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Jonny Best is a British musician, researcher, and producer who identifies as a gender critical gay man.

Background

Jonathan “Jonny” Best worked in theatre as a director (with RSC, National Theatre etc), as a staff director in opera (ENO, Royal Opera & Opera North), in commercial theatre (pantomime, West End musicals and plays), classical music (with Aurora, BBC Scottish Symph, and ten years in association with City of London Sinfonia).

In 2005 Best became the artistic director of Manchester’s Queer Up North Festival. Best was criticized for inviting the act Bitch to perform after they had played the trans-exclusionary Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival.

Best then produced Classical Sheffield, Festival of the North East, and Yorkshire Silent Film Festival.

Best began a doctorate degree in music at University of Huddersfield in 2016.

Activism

Best made a number of provocative statements, believing there are no such things as misgendering and deadnaming. Huddersfield University opened an investigation, but later apologized to Best.

Best has written for anti-trans publication UnHerd, arguing that “The marginalisation of sex in trans activism sits uneasily with the centrality of sex to lesbian and gay activism.”

Best is especially critical of UK’s Stonewall:

But this good-natured debate is as nothing compared to the division that has opened up in lesbian and gay communities following Stonewall’s 2015 decision to re-formulate homosexuality around the nebulous concept of “gender identity”. Its policy today, which it has promoted through its Diversity Champions scheme, is that biological sex is less important than self-declared “gender identity” — an inner feeling of being either man or woman, male or female, which, according to Stonewall, is an identity we all possess. It follows that biological males can be lesbians, and biological females can be gay men. To disagree is transphobic.

Stonewall’s strategy for dealing with the fallout has been to insist that there can be “no debate”, characterising entreaties to discussion as equal to debating trans people’s very existence.

References

Best, Jonny (August 2018). My first brush with trans activism and what I learned. Medium https://www.jonnybest.co.uk/my-first-experience-of-trans-activism

Best, Jonny (October 7, 2020). Why I can’t trust Stonewall any more. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2020/10/why-i-cant-trust-stonewall-any-more/

Best, Jonny (August 27, 2021) Stonewall’s greatest betrayal. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2021/08/stonewalls-greatest-betrayal/

Resources

Jonny Best (jonnybest.co.uk)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Jo Bartosch is a British writer and anti-transgender activist.

Background

Josephine Eleanor “Jo” Bartosch was born in August 1982.

Bartosch founded the group Chelt Fems, a network of feminist activists, academics and professionals. From 2017 to 2019 Bartosch was co-director with Sadia Hameed of Gloucester-based Critical Sisters, which “offers a platform for marginal feminist opinion with particular emphasis on unravelling the twin man-made beliefs of gender and religion.”

From 2019 to 2020 Bartosch was Director of Click Off Limited. Bartosch was replaced by Edward Charles Buxton after resigning.

From 2017 to 2018 Bartosch was a Co-Director of Libra Learning Ltd. with Sadia Hameed and Emma Robertson.

From 2018 to 2022, Bartosch was a Director of Not Buying It Ltd. with Naomi Paxton, Almudena Fernandez-Alonso, Edward Charles Buxton, Rebecca Mordan, Josephine Liptrott, Kate Kerrow, Ellen Mary Grogen, Jeremy Jonathan Coutinho, and Rachel Carline Bell. Bartosch resigned in May 2022.

Bartosch has authored several reports exploring the links between violence against women and commercial sexual entertainment.

References

Bartosch, Jo (September 14, 2017). What about the children who said they were transgender – and then changed their minds? The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/john-lewis-gender-neutrality-trangender-children-medicalisation-lesbian-gay-education-a7946426.html

Bartosch, Jo (). Why won’t progressives speak up about NHS conversion therapy? Kemi Badenoch laid out evidence of the practice in a letter today 07 FEB 2024

Bartosch, Jo (). Network Rail’s capitulation to Stonewall The railway company has been mocked for its The myth of JK Rowling’s ‘heart of darkness’ Another opinion column unfairly maligns the Harry Potter author 16 JAN 2024

Bartosch, Jo (). Britain has bigger problems than toothbrushing Keir Starmer’s jaw-dropping proposal will anger parents 12 JAN 2024

Bartosch, Jo (). Kemi Badenoch is right about Britain’s trans ‘epidemic’ Linguistic disputes can’t disguise the surge in referrals 14 DEC 2023

