millions of Americans have demonstrated clearly that they don’t think this element of democracy is important. They don’t care! I have found this astonishing. Many have not. Many shrug their shoulders as if it didn’t matter.

Maher said “Well we had a good run.”  On November 8, 2022 Americans had a chance to vote for democracy. As Joe Biden and many Democrats said, “Democracy is on the ballot.”  And they were right. And it didn’t matter to millions Americans. Inflation was more important than democracy. Bill Maher predicted this 4 days before the election as if it was a foregone conclusion. This is what he said,

“Tuesday is the election and I know I should tell you to vote in the most important election ever. So, O.K., yes. You should vote.  And it should be for the one party that still stands for democracy preservation. But it’s also a waste of breath because anyone who believes that is already voting and anybody who needs to learn that isn’t watching and no one in America can be persuaded about anything anymore anyway.”

On this point Maher is right.  No one will change their mind. Trump was right when he said he could stand in Times Square, murder someone and it wouldn’t make any difference to his supporters. They are that determined to vote for him no matter what he says or does. that gives him a lot of rope.  Look at the mountains of evidence revealing his nefarious deeds. Yet, his supporters are filled with religious devotion that cannot be altered. No one can be convinced out of a theological devotion. That in itself is enough to kill democracy.

Maher gave another pertinent example—the January 6th hearings. Those hearings provided Americans with an overwhelmingly convincing narrative that Donald Trump had no respect for democracy as he led the charge against democracy and his devoted followers followed. As Maher said,

“The January 6th hearings it turned out changed nobody’s mind. Democrat Jamie Raskin said the hearings “will tell a story that will really blow the roof off the House.”  No that was Hurricane Ian. Hearings roof not blown. The Committee did a masterful job laying out the case but we live in Partisan American now. So it’s a little like doing stand-up when half the crowd only speaks Mandarin. No matter how good the material is it’s not going to go over. After all the hearings the percentage of Americans who thought Trump did nothing wrong. Went up 3 points! That’s America now.”

 

Again, Maher is right. The truth did not matter! All that mattered was that millions of people are devoted to Trump and nothing—absolutely nothing—will turn them away from their religious leader. The overwhelming narrative is irrelevant.

I am a Canadian; I have no dog in this hunt. But I do. America is the leader of the modern world. Maybe not for much longer, but for now that is true. If America coughs the rest of the world catches a cold.

 I am posting this as the election is drawing to a close. I don’t know any results. I hope Maher is wrong; if fear he is right.

Are we doomed?  Let’s see what happens tonight.

Gender Experiences

Culture Wars, Gender Warfare

 

The issue of gender has become a hot political subject, particularly in the United States. Particularly among conservatives there is a lot of hysteria around the issue and that is unfortunate. Unreasonable fears seldom benefit anyone.

I remember a television series many years ago. It was called The Naked City. It told the story of people in New York City. They always said at the beginning of each show: There are 8 million stories in the Naked City. This is one of them.  Well sex and gender  is sort of like that.

These comments are inspired by a talk given recently by own former family doctor Darren Reimer at event in Steinbach hosted by a wonderful organization called Neighbours for Community. I tried to take notes as best I could but failed miserably so I had to do my own independent research. This post is based on both of those. So the mistakes in these comments are my own and I take responsibility for them. Don’t blame Dr. Reimer for anything I say; blame me.

 

Gender identity is not the same thing as gender expression. Gender expression refers to how a person outwardly expresses his or her or their gender. This can be evinced by clothes, hairstyles, or attitudes. Gender identity is what a person feels inside. Gender identity can be different than gender expression. For example, a person may be repressing a gender identity by choosing to wear clothes that hide the gender identity. On the other hand, gender expression can be employed by a person who is not sure of his or her or their gender identity but wants to explore it. A person may just want to choose a gender identify rather than having one imposed by others.

A person’s gender is determined early in life, but probably not at birth.  Gender is not as simple as many people choose to believe. The natural world, which includes humans, is astonishingly diverse. Not only that, it is fluid and dynamic.  Nothing in nature necessarily remains the same. As I always like to say, the only thing constant in nature is change.

