Lgbtq

How they treat trans children across the pond

From our US edition

England's National Health Service made the major announcement last week that they would limit the prescription of puberty-blocking drugs for transgender children to clinical trials. A report released by the NHS on June 9 states that "there is not enough evidence to support their safety or clinical effectiveness as a routinely available treatment and that they should only be accessed as part of research." The decision is the latest consequence of a multi-year review into how the medical community in England should treat children who suffer from gender dysphoria.

LGBT activists gather outside the Stonewall Inn (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Trans White House flasher’s rack confuses conservative radio hosts

From our US edition

It only took one hot trans woman flashing her breasts in front of the White House to topple the GOP’s anti-trans agenda.  After President Biden banned transgender activist Rose Montoya from future White House events for going topless on the South Lawn, some conservatives have taken to social media to declare their admiration for her. For the most part, this bold display of equity and inclusion has taken the form of middle-aged men slavering over her bust. “That tranny that flashed everyone at the White House looked pretty good and I’m tired of pretending he didn’t,” tweeted alpha male pundit Jesse Kelly yesterday. “I’m with you,” radio host Clay Travis responded. “Great boobs. And I don’t think I’d know that was a dude.

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Topless trans guests reveal systemic inequality at the White House

From our US edition

The White House lawn became the latest battleground in the “Free the Nipple” fight this weekend.  A shocking display of inequality was captured on video when TikTok influencer and trans woman Rose Montoya filmed herself topless in front of the White House, flaunting her breasts during a Pride event. Montoya was joined by two trans male activists who were also shirtless. Yet only Montoya — whether out of a sense of decency or internalized social pressures — censored her nipples with her hands. For all the White House's moral posturing, Cockburn is shocked they would tolerate such brazen inequality.

Rose Montoya takes her shirt off on the White House lawn (Rose Montoya/TikTok)

Beware the New York Times kids section

From our US edition

“Stinky. Sweaty. Hairy. Pimply. Totally Normal.”  That’s the seemingly innocent tagline of the “Puberty Issue” of the New York Times for Kids, which appears in the print newspaper on the last Sunday of every month.  The kids section, which was started in March 2017 as a part of the New York Times magazine department, often looks harmless at first glance. The cover typically boasts colorful and engaging artwork, while inside, children are greeted with cartoons, games, puzzles and mini articles about cool accomplishments by other kids. Past issues covered how kids could spend their summer vacations, interesting facts about bugs and other creepy critters, and how to start growing a garden.

The New York Times for Kids ‘Puberty Issue’ (Amber Athey/The Spectator)

Coca-Cola’s ‘Indigiqueer’ Pride workshops for kids

From our US edition

Coca-Cola is kicking off Pride Month by sponsoring events for preteens that are taught by Native American "Indigiqueer" and two-spirit artists. On the first day of Pride Month, Coca-Cola is partnering with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian to bring workshops from “across the Western Hemisphere working towards equity and social justice for Indigenous peoples” to middle- and high-school students. “Fashion is often used to confirm identities, challenge social structures and display personalities,” the event description reads. “Discover the joy of fashion in our conversation celebrating PRIDE month.” There are four panelists.

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Behind the ludicrous travel advisories deeming Florida ‘hostile’ to minorities

From our US edition

Three prominent civil rights organizations in America have launched what appear to be coordinated attacks designed to hobble both Florida’s critical tourism industry and Governor Ron DeSantis’s impending campaign for president.  The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, and Equality Florida, an LGBT advocacy group, issued advisories warning travelers of the dangers of visiting Florida, a state one Democratic strategist says is becoming a “terrorist state.” The attacks will likely fail, but they illustrate how these groups now function solely as advocates for the narrow interests of the Democratic Party, rather than the interest of the groups they purport to champion.