Bartosch, Jo (). Why is Doctor Who obsessing over pronouns? Britain’s public broadcaster is championing a niche ideology
27 NOV 2023

Bartosch, Jo (25 AUG 2023). The New York Times is finally standing up to trans censorship Advocacy groups have criticised the paper for its gender coverage

Bartosch, Jo (12 JUL 2023). Nancy Kelley leaves Stonewall in a mess The outgoing charity boss dragged a once-great organisation down a rabbit hole

Bartosch, Jo (). The problem with ‘cis’ Elon Musk has vowed to restrict the word on Twitter. 22 JUN 2023

Bartosch, Jo (13 JAN 2023). Tate criticised for Drag Queen Story Hour children’s readings Several groups claim the gallery is targeting kids with gender propaganda

Bartosch, Jo (04 MAY 2022). The Survivors’ Network succumbs to gender ideology The group is failing to provide women with all-female spaces.

Bartosch, Jo (16 FEB 2022). Unions are failing women The NEU is the latest to bow to trans activists

Bartosch, Jo (18 JAN 2022). Inside the Tory trans civil war 18 JAN 2022

Bartosch, Jo (09 DEC 2021). Inside the trans publishing purge

Bartosch, Jo (11 OCT 2021). Feminist “dinosaurs” are getting organised Protestors outside the Labour Party HQ were embracing David Lammy’s label

Bartosch, Jo (30 AUG 2018). When did women’s rights stop being human rights?

Critical Sisters Ltd Company number 10875625 Sadia Hameed and Jo Bartosch, Directors.

Resources

Josephine Bartosch (jobartosch.co.uk)

The Critic (thecritic.co.uk/author)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Spiked (spiked-online.com)

The Spectator (spectator.co.uk)

New Statesman (newstatesman.com)

Uncommon Ground (uncommongroundmedia.com)

Independent (independent.co.uk)

Feminist Current (feministcurrent.com)

Daily Mail (dailymail.co.uk)

4W (4w.pub)

The Article (thearticle.com)

UnHerd (unherd.com)

Conatus News (conatusnews.com)

  • conatusnews.com/newlook/author/jbartosch/ [archive]

Danielle Crittenden Frum is a Canadian-American writer and anti-transgender activist.

Crittenden platformed many other anti-transgender activists while hosting the podcast The Femsplainers with Christina Hoff Sommers.

Background

Danielle Ann Crittenden was born April 20, 1963 in Toronto, Ontario. Crittenden’s parents and stepparent are all writers. After graduating from Northern Secondary School in 1981, Crittenden began working as a writer. Crittenden wrote a column for the New York Post and was a contributor at The Huffington Post.

Crittenden married David Frum in 1988 and converted to Judaism. They have three children, Miranda Ann Frum (1991–2024), Nathaniel Saul Frum (born 1993) and Beatrice Sarah Worthy Frum (born 2001). Much of Crittenden’s subsequent writing was on cooking, lifestyle, and parenting.

Anti-transgender activism

Crittenden is one of the higher-end “mommy bloggers,” a genre of writers and readers highly susceptible to anti-transgender radicalization. Crittenden’s 1999 book What Our Mothers Didn’t Tell Us: Why Happiness Eludes the Modern Woman lays out Crittenden’s conservative views.

From 2018 to 2022 Crittenden and Christina Hoff Sommers hosted the podcast The Femsplainers, which described trans women as “men identifying as women.” The hosts have suggested that trans women would violently attack people who questioned their gender identity. Their many anti-transgender guests over the years include Jordan Peterson, Debra Soh, Claire Lehmann, Meghan Murphy, Caitlin Flanagan, Emily Yoffe, Heather Heying, Bridget Phetasy, Andrew Sullivan, Meghan Daum, Mona Charen, Dave Rubin, Abigail Shrier, Bari Weiss, Katie Herzog, Corinna Cohn, “Angus Fox,” “Two mothers,” Carole Hooven, and Helen Joyce.

Crittenden is a biological essentialist and sex segregationist:

Denying or glossing over biological differences between men and women doesn’t help anyone — least of all women. As [Hadley] Freeman and others have observed, the legal and institutional brunt of ignoring these differences falls most heavily upon women (we don’t see transmen racing to be admitted to men’s prisons or compete in male sports, for example. Nor are transmen trying to cancel doctors who might recklessly assert their male patients more often than not possess prostate glands).

