Danielle Smith, the Conservative Premier of Alberta, recently declared that her province would no longer allow gender reassignment surgeries to those 17 and under, or puberty blocking hormonal therapy to those 15 or less. While making it clear that she was sympathetic to those of ambiguous gender identity, she nevertheless felt that such life altering decisions ought not to be made by those of a certain age. If they can’t vote, or drive a car, or purchase alcohol because of their presumed immaturity, ought not that same factor to inform the laws governing gender reassignment? Smith’s approach to the issue, it seems to me, is simple common sense.
Liberal reaction to her announcement was swift and typically strident. Trudeau’s Minister of Employment, Randy Boissonnault, said Smith had declared was on Trans Rights and indeed on human decency itself. She was, he said, clearly catering to the ugly biases of her “conservative” base. Marci Ien, another Liberal Minister, accused her of “blowing up peoples’ lives.” Justice Minister Arif Virani was disgusted by her attempt to “demonize” those with gender issues. Alberta’s NDP leader Rachel Notley called Smith’s piece of legislation “horrifying.”
What I find horrifying are partisan, ideologically based rants such as the above which conveniently fail to include rational analyses of the people and policies under attack for fear of exposing their own brazen irrationality! While Smith’s statement was devoid of any hint of animus and vibrated with empathy for those concerned, it has summarily been dismissed as but another expression of right wing hatred. Such is the despicable modus operandi of the contemporary Left. It is why, as I have said often, this blog is called “the politics of hate.”
Aside from her concern for the future welfare of the young people involved, Smith was clearly defending the rights of parents to raise their children as they see fit. Multiple examples exist of influencers in both the educational and medical fields advising kids to transition, while keeping their parents totally in the dark. This is outrageous! It entails the assumption that the often specious dictates of any state-sanctioned popular movement can be used to preempt the right to self-determination of every private citizen. It entails an attack on what used to be considered the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by Democracy.
Transgenders represent a deviation from the biological human norm. This is an objectively verifiable Fact and not some hate-inspired Lie! As does Danielle Smith, I am utterly sympathetic to those whose DNA results in a sense of gender ambiguity. But at the same time I am disgusted by the refusal of trans activists to admit that the procedures they so mindlessly promote can in fact destroy lives. They seem to be motivated less by genuine concern for others than by their need to “normalize” their orientation, a need they rationalize by promulgating the lie that Gender is just a matter of choice, traditional norms being mere social constructs perpetuated by the tyrannical Patriarchy. As a heterosexual Male whose every cell pulsates at the sight of a beautiful woman, I can say unequivocally this bit of postmodern speculation is pure B.S..
Perhaps nothing better illustrates the Trans movement’s self-centered disdain for Objective Reality and the rights of others than its insistence that Men who now identify as Women ought to be allowed to compete with them in various athletic competitions. While I could cite multiple examples, in both Canada and the States, of the obvious unfairness of this notion, the simple facts of Human Biology would seem evidence of its brazen irrationality. Quite rightly, Danielle Smith banned biologically born Males from competing against Females in high school sports within her province. Why, one might ask, has she been demonized by Trudeau and his brain-dead crew for defending Women’s Rights? The answer is obvious yet embarrassingly stupid. Women constitute approximately 50% of the species, while Transgenders make up less than 1%. Inasmuch as it is not the Truth or Righteousness of any group’s agenda but its status as a vulnerable minority that determines the Left’s loyalties, a multitude of voices from that sector have risen up in support of the Trans movement. Hence our absurd world in which individuals born with the musculature typical of biological Males, are being allowed to pummel vulnerable Females in all sorts if athletic competitions, this in the name of “social justice.”
Polls show that the vast majority of people are appalled that children can be transitioned without the knowledge of their parents. When the Majority disagrees with some Leftist piece of nonsense, of course, it is typically demonized as “populist,” an epithet that is inherently anti-democratic in that it implies majority rule is not necessarily a good thing. Yet it must be admitted that many “liberals” of common sense have begun to question various aspects of the Trans agenda. Indeed the decidedly “progressive” N.Y. Time published an opinion piece on Feb. 2 which would seem to support Danielle Smith’s approach to the issue. The title of Pamela Paul’s article pretty much explains its thesis. It reads: “As Kids They Thought They Were Trans. They No Longer Do.” Paul cites the growing number of youths whose lives have been devastated by surgical and hormonal procedures which in no way addressed the difficulties they were experiencing as teens. It was in response to such tragedies that Danielle Smith forged her piece of legislation, a bill that has been characterized far and wide on Canada’s Left as “horrific,” an adjective which in fact perfectly describes the nature of its truly despicable attacks on this sensible and courageous woman!