Bayou Renaissance Man

First prize to whoever dreamed up this position statement.

https://x.com/TheMistressRox/status/1801556745191350558

Brilliant!

Peter

From Sgt. Mom at Chicago Boyz, writing about "the LGBT-BLT lifestyle":

It used to be said that it was the love that dare not speak its name, now it’s the love that never shuts up.

Word (or words!).

Peter

I'm obliged to Dr. Grumpy for this reminder of what some might consider the world's greatest newspaper headline.  Clickit to biggit.

I never have been able to find out the backstory behind the headline . . . can any reader oblige?

Peter

I had to laugh at this news report.

Spanish soldiers are changing their gender from male to female to earn certain benefits only available to females, including higher pay and better sleeping quarters, due to a self-identification law aimed at helping transgender people.

. . .

A majority of the now-female soldiers have kept every other aspect of life, including male genitalia, sexuality, and even facial hair.

“On the outside, I feel like a heterosexual man, but on the inside, I am a lesbian,” Army Corporal Roberto Perdigones told Spanish newspaper El Español. “And it is the latter that counts. This is why I made the legal change to become a woman.”

Perdigones says he was encouraged to change his gender because of “positive discrimination” and has since received a 15 percent salary increase.

“For changing my gender, I have been told that my pension has gone up because women get more to compensate for inequality. I also get 15 percent more salary for being a mother,” he added.

The soldier is looking to use his additional privilege as a woman to sue for shared custody of his 16-year-old son, assuming the courts will give him a better chance.

Perdigones changed his gender last year, and when he arrived at the barracks in Ceuta, he did so with hair too long to meet the male requirements and earrings, which the Spanish military prohibits men from wearing.

The army corporal was even given a personal bathroom because he wasn’t comfortable with sharing with either biological gender.

“I even have a private room in the barracks, all to myself, with a private bathroom. This is because I cannot be with men as I am a woman, and I did not consider it appropriate to be with biological women out of respect for them,” Perdigones said.

There's more at the link.

Boy, talk about working the system!  I'm sure Corporal Perdigones was (and still is) laughing all the way to the bank.  It just goes to show:  if the system provides profitable loopholes, some people will exploit them for all they're worth.

Now, let's try that with a US Marine Corps corporal, telling his Gunnery Sergeant DI that he's now a woman - and a lesbian.  I have this mental picture of the Gunny's head exploding . . . and another of the unfortunate corporal doubling multiple times around the perimeter of the entire base wearing makeup and jewelry, with his (sorry - her!) rifle held above their head, chanting - and panting - "I'm whatever the Marine Corps says I am!"

Peter

Rolf posted this conversation from Reddit on Gab the other day.  It raises all sorts of interesting questions.

Is my dog transphobic??

I (20 mtf) came out as trans in January and started transitioning back in March. My family has a 6 year old border collie that we have had since he was a puppy and ever since I started my transition he has acted more and more strange towards me. In the past he always let me pet him, cuddled with me, got excited when I was around and just generally normal dog stuff, but recently all that has stopped. If I try to pet him now he growls at me and has even barked a few times. When I enter a room that he's in he will get up and leave as if he's actively trying to avoid me all together. He never looks happy to see me anymore. I thought at first maybe he didn't recognize me and just thought I was a stranger (I have longer hair and wear girl clothes and the estrogen is slowly making me very female in appearance). But it continues and he seems to keep getting worse. And he still acts exactly the same as before around my parents and sibling. It's just me that he doesn't like!

Has anyone else experienced anything like this with their pets when they transitioned?? Is it normal or is my dog just a transphobe?? Do you think maybe he can smell the estrogen I'm taking and doesn't like it?

I hadn't previously heard about such complications (?) among the transitioning.  Has anyone come across them before?  Are they pretty similar among M-to-F or F-to-M transitioners, or are they more specific to one regendering?  Has anyone been able to suggest a medical or biological or zoological reason for the situation?

My personal, non-scientific wild-ass guess is that the dog has seen the entire structure of his family turned upside-down because something that was a solid, stable pillar of his existence has been taken away from him, and he doesn't like it at all.  It's hard to blame the poor critter.

Peter

Courtesy of a link over at Vox Day's place, I was disgusted to read this report.

Messiah Queered — that’s the title of a reimagining of Handel’s classic oratorio performed through an LGBTTQ+ lens.

The oratorio, a staple at Christmas time for many people, will be performed by the Rainbow Harmony Project choir, together with soloists and a 16-piece orchestra made up of professional and amateur players at Holy Trinity Anglican Church Friday at 7:30 p.m.

The idea for the performance came up during a conversation between Nathan Poole, a local violin and piano teacher, and Sandra Bender, music director at Holy Trinity Church.

Bender, who is bisexual and the soprano soloist in the performance, thought it would be a great oratorio for LGBTTQ+ people.

“It’s the story of a transient who hung out with marginalized people, who offered love and self-sacrifice and who experienced rejection and betrayal — something LGBTTQ+ people understand in all too real a way,” she said.

There's more at the link.