Crittenden (2022)

Crittenden further explained these positions to Inez Feltscher Stepman:

So that’s kind of the thread that keeps on going through all the conversations we’re having today, and that we’ve seen, I think, really magnified in these debates about trans, or there are 63 genders or whatever, that we’re trying again to deny any credibility to biological differences, to accept that there are biological differences. And the best way to deal with biological differences is to acknowledge them and think about how can we work with those to get the respect and equality and opportunities we all want as women, but without making the opposite sex the enemy. Also, without making the things we feel naturally as men or women somehow suspect or wrong or something we should suppress. If that makes sense.

Fletcher Stepman (2022)

References

Crittenden, Danielle (March 4, 2022). When The Sexes Blur There’s No Sex. The Femsplainers With Danielle Crittenden https://femsplainers.substack.com/p/when-the-sexes-blur-theres-no-sex

Stepman, Inez Feltscher (May 4, 2022). Danielle Crittenden – On Disappearing Feminine Allure, the Heated Battle Between the Sexes, and Whether Feminism Has Always Been Out of Touch. High Noon Podcast https://www.iwf.org/2022/05/04/danielle-crittenden-disappearing-feminine-allure-feminism-out-of-touch/

Frum, David (March 21, 2024) Miranda’s Last Gift. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/05/david-frum-miranda-daughter-grief/677815/

Obituary (February 21, 2024). Miranda Frum. The Globe and Mail https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/theglobeandmail/name/miranda-frum-obituary?id=54427346

Resources

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Substack (substack.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Fig Tree & Vine (figtreeandvine.com) [archive]

  • Lifestyle site “aimed at an affluent Jewish demographic”

Danielle Crittenden (daniellecrittenden.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

HuffPost (huffpost.com)

Michael Shellenberger is an American author, environmental policy analyst, politician, and anti-transgender activist.

Background

Michael D. “Mike” Shellenberger was born in 1971 in Colorado and grew up in Greeley. Shellenberger has three siblings born to parent Nancy and two step-siblings via stepparent, Don (1942–2021). Shellenberger graduated from Greeley Central High School and earned a bachelor’s degree from Earlham College in 1993. In 1996 Shellenberger earned a master’s degree from University of California, Santa Cruz.

Shellenberger is married to sociologist and policy analyst Helen J. Lee Shellenberger (born July 31, 1975). They have two children, Joaquin B. Rosman Shellenberger (born 1999) and Kestrel Shellenberger (born November 2, 2005). They live in Berkeley, California.

Environmental policy work

In 2003 Shellenberger co-founded the Apollo Alliance, an umbrella organization now called BlueGreen Alliance.

Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus founded market research firm American Environics. They wanted to look at “mistaken assumptions in progressive political movements.”

After working in public relations, Shellenberger co-founded the Breakthrough Institute with Ted Nordhaus in 2003. In 2016, Shellenberger left Breakthrough to found Environmental Progress, focused on keeping American nuclear power plants online.

Shellenberger is a cofounder of anti-drug organization California Peace Coalition and in 2022 founded Shellenberger LLC.

Anti-progressivism

Like many anti-trans people, Shellenberger began as a progressive, then by being critical of progressive political positions, primarily around the environment. Twenty years later, Shellenberger is among many self-described “centrists” whose anti-progressivism has curdled into conservatism.

Shellenberger is author of the 2021 book San Fransicko: How Progressives Ruin Cities.

Political career

Shellenberger ran for California Governor in 2018 as an independent, coming in 9th in the primary with 31,692 votes, or 0.5%.

In 2022 Shellenberger came in third in the primary with 290,286 votes, or 4.1%.

Anti-trans activism

Shellenberger is a heavy Twitter user and was hand-picked by Elon Musk in 2022 to review non-public discussions by former Twitter employees and current users. Anti-trans activist Bari Weiss brought Shellenberger on to write for The Free Press in 2022.

In 2023, Shellenberger started being more open and militant about anti-transgender views. Shellenberger has a Substack called Public which frequently platforms anti-transgender views and guests, notably Leighton Woodhouse, Mia Hughes, and Alex Gutentag. Most of the regular contributors were associated with Shellenberger’s previous project Environmental Progress.

