Nothing better illustrates the contemporary Left’s slavish devotion to “hurt feelings” as opposed to Scientific Truth than its refusal to challenge some of the brazenly irrational aspects of LGBTQ ideology. One can be tolerant and indeed loving towards everyone of a gay or trans orientation while nevertheless disagreeing with some of their ideas and political initiatives. Sadly however, in this era of Leftist Fascism, even the most rational of criticisms are likely to be dismissed as mere “hate speech.”
An article in the Globe and Mail of Oct. 15, 2022, written by Caroline Alphonso, may serve to make my point. Her topic is the strife that has recently arisen regarding the policies pursued by the Waterloo District School Board here in southern Ontario., strife which she blames on the rhetoric being spewed by parents regarding issues such as the introduction of LGBTQ ideology into their children’s classrooms. Repeatedly using the term “rhetoric,” she implies there is nothing rational about their complaints. At the same time her reference to “so-called” radical gender ideology implies that far from being radical or ideological, what the Waterloo board is promoting is nothing less than scientific fact. Conspicuously, she fails to in any way justify these assumptions. Indeed much of what she impugns as the rhetoric spewed by disgruntled parents worried about the education of their kids, seems to be simple common sense! As proof of the fact that the gender bigotry evident in Waterloo is rampant in “conservative” enclaves elsewhere, she cites a bill passed earlier in 2022 by Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, a bill denounced by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” Law, a bill which she admits merely “bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through grade 3.” Apparently it is “hateful” for parents to object to having children aged 5 to 8 inundated with ideas they can’t possibly process, ideas that could ruin the rest of their lives, ideas that are in fact rooted in the need for validation of a certain sector of the species rather than an honest appraisal of the empirical facts.
The brazen lie promoted by the gay/trans community today is the notion that gender is utterly fluid, that the binary gender paradigm [i.e., hetero-sexuality] is an artificial social construct with no objective basis in human biology. As a heterosexual Male for whom Women are the most enchanting creatures on the planet, I know unequivocally that my sexual orientation is a genetically determined fact over which I have no control. Inasmuch as Evolution, for obvious reasons, has designed the vast majority of the species in this way, those of ambiguous sexual orientations may be said to be deviations from the human norm. I understand perfectly that the term “deviant” has in the past and continues to be even today in certain cultures, a term of approbation. Yet I use it with no such intent. Love whom you will! Identify as you see fit! Your sexual orientation is in no way indicative of your moral status as a human being! But when only one in a million kids might actually benefit from the life-altering hormonal and surgical procedures involved in “transitioning,” is it not literally criminal to present those options to 8 year olds as perfectly “normal” life choices? Parents in various “liberal” enclaves have been appalled to have their young sons come home from school and ask if the fact that they have a penis necessarily means they are a boy! Individuals who have had radical gender altering surgeries only to discover as they approached 20 that they had made a horrible mistake, have launched lawsuits against those who led them astray. Yes, there is a minute percent of the species whose genetic makeup leads them to wonder if their genitalia are not in fact inconsistent with their actual gender. But that those so afflicted feel entitled to teach our children that their condition is nothing unusual, that gender is in no way determined by Biology, is a gross violation of academic integrity, the sort of violation consistently endorsed by Leftists whose informing principle is not respect for Objective Truth, but rather an inane obsession with the “intellectual” dictates of Hurt Feelings.
In keeping with this agenda, the Waterloo School Board, according to the Globe article I have before me, has insisted for the last few years that its schools banish all traces of Halloween from celebration within their confines, as they are likely to make the children of new immigrants feel uncomfortable. Apparently asking them to deal with the fact that they have come to a country with its own history and set of traditions is unreasonable. Apparently their “hurt feelings,” however unjustified, are all that matter. Apparently the joy denied those kids who gleefully look forward to celebrating Halloween is inconsequential. It is the absurd Leftist formula for Inclusiveness that has led various “liberal” governments to eliminate the phrase “Merry Christmas” from public display. It is a formula for the end of Western Civilization, anyone caught celebrating that heritage being nothing more, of course, than a hateful White Supremacist.
Imagine going to Iran or Iraq or Saudi Arabia or Kuwait and demanding they eliminate all vestiges of their cultural history and religious traditions from public view because they hurt your feelings. Imagine yourself dead!
Bill Maher, who still considers himself a liberal, insists the academic agenda of the LGBTQ community is rooted in Ideology rather than Science. No doubt he, as do I, has no problem teaching high school students both the genetically induced permutations of human sexuality along with the need for love and respect towards those who deviate from the biological norm. But teaching them that Heterosexuality is a Patriarchal construct invented by straight Men to justify their orientation, indeed suggesting that it is perfectly natural to explore the options of the Gay Life or even radical Gender Re-Assignment, are expressions of a political agenda rather than anything that ought to be taught in our schools. Yes, in the past those schools were often used to perpetuate the biases of the White, Patriarchal, Ruling Classes. But two wrongs don’t make a right and a truly progressive education ought to be focused on exploring the complex truths of both History and Biology rather than proselytizing on behalf of any aggrieved group.
The Religion of Hurt Feelings entails not only a fundamental disrespect for Biological Reality, but a disturbing indifference to the principles of Democracy itself. In Nov., 2022, the Catholic School Board of Renfrew, Ont. suspended 16 year old Josh Alexander for asserting his belief that there are only two genders. He had made no incendiary statements, had engaged in no bullying whatsoever. His suspension was based upon the notion that his very opinion was a form of bullying!
In B.C., nurse Amy Hamm, an admirer of the politically incorrect J.K. Rowling, is being persecuted for expressing her belief that an individual with a penis does not become a Woman simply by verbal fiat. She argues aggressively that such individuals should not be allowed in women’s locker rooms, showers, prison cells, etc..
As both Amy and Josh and more notable individuals such as Jordan Peterson have discovered, the Right to Freedom of Speech in the Western World is in the process of being replaced by the “principle” that any statement deemed hurtful to the feelings of the members of what is considered an oppressed group, is grounds for cancellation. It is a development utterly devoid of intellectual merit, a development almost comical in its absurdity, yet one that is ironically supported by many who have the audacity to call themselves “progressives.”