June is known as Pride Month. I thus would like to take this month to recognize the following for allowing us to have a more nuanced appreciation and understanding of gender and sexuality, while being grounded in reality, truth, biology, and kindness too. I might not agree with everything everyone says, does, or believes (and in fact some might not even like being in the same list as others), but I feel they have helped contribute to changing the international conversation in various ways, and for that I am grateful - and proud.
To 'thoughtful therapists', James Caspian and James Esses should be added. Together with Stella O'Malley they co-founded 'Thoughtful Therapists' https://thoughtfultherapists.org and have both been shamefully targetted for standing up for the kind of care young people who get caught up in the gender identity actually need: thoughtful therapy. Each has had to resort to legal action to try to defend their compassionate sense about gender identity.
Great list. I would add brain researchers Dr Guillamon at University of Madrid that showed exogenous Estrogen leaches water from brain cells. Dr Tyler Kjorvestad pioneering work on psychedelic assisted Psychotherapy for disorders of the mind, Dr Miriam Grossman, Dr Joseph Ladapo.
Good to see this long list of the wonderful people who help parents like me get through another day of trans-induced anxiety, reminding us that so many others are standing alongside. I would add Eliza Mondegreen (https://elizamondegreen.substack.com/) who nails it every single time, and the much needed voice of Dr. Dylan Wilson, who has shown the desperately needed courage that all but a few clinicians have shown (https://drdylanwilson.substack.com/), among so many more out there in the trenches. I'd also add to those helping to building the trove of articles I go to for a reminder that the science is clear — or in many cases decidedly unclear: Michael Biggs, Alison Clayton, Paul Hruz, David Schwartz, Paul McHugh, Lisa Marchiano (whose article convinced me that I probably wasn't crazy), JL Cederbloom, and Stephen Levine. And Miriam Grossman, who has so passionately created a space for the unique grief parents of gender-confused children manage day after day, year after year.
Thank you for that list. In the 6 months since my previously very feminine, happy in her body, daughter declared she was ‘non-binary trans queer’ and 5 months since she started taking Testosterone I have been on a very steep learning curve and I am familiar with most of those names. For practical advice and support I am most grateful for Stella O’Malley and Sasha Ayad’s brilliant podcast, Gender-A Wider Lens. They are so wise and so compassionate. With an issue that has become so politicised they have focused on the humanity of all involved.
Some others I’d like to add to the list, who have helped me when I have just needed to laugh at the sheer absurdity of gender ideology (you have to sometimes laugh or eternally weep for the harm that is being done to your dear, vulnerable child) are:
Bill Maher, Ricky Gervais (Supernature), Matt Walsh (What is a Woman?- I include that somewhat reluctantly as I know I would vehemently oppose many of his other beliefs, but his critique of gender ideology is spot on!) I also have really loved Francis Aaron’s rap songs, if you haven’t seen those I highly recommend them! One is called Problematic, another I think ‘Clownfish’ (I love the retort to the idiocies spouted by gender ideologues ‘but human beings aren’t clownfish!!’.
I have just ordered 3 of Scott Nugent’s Scream Louder t-shirts. Please, everyone, speak out against the medicalisation of children and young people’s internet fuelled delusions. Our most respected institutions, schools, universities, the medical profession, the mainstream media and all levels of government have been captured by this madness and are all unwittingly complicit in causing irreparable harm. It can’t end soon enough!!
My shout out is for the parents who continue to ask the questions and do the research and put their skin in this toxic game sheltering their kids in any way they can, big or small. Day in and out. Bless you all. Its an honor to be invited into your very private lives through your essays.
If I may be so bold, perhaps those of us already subject to the pains and agonies of "puberty blockers" should be added, those who know already from bitter experience about the side effects of destroyed libido, mangled sexuality, compromised motivation, loss of internal temperature control, depression and the leeching of minerals from important skeletal structures.
Some of us chaps with advanced prostate cancer have been shouting about this for a while and asking why, if this collateral damage is known about by oncologists, is it ignored or underplayed by gender therapists.
We must surely ask why the latter should actually be allowed to continue to practice?
For by underplaying the side effects of what they call "puberty blockers" (and what I and many others recognise as cancer treatment) they are in fact lying to their clients ("patients" is not the right word here!)
Thank you too for mentioning Jordan Peterson. It was on a visit to TO in about 2015 when I first had the important conversation with my good friend Sonia who talked at great length about what was coming and that despite the rest of his work, Prof Peterson was absolutely correct about the stupidities of identity politics, so I did some reading: you can not run a country (or any organisation) on the basis of how people feel about who they are! Without some "objective" gauge of what is going on in a society, narcissism will overrun everything.
Finally to the brave souls who pointed out that Butler's reading of Foucault is pernicious bourgeois nonsense that completely ignores the materialism at the heart of his work - not to mention his warnings against individualism. Butler has traduced Foucault's work in more ways than can be mentioned here and yet every spotty teenager who has tried to engage me in this debate has told me I should read Butler, so then I will understand. Incandescent fury as I suggest they read Foucault in the correct context; a rather arcane dispute with Derrida about what Descartes really meant about his self, how this is discussed at great length in the Archaeology of Knowledge and the underlying status of Marx in the French intellectual scene of the times. The universities aint what they used to be; teaching kids what they feel they should learn because they paid the fees, not about standards of intellectual rigour and how to read complex philosophical texts.
Thank you for letting me get this off my chest. It's an odd collection of additions, but important nonetheless.
Sweden's Mission Investgate does great work and I can't get Leo's story out of my head when friends say puberty blockers are reversible. After the 3 part series I watched this:
Great list! I think we could add Andrew Sullivan, who was instrumental in getting gay marriage passed in the US, and writes eloquently about the consequences, on young (if not all) gay people, of adding the "T" to the LGB rights movement.
Thank you so much for this post!
This is fantastic! Keep spreading the truth. I will continue to pray for God to help us to protect our children - let the truth be heard! Amen!
To 'thoughtful therapists', James Caspian and James Esses should be added. Together with Stella O'Malley they co-founded 'Thoughtful Therapists' https://thoughtfultherapists.org and have both been shamefully targetted for standing up for the kind of care young people who get caught up in the gender identity actually need: thoughtful therapy. Each has had to resort to legal action to try to defend their compassionate sense about gender identity.
Great list. I would add brain researchers Dr Guillamon at University of Madrid that showed exogenous Estrogen leaches water from brain cells. Dr Tyler Kjorvestad pioneering work on psychedelic assisted Psychotherapy for disorders of the mind, Dr Miriam Grossman, Dr Joseph Ladapo.
Benjamin Boyce for his voice of reason.
Thanks for all the effort you put into this. Excellent lost. Love the links.
Thanks for the additions! Much appreciated!
Definitely Benjamin Boyce
Thank you so much, As a community of people we would not like to be a part of.. we truly appreciate and are grateful for everyone ayou mentioned.
Good to see this long list of the wonderful people who help parents like me get through another day of trans-induced anxiety, reminding us that so many others are standing alongside. I would add Eliza Mondegreen (https://elizamondegreen.substack.com/) who nails it every single time, and the much needed voice of Dr. Dylan Wilson, who has shown the desperately needed courage that all but a few clinicians have shown (https://drdylanwilson.substack.com/), among so many more out there in the trenches. I'd also add to those helping to building the trove of articles I go to for a reminder that the science is clear — or in many cases decidedly unclear: Michael Biggs, Alison Clayton, Paul Hruz, David Schwartz, Paul McHugh, Lisa Marchiano (whose article convinced me that I probably wasn't crazy), JL Cederbloom, and Stephen Levine. And Miriam Grossman, who has so passionately created a space for the unique grief parents of gender-confused children manage day after day, year after year.
Why have you left out Kellie-Jay? the woman who started the Adult Human Female movement?
Thank you for that list. In the 6 months since my previously very feminine, happy in her body, daughter declared she was ‘non-binary trans queer’ and 5 months since she started taking Testosterone I have been on a very steep learning curve and I am familiar with most of those names. For practical advice and support I am most grateful for Stella O’Malley and Sasha Ayad’s brilliant podcast, Gender-A Wider Lens. They are so wise and so compassionate. With an issue that has become so politicised they have focused on the humanity of all involved.
Some others I’d like to add to the list, who have helped me when I have just needed to laugh at the sheer absurdity of gender ideology (you have to sometimes laugh or eternally weep for the harm that is being done to your dear, vulnerable child) are:
Bill Maher, Ricky Gervais (Supernature), Matt Walsh (What is a Woman?- I include that somewhat reluctantly as I know I would vehemently oppose many of his other beliefs, but his critique of gender ideology is spot on!) I also have really loved Francis Aaron’s rap songs, if you haven’t seen those I highly recommend them! One is called Problematic, another I think ‘Clownfish’ (I love the retort to the idiocies spouted by gender ideologues ‘but human beings aren’t clownfish!!’.
I have just ordered 3 of Scott Nugent’s Scream Louder t-shirts. Please, everyone, speak out against the medicalisation of children and young people’s internet fuelled delusions. Our most respected institutions, schools, universities, the medical profession, the mainstream media and all levels of government have been captured by this madness and are all unwittingly complicit in causing irreparable harm. It can’t end soon enough!!
Best Pride Post Ever!
My shout out is for the parents who continue to ask the questions and do the research and put their skin in this toxic game sheltering their kids in any way they can, big or small. Day in and out. Bless you all. Its an honor to be invited into your very private lives through your essays.
Yes! Proud for this. These voices are so important. Thank you all!
An extensive list. Thank you!
If I may be so bold, perhaps those of us already subject to the pains and agonies of "puberty blockers" should be added, those who know already from bitter experience about the side effects of destroyed libido, mangled sexuality, compromised motivation, loss of internal temperature control, depression and the leeching of minerals from important skeletal structures.
Some of us chaps with advanced prostate cancer have been shouting about this for a while and asking why, if this collateral damage is known about by oncologists, is it ignored or underplayed by gender therapists.
We must surely ask why the latter should actually be allowed to continue to practice?
For by underplaying the side effects of what they call "puberty blockers" (and what I and many others recognise as cancer treatment) they are in fact lying to their clients ("patients" is not the right word here!)
Thank you too for mentioning Jordan Peterson. It was on a visit to TO in about 2015 when I first had the important conversation with my good friend Sonia who talked at great length about what was coming and that despite the rest of his work, Prof Peterson was absolutely correct about the stupidities of identity politics, so I did some reading: you can not run a country (or any organisation) on the basis of how people feel about who they are! Without some "objective" gauge of what is going on in a society, narcissism will overrun everything.
Finally to the brave souls who pointed out that Butler's reading of Foucault is pernicious bourgeois nonsense that completely ignores the materialism at the heart of his work - not to mention his warnings against individualism. Butler has traduced Foucault's work in more ways than can be mentioned here and yet every spotty teenager who has tried to engage me in this debate has told me I should read Butler, so then I will understand. Incandescent fury as I suggest they read Foucault in the correct context; a rather arcane dispute with Derrida about what Descartes really meant about his self, how this is discussed at great length in the Archaeology of Knowledge and the underlying status of Marx in the French intellectual scene of the times. The universities aint what they used to be; teaching kids what they feel they should learn because they paid the fees, not about standards of intellectual rigour and how to read complex philosophical texts.
Thank you for letting me get this off my chest. It's an odd collection of additions, but important nonetheless.
Highly recommended: the 3-part Swedish documentary, "The Trans Train," on YouTube.
Sweden's Mission Investgate does great work and I can't get Leo's story out of my head when friends say puberty blockers are reversible. After the 3 part series I watched this:
https://youtu.be/HPNSWjjAzDk
Thanks…will check out that video
Great list! I think we could add Andrew Sullivan, who was instrumental in getting gay marriage passed in the US, and writes eloquently about the consequences, on young (if not all) gay people, of adding the "T" to the LGB rights movement.