No, Ms. Bender.  "The Messiah" has nothing whatsoever to do with all those trendy, politically correct, "woke" artifacts you mention.  It celebrates the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, who claimed to be the Son of God and has been worshipped as such ever since.  By denigrating that reality, by forcing one of the greatest pieces of orchestral and choral worship ever written into your worldly, sexually charged framework, you've merely pissed off untold legions of people who take Christ seriously, and at his word, and know full well that he had, and has, nothing to do with your agenda.

Methinks it's time we started praying for some well-directed lightning strikes on that church this evening.  Some of the Seven Plagues of Egypt might be appropriate, too.

Peter

Matt Bracken posted this picture on Gab.  It made me laugh, partly because it's funny, but also because it's true.  No man can get pregnant.  Period (you should pardon the expression).  If someone threatens to harm him/her/itself if you don't agree with the contrary . . . well, that's their problem.  It's not yours.

The blind insistence by the trans community that their wishes can deny and defy medical reality is the biggest single strike against them.  When are they going to grow up?

Peter

I had to laugh at this report from San Francisco.

A group of demonstrators protested outside the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco's Financial District, where Women's Declaration International USA is holding its convention. "WDI" says it's focused on reigniting the Women's Liberation Movement, but critics say that's misleading.

"Their group is what we call 'TERFs,' Trans-exclusionary radical feminists," said Nancy Kato from Reproductive Justice Coalition.

Activist Kato says she believes WDI's mission is anti-Trans.

"Their basic premise is patriarchy and men are the enemy and therefore focused on Trans women, to say they are not real women," Kato.

. . .

Police intervened when several counter protesters attending the women's conference showed up, including Corrina D'Annible.

"What specific rights are Trans-identified individuals asking for that they don't already have to begin with? So if we're talking about the right for males to invade women's spaces, like I said, the history of male violence is long and storied," D'Annible said.

WDI conference organizers ... told us in a statement ... "We are enjoying our discussions about the rights, privacy and safety of women and girls, including reproductive liberty and the rights of lesbian and bisexual women."

Protesters called out the Hilton for hosting the conference.

There's more at the link.

This, of course, is the bitter fruit of identity politics, so beloved of the progressive left.  They specialize in identifying groups and then telling members of those groups that they suffer discrimination, need to stand up for "their" rights, and so on.  As this report demonstrates, pretty soon groups splinter into more groups, and fight each other for their slice of the "rights" pie - and all the time the grey eminences manipulate them all for their own benefit.

San Francisco is rampant with such "divide and rule" politics.  That's why nothing has been done to stop the homeless trashing the city, the extremists trashing anyone and everyone who won't get on their bandwagon, and the politicians who feather their own nests while effectively abandoning their electorate to the consequences of their failures.

I wish both sides in this case the best of luck.  Go ahead!  Demonstrate against each other and criticize each other to your heart's content!  The rest of us in "normal America" will look on in bemusement, shake our heads, and then get back to the business of normal living, while you amuse yourselves in the ephemeral, nonsensical, ridiculous cloud cuckoo land in which you've chosen to cocoon yourselves away from reality.

Peter

I had to laugh at this report from Australia.

Police officers in Australia have been accused of falsely registering as non-binary as part of a scheme to claim a higher clothing allowance from their department.

At least 17 officers from the Victoria Police have been interviewed in the force’s investigation of the alleged scheme, according to the Herald Sun, which was first brought to light on social media in June.

Victoria officers identifying as female are given a clothing allowance $1,300 higher than those identifying as male — and those who identify as non-binary or gender neutral receive the same stipend, a loophole investigators believe male officers are exploiting to pocket more money.

. . .

Participation in the scheme seemed to spread like wildfire — at one point, one department employee per day was newly identifying as non-binary.

By June, more than 130 employees identified as non-binary — up from just 32 the prior year.

There's more at the link.

As the late President Reagan pointed out, "If you want more of something, subsidize it; if you want less of something, tax it."  The Victoria police effectively subsidized the transgender brouhaha by offering more money to those who took that route, with the result that many of its employees took advantage of their offer.  How could they have reasonably expected any other result?

Now they're threatening consequences against those officers who've taken advantage of this loophole.  I don't see how they can act against them when all the officer has to do is point out that he identified as non-binary - not that he actually was non-binary.  Nothing in their regulations appears to have required him to provide evidence of his claim, such as undergoing surgery or taking any other irreversible, verifiable action.  That being the case, how has he broken any law?  Identification is solely in the mind, and physical evidence of it is just about impossible to provide.

I understand the Australian government subsidizes game reserves and the like.  How about the officers identify as emus, to take advantage of the subsidy while it lasts?  It's for the birds!

Peter

In an interview with Peter Boghossian, journalist Helen Joyce discussed why parents of trans children just can't let go of the subject, and why they keep harping on about it.  The transcript below is courtesy of John Kass.

“Something you may not have thought of is that there are a lot of people who can’t move on from this. And that’s the people who have transitioned their own children. So those people are going to be like the Japanese soldiers who were on Pacific islands and didn’t know the war was over. They’ve got to fight forever. This is another reason why this is the worst, worst, worst social contagion that we’ll ever have experienced.

“A lot of people have done what is the worst thing you could do, which is to harm their children irrevocably, because of it. Those people will have to believe that they did the right thing for the rest of their lives, for their own sanity, and for their own self-respect. So they’ll still be fighting, and each one of those people destroys entire organizations and entire friendship groups.

“Like, I’ve lost count of the number of times that somebody has said to me of a specific organization that has been turned upside down on this, “Oh, the deputy director has a trans child.” Or, oh, the journalist on that paper who does special investigations has a trans child. Or whatever. The entire organization gets paralyzed by that one person. And it may not even be widely known at that organization that they have a trans child. But it will come out, people will have sort of said quietly, and now you can’t talk truth in front of that person, and you know you can’t, because what you’re saying is: “You as a parent have done a truly, like, a human rights abuse level of awful thing to your own child that can not be fixed.

“There are specific individuals who are actively against women’s rights here and it is not known why they are, but I happen to know through the back channels that it is because they’ve transed their child.

“So those people will do anything for the entire rest of their lives to destroy me and people like me because people like me are standing in reproach to them. I don’t want to be, I’m not talking directly to them, and I don’t spend my time bitching to them.

“But the fact is that just simply by saying we will never accept natural males in women’s spaces, well it is their son that we’re talking about. And they’ve told their son that he can get himself sterilized and destroy his own basic sexual function and women will accept him as a woman. And if we don’t, there’s no way back for them and that child.

“They’ve sold their child a bill of goods that they can’t deliver on.

“And I’m the one that has to be bullied to try to force me to deliver on it.

“So those people are going to be the people who will keep this bloody movement going, I’m sorry to say, because they’ve everything to lose, and it is a fight to the death as far as they are concerned.”

There's more at John Kass' article.

Tragically, that makes an awful lot of sense to me . . .

Peter

As forecast by many observers in recent years, the pedophile brigade is trying to piggyback on the LGBTQ community to become more widely accepted as "normal" in society.  Among other things, they're trying to classify themselves as neutral-sounding "M.A.P." (Minor Attracted Persons) instead of pedophiles.

I think Rolf Nelson's reclassification of that acronym makes it much more suitable, don't you?

Works for me!  I wonder where I can sponsor a few millstones for deserving pedophiles?

Peter

The recent chants by gay demonstrators in New York that "We're here, we're queer, we're coming for your children", have (justifiably, IMHO) aroused outrage among many people with traditional values (despite NBC's attempts to defend it as "humor" . . . pretty sick humor, if you ask me).

I thought this response was more than appropriate:

However, this video response took my first prize.

I entirely approve.  In fact, if the gentleman concerned does something like that, I'll willingly contribute to his legal defense fund.  I might even contribute in advance, to assist with the purchase of any equipment he needs to do the mauling!

If that offends some people . . . why, I'm only joking, same as those assholes seen chanting in the video.  See?  It works both ways.

Peter

There's an article by Tayler Hansen titled "The 'All Ages' Drag Show Epidemic Plaguing America".  It documents - complete with video recordings - what's actually going on in these so-called "Drag Queen Story Hours" being presented at local libraries, churches and other venues.

I was horrified to read it, not because I was unaware of how bad things were getting, but at how widespread the infection has become in our society.  An example:

Within 5 minutes of sitting down with my bingo card and pamphlet detailing the [First Christian Church's] “values” I was approached by who I labeled “church worker #2”. (A total creep) He sat next to me and immediately asked my name and how I identify. He began talking about how much pride the church places in what they call the “trans” or “transparency” closet. At this point I knew something even weirder than Drag Queen Bingo was taking place and I leaned into the conversation. He offered to give me a tour after I showed interest and had already made multiple sexual remarks about my appearance. He seemed very fidgety and sporadic as if he were on an amphetamine of some kind.

He began to lead me to the back where a confined room was located, where he would take multiple children throughout the event without adult supervision. Once I entered the room, worker #1 explained that this closet was for children to come and select “gender affirming” clothing. They were offering chest binders, underwear, bras, jewelry, and other clothing. He explained how they even have whole foods bags so children can bring their “gender affirming” clothes and binders home without raising suspicion of their parents. Definitely not a “transparent” closet as they said it was. Throughout this entire process, church worker #2 was struggling to open a package of donuts while acting like an addict.

This is - at least nominally - a church.  A Christian church.  Anything less in conformity with the Gospel of Christ is almost impossible to imagine . . . but they're doing it.  I somehow doubt they bother to read the salient portions of those Gospels in that church, particularly Luke 17:1-2.  Perhaps someone should leave a pile of millstones outside their front door as a reminder.

(Nor is that church alone.  Witness the current brouhaha over a Catholic church in New York that proclaimed - on the altar - "God is Trans".  I understand the display was not approved by the local Bishop, but the very fact that the parish pastor could permit and/or tolerate such an exhibit is - literally - heretical.  In the light of the ongoing fallout from the Catholic Church's problems with child sexual abuse by some of its pastors, it's even worse.)

Also noteworthy is that many parents of the kids who are dragged along to such events are themselves mentally deranged.  I've seen this as a pastor many times.  A parent persuades him/herself that their child is oriented in this, or that, or the other way, because it makes them - the parent - look good to their social circle.  Therefore, they effectively force their child into that way of behavior, despite the damage they're undoubtedly doing to them.  Another example from the article:

I remember sitting there at the bar alongside Aldo Buttazoni in complete disbelief in what we were witnessing. In the moment I couldn’t fathom that this gay bar with sexual signs and scantily dressed men posing as women were about dance for little children with easily malleable minds. The environment was that of a strip club or a burlesque show. Looking around I was in complete disbelief watching parents, who are supposed to protect their children from perversion, were hooting and hollering in anticipation for men to dance sexually for their children.

As the show started, a young child was sitting next to me at the bar top, he looked miserable and out of place. He was playing with a rubiks cube and Nintendo throughout the entire performance. The bartender began talking to him as he was serving alcoholic beverages over the child’s head. That’s when I overheard a conversation that was truly horrifying and depicted the days events perfectly.

Bartender: Are you gay?

Child: No, I’m not gay.

Mother: *Interrupting* No he is gay, don’t let him lie to you, he is.

The Child, visibly uncomfortable by the bartenders comment and his mothers correction, bowed his head towards the ground like a puppy that was just scolded. The child didn’t say another word for the remainder of the show, and instead resumed playing on his Nintendo with his head hidden away.

Again, millstones come to mind.

I'm not going to embed more here, but I am going to recommend as strongly as I know how that you click over to the article and read it in full for yourself.  When you've done so, pass it on to your family and friends, and keep the link handy for future use.

Our kids are being targeted by the forces of evil.  There's no other way to put it.  The way one deals with evil is to drag it out into the light, so that it can be clearly seen and understood for what it is;  and, when that's been done, one deals with the evildoers as firmly and as permanently as possible, so that they no longer have any opportunity for future evil.

This article is a good start to that process.

Peter

Found on social media (clickit to biggit):

Couple that (you should pardon the expression) with the uproar last year over the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus song proclaiming "We’re coming for your children".  Kinda makes the situation clear, doesn't it?  Parents should respond appropriately to such predatory behavior.

Peter

(For those who eschew religious faith, particularly Christianity, this article is going to deal with that subject, so you might want to skip it.  For those who don't, here goes!)

I've mentioned Bob Mumford before.  He's a Pentecostal evangelist who once defined secular humanism as "what you get when the world evangelizes the church".  I think that definition is perfectly illustrated by a so-called "drag queen pastor".  If you're a believing Christian, as I am, prepare to be nauseated by this article.  I apologize in advance for the offense I know it'll give you:  but I'm quoting from it here because this is the reality we face in so many of the mainline Christian churches today.  I don't know of any other way to drive home the danger and the threat confronting believers today.

Last year, the United Methodist Church accepted Isaac Simmons, who regularly preaches dressed as a drag queen under the name Ms. Penny Cost, as a candidate for ordination. Since that time, Simmons, who serves as an associate pastor at Hope United Methodist Church in Bloomington, Illinois, has challenged basic theological concepts, projecting a worldview where divinity rests not in God but in queerness.

. . .

Simmons has published a new video of himself performing slam poetry in what may be his most provocative repudiation of traditional Christianity and embrace of queer spirituality.

“God is nothing,” the self-described “dragavangelist” repeats throughout the poem, adding, “the Bible is nothing” and “religion is nothing.” In the end, he concludes God and the Bible are nothing “unless we wield it into something.”

“God must be f***ing nothing,” he says, “if her boundaryless, transubstantiated bodies of color are run down, beaten, and strewn in the streets of America instead of ruling the runways of life.”

He speaks of God not as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but rather as the source of queerness, describing him as “nothing but a drag queen with a microphone of biblical f***ing proportions,” “nothing, but if she were, she would be ‘yes, queen’-ing her way down the runways of Paris and Montreal,” and “nothing, but if she were, she would be a seamstress of divide couture, weaving together string theory and self portraits to form the fiercest gowns of queer existence.”

He believes humanity, then, is an emanation of that divine queerness: “From under a shroud of secrecy came the beauty of humanity, humanity made in the gender-bending, identity-breaking, system-shaking image of God, the imago Dei.” He refers to humanity as “God’s queerly anointed creation.” 

Simmons writes that the poem is “directed to those who actively and passively cause harm against the LGBTQIA2S+ Community due to their understandings of Scripture.”

There's (unfortunately) more at the link.

This illustrates perfectly what happens when one abandons the foundation of the Christian faith, namely, God's revelation.  One can argue until the cows come home whether this includes scripture and tradition, or scripture alone, but the reality is basically the same:  our faith rests upon a foundation with which we meddle at our peril.  In orthodox, Christ-centered Christianity, God's revelation judges us and our actions.  In anything else, the world judges revelation, and determines what it means according to the prevailing zeitgeist - as illustrated in the excerpt above.

Many Christians get hot under the collar when reading such drivel.  They protest that it's evil (agreed), even directly Satanic (agreed), and want to drive it and its adherents out of the church altogether.  Sadly, given the world we live in, that's not about to happen.  There are too many people who claim the label "Christian", but believe and live as if they were anything but.  Christ had an answer for them.

I've long since ignored what people say about themselves and their faith (if any).  Instead, I watch what they do and how they live.  That says far more about them than any words they might (or might not) use.  I've said many times to people, "Don't tell me what you believe - show me."  Some are insulted by this, as if I'm doubting them.  No, I'm just applying the standard Christ gave in the link above:  "By their fruits you will know them."

I therefore submit that when we look at individuals such as Isaac Simmons, we look for the Biblical "fruits of the Spirit" in their lives, and decide accordingly whether they're disciples of Christ, or disciples of the world, the flesh and the devil.  If the "works of the flesh" are more evident than the "fruits of the spirit", or the latter are conspicuous by their absence, then we know where that person stands.  It's on that foundation that I think the church should decide who's fit to preach and teach the word of God, and who is not.

I'd also suggest that most of us (including yours truly) aren't doing as well in that comparison as we should be.  I know some out-and-out atheists whom I think are better Christians than I am, because they live in such a way as to be an example to all Christians, a genuinely good life.  I hope God will reward that, in whatever way is possible in the Divine economy.  I fear greatly that many of us who proclaim ourselves to be Christian may have a shock coming when we must, individually, give an account of our lives, and face judgment for them.

Let's pray for Isaac Simmons and his ilk, that - since they proclaim themselves to be Christian - they may repent and truly believe what they proclaim, before it's too late.  If they won't, then I have no doubt that we should exclude them from our fellowship:  and, certainly, we should prevent them from proclaiming their heretical, downright evil beliefs from our pulpits.  Nevertheless, that doesn't mean we're free to hate them, or wish damnation upon them.  I'll wish Hell on nobody.  I'm mindful of Christ's admonition:  "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone first."

Peter

Sundance points out:

During a conference call to explain the corporate intents of the company, Disney entertainment president Karey Burke says, “As the mother [of] one transgender child and one pansexual child,” she supports having “many, many, many LGBTQIA characters in our stories” and wants a minimum of 50 percent of characters to be LGBTQIA and racial minorities.

There have always been rumors, suspicions and concerns about the deviant intents of the Disney company surrounding the sexuality and exploitation of children.  It is now safe to say those suspicions and concerns are officially verified as fact.  Ms. Karey Burke has raised two children into a life of confusion and conflict surrounding their sexuality.  Ms. Burke did not do this to her own children accidentally; it is an outcome of a process.

Now that she has advanced into a position of influence within the corporation; an advancement in profession seemingly enhanced by her own skills exploiting the sexuality of her own children; Ms. Burke announces the open intent of the company under her stewardship to groom, influence and steer your children into the same twisted sexual lifestyle.

Disney has come out of the closet, not only as a corporation intent on the advancement of sexual identity, but also with a corporate mission to influence the sexualization of our children.

Sundance is spot on.  Never forget that the percentage of LGBTetc oriented people in our society is in the low single digits (often cited as plus-or-minus 3%, according to many objective authorities and measurements).  Propaganda to the contrary is precisely that - propaganda, not fact.  To have a major entertainment corporation talk about a vastly greater proportion of its characters falling into that classification is in defiance of reality - and is just as much propaganda as anything else.  It fails the fact test.

However, I'm grateful to Disney for being so open about its agenda.  I now know where my entertainment dollars will not be going.  I hope and trust that all rational Americans - indeed, all rational people everywhere, including China, Disney's biggest market - will come to the same conclusion.

Peter

EDITED TO ADD:  As if to confirm our worst fears, another Disney television executive has admitted to "adding queerness" to the company's animated shows.

A Disney executive producer admitted she has been pushing a “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” for children’s animation, even as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law this week.

During a Disney staff meeting about the law — which bars Florida teachers from discussing topics like sexual orientation or gender identity with students unless they’re in the fourth grade or higher — executive producer for Disney Television Animation Latoya Raveneau touted Disney’s efforts to feature LGBTQ storylines.

“In my little pocket of Proud Family Disney TVA, the showrunners were super welcoming . . . to my not-at-all-secret gay agenda,” Raveneau said in a leaked video obtained by journalist Christopher Rufo. “Maybe it was that way in the past, but I guess something must have happened . . . and then like all that momentum that I felt, that sense of ‘I don’t have to be afraid to have these two characters kiss in the background.’”

“I was just, wherever I could, adding queerness,” Raveneau added. “No one would stop me, and no one was trying to stop me.”

There's more at the link, including a video clip of Ms. Raveneau speaking at the meeting.

This report merely reinforces my existing conviction that Disney has become, in a moral sense, actively evil.  It's promoting an anti-Christian, anti-family, anti-traditional-morality agenda.

On Monday I published an article in my intermittent "Doofus Of The Day" series, highlighting a trans woman (i.e. a man "transitioning" to "become" a woman) who complained of period pains, despite having none of the plumbing, body parts or nerves necessary to experience them.  I also made it clear that in general, I don't regard "trans" as a genuine phenomenon.