 

There are more than 2 gender identities.  People are gender diverse. This is an umbrella term that includes, queer, non-binary and gender fluid. Physicians say that about 0.5% to 4.5% of adults are in this category and 2.5% to 8% among children and adolescents.  And people have been gender diverse for centuries and probably millennia. As my family doctor said, “This was not invented by the woke crowd.”

Indigenous people have another category that they refer to as “two spirited.” Most first nations recognized 3-5 gender roles when they first contacted Europeans. The categories are subject to change.

Many people prefer worlds of black and white and  have difficulty with a world of colour.  Such people also prefer worlds where all questions can be answered with simple answers: yes or no for example. Sadly for them, often life is not that simple.

 

Some people think God never makes mistakes. Surprisingly, some people even believe this though they have seen Ted Cruz.  As a result on this view, since God never makes mistakes it would be wrong to try to change the gender God assigned us at birth. However, what if the gender God assigned us at birth is not as clear cut as we ordinarily expect?  What if the gender or sex of a person is not absolutely clear? Does that mean God made a mistake? Why?

 

People who insist on a black and white world have trouble accepting that there can be ambiguity about gender, but such ambiguities are common and have been with us forever! Again the woke crowd did not invent this phenomenon. This used to be referred to as Hermaphroditus, but today is usually referred to as intersex. Many people think everyone has clear male or female markers, but that is not the case. There is sometimes a significant overlap between the two which makes it difficult for physicians to assign sex at birth. This actually happens frequently. This also happens with other animals. Farmers know that sometimes animals are born with both male or female genitals or genitals that are not clearly male or female. People with intersex characteristics have several variations of their sexual characteristics. About 1% of people are ambiguous in their sex.

 

People can also be ambiguous about their gender. Remember, gender is selected by the individual and not  assigned by physicians. A person might not be sure what their gender identity is. Such people may want to explore the possibilities before they choose an identity. And then, in some cases, the gender identity they have chosen may change later. What is wrong with that?

At  times shame, fear, and guilt led people to request physicians “correct” these “defects” by surgery. Frequently, such surgeries ended in disasters. Playing God often does not work out well. Nowadays, physicians recognize that there is no such thing as Gender identity disorder. It is not a disorder! It is merely an ambiguity.

Gender dysphoria is a term that describes a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity. This sense of unease or dissatisfaction may be so intense it can lead to depression and anxiety and have a harmful impact on daily life. Some people prefer a sexual identity other than the one ordinarily assigned to them.

Many people, not just those identified by the woke crowd, experience stigma, abuse, prejudice, discrimination, and death as a result of stress imposed upon them by the majority for their perceived inadequacies of gender identity. This is horrifically cruel. We can do better!

Such actions by majorities can lead to profound physical or psychological harms. Transphobia is the infliction of harm on gender minorities by majorities. As the name suggests, such harms are inflicted out of fear and misunderstanding of what is perceived as different from us. Transphobia has led to violence against sexual or gender minorities around the world. Transphobia is international and real. 4,000 people were known to have died as a result between 2005 and 2021 but it is acknowledged the real numbers are much higher on account of under reporting.  1 out of 4 of these were murdered in their own homes. It is time to stem the tide.

We must do better.

 

Gender Affirming Care

Gender Warfare, Social Issues, The Sleep of Reason

 

According to my former personal physician, Dr. Darren Reimer, who spoke at an event in Steinbach, “There is lots of evidence that gender affirming care is helpful.” Yet sadly, gender affirming care has been viciously and relentlessly attacked by conservatives around the world–from Russia to the United States. Dr. Rimer  said that much of this evidence is clinical. That means it has been tried and has worked! According to Dr. Reimer, “gender affirming care is real and effective.” It reduces gender dysphoria.

Some people experience debilitating  gender dysphoria which is the acute and chronic distress some persons experience of living in a body that does not reflect one’s gender and the desire to have bodily characteristics of that gender. This is not something invented by the libs. It is real. It exists. Conservative hysteria won’t make it go away.

Yet, notwithstanding it’s general acceptance by the medical community, conservatives have attacked gender affirming care with relentless hostility. I think the reason is that conservatives fear liberals will take advantage of such care to impose their presumed agenda to get as many people as possible to change their identity. I don’t know why liberals would want to that, but conservatives seem to believe this is part of the liberal agenda. On the other hand, I believe that the conservative view is part of their hysteria about sexuality. Hysteria is their agenda. Many conservatives believe that the only permissible sex is that between men and women and then only when each maintains their birth sex and gender.

In part the problem here is the fact that this battle is being conducted in the world of the internet gone mad. As John Oliver said, “So much of the fear of and arguments against transgender people comes from misinformation and misunderstanding. And maybe the biggest and most dangerous area of ignorance comes from the concept of gender affirming care.”

In US four states have already scratched access to such care and 15 more are considering similar legislation. According to Oliver, “They have been fuelled by a lack of basic knowledge about what of gender affirming care actually consists.”

As Michael Knowles, the host of his own TV show: said If a child walked into a doctor’s office and said Doc I want you to cut my fingers off, the Doc would say ‘you’ve got some problems kid we need to refer you to a psychiatrist.’ If the child walked into the same doctor’s office and said, ‘Doc I want you to cut my uterus out, that Doctor would say, ‘Oh you’re a wonderful brave person. You’re right we do need to cut you uterus out as soon as possible. Let’s get this young lady over to the operating room.’

That of course is nonsense in hi def. Many conservatives believe that as soon as child declares that he or she is trans, an immediate irreversible decision is made  to make the surgery happen. That just  is not the  way these things work.

This is what I understand about gender affirming care: In young children gender affirming care consists mainly of things like a social transition where the child is allowed to use a new name ,with the parent’s consent, or have a new hair cut or wear new clothes. They might get psychological supports to help them to avoid bullying or harassment. When puberty is onset a child, with parental consent, might be given puberty blockers to delay puberty. This can buy time for the young person to make a decision when older about gender identity.

If that treatment is later suspended endogenous puberty will resume.  It is not irreversible. It just gives time to think about it.

The next medical intervention is usually hormone therapy which boosts levels of testosterone or estrogen as the case may be. Opponents of such treatment claim this is experimental medical treatment, but that is not true. Some falsely claim it sterilizes people. There are some specific rare risks to fertility in some cases but according to the Yale School of Medicine, the effect is anticipated to be reversible if medication is discontinued.

Nonetheless, as a result of conservative hysteria many states are making efforts to ban gender affirming care.

According to Heather Boerner, in her article in Scientific American, earlier this year,  “A decade of research shows such treatment reduces depression, suicidality and other devastating consequences of trans preteens and teens being forced to undergo puberty in the sex they were assigned at birth).” Scientific American also said this in an introduction to the her article: “Laws that ban gender-affirming treatment ignore the wealth of research demonstrating its benefits for trans people’s health.”

As Michelle Forcier, a pediatrician and professor of pediatrics at Brown University, said,

“The bills are based on “information that’s completely wrong…[Those laws] are absolutely, absolutely incorrect” about the science of gender-affirming care for young people. “[Inaccurate information] is there to create drama. It’s there to make people take a side.”

 

 

Here is the truth according to Heather Boerner in her Scientific American article:

“The truth is that data from more than a dozen studies of more than 30,000 transgender and gender-diverse young people consistently show that access to gender-affirming care is associated with better mental health outcomes—and that lack of access to such care is associated with higher rates of suicidality, depression and self-harming behavior.”

 

This aligns nicely with what our own Steinbach physician Dr. Darren Reimer said. In other words, (these are my words now) the misinformation is part of a culture war, not a rational argument, and as we all know, in any war, even a cultural war, truth is the first casualty.

 

 

Transitioning to Cats and Dogs

Culture Wars, Social Issues, The Sleep of Reason

 

Have you heard this crazy story that claims some schools are inundated with children now wanting to transition not to another gender but to another species? I first heard about this from a friend who said it was happening in the Bible belt of Manitoba. She claimed children in school were demanding kitty litter boxes in school because they were transitioning to cats and did not want to make a mess? They also insisted graduation be held outdoors, more befitting cats.

 

I was stunned when I heard this claim and have since learned it is a growing claim by conservatives whose fears have been stoked to such extremes in the current culture wars. There is nothing like a cultural war to generate massive amounts of hysteria.

Does anyone think this is happening? I rather think it is another example of hysteria causing people to believe the craziest things.

I believe everyone should be free to explore their own sexuality freely, at their own pace and at their own time. They should not be shoved into anything by elders, whether they be parents or liberals, or conservatives.

 

Hysteria is also being fueled by the Internet which is governed by algorithms that reward the extremes. In other words, the more extreme the story the more likely it is that it will be spread far and wide on the internet. Stories about gender transitioning are not extreme enough any more as they once were. Transitioning to cats on the other hand, now that is extreme. 

If children are exploring their sexual identity as conservatives claim, where is the harm? Who is harmed by that? Whose freedom is impinged by that? Only the freedom of those who want to impose their sexual ideology on others–i.e. the conservatives in some cases, and liberals in others. Conservatives seem to me to be the ones getting hysterical about this issue but both sides are guilty.

As John Oliver said, “Watching the conversation around this, it is hard not to feel that to the extent there is any social contagion here, it is among adults who whip themselves into such a frenzy that they find themselves repeating some humiliating nonsense.”

 Hysteria is the contagion. Nothing more.

A Drill Sergeant in the cultural War

Culture Wars, Freedom, Human rights

 

John Oliver pointed out that some of some of the same players involved in another phony war, the war against ‘Critical race Theory’ (‘CRT’)  have volunteered for action in the current war by conservatives  against trans gender rights. This is  the latest battle and for the same reasons. Conservatives see an opportunity for advancement of personal agendas in a the phony war. Many of the participants in the CRT   battle were doing it as a wedge issue to promote school choice.

 

One of the main characters in the CRT skirmish has now joined the new trans war, namely Chris Rufo. He specifically said he was taking the same “reporting” he did with CRT to “gender ideology.” Rufo said he wanted to give parents “the media narrative, kind of justification, or validation or substantiation of their concerns.” Rufo was arming parents with arguments they could use in the cultural war…” to give them the language they can use to speak of it with confidence so that they can speak about it directly,  and they can speak about it with the requisite level of aggressiveness.” Rufo’s language makes it clear that he see himself as a drill sergeant in the culture war.

 Rufo claimed that the gender claims were all part of the “radical gender theory” and that combatants should start referring to the phrase “trans stripper” in lieu of “drag queen” because it has “a more lurid set of connotations and shifts the debate to sexualization.”

According to John Oliver,

“In the conservative playbook that tactic is a really big one–linking the discussion of gender identity sexual predation and teaches grooming students. A related tactic is arguing that the rise in numbers of children identifying as trans is due to social contagion. It is just a mass delusion, a trendy fad that is rapidly spreading among young people.”

 

The practitioners in the culture war that few things riles up their supporters more than sexual paranoia. Stoking fears about sexuality is a guarantee of conservative support. It is about as fool-proof as stoking fears about race.

Contrary to the typical position of conservatives in Canada and the US, historians are documenting the lives of transgender people through history. This is not something new. It is not a fad. As National Geographic, not exactly a left wing rag,  reported, “There’s ample evidence of gender variance throughout human history. As far back as historians have found evidence of transgender people, we have found transgender children.” This is not just a modern fad stoke by liberals.

 

Conservatives have claimed there has been a rapid rise in children identifying as trans, and that is a very common perception, but it is a misconception. As Julia Serano pointed out, when you look at a chart of left-handedness among Americans in the 20th century you see a huge spike when Americans stopped forcing children to write with their right hands. After that there was a plateau. That does not mean everyone suddenly became left-handed. It really just means that people were free to be whom they wanted to be. And isn’t that a wonderful thing?  Conservatives, again, claim to be in support of freedom when they are among the most relentless of foes against freedom. When people are free to choose, as they should be, a significant number of people chose to exercise that freedom and decided to change their gender. By far the most do not!

The only thing spreading like wild fire is hysteria.

