Gender Cynical, A Personal Story
by Collin Wynter
Something strange is going on. Within the Pride movement there are bullies. Trans activists. Demands are being made at conferences. Threats posted online. GSAs taken over. Gay men told to take a back seat. Lesbians denied sex segregated spaces. Gender neutral language driving misogyny. Experimentation on children. Identities being subsumed under acronyms.
I had a meeting at my local resource centre to discuss starting a gay men’s group. Having been apart of one in another city, I thought that I would like to lead one in my hometown. Give back to the community. A place for gay men to get together and hangout without drugs and alcohol. So it was odd that within the first few minutes of the meeting I was confronted with: What about John (pseudonym)? John was a trans man. John considers himself to be gay. John needs to be apart of the group. To have an exclusive group of gay men seemed anathema. My concern was for the men. Their concern was for the identity of man. Suffice to say, I did not follow through with the group.
Still no one can point to a single thing JK Rowling actually said that was transphobic. They complain about her choice of words, her emphasis on women’s rights and freedom of speech, of purchasing clothing with the logo “this witch doesn’t burn.” That is not transphobic. On the other hand, you certainly can point to the hate and vitriol online towards women with the derogatory TERF. Threats of violence, rape, pornography, doxxing. A defining moment for me, discussing this with a friend. She defended trans women as women. I knew this was not a point of contention that I would be able to win.
During the Ted Talk Transgender, A mother’s story, I felt ill at ease. Something was not adding up. The story seemed fabricated; a justification. Was this woman explaining the story of her transgender child or trying to explain herself? It didn’t seem ‘made up’. It certainly seemed like this was a true tale. Susie Green is in fact the CEO of Mermaids. She still does emphasize the need for trans youth to take puberty blockers early on to prevent their puberty and thus escape from the foretold downward spiral into depression and subsequent suicide attempts. She is quite obstinate in the matter. Apparently, one is supposed to disregard the fact that maybe her young son simply enjoyed playing with dolls; that the father came across as being homophobic; that Greene’s own motivation to try and keep the family together- keep her husband- must assuredly have nothing to do with the matter. Must we all be so blind to the tell-tale faults of human beings that are named adults? While children are being sacrificed at the alter of surgery by the Archdiocese of trans medical ‘care’? Is the audience so naive to believe that the child at age six requested “the surgery”? Are we to ignore the fact that the child’s suicide attempts apparently increased after beginning transition?
The little boy in the dress. That is how I was known on my street when I was little. Not only by that moniker, of course. No one minded. Being a gender atypic child was an imaginarium of experiences for me. It was natural. GI Jos and Barbies. I cannot recall ever thinking or believing that I was a girl. But I certainly did love dressing up. About the age of ten, the clothes were gone, as it was time for me to grow up a bit. It was my dad looking out for me and trying to protect me from being bullied. I cannot help but wonder, if in today’s climate, I too would have been put on the road with puberty blockers.
Three authors in particular stand out. Debra Soh, Abigail Shrier, Alice Dreger. Each one contributed to the conversation and helped me to understand what was going in in the realm of gender identity. Soh provided a scientific basis for the explanation of gender. Shrier described rapid onset gender dysphoria and the social contagion facing young women. Dreger delved into the rights of children to be free from medical interference and her fight against cancel culture led by trans activists. I have not relied solely on these authors, many more papers, books and podcasts have contributed to a deeper appreciation of the implications of queer theory and transgender ideology. But these three were among the first and are highly pertinent.
When a non-binary person leading a GSA is featured in a local newspaper promoting the “progressive” flag, alarm bells went off. Not only were there concerns about this person suggesting that the ‘progressive’ flag should be used instead of the traditional rainbow flag, but that they would happily instruct all schools in the city to use it. That a non-binary person leading a GSA is also of consequence. Gay Straight Alliances are student led initiatives in high school guided by a counsellor. They are not formed by the school or led by the teachers. They are certainly not meant to be indoctrination grounds for gender identity theory.
These are brief snap shots; some of the moments in my memory that shape the way I think and view the current state of gay culture and the effects of queer theory in mainstream society. Women’s rights, gay rights and children’s rights are being intersected upon by transgender activists. A postmodernist perspective that reality is grounded in language is fuelling ambitions. Claims that words shape facts rather than describe facts. This inversion will do untold amounts of damage. To end this, we too must use words. Words based in truth, integrity and courage. That is the solution. There can be not other.