Twit Awards for the Week 2/27/23

The BBC issued an apology to J.K. Rowling, for the fact that in news segments claims that she is transphobic went “unchallenged.” For apologizing for telling the truth, we give the BBC a Twit Award. PinkNews has this story.

An opinion piece in The National Review praises the idea of lengthening the statute of limitations for desisters to sue doctors and clinics which prescribe gender-affirming care. The lawmakers who are promoting this policy have exempted themselves from being sued for the results of their policies, but they want others to be sued for an even longer period of time. Since the actual desisters are about 2% of those who start gender-affirming care, the lawmakers would feel the financial pinch of such lawsuits far faster and deeper, had they not shielded themselves. For advocating a policy which exaggerates an existing inequality, National Review writer Wesley J. Smith gets a Twit Award.

One particular desister, a Chloe Cole, age 18, has become a celebrity among opponents of gender-affirming care for minors. A conservative group called Center for American Liberty is suing her health care provider, Kaiser Permanente, for providing her with puberty blockers, her hormone therapy, and a double mastectomy. At the time, they were giving her what was correct for her diagnosis of “gender dysphoria,” which was very consistent with what she told health care providers she felt. Eventually, her feelings changed. For insisting that doctors should be mind-readers and should be able to determine which patients will desist in their gender dysphoria, even though so few do, the people behind this lawsuit get a Twit Award. The San Francisco Chronicle has this story.

We told you last week about Arkansas state Senator Matt McKee, who asked a transgender pharmacist if she had a penis while the pharmacist was testifying against a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Senator McKee claims that the blowback he got for his rudeness was “all a show.” The point of the show was to call out his rudeness, asking a very personal question that, since the person testifying was not a minor, had nothing to do with the legislation. For wearing his rudeness as a badge of honor, and for compounding the rudeness with a rude reply dismissing valid criticism, Arkansas state Senator Matt McKee gets another Twit Award. This story comes from Fox News.

Fox News is proclaiming an old clip from South Park “prophetic” in the way it “predicted” where the battle for trans rights would go. Given that this is from Fox News, it is easy to roll one’s eyes right away when one reads the headline. Sure enough, the “prophetic” clip actually shows Mr. Garrison, the teacher, as a post-operative trans woman. (The whole storyline of Mr. Garrison as a transgender woman was filled with inaccuracies, but Fox News missed them all.) As a transgender woman, Ms. Garrison did not get a period, so she assumed that she was pregnant, and went to Planned Parenthood for an abortion. The segment also has other characters trying to get surgical changes, none of which are actually available, in order to fulfill desires that are nowhere near as comparable to gender dysphoria as anti-transgender forces believe. For showing their lack of understanding of gender dysphoria, and for missing the joke which actually was on their own bad idea of what gender dysphoria is, the people who see this as “prophetic” get a Twit Award.

A more prophetic remark was the idea that banning gender-affirming care for minors what just a prelude to banning gender-affirming care for all transgender people. Sure enough, Them reports that Florida and Texas have bills which would not only prevent the state from paying for gender-affirming care, but would even bar private insurers from funding gender-affirming care, even for adults. For not even trying to show their critics to be wrong, and for listening to liars instead of medical associations with much more accurate statistics, the legislators behind these bills get a Twit Award.

A new bill in Florida would shield anyone accused of being a “homophobe” or “transphobe,” by allowing them to sue for libel. Apparently, being called a “transphobe” is an insult, but being one is not. Mind you, these people are claiming that their transphobia and homophobia is a part of their “deeply-held religious beliefs,” as if a good person would not (and should not) question a religion that treats others so badly. For protecting people from a criticism, even when that criticism is justified, and for denying the Zenger decision that truth is a valid defense against libel, the people behind this law get a Twit Award. The Advocate has this story.

Tags: featured, news, opinion, Transgender

Category: Transgender Opinion