 

 

Soothing the Base by Attacking 12-year olds

Culture Wars, Human rights, Social Issues

 

A lot of conservatives have been rendered apoplectic by the issue of transgender rights. On the right it is the latest and greatest liberal whipping boy. Much of it can be seen in their jokes on the subject. Like this one by MAGA supporter: My name is J. R Magusi, and my pronouns are “patriot,” and “asskicker.” Or Garret Soldano, my pronouns, “conservative,” “patriot.” Or Matt Schlapp, chair of the CPAC, “I would like to declare something right now. My pronouns are “USA.” Or good old Ted Cruz, “My pronoun is kiss my ass.” Cruz is really tough when he goes up against 12-year old girls! All of these jokes are demonstrating of course that they don’t know what pronouns are. But more importantly demonstrating that they don’t get it. It is difficult to avoid concluding that politicians like Cruz don’t care about female athletes unless they can calculate that their supporters might enjoy watching an attack on young girls by grown men.

 

Yet, the issue is more important than bad jokes.  This year, according to National Public Radio, “There are over 100 anti-trans bills in state houses.” 12 states have already signed anti-trans laws. That is part of a campaign of violence and threats against trans people, among the most vulnerable minority in the USA  and Canada showing once again, that conservatives love to pick on vulnerable minorities. This is particularly true when their sexuality is in jeopardy. Besides schools, there have even been attacks and harassment in children’s hospitals.  How brave can conservatives get?

Of course, defense of trans people on the left has been weak-kneed if not hostile in defending this group. American conservatives are the ones talking about this issue. Clearly, they are acting like petty demagogues when they use the issue to show to their fans that they can make Democrats look ridiculous and weak, while they demonstrate “strength” by attacking unsupported youth. We have to remember this can inflict serious harm on vulnerable people. And when it is adults ganging up on young children it is particularly ugly.

 

It is also obvious that many of these laws have very little to do with what is really happening and everything to do with what the conservatives believe will please their supporters regardless of that fact.

Here is an example, of what I mean. Recently, 18 American states have passed laws banning transgender youth participation in sports. Is that really needed? Are there that many transgender people trying to swamp sports? One of those engaging in this is South Dakota Republican Governor Kristie Noem who made her bill a centre piece of her political campaign. Here is what one ad said, “In South Dakota only girls play girls’ sports. Why because of governor Christie Noem’s leadership. She has been protecting girls’ sports for years and never backed down. Now governor Noem has a bill that will give South Dakota the strongest law in the nation protecting female sports. Doing the work. Delivering results.”

She sure is brave isn’t she?

People like her love to fire up fears about female trans athletes having an unfair advantage and taking away opportunities from “real girls.”  As Time Magazine pointed out, “There are vanishingly few examples nationwide of trans athletes attempting to compete at all.” This is a problem mainly in the eyes of conservatives and their pundits. In South Dakota the head of their sports association was able to name  only one “one transgender female athlete.” That athlete graduated a few years. This was past news. Yet is the news Republicans think they can use to beat up on Democrats. As John Oliver pointed out, “There are more athletes in Noem’s ad than there are trans girls known to be competing.”  Of course, even if there were more of such athletes the real nub is that it is just plain wrong to discriminate against them.

The International Olympic Committee said it would not issue blanket bans, but approach each on a sport-by-sport basis. It also said its general fundamental principle would be that “no athlete should be excluded from competition on the assumption of an advantage due to their gender.” Does it make sense that a trans athlete can compete in the Olympics but not in under 12 soccer?

Parents seem to fear that children are plotting costly time-consuming transition campaigns just to win a city championship.  Would any child really do that? Would any child do that who knows how much abuse they will be subjected to? As John Oliver said, “So much of the conversation about anti-trans laws involves massively overheated rhetoric that does not match the actualities of kids’ situations.”

And when you get “massively overheated rhetoric” that is a pretty good sign that the real issue is not what the combatants claim. Usually this shows hysteria is at play.  This is a battle in a cultural war. That is the real issue. Wars can generate heat. Not 12 year old athletes in a local volleyball match.