Some gay people think that organizations set up to fight for gay rights made a mistake in throwing their weight behind trans activism. In an open letter in the Times in October, some prominent gays and lesbians accuse Stonewall, Britain’s biggest LGBT charity, of “uncritically adopting a form of transgender politics which undermines…the concept of homosexuality itself.” (It added “T” for transgender to its “LGB” (lesbian, gay and bisexual) mission in 2015.) More than 7,000 people have now signed a petition in support of the letter. Yet Stonewall’s CEO, Ruth Hunt, has denied any need for a rethink, saying that “trans equality is at the heart of our mission for acceptance without exception.”
Author Archives: Stephen Henry Miller
George H.W. Bush, Remembered
(An earlier version of this post erroneously led with an article on George W. Bush instead of George H.W. Bush; IGFCultureWatch regrets the error.)
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Trans Orthodoxy vs. Lesbian-Feminist Heresy
You don’t have to agree with Meghan Murphy’s critique of transgenderism to see that something is very wrong in the way trans activists and their supporters react to opinions they dislike, especially when it comes to lesbian-feminists who don’t want to share locker rooms and showers with people who have male bodies.
Meghan Murphy writes:
In San Francisco, which one might assume to be a hot spot for lesbian pride, a group of women carrying signs that read, “Proud to be lesbian,” “Lesbian Visibility,” and “Lesbian not queer” were harassed and bullied. Feminist historian Max Dashu, who was in attendance, said she and the other “old lesbians” were surrounded by “young queers” who pushed them and chanted “TERFs, go home.” On Facebook, she wrote: “I’ve been to many marches, including dangerous ones, but this was the most vicious episode I have ever experienced, ever in my life.” As a result of Dashu attending the march alongside these heretic women, she was disinvited as a speaker, most ironically, from a group called the Modern Witches Confluence. When it comes to the campaign against TERFs in trans-compliant progressive circles, even self-described witches now go in for witch hunts.
From Spectator USA, same Facebook photo but a different article, this one by Julie Bindel about Meghan Murphy.
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Racism and Political Correctness Have Much in Common
Wesley Yang writes:
We wouldn’t even be able to conceive of the microaggression were not the macroaggression stigmatized and on the retreat. My parents’ homes were reduced to rubble in Korea. To speak to them about a microaggression is just not credible, it’s simply absurd.
On the other hand, it’s also true that there’s a lot of pain that goes with being an Asian-American, which I write about. …
But… when one looks at remediating that through a system of policing speech and thought, then you cross over into this whole other territory where you’re talking about extinguishing human freedom for the purpose of pursuing some person’s ill-defined therapeutic grievance.
Similarly:
Has the message of anti-racism become as harmful a force in American life as racism itself?https://t.co/fD2DELPqIr
— reason (@reason) December 1, 2018
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Who Are the ‘Haters’?
From CampusReform:
Following a discussion on the Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling hosted by the George Washington University Federalist Society, the Student Bar Association and law school dean sent emails condemning the invited speaker from the Alliance Defending Freedom.
The event, “Religious Freedom or Discrimination: A Discussion of Masterpiece Cakeshop,” featured American Civil Liberties Union General Counsel Kenneth A. Klukowski and Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence.
So, according to the lawyers to be and their leftwing administrators at GW, you shouldn’t even debate whether small business owners should be forced by the state to provide creative services for a same-sex wedding, because to defend religious freedom is hate.
But let’s recall the Justices Kennedy, Breyer and Kagan were part of the Court’s majority that found it was the Colorado Civil Right Commission that had shown animus toward baker Jack Phillips’ religious beliefs. So, who is the hater (hint: not those defending religious freedom).
