by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I’m in a bad mood and the cheap whiskey is kicking in, so I feel like writing about an extremely touchy subject — trans rights. In general, I don’t have an opinion on any of it and generally I shrug whenever I hear about the latest battle over this or that thing within the movement.
I do sometimes struggle with the whole “Protect Trans Kids” sentiment because…oh boy. I have no idea what to say about that. Anything to do with kids is something that should be given a lot of thought and debate and I don’t know about you, but when I was a young man I didn’t really have much sense of self. It wasn’t until much later that I developed any idea of who I was or what my “true north” was.
There are two issues that are really difficult for me to grapple with when it comes to trans rights. One is how much of an established orthodoxy there is on the issue within my center-Left echo chamber. Any variation from that orthodoxy risks having you cast out of the anti-MAGA movement as some sort of bigoted ogre. So, generally, I don’t talk about the subject at all because, like I said, I’m not invested in the issue one way or another and, for once, I just don’t feel like wading into a controversial topic.
Meanwhile, there is another issue that causes me pause for thought. Trans rights — especially the whole “Protect Trans Kids” issue is such a corrosive wedge issue that it’s one of a number of culture war issues that is tearing the country apart. You can tell how Blue or Red someone is by what pops out of their mouth when the issue of Trans Rights comes up.
And, let me be clear — I’m indifferent. Other than occasionally growing alarmed at the back and forth over the issue of Trans kids….I just don’t care. In fact, I would say the issue of Trans Rights is, by definition, the very sort of controversial social topic that the political discourse of a functioning democracy would figure out soon enough.
But we’re past the event horizon of autocracy, civil war or military junta between now and spring 2025. So, away we go. Buckle up. We’re totally fucked.
