“Jack of Shadows,” the handle of a gay man who worked in sexual health and HIV prevention in a midsize Northeastern U.S. city, shares his story via LGB Courage Coalition:
My STI testing booth at the Pride festival was overrun by obviously autistic women on testosterone, so-called “trans children,” their very proud parents, all manner of Queers for Palestine, and, of course, Furries. This parade of mentally confused kids, oblivious parents, and—Furries—was just too strange to ignore. I often say that gender ideology is a mile wide but paper thin. Once you see it for what it is, you can’t unsee it. And I had seen too much. …
My advisor, a child-maternal health expert with a PhD in epidemiology, was censored by journal editors when she submitted papers using “controversial” words such as “mother” or “woman.” If she refused to use preferred terms such as “birthing person,” “uterus haver,” or my least favorite, “chest feeder,” her reputation and employment would be endangered. In secret, we vented our disgust at these dehumanizing, dystopian terms that the public health sector had so rapidly embraced. …
As [a required training] ended, I politely pointed out that “trans men” have different concerns than men do. Women who believe they are gay men are still women with all of the same sexual and reproductive concerns women have (pregnancy, cervical health). Furthermore, sex matters when it comes to infectious disease. … When I carefully, painstakingly pointed this out—like walking on eggshells—the pushback was swift and severe. …
I entered this field because, as a Gen X gay man who lived through the AIDS crisis, I wanted to help others in a way the generation before me had not. … Yet the moment I questioned the dogma, even privately, I was pushed out of the field I had dedicated almost a decade of my life to.
Related:
Tragic: