A big reason we're all here is the long term failure of most media and Democratic politicians to treat lies and pretext as lies and pretext and just not give them oxygen.
Instead of saying, "Bullshit, that's not the real reason you're doing this", and then talking about the (generally unpopular) real reason, we get endless debates about whether the pretext might make sense.
Keep saying it you’re 100% right. It’s a gateway drug to erasure. They can’t even comprehend that there are trans men playing men’s sports with no complaints.
I keep thinking about how Newsom didn’t have his discussion about trans sports “fairness” with a trans person, especially someone who actually *plays* team sports in high school. Centrists love to bring up Bill Clinton’s Sister Souljah moment but even then, he was speaking *to* a Black group
The same people shrieking about testosterone-driven "men" invading women's spaces are also shrieking about how gender-affirming treatments amount to chemical castration, and can we take a brief five seconds to point out this ridiculous anti-logic?
If people opt into gender affirming hormonal therapy, which you've decided is "chemical castration", how can you claim they're would-be, testosterone-driven rapists?
Not even just to demonize trans women (although that harm is bad enough on its own)—these calls also reinforce the hierarchical idea that women are inherently weaker and less skilled, and need to be "protected" by a patriarchal system, an idea that can fuel other attacks on women's rights.
Thank you! So much this! It's not only transphobic, it's misogynistic & racist. They want to dictate how women should look, act, and feel. You're not a woman unless you fit into this narrow range of looks and behavior. Whiteness, daintiness, etc all policed. God forbid you're tall or have muscles!
If this was "just about sports," then why aren't the people yelling about it proposing bills that address sports while codifying legal protections in other areas for trans people? Because. It. Is. Not. And. Has. Never. Been. About. Sports.
When I removed the civil rights of trans people, democrats tried to add protections in the workplace, in housing, etc. and every time they were rejected. Always about kicking trans people out of society.
This is the most important issue with the framing of this whole "debate." It's a question of whether you think this is something THE GOVERNMENT needs to insert itself into or not. https://bsky.app/profile/parkermolloy.com/post/3ljsrzorpqs2i
This is the point I always make when people say they don't know what to make of the issue. They don't need to make anything of it! It shouldn't be up for legislation by the government like what are doing? it's a question for the leagues, their governing bodies and the athletes who make them up
The debate following the Newsom/Kirk podcast is an example of how the right forces these to become government issues when they absolutely should not be.
I want people to watch this video and honestly tell me why it should be made *illegal* for this 14-year-old girl to play field hockey with her friends. https://youtu.be/yf9MfYZ-Bl4?si=e6CTo-KEjbQWDefe
Back in 2012 a cis gender boy from NY, Keeling Pilaro and his family, sued the NY state student sports governing body to be able to play field hockey on the girl’s team bc there was no boy’s team. Ppl seem to have been fine with a cis gender boy playing against cis girls 🙄
Parker, I suspect 99% of MAGA and 100% of transphobes will say this video is a lie because the 14 year old in the video is not trans, because they know that a trans girl is tall, has big biceps, a pronounced adam’s apple, a 5 o’clock shadow, and a deep baritone voice that easily differentiates her
Illegal ? As opposed to not following the law in literally EVERYTHING that DOGE does ? As opposed to having a convicted felon in the WH ?
Sure, this is the “problem” with America. Good god.
And this is what infuriates me about the Democrats who shrug and say, “Oh man, this is an 80/20 issue against us! What can we do? We have to support these bans."
It’s as if they have no idea how politics work. People respond to narratives! Democrats haven’t provided a counter one.
one thing you find when you poll people about trans rights is they actually dont want government to be discriminating. its not popular to have government mandates to discriminate. but every time Democrats accept this framing they're losing more ground they dont need to cede.
I played adult rugby with trans players for years and for the life of me I will never understand how folks get worked up over this. A tackle is a tackle, and I’ve never checked on another player’s genitalia. I get the impression that most of these chodes have never held a ball in their lives.
I grew up in the South, so I've heard the whole "unfair biological advantage in sports" nonsense my whole life. They were talking about different people, but the script was exactly the same.
I would prefer for the government to say affirmatively that I'm a woman, and that any publicly funded women's organization could lose funding if they discriminate against me.
That is the craziest part for me. Sporting competitions are managed by thousands of organizations and consortiums, some pretty informal. Managed well or badly, who knows. But gov't is going to regulate that?
Exactly. Let them set whatever requirements they want to ensure fairness. Elite-level sports should have rules. Rec league and grade school sports should have less restrictive rules.
When my alma mater had to terminate its wrestling program because it was disproportionately funding men's sports over women's, rather than make wider cuts to other men's sports or funding and promoting women's sports in the same, they launched a campaign attacking Title IX and women athletes.
The transphobes showed no interest whatsoever in supporting girls & womens sports until seizing on trying to make their transphobia be about supporting equity in womens sport! Which is also ridiculous…
what happens when the first ftm man has to compete against women? got a sneaking suspicion these freaks aren’t just gonna be like “ok great this is exactly what we wanted”
Sounds like a great trade off. People can and do support our trans brothers and sisters while still protecting biological women athletes from unfair competition. And please don’t pretend to have *the* definitive scientific study disproving any advantage. Ideological purity tests are for maga.
The only people I've ever heard in person advocate against trans people in sports have also said trans people are mentally ill and/or "it's not a real thing." You cannot compromise with these people. They need to be crushed out of the cultural mainstream through force.
Yeah, it would stink, it would be unfair, but if I really believed that sacrificing trans participation in sports would buy ironclad legal protections for the larger community ... I'd feel like I'd have to listen. But that is extraordinarily transparently *not* the case.
yeah they're not even sniffing at that. it's only "we want to punish these people in any possible way and sports and bathrooms are the veil that hides our hatred from some people"
Anyone who thinks you can compromise with Nazis is an idiot. Here's how this goes.
1. Dems cave on trans rights
2. Nazis: "see? Everyone could see we were right all along"
3. Nazis attack next Dem platform and reframe it to enrage their base
4. Media: "If only Dems would compromise with Nazis..."
It's not a reasonable solution because there is no constituency for it. You are triangulating an acceptable position between "Trans people just want to live their lives like anyone else" and "trans people are disgusting degenerates who deserve no civil rights protections." It's just facially stupid.
Gee its almost like there is no 'center' to triangulate towards between "Trans people are subhumans who don't deserve no civil rights" and "Trans people are humans who deserve civil rights"
Neither side will be happy with an "OK they're only a BIT subhuman and get SOME rights" 'compromise'.
If you support blanket bans on trans girls of all ages from playing sports, that's not about fairness. It's just bigotry. Personally, I think that sports rule making bodies should handle this, not the fucking government. That's authoritarian bullshit.
This is what drives me crazy. All these so-called moderates are taking the position that we need discriminatory laws to address a non-existent problem while refusing to actually say it out loud. Instead they pretend that Dems are somehow pushing trans women into women's sports.
Sports rule-making bodies cannot inflict violence upon the group subject to its rules, and violence against the marginalized is what these people want. Enter criminal laws and the police.
I never said that. I said "essentially exactly" what you said. The primary difference was I said "male puberty" and you said "testosterone driven puberty"
Why are you building strawmen on my lawn if you're really just proposing people be reasonable and that's exactly what I'm trying to be?
Wow that's crazy, I wonder why trans women aren't politely speaking to you while you talk about your desire to use state enforcement to ban them from participating in pro-social activities that millions and millions of people receive immense benefit from. Total mystery!
Yeah, my original point was that in my experience the people who are least accepting of this exact proposed solution, which I think is reasonable, are trans women.
Perhaps "consumed with incendiary rage over literally nothing" would have been more accurate.
If they don't stop, that is when we turn around and fight them too.
I've never met a woman in person who was virulently anti trans. The closest I've seen is one woman who said trans people shouldn't be teaching children. Which is a fight I could have.
Sure, it's been my first-hand experience as well that most people aren't particularly anti-trans. The problem is that all of the legal challenges are being driven by FRC-types. We have less than zero reason to believe they aren't working their way down a checklist that ends in our eradication.
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The answer is obviously no. Individual leagues and sports governing bodies should make whatever rules they want.
Sure, this is the “problem” with America. Good god.
It’s as if they have no idea how politics work. People respond to narratives! Democrats haven’t provided a counter one.
I would prefer for the government to say affirmatively that I'm a woman, and that any publicly funded women's organization could lose funding if they discriminate against me.
That was sarcasm, btw.
1. Dems cave on trans rights
2. Nazis: "see? Everyone could see we were right all along"
3. Nazis attack next Dem platform and reframe it to enrage their base
4. Media: "If only Dems would compromise with Nazis..."
That's literally why I'm on a list labeling me a transphobe.
That solution has been fine with every woman I've discussed it with except trans women.
Let's propose exactly that and see what happens.
Neither side will be happy with an "OK they're only a BIT subhuman and get SOME rights" 'compromise'.
Why are you building strawmen on my lawn if you're really just proposing people be reasonable and that's exactly what I'm trying to be?
So it's all a bunch of bullshit I don't need. And yet another reason I generally try to "stay out of the discourse".
There is no right answer and people like it that way.
Perhaps "consumed with incendiary rage over literally nothing" would have been more accurate.
I've never met a woman in person who was virulently anti trans. The closest I've seen is one woman who said trans people shouldn't be teaching children. Which is a fight I could have.
sure is weird that it's so often cis women raping their students. y'all like to ignore that though. terfs all seem think teenage boys are on the menu.