Twit Awards for the Week 2/6/23
We mentioned in the news that former President Donald Trump says he will ban gender-affirming medical or surgical care for children when he is re-elected president. In the video, he referred to gender confirmation surgery as the “mutilation of children.” For a lack of sympathy for others, and for appealing to the prejudices of others, former President Donald Trump gets a Twit Award. The Hill has this story.
UK Athletics has said that they want to create a new “open” category for athletic competitions, alongside “male” and “female.” Transgender athletes would not be allowed to compete in the “female” category, so they would compete in the “open” category. Of course, no cisgender athletes would compete in this “open” category if they felt that they could win in a gendered category. As a result, the transgender athletes would be competing against male athletes who couldn’t beat the male champions. In plain English, the category would get the sort of male athletes who transphobes think would transition in order to win athletic competitions as females–except, they wouldn’t have to transition, nor would they have to meet any medical standards in order to compete. For creating a “solution” to a “problem” which actually causes the problem that they are trying to avoid, U.K. Athletics gets a Twit Award. You can read the story from Reuters at ESPN.
A transgender woman was charged with indecent exposure for her use of the women’s locker room at a YMCA in the Dayton, Ohio, area. The city council and the YMCA deny that they were involved in the decision to charge the transgender woman. For charging this transgender woman with indecent exposure when she appears to have a legal right to use the women’s changing room, the Xenia Police and Xenia Law Office receive a Twit Award. The New York Post has this story.
The Republicans of the House of Representatives introduced legislation to address one of the most pressing issues of the day: transgender women athletes. They want a national ban on transgender women in women’s sports, despite a lack of science to back up the claim that transgender women have a genetic advantage. For promoting prejudice and bigotry, and for placing this ahead of more pressing needs, the sponsors and cosponsors of this bill get a Twit Award. This story comes from LGBTQ Nation.
A group of doctors claim to have found a “fatal flaw” in the recent study that shows transgender children benefit from HRT. First off, the group, called Do No Harm, is not a major medical group, but just some social conservatives who happen to have medical degrees. Their criticism of the study is that they did not compare the transgender children to a group which received a placebo. That is true, but they did compare these children to themselves prior to HRT. For presenting this small group of doctors as though they are more significant than they are, and for a questionable criticism of the study, The Daily Signal gets a Twit Award.
South Dakota state Representative Brandei Schaefbauer used a quote from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to justify voting in favor of a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. The particular quote included, “Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. . . .It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, religion and education will have to do that, but it can restrain him from trying to lynch me. . .While legislation may not change the hearts of men, it does change the habits of men.” Dr. King was saying that the law can be used to raise the minimum acceptance of others, while state Representative Schaefbauer was using the quote to lower the minimum acceptance of transgender people. Where Dr. King was advocating the use of the law to limit the effects of prejudice and bigotry, state Representative Schaefbauer advocates actions that support prejudice and bigotry. For using the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for the exact opposite of the cause he advocated, and for rushing to claim the mantle of victim when she is in fact the one who is removing the right to health care from others, South Dakota state Representative Brandei Schaaefbauer gets a Twit Award. Rolling Stone has this story.
Category: Transgender Opinion