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State Department offers counseling to staff it misgendered

From our US edition

The State Department sent an all-staff email Friday apologizing for misgendering people with its new pronoun system and offered counseling to parties who may have been offended by the systems error. The Spectator is exclusively publishing a copy of the email: The Washington Free Beacon first reported that the State Department's plan to allow employees to add pronouns to their emails backfired spectacularly. Apparently, the State Department's system began randomly assigning pronouns to employees rather than allowing them to choose their preferred pronouns. This "unfortunate mistake" led to "hurt" and "distress", according to the State Department's chief information officer Kelly Fletcher.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers remarks (Getty Images)

Pursued by the trans mob with Liz Wheeler on campus

From our US edition

Harrisonburg, Virginia We're sitting at the lobby bar of a Hyatt eating snacks, killing time until Liz Wheeler's speech on transgenderism at James Madison University, which is slated for 6 pm. Liz's private security suggested we not wait on campus, given the death threats she and her family have received over the past couple of weeks since the event was announced. A young man takes a few steps through the lobby, looks at Liz, stops, and backtracks behind a wall. Liz whips her head to me. "Do you think he recognized me?" she asks. She's on edge until the man re-emerges behind the bar wearing a name tag. He works here. Sigh of relief.

Liz Wheeler speaks at James Madison University

Judy Blume steps on the J.K. Rowling landmine

From our US edition

Until a few weeks ago, Judy Blume’s reputation as one of the world’s most admired and respected novelists seemed assured. She has sold over 82 million copies of her twenty-five books, has won countless awards and was named one of TIME’s most influential people earlier this year. But those whom the gods wish to destroy are asked for their views on J.K. Rowling — and so when Blume was asked as much in an interview, she replied, “I love her... I am behind her 100 percent as I watch from afar... I haven’t been in touch with her during this tough time. Probably I should.” This went badly, as might be imagined — “Fuck Judy Blume!

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Is trans trending downward?

From our US edition

How will we know when we’ve reached “peak trans?” The term, which dates back almost a decade, refers to the point at which the number of people who consider themselves trans reaches its apex and starts to drop. A report from last year shows the number of people who identify as trans or nonbinary is declining. Researcher Eric Kaufmann, who conducted it, notes that in the last decade, there was a 1,000 percent increase in the share of American teenagers who identified as transgender.  What can account for that kind of increase? Visibility? Awareness? An evolving social landscape that de-emphasizes the differences between men and women? Maybe all of the above — but I think there’s a more persuasive argument: it was trending, and now it’s not.

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Exclusive: Politico progressives double down on list of banned words

From our US edition

A recently updated version of Politico’s style guide reveals that the outlet is doubling down on forcing reporters to use so-called "inclusive" language — such as "pregnant people" instead of women — and will require all articles on transgender issues to be specially reviewed by multiple editors. I first reported on Politico’s woke style guide in my book The Snowflakes’ Revolt, which also uncovers how reporters were required to attend a struggle session led by transgender activists. As I lay out in an excerpt published in The Spectator, that version of the guide, which was created in January 2022, warned reporters to avoid gendered language like "manmade," "manhunt," "waiter or waitress," "biological sex" and more.

politico

Tom Crewe’s The New Life is sophisticated, intelligent and gripping

From our US edition

Tom Crewe’s highly accomplished debut novel, The New Life, concerns the suppression of sexual feelings, and how utopian visions can falter when they come up against cold hard reality. It begins with John Addington (closely, though not entirely, based on the nineteenth-century man of letters John Addington Symonds), fantasizing about a homosexual encounter in a London underground train. The carriage is crammed: a man is pressing his buttocks into John’s crotch; John’s excitement cannot be concealed; soon they are in the throes of passion, despite the crowds around them. It’s a claustrophobic, tense, almost nightmarish scene, executed with minute attention to detail.

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The Sims adds double mastectomy scars and chest binders to game

From our US edition

The Sims is now trans-inclusive! Electronic Arts, the gaming company behind the wildly successful Sims franchise, added the ability to give your custom sims double mastectomy scars, tucking underwear, and chest binders in the latest update to The Sims 4. The new Create a Sim options are available for teen, young adult and adult sims. Teen sims attend high school in the game, so Electronic Arts is subtly promoting the idea of "top surgery" — or lopping off healthy breasts so that females may appear physically more male — for minors. According to one study, chest reconstruction surgeries for minors in the United States rose by nearly 400 percent between 2016 and 2019. https://twitter.com/make_it_sizzle/status/1620553289078284288?