That said, I've mentioned before in these pages that I know several people who've "transitioned" from one sex to another who appear to be very genuine in their desire to switch, and who've demonstrated for many years that their decision was positive for them.  I don't think the vast majority of those following the current trans fad can say that, but nevertheless, the phenomenon is real for some, and always has been.  Among my friends and acquaintances right now, I number several such people, and I think they're as genuine as it's possible to get.  I appreciate them as such.  I don't feel contempt for them, or reject them;  rather, I'm saddened to think about the very difficult lives they've had to lead and how it led to their decisions, and the burdens that those decisions have imposed upon them.

Another person in that position took the time and trouble to write to me at length about that "Doofus Of The Day" article.  I'm grateful for their feedback.  Here's the e-mail in full, so you can read it for yourself and think about it.

This commentary is on the Doofus Of The Day #1,090 post that I already made a short comment on.

BobNC suggested it was to get attention and affirmation ‘anyone who is mentally ill enough to undergo the surgery’.  I underwent surgery 29 years ago.  I have had a long and successful life post surgically.  My partner and I have raised an outstanding, successful young woman.  (My partner passed away 11 yrs ago).  Let me deal with Bob’s comment first.

Maybe the person did need attention – attention that was not happening at home, or in their life from family, friends, or community while dealing with a significant psychological issue.  Maybe they needed affirmation to deal with the abuse commonly meted out by parents, family members or community members that drives many in the trans community to commit suicide.  It isn’t their ‘trans-ness’ that is usually the cause, but the significant abuse by others, the loss of family, jobs, friends, and community that drives them into isolation.  I recommend this post I did on Trans Suicide:

http://moderatemainstream.blogspot.com/2021/03/trans-suicide-not-whole-story-this-is.html

Bullying is endemic amongst trans kids.  Often even before they understand what ‘trans’ means.  I was first beat up at 6 years old.  And spent most of 7th and 8th grade getting beat up weekly.  My home life was a refuge from the abuse, which other parents and teachers suggested would ‘make a man of me’ or give me a thicker skin.  When it started again in my sophomore year of high school, I ended up going to summer school for two years for ‘fighting back’.  My tormentors got no punishment.  Most of us dealt with bullying in school, but it often followed us into adulthood.  I am sure you know of many ‘good ole boys’ that worked over weaker kids… make a man out of them.  Or worse.  “Can’t have those f….ts around here” or “need to protect the women from those perverts".  Yea, we do this for fun.  Not.

“It would be interesting to see some data on how many of these poor loonies regret their surgery. Funny how we don’t hear anything about that in the media; though given the level of their trustworthiness, I wouldn’t believe any “data” they had anyway.”

I participated in a study, part of a dissertation I believe, that followed up with patients five years after surgery that was done by the University of Chicago Medical Center Gender Clinic back in the late 1990s.  I didn’t receive the results so do don’t know the conclusions.  Six of us were on an in-person panel held before graduate students of the Psychiatry Department, the Department with overall responsibility of the Clinic.  I knew one other participant.  I am sure there were difficulties getting participants.  The vast majority of us, once we have completed our transition, prefer to blend back into “normal” society and get on with our lives.  What is called, passing, or stealth.  Most of us accomplish that.  Do others fail to do so?  Yes.  I knew two.

In the last 30 years I have met, in person, more than 50 others that have transitioned and have talked online or via phone with more than 100 others.  Most of us know someone that failed, or detransitioned.  The failures almost without exception fall into one category: they did not follow the Standards of Care (SoC) that existed in the Medical Community for decades.

If you wanted surgery, “sex reassignment” or what is now titled “Gender Confirmation Surgery”, you needed to follow the SoC.  You needed to spend at least one year living in your target gender.  That means appearing as a woman (male-to-female) or as a man (female-to-male) basically 24/7.  Working, going to school, involved in social circles, successfully for a year.  During which time you need to be meeting with a psychologist or psychiatrist with specific skills in gender issues.  Back in the 70s and into the 80s, this needed to be done before you were given hormones.  So, you had to ‘pass’, and survive without any medical (surgical or hormonal) assistance for that year.  In the late 80s, hormones were given to help during the ‘real life test’. My surgery didn’t happen until 5 YEARS after I started transition because of the cost.  That was common, for those that could work and support themselves. For those that couldn’t find work, well, the street was the end for most of them.  There was no insurance, no programs to pay for anything.  Hormones, therapy, and surgery were all out of pocket expenses.  Any wonder there were fewer of ‘us’ back then?  And why there are many people in their 40s, 50s and even 60s transitioning now?

Here is how you ‘prove’ medically that transsexualism is a real thing:  take 50 million women in pregnancy and take blood tests of her and her fetus at 12, 24, 34 weeks and post-partum, and bloodwork of the child at 5, 10 and the beginning of puberty.  Of course, such blood tests on the fetus are VERY risky, but you need the number of pregnancies to get a sample of sufficient size to get good results.  After all, we are only 1 of between 10,000 and 35,000 depending on the ‘best guess’.  Yea, such a study isn’t going to happen.  The risk to such a large population to find such a small population will not be allowed.  So, we are left with smaller studies and here is a short 6 minutes of a longer 90 minute lecture given by a Stanford neurobiologist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QScpDGqwsQ

Back to the two I knew that ‘failed’, and most of the others the rest knew of: they didn’t follow the SoC and despite being told by therapists they were NOT good candidates for transition and surgery, they went overseas and got the surgery.  And came back with gender dysphoria because NOW they were really trapped in the ‘wrong body’.  Both committed suicide within six months.  SoC kept many from failing, but it did happen.  The ‘trans suicide’ situation makes the effort to transition difficult.  I call the first year of transition Hell Year because of the stress and difficulties.  For people already dealing with physical abuse, addiction caused by abuse or other mental issues, and financial difficulties, Hell Year is just too much. The turning out onto the streets, by ‘good Christian fathers’ that don’t want perverts or f*gs in their house…even when their child is 16 or 17 (I have three I know personally right now), is disgusting.

The attitude of people on the Right plays into the needs of the activist Left (people cast adrift by their families, friends and communities because of their “perversions” are accepted by different kinds of abusers). 

What has changed in the last decade?  Historically, 70-80% of those transitioning were male-to-female.  In the last decade that has flipped to female-to-male.  Abigail Shearer was right to point out the problem, but her conclusions were/are the usual tropes found amongst the Right but limited by the sample set of teen female-to-males.  SoC has been replaced by ‘informed consent’ and the risk to people transitioning has grown exponentially.  Detransitioners, largely female-to-males, are almost always the recipients of the “benefits” of just getting what they want, as long as they, or their parents, are INFORMED of the risks. The medical community has abdicated its responsibilities.  The recent ‘authority’ promulgated by the Texas Attorney General blows right past the ‘informed consent’ problem and demands intrusion into the medical choices of patients and their parents and their doctors. Killing the child while tossing out the bathwater.

I am of the Right.  I believe in individual rights, AND responsibilities.  But this issue seems to be used by the Left to destroy our dimorphic society and the Right to destroy trans people. 

Anyway, if you got to here, thanks for reading.  Feel free to publish this or not, with my real name if you do.  I am not ‘out’ in my day-to-day life, but most people that know me, know my history.  My partner and my daughter included.  Yes, we adopted from China.  A little girl thrown away by her ‘mother’ (and father?).   Imagine that.

Respectfully,

Tracy Coyle

PS:  Many of us 'long-timers' do not consider ourselves, or any transsexuals, part of the transgender community.  Our gender is immutable, we were born with it, it just wasn't congruent with our physical sex.  So, we transitioned from one sex to another, always retaining the gender we were born with.  Transgender now encompasses such a broad category of gender non-conforming that it threatens transsexuals (called transphobic because we believe you need gender dysphoria to be trans and because you need medical transitioning to deal with the issue) and natal women.  Don't even get us started on 'neopronouns'.  Why are we not more outspoken?  Because the Left cancels us as fast as we can voice an opinion.

Food for thought, and well presented.  It hasn't changed my fundamental opinions any, and I still regard the vast majority of "trans" people as mentally rather than physically ill or challenged or . . . whatever.  However, let me say once again that there are some people who appear to be anything but.  I guess they're the exceptions that prove the rule.  As for the implications of religious faith and/or teachings for the subject . . . all I can say is, I'm not God, and I'm very glad I'm not, and you should be even more grateful that I'm not!  I guess we'll find out the eternal truth of the matter when we stand before the Creator and give account for our own lives, with all their sins, faults and failings.  I have more than enough of the latter to worry about, and I'm going to need God's mercy at least as much (if not more than) anyone else;  so I'm certainly not going to condemn others out of hand.  May God have mercy on all of us, whatever our shortcomings.

Thanks, Tracy, particularly for your courage in being willing to expose yourself to possible (probable?) criticism by standing up for your beliefs and lifestyle.  You have my respect for that.

Peter

For your edification (?), here's a tweet sent out last week.  Clickit to biggit.

Er . . . um . . . ah . . .

Would someone please explain to me how a man male human being, lacking a uterus, uterine muscles and a uterine nervous system, can POSSIBLY feel period cramps?

Anyone? . . . Bueller? . . .

I've heard of sympathetic pregnancy, but this is just too ridiculous for words!

Oh, well.  I'm sure he/she/it can write an article about it, and make some money out of it.  Dare I say it could be published in . . . wait for it . . . a periodical?

Peter

(Edited to add:  In case you were wondering where I stand on the issue, I entirely agree with Brandon Smith's views on the transgender brouhaha.)

He got away with only 150 days in county jail (plus fines, community service and the rest), rather than doing hard time in a proper prison.  He deserved the latter, IMHO.

As the judge said during sentencing:

"Let me tell you Mr. Smollett, I know that there is nothing that I will do here today that can come close the damage you've already done to your own life. You've turned your life upside down here, misconduct and shenanigans. You've destroyed your life as you knew it. And there's nothing that any sentencing judge could do to you that can compare to the damage you've already caused yourself," Linn told Smollett shortly before the sentencing was handed down.

