Why is this happening, and who can fix it?

In “Why is this happening to my family?” (published on PITT August 9) I mentioned a possible connection between politics and trans-identification. Now I share my old data on the “demand” for trans among youth, plus new data on the “supply” of trans among medical professionals. Data sharpens the question of where this problem came from—and more importantly where the solution will come from. I think the solution can only come from liberal “Blue America,” not from conservative “Red America.” And I make some suggestions about language as our battlefield. 

DEMAND FOR TRANS

From August 9th: “We find a dramatic difference … in rates of ROGD between politically liberal and conservative communities … I know of no studies looking directly at liberalism-conservatism and ROGD/trans-ID, but I put together two data sources and found a strong correlation (R2=0.5) at the US state level between the red-blue partisan lean of a state in 2021 and the percent of youth age 13-17 who are trans-identified in 2022.” Here it is in a graph: Red Wyoming had only 0.56% trans-ID youth while Blue New York state was over five times higher at 3.00%. 

I also conjectured that more granular data would show even higher correlations and more dramatic shifts—given, for instance, the contrast of NY city versus NY state. But more granular data about trans-ID youth is hard to find. 

SUPPLY OF TRANS

What is easy to find is data about the “supply” of trans services: gender clinics. The Human Rights Campaign trumpets 62 pediatric “gender clinics” counting only “comprehensive multidisciplinary programs.” (The Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine claims that HRC understates the true total, saying it's "over 300". Gender Mapper lists "over 400 in North America".  But we want to err on the side of caution, so I see HRC, a hostile data source, as a sound choice for this study.)

HRC’s list is very specific, which poses the question: how should we tally clinics? I think congressional districts are a good level of granularity. They are all approximately the same population (min 526K, max 994K) so we can directly compare one to another; they are nine times more granular than states (yet not too granular, like ZIP code); and they are easy to assign a political measure, such as CookPVI.

Did you even realize how many “comprehensive” gender-affirming clinics exist across the country? Please share this info far and wide. These Mengele clinics are everywhere. They are where you would expect, and also where you would not expect. 

WHOSE PROBLEM? WHOSE SOLUTION?

Blue America dominates supply. Blue America dominates demand. But it’s not 100%. Does that mean trans is a Blue problem? It doesn’t matter. I am beyond caring whom to blame. What matters is that the solution lies with Blue. Red cannot solve the gender clinic butchery problem alone and is ill equipped to do so. [1] Who would they even talk to? Most Reds would have to travel far even to find a clinic. But for Blues, the answer is clear: talk to the leader of your party. Nancy Pelosi has two clinics in her SF district. Talk to Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Shontel Brown (OH-11) and Earl Blumenauer (OR-03), each of whom has three. 

It’s Americans who consider themselves normal old-school liberals but who are shocked by the Radical Gender Theory Cult™ who must do much of the work of taking it down. If not Blue, who? [2]

(And if Red America thinks its children are safe and only Blue kids are at risk, they’re wrong. They’re wrong because Blue America is now actively wooing Red children to come transition (CA SB107) without consent of either real parent. They’re wrong because Red America has its own (smaller) trans-industrial complex. They’re wrong because hundreds of Planned Parenthood clinics push trans hormones to minors. They’re wrong because young people are indoctrinated into the Radical Gender Theory Cult™ relentlessly—in school, online, in media—and where a young mind goes, a young body is likely to follow.)

Reds can’t sit this out, Reds must fight this cult. Blues must fight this cult. We can squabble later, after our children are safe.

—

P.S. Since I am revisiting my previous article, I’ll acknowledge another update to my thinking. In August I examined how Social Identity Threats contribute to ROGD. Fellow commenters on PITT objected that I failed to consider pornography. They’re right. Women from Abigail Shrier to Billie Eilish have described the frightening effect porn has on girls who are exposed to it—now more than ever. I’m starting to understand how porn can push boys into ROGD, too. I hope to write an article exploring the role of porn as a SIT that causes ROGD and trans-ID. 

[1] There are other reasons why Red America is poorly-suited to solving this problem alone. Reds are firmly typecast as the bad guys, 

cast as a mob of bigoted haters who would deny the transgendered their basic human rights. There can be no other explanation for why someone might believe that transgenderism defies both reason and the laws of biology. The liberal mainstream media is chief among the institutions in lock-step with the divisive tactics of identity politics. The demonized, of course, are those of religious faith. Much of the Western world has become secularized and anti-religious, but a strain of strong religious belief still remains in the United States. These adherents to a code of sexual morality that differs from the LGBT sexual liberation agenda, albeit foundational to the Judeo-Christian value system for millennia, are seen as the last bastion of opposition. Consequently, expressions of sincerely held religious belief are attacked as hateful and bigoted. Believers are mocked as unsophisticated rubes and rednecks, desperately clinging to their guns and religion while resisting the inevitable triumph of rational modernity. 

It’s not just that confused kids and gender chop-shops infect Blue areas; it’s primarily on Blues to defeat the Radical Gender Theory Cult™ because the Reds who practice traditional faiths or hold traditional views are demonized into irrelevance. They are demonized by Team Blue. That has to stop. 

[2] The Reds and the Shocked Blues must fight side-by-side. But how? I’m convinced that language is one key battlefield. Don’t adopt the language of your opponents. If you do, you have already lost. In "Gender" is surrender ; Why it is never wise in any battle to use the words of your opponents, gay writer Dennis Noel Kavanagh begins: 

Are you “gender critical”? Do you find yourself debating the existence of “gender identity”? Have you discussed the unprecedented surge in “gender dysphoria”? If you have, you may have unintentionally ceded linguistic territory in a battle principally waged in the sphere of language. 

So, stop talking about gender identity. It's not real. It’s a cult term and a cult concept. I love his conclusion: “We must untether our language from that of our opponents, it is their greatest and most dangerous subterfuge.” Even to engage with it is to be defeated. What we are fighting is a Radical Gender Theory Cult™ and it’s as fake as a Unicorn Cult.