Visitors try out the game 'SIMS 4' at the Electronic Arts stand at the 2014 Gamescom gaming trade fair (Photo by Sascha Steinbach/Getty Images)

Rachel Levine must explain ‘misinformation’ over ‘gender-affirming care’

From our US edition

Rachel Levine, the United States assistant secretary for health, has become a lightning rod for attention and controversy in the Biden administration. Levine is a nonbinary transgender woman who, as a biological male, was married with two children. Levine was named Woman of the Year by USA Today. When the Christian satire website Babylon Bee published an online post calling Levine “Man of the Year,” Twitter suspended the Bee’s account, which was then unsuspended under new Twitter owner Elon Musk. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has put Levine front and center in the cultural and medical fight over treatment for minors under eighteen who claim they are trans.

Of course: all the great women in history were actually men

From our US edition

One of the great, pesky questions of human history has finally been answered. For thousands of years , as we all know, most great accomplishments were the works of men. But now and then there was an outlier, a woman doing great things. Esther in the Bible, Joan of Arc or Elizabeth I of England. It made no sense — but today, thanks to the tireless work of gender studies departments we know the truth: those weren’t women at all. They were actually men. This weekend we had further confirmation of this revelation from the New York Times which ran a piece revealing that Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, was a trans man. We know this because sometimes Alcott went by “Lou” and mentioned having a “boys' spirit.” I’m sold.

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The Whitney Houston biopic is a big, gay masterpiece

From our US edition

Half an hour or so into the new Whitney Houston biopic, I Wanna Dance with Somebody, two bros sitting next to me asked, “Why is gay Whitney in Black Panther?” They were in the wrong movie, but based on the other audience members screaming at the screen, the lone straight men weren’t alone in finding director Kasi Lemmons’s new film shocking. Sony promoted I Wanna Dance with Somebody as the feel-good biopic of the year. The trailer starts with the hook of the titular song and goes on to show Houston (Naomi Ackie) dancing to “How Will I Know” and singing her iconic rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl. Houston rarely speaks, but when she does, she talks about music: “My dream,” she purrs, “sing how I want to sing.

Gay marriage has nothing to do with Drag Queen Story Hour

From our US edition

The main reason why I lined up in the pouring rain to vote for Bill Clinton in 1992 was that he’d campaigned as a gay-friendly candidate. It wasn’t just his promise to allow gays to serve openly in the military. It was that he talked about gays as if we were human beings and not demons — fully equal to our heterosexual brothers and sisters. Back then, for gay Americans, every new election cycle meant one thing for sure: we’d have to gird ourselves for a fresh round of gay-bashing by presidential hopefuls. Clinton seemed to promise a new era in politics, when our very existence would no longer be an issue. Well, Clinton won the election. And four years later he signed the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA. “Defense” as in defense from us.

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How LGBTQ ‘anti-discrimination’ laws threaten our liberty

From our US edition

We have all seen a sign, usually in a mom-and-pop business, declaring, “We reserve the right to refuse service to you.” In a free society, it is hard to argue with this assertion. Shouldn’t a business owner, landlord, or proprietor have the right to decide whom to serve to and whom to decline to serve? This is the essence of the freedom of association, which includes the reciprocal right to refrain from association. Or does it? In Colorado, cake artist Jack Phillips was threatened with draconian legal penalties for declining to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple due to his religious objections to such unions. In 2017, the Supreme Court granted Phillips a reprieve from his ordeal, but the litigation continues.

Ryan Murphy goes cruising

From our US edition

American Horror Story’s eleventh season is a tableau of New York’s gay subcultures, thriving in its 1981, pre-AIDS glory. Its characters are male eye candy in jockstraps and stripy socks, daddies in leather straps and twinks out for a laugh. As Kal Penn’s cynical police commissioner summarizes, "That community? They come here for a reason. They come here to get lost, and that's exactly what they do.” The style? A mood board of Mugler costume-fashion, Chrome Hearts leather jackets, Lagerfeld’s filled shoulder pads and Calvin Klein underwear billboards. But its premise is that of an earlier and much more controversial gay masterpiece: Cruising.

american horror story

Now is the time for a strong social conservatism

From our US edition

President Biden’s recent interview with transexual TikToker Dylan Mulvaney is a clarifying event for anyone who pays attention to America’s culture wars. The first notable aspect of the interview was the mere fact that it happened — that the president of the United States, in the home stretch of a midterm election season, deemed it a prudent use of his time to sit down with such a radical activist. The second notable aspect of the interview is what our senile commander-in-chief said in the course of his conversation. At one point, Mulvaney asked our hapless supremo if he thinks states should be permitted to “ban gender-affirming health care.

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