"He cares deeply about social justice issues, and for you now to sit here convicted of hoaxing hate crimes, racial hate crimes, and homophobic hate crimes, that hypocrisy is just astounding," Linn later added.

"There's some conjecture, you did it for the money," Linn said. "Frankly, I do not believe that you did it for the money. You were making, the evidence shows, close to $2 million a year when this happened? I don't think money motivated you at all."

"But the only thing I can find is that you really crave the attention, and you wanted to get the attention. And you were so invested in issues of social justice, and you knew that this was a sore spot for everybody in this country," he continued. "You knew this was a country that was slowly trying to heal past injustices and current injustices and trying to make a better future for each other and it was a hard road. And you took some scabs off and the healing wounds and rip them apart, for one reason you want to make yourself more famous in for a while, it worked."

"Everybody was talking about you, the lights are on you," Linn continued. "You were actually throwing a national pity party for yourself. Why would you do such thing? Why would you? I understand you crave the attention so much. But why would you be trade something like social justice issues which you cared so much about? The only thing I could conclude is that is, and I acknowledged there are wonderful sides to you. They're very giving and charitable and loving sides to you. But you have another side of you that is profoundly arrogant and selfish, selfish and narcissistic as the only thing that can be concluded, and that bad side of you came out during the course of all these events."

Linn later talked about premeditation as it pertained to this case.

"There are crimes of premeditation, Mr. Smollett, and that's what you're all about here," said Linn.

Linn said that Smollet chose a location, time, props and more to conduct the hoax, doing rehearsals as well.

"This was premeditated, premeditated in the extreme and I find that your extreme premeditation in this case is an aggravating factor," said Linn.

Linn continued on to summarize the case in order of events.

"And then you start to lie and you haven't stopped lying ever since," Linn said, in regards to Smollett lying to the officers that responded first to his call. "You've been lying and lying and lying about this case, and that's why you're here today. You want to fake the incident down the street. Try to get some attention at work. Try to have somebody else feel sorry for you. That would never have got you here. The problem was you lied to the police and you caused all kinds of consternation, you caused a major investigation to take place, which got many people involved and cause great stress throughout the city and throughout the entire community here and that's the problem. That's why you're here now. Those were the crimes you're convicted of, not the shenanigans out there but the lying about it, making it up, and that's why we're here now."

"What happened? Turns out that you're not a victim of a hate crime. You're not a victim of racial hate crime. You're not a victim of a homophobic hate crime. You're just a charlatan, pretending to be a victim of a hate crime," Linn later said.

"Your very name has become an adverb for lying. And I cannot imagine what could be worse than that. People talk about situations where somebody is lying and trying to manipulate and maneuver his story and your name comes up. So pulling a Jussie, something like that. that's awful," said Linn.

There's more at the link.

The judge had the option (but chose not to exercise it) of sentencing Smollett to up to 3 years imprisonment on each of the five counts of which he was convicted.  If I'd been on the bench, I'd have given him the full 3 years for each count, and ruled that they should be served consecutively - in other words, he'd have had to complete one sentence before starting the next.  A cumulative total of fifteen years behind bars, for a serial liar who wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars in police investigations and hundreds of hours of their time due to his egotistical self-centeredness, would have been reasonable recompense for his crimes.

As it is, I'm sure he's going to play the injured, martyred victim of "racial/anti-gay injustice" for all he's worth.  I won't be surprised if he fake-attempts suicide while behind bars;  at least, his shouts about "not being suicidal" while being taken from the courtroom appear to me to be suggesting that.  He's an actor, and he knows how to set the scene for future drama.  I don't think he's in the least sorry for his crimes;  rather, he glories in them, and he's going to continue to play the victim for as long as he thinks it can boost his public image.  The only people taken in by it (or, at least, willing to pay lip-service to it) will be charlatans and con-men like himself;  but there are plenty of them around, and the race relations "industry" will doubtless seek to make what capital it can out of his situation.  Racist hucksters don't have many scruples, after all.

I think Smollett's criminal charade has set back race relations in this country by a tangible margin, and caused immense damage to our society.  He should pay for that, but IMHO, his sentence doesn't even come close to adequate recompense.  I can only hope that his acting career has been so damaged by his shenanigans that it - and he - will suffer from them for the rest of his life.  That can pay the remainder of his debt to society.  As for the burden on his soul . . . judging by his behavior, I venture to doubt he's repented at all.  I hope and pray that he will, before it's too late.  There again, he may not bother about such things.  Many people don't, nowadays - more's the pity.

Perhaps the Babylon Bee's headline said it best:

"Pulling a Jussie", indeed!

Peter

With the rumor of the impending retirement of Justice Breyer, Matt Walsh has a suggestion (with his tongue firmly in his cheek, of course).

The thought of a fully costumed furry clad in SCOTUS judicial robes, seated on the bench, is . . . intriguing, to say the least!

Peter