Relatedly:
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DeVos–and Due Process–vs. the ACLU
Before you fan the flames of the firestorm, I'd suggest taking a moment to ask yourself how these changes are anything but reasonable. You can hate Trump and love Obama and still recognize that the Obama administration's guidelines on this were an overreach. https://t.co/TTCluE81Wx
— Meghan Daum (@meghan_daum) November 16, 2018
Not only will the Department of Education's proposed rules restore basic due process and fairness to college tribunals, but they also — given how basic the changes are — highlight just how ridiculous university kangaroo courts have become: https://t.co/14gZExPL0E
— David French (@DavidAFrench) November 16, 2018
Put another way, her reforms will restore due process. https://t.co/2gQRtmySTm
— Christina Sommers (@CHSommers) November 14, 2018
I occasionally need the reminder why I'll never give the ACLU a single damned cent, despite the many things we agree on (and despite the positive interactions I've had with several of their lawyers). https://t.co/oFgqSHC4xv
— Scott Shackford [Blue Checkmark] (@SShackford) November 16, 2018
If only there was a national civil liberties organization that would stand up for the rights of the accused, rather than let the yahoos get away with claiming that adhering to due process "inappropriately favors" the accused. If only. https://t.co/shyUMOVCxN
— David Bernstein (@ProfDBernstein) November 16, 2018
More. As Camille Paglia notes: “The headlong rush to judgment by so many well-educated, middle-class women in the #MeToo movement has been startling and dismaying. Their elevation of emotion and group solidarity over fact and logic has resurrected damaging stereotypes of women’s irrationality that were once used to deny us the vote.”
Furthermore.
It's hard to know where to start with this dangerous suggestion from @anncoffey_mp that jury trials should be scrapped for rape cases. "Rape myths" do need to be addressed but defendants are still entitled to a presumption of innocence https://t.co/bYfFgQbvMQ
— Dr Hannah Quirk (@HannahQuirk1) November 21, 2018
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Hate Is Not a Virtue Because You’re a Progressive
I hope that sharing power in a divided government will make Democrats less likely to continue inciting mob hatred of anyone who dares commit the heresy of disagreeing publicly with progressive and identitarian dogmas. But I’m not hopeful.
Via Tucker Carlson:
Last month one of my children was attacked by a stranger at dinner. For her sake, I was hoping to keep the incident private. It’s now being politicized by the Left. Here’s what happened: pic.twitter.com/rwNoFYxMFv
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) November 11, 2018
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The LGBT Vote
This seems like it’s in keeping with most recent elections. What’s always surprising is that if you read the LGBT media, or even just mainstream media, you couldn’t be blamed for thinking gay people were 99.9% big-government liberal-left progressives.
Some interesting takeaways from yesterday’s @WSJ #ElectionDay exit polling: 24% of the LGBT community voted Republican; 37% of transgender people voted Republican. These are not insignificant numbers.
Full poll here: https://t.co/KbjKqrl3MQ pic.twitter.com/Of0vAOdgsN
— Gregory T. Angelo (@gregorytangelo) November 7, 2018
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Both Sides Lost
Megan McArdle writes:
If the left had been a little less visibly eager to condemn Kavanaugh before the trial — and if images of enraged protesters beating on the doors of the Supreme Court had not dominated our televisions —Democrats might have managed to knock the Republican Senate majority down, or perhaps even to shift it to a narrow blue wedge blocking Trump’s nominees. Instead, the Republican [Senate] majority has grown. It will be functionally impossible to remove Trump from office and even more difficult than it already was to stop a steady flow of conservatives into the vacancies on the courts.
I saw few people, however, entertaining such unpleasant thoughts on election night. Partisans seemed focused on the bright side: Democrats happily anticipating their House investigations, Republicans savoring their future judicial appointments. But eventually, these joys are likely to pall in the sight of the opposition’s ongoing victories, and partisans’ attentions will turn to what might have been, if they’d been a little more focused on practical politics and a little less focused on instant, evanescent victories in the culture war.
I have thoughts on the election. Also, I have to go to sleep: https://t.co/d2ZIysho9o
— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) November 7, 2018
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Reshaping the Judiciary
This does not fit the HRC narrative.