References

Ashton, Mia; Shellenberger, Michael (May 25, 2023). Why The Media Attacks Detransitioners. Public https://public.substack.com/p/why-the-media-attacks-detransitioners

Shellenberger, Michael (May 4, 2023). Join The Pro-Freedom Resistance. Public https://public.substack.com/p/join-the-pro-freedom-resistance

Shellenberger, Michael; Woodhouse, Leighton (April 10, 2023). VIDEO: “Oh my God” – San Francisco Students React To Trans “Kidnapping” Of Swimmer Riley Gaines. Public https://public.substack.com/p/video-oh-my-god-san-francisco-students

Klett, Leah MarieAnn (April 10, 2023). Michael Shellenberger tells Joe Rogan he returned to Christianity in response to societal ‘hatred, anger.’ Christian Post https://www.christianpost.com/news/michael-shellenberger-tells-joe-rogan-why-hes-a-christian.html

Shellenberger, Michael; Woodhouse, Leighton; Rowley, Madeleine (April 8, 2023). Why Trans Activists Attack Women. Public https://public.substack.com/p/why-trans-activists-attack-women

Redmond, Tim (April 3, 2023). Michael Shellenberger, who says progressives ruin cities, has alarming transphobic tweets. 48 Hills https://48hills.org/2023/04/michael-shellenberger-who-says-progressives-ruin-cities-has-alarming-transphobic-tweets/

Shellenberger, Michael (March 27, 2023). Why are we sterilizing children? Public https://public.substack.com/p/why-are-we-sterilizing-children

Shellenberger, Michael (March 29, 2023). “We Can’t Even Agree On What A Woman Is.” Public https://public.substack.com/p/we-cant-even-agree-on-what-a-woman

Shellenberger, Michael (March 22, 2023). Why This Detransitioner Is Suing Her Health Care Providers. Public https://public.substack.com/p/why-this-detransitioner-is-suing

Power, Nina (March 16, 2023). “If You Had Asked Me At 11 If I Wanted To Be A Boy, I Would Have Said ‘Yes.’” Public https://public.substack.com/p/if-you-had-asked-me-at-11-if-i-wanted

Power, Nina (March 16, 2023). Need To Keep Masses Afraid Is Behind Elite Embrace Of Wokeism And Censorship. Public https://public.substack.com/p/need-to-keep-masses-afraid-is-behind

Shellenberger, Michael; Woodhouse, Leighton (February 13, 2023). Normies Of The World, Unite! Public https://public.substack.com/p/normies-of-the-world-unite

Woodhouse, Leighton (February 13, 2023). What Happened to the Left? Public https://public.substack.com/p/what-happened-to-the-left

Shellenberger, Michael (December 10, 2022). The Twitter Files, Part 4 https://twitter.com/shellenberger/status/1601720455005511680

Shellenberger, Michael (November 11, 2021). Why Wokeism Is A Religion. Public https://public.substack.com/p/why-wokeism-is-a-religion

Shellenberger, Michael (March 20, 2013). The Ecology of Obesity. The Breakthrough Institute https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/food-agriculture-environment/the-ecology-of-obesity

Satff report (February 17, 2013). Greeley Central High School graduate waxes philosophic on energy. Greeley Tribune https://www.greeleytribune.com/2013/02/17/greeley-central-high-school-graduate-waxes-philosophic-on-energy/

Armstron, David (August 5, 1997). Progressive PR. SFGate https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Progressive-PR-3239880.php

Resources

Desmog (desmog.com)

  • Michael Shellenberger
  • Excellent overview of Shellenberger’s environmental track record
  • Traces the origins of Shellenberger’s political shift to the far right

SourceWatch (sourcewatch.org)

Michael Shellenberger (shellenberger.org)

Shellenberger for Governor (shellenbergerforgovernor.com)

Breakthrough Institute (thebreakthrough.org)

Lumina Strategies (luminastrategies.com) [archive]

Business Ethics Network (businessethicsnetwork.org)

Communication Works (communicationworks.org) [archive]

Institute for Global Communications (igc.org)

Apollo Alliance (apolloalliance.org) [archive]

California Peace Coalition (californiapeacecoalition.org)

X/Twitter (x.com)

  • ShellenbergerMD [transferred to shellenberger in 2023]
  • shellenberger

Substack (substack.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Christina Hoff Sommers is an American author and anti-transgender activist. Sommers is critic of “gender feminism” or “victim feminism” and has supported many anti-trans activists over the years.

Background

Christina Marie Hoff Sommers was born on September 28, 1950 in Petaluma, California. Sommers earned a bachelor’s degree from New York University in 1971 and a doctorate in philosophy from Brandeis University in 1975.

After writing several works on ethics, Sommers began a career questioning “gender feminism,” a set of tenets central to third-wave feminism. Sommers went on to write several books on the subject:

  • Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women (1994)
  • The War Against Boys (2000)
  • Freedom Feminism: Its Surprising History and Why It Matters Today (2013)

Sommers married philosopher Frederic Tamler “Fred” Sommers (1923 – 2014). Sommers’ stepchild is philosopher Saul Tamler Sommers (born 1970).

Anti-transgender activism

Sommers is sympathetic to other anti-transgender activists and frequently platforms people with anti-transgender views. From 2018 to 2022 Sommers and Danielle Crittenden hosted the podcast The Femsplainers, which described trans women as “men identifying as women.” The hosts have suggested that trans women would violently attack people who questioned their gender identity. Their many anti-transgender guests over the years include Jordan Peterson, Debra Soh, Claire Lehmann, Meghan Murphy, Caitlin Flanagan, Emily Yoffe, Heather Heying, Bridget Phetasy, Andrew Sullivan, Meghan Daum, Mona Charen, Dave Rubin, Abigail Shrier, Bari Weiss, Katie Herzog, Corinna Cohn, Angus Fox, “Two mothers,” Carole Hooven, and Helen Joyce.

References

 29 January 2018 8:15 AM, @Femsplainers.

TERFWars: Men identifying as women are challenging women’s sports, women’s groups, women’s spaces, and even the very definition of womanhood. Disagree — and they may threaten to beat the crap out of you. New episode w #MeghanMurphy. L

Resources

American Enterprise Institute (aei.org)

X/Twitter (x.com)

IMDb (imdb.com)

Nick Gillespie is an American libertarian author, right-wing pundit, and anti-transgender activist. Gillespie’s podcast frequently promotes other figures from the anti-transgender fringe, including Jesse Singal, Michael Shermer, Michael Shellenberger, Steven Pinker, Abigail Shrier, Scott Barry Kaufman, Debra Soh, Katie Herzog, and Meghan Daum.

Background

Nicholas John “Nick” Gillespie was born August 7, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in Middletown, New Jersey. Gillespie was raised Catholic and graduated from Mater Dei High School. Gillespie earned a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University in 1985, a master’s degree from Temple University in 1990, and a doctorate from State University of New York at Buffalo in 1996. Gillespie married author and academic Katharine Marie Walke Gillespie (born 1960). They have two children, Jack and Nick. The Gillespies have since divorced. In 2023 Gillespie became engaged to Sarah Rose Siskind.

Gillespie has been associated with Reason magazine. Gillespie edited the 2004 book Choice: The Best of Reason and co-authored the 2011 book The Declaration of Independents.

Anti-trans promotion

With the exception of conservative trans libertarian Deirdre McCloskey, Gillespie has never platformed any trans journalists, scientists, lawyers, politicians, or activists who could address anti-trans guests’ statements or Gillespie’s own misconceptions.

References

Gillespie, Nick (May 24, 2023) Jesse Singal: How To Stay Honest While Doing Journalism

Gillespie, Nick (March 29, 2023). Deirdre McCloskey: ‘What We Want Is a Nonslave Society’

Gillespie, Nick (August 17, 2022). Michael Shermer: ‘Women Are Not Just Tits and Ass. There’s More to It Than That, a Lot More.’

Gillespie, Nick (July 29, 2022). John Cleese: Wokeism Is the Enemy of Comedy—and Creativity

Gillespie, Nick (January 12, 2022). Michael Shellenberger: How Progressives Ruined American Cities

Gillespie, Nick (October 13, 2021). Steven Pinker: Rationality Has Made Us Richer, Kinder, and More Free

Gillespie, Nick (July 7, 2021). Abigail Shrier: Trans Activists, Cancel Culture, and the Future of Free Expression

Gillespie, Nick (April 14, 2021). Jesse Singal: Why We Keep Falling for Psychological Quick Fixes

Gillespie, Nick (September 30, 2020). Scott Barry Kaufman on Narcissists and Libertarians

Gillespie, Nick (August 19, 2020). Debra Soh: The End of Gender

Gillespie, Nick (June 17, 2020). Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal on Left-Wing Cancel Culture

Gillespie, Nick (October 30, 2019). Meghan Daum Is Done with ‘Cancel Culture.’ But Is America?

Gillespie, Nick (February 20, 2019). Let’s Talk About Sex Differences with Christina Hoff Sommers and Debra Soh: Podcast

Resources

Reason (reason.com)

Reason Foundation (reason.org)

Fox News (foxnews.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Daily Beast (thedailybeast.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Dave Chappelle is an American comedian. Considered one of the greatest standups of all time, his late career has been marked by a series of transphobic incidents.

Background

David Khari Webber Chappelle was born August 24, 1973 in Washington, DC. His parents were politically active academics. He graduated from Duke Ellington School of the Arts in 1991. He moved to New York City and began honing his act, quickly becoming a regular at comedy clubs and in late night guest spots. He began appearing on televisions shows and t=developing pilots. His first starring role was in the 1998 film Half Baked. He recorded his first comedy special in 2000. In 2003 he starred in the sketch comedy program Chappelle’s Show, then left abruptly in 2005 at the height of the show’s popularity. He made sporadic appearances until 2013, when he started touring full-time again. In 2017, Netflix released the first of five comedy specials starring Chappelle. In 2019 he won the Mark Twain Prize.

Chappelle and his wife have three children.

Anti-transgender statements

Chappelle’s 2021 Netflix special The Closer included transphobic jokes and a defense of transphobic author JK Rowling, during which he declared “I’m team TERF.” In his defense, Chappelle said some of his best friends were trans, citing trans comedian Daphne Dorman.

Netflix employees organized a walkout and demanded that The Closer be taken off of Netflix. CEO Ted Sarandos refused to take down the special, stating that he “does not believe it falls into hate speech.” Chappelle’s alma mater Duke Ellington School decided not to name its theater after him.

Chappelle continued to troll the trans community with jokes and play the victim. In 2022, Chappelle brought transphobe Elon Musk onstage at a San Francisco show, and Musk was booed off stage.

References

Chapman, Wilson (May 21, 2022). John Mulaney Draws Criticism for Having Dave Chappelle Open, Tell ‘Transphobic Jokes’ at Ohio ShowVariety. Retrieved July 18, 2022.

Yang, Maya (October 7, 2021). ‘I’m team Terf’: Dave Chappelle under fire over pro-JK Rowling trans stanceThe Guardian. [archive]

After Dave Chappelle Visit, Some Duke Ellington Students And Parents Speak OutWAMU.

Blistein, Jon (July 12, 2022). Emmys Ready to Honor Another Dave Chappelle Special Filled With Transphobic JokesRolling Stone.

Gerstmann, Evan. Dave Chappelle, Transphobia And Anti-SemitismForbes. Retrieved July 18, 2022.

Carras, Christi (October 20, 2021). Protesters demand accountability from Netflix after Chappelle backlash spurs walkoutLos Angeles Times.

Carras, Christi (October 20, 2021). Fed up with Chappelle fallout, Netflix employees are leading a walkout today in L.A. Los Angeles Times.

Donnelly, Matt (October 20, 2021). ‘I Screwed Up’: Netflix’s Ted Sarandos Addresses Dave Chappelle Fallout. [archive]

Weekend Update: House Passes Build Back Better Bill – SNL, retrieved July 18, 2022

Dave Chappelle declines having Duke Ellington School theater named for him”The Washington Post

AJ Willingham (June 21, 2022). Dave Chappelle says his former high school theater will no longer be named after himCNN

Dave Chappelle Name Won’t Go On Duke Ellington Theater In DCDCist. [archive]

Kearns, Madeleine (June 22, 2022). Dave Chappelle’s Plot TwistNational Review

Resources

IMDb (imdb.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Luminary Podcasts (luminarypodcasts.com)

Chappelle Radio City (chappelleradiocity.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Matt Walsh is an American conservative commentator and anti-transgender extremist.

Background

Walsh was born June 18, 1986 and grew up in a conservative Catholic household near Baltimore, Maryland. After graduating from high school, Walsh began working in radio in Delaware and later Kentucky. After Walsh’s show was cancelled in 2013, Walsh put more energy into a conservative blog started in 2012. In 2014 Walsh began contributing to The Blaze in 2014, then The Daily Wire in October 2017.

In April 2018, Walsh began hosting a weekday show on YouTube called The Matt Walsh Show. In April 2023 YouTube demonetized Walsh’s channel for repeated attacks on trans people, particularly Dylan Mulvaney.

Anti-trans activism

Walsh has accused “the media, Hollywood, and the school system” of recruiting children into the LGBT community.

Walsh is one of several media figures who gets money and attention by attacking trans and gender diverse children. In 2022, Walsh published an anti-trans children’s book titled Johnny the Walrus and released the anti-trans propaganda piece What Is a Woman? Walsh also helped organize a “rally to end child mutilation” protest in Nashville, part of Walsh’s campaigns against hospitals and clinics that provide trans health services.

Books

  • The Unholy Trinity: Blocking the Left’s Assault on Life, Marriage, and Gender (2017)
  • Church of Cowards: A Wake-Up Call to Complacent Christians (2020)
  • Johnny the Walrus (2022)
  • What Is a Woman?: One Man’s Journey to Answer the Question of a Generation (2022)

Media

Black, Jordan (September 20, 2023). The Sad, Unremarkable Mind of Matt Walsh – Part 1. Dead Domain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjPFQPK_1QM

Black, Jordan (October 4, 2023). The Sad, Unremarkable Mind of Matt Walsh – Part 2. Dead Domain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N09MXwF0Zs

Resources

Matt Walsh (themattwalshblog.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

IMDb (imdb.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

TikTok (tiktok.com)

Carrie D. Mendoza is an American physician and anti-transgender activist. Mendoza leads FAIR in Medicine, the healthcare arm of anti-trans organization Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism.

Background

Carrie D. Edelstein was born June 29, 1966. After earning a bachelor’s degree in from Tufts University in 1988, Edelstein then attended University of Chicago, earning a master’s degree and a medical degree, followed by a residency and a fellowship at Denver General Hospital.

Much of Mendoza’s career has been in emergency medicine. Mendoza has practiced at Parker and Castle Rock Adventist in Colorado and as part of the Advocate system in Illinois.

Mendoza married education reform activist Myles X. Mendoza (born 1972). They have three children: Jesse, Noah and Max.

Carrie D. Mendoza has contributed to Republican causes and was elected to the Douglas County school board in 2013. Mendoza was one of several parents who complained that New Trier High School library held the gay teen novel Two Boys Kissing.

Anti-transgender activism

In 2021, Mendoza appeared on a FAIR panel. Panelists included several prominent conservative and anti-trans activists:

After working as the Illinois coordinator for FAIR, Mendoza was tapped to lead FAIR in Medicine.

In an introductory video, Mendoza likened the “orthodoxy” of gender affirming care to forced sterilizations in Nazi Germany and Iran.

There is also the orthodoxy that only one treatment for youth gender dysphoria – affirmation, hormones, surgery – is the correct one, regardless of the individual conditions that might have led them to their discomfort with their body. Mastectomies are being performed on children as young as 15 as part of routine transgender healthcare. So-called gender-affirming hysterectomies have been performed on minors as well.

Asking if there are other better ways for certain patients reporting gender dysphoria is often treated as transphobic, as advocating conversion therapy, or pushing dysphoric children into suicide. Never mind the rate of regret and detransition increasing to amounts that have not yet been properly studied. Multiple studies have shown that medical transition has no effect on reducing suicide rates. And two studies show postoperative transgender people have considerably higher risk for suicidal behavior.

Some states are passing misinformation bills that would ban medical professionals from speaking in ways that contradict contemporary scientific consensus. Unaware of how wrong previous medical consensus was that sought to cure homosexuality or treat hysteria with oophorectomies and how wrong we might discover we are in the present.

Mendoza also drafted and distributed an open letter supporting Kenneth Zucker for publishing yet another ethically questionable article in the Archives of Sexual Behavior about “rapid onset gender dysphoria.” Mendoza also had study co-author J. Michael Bailey on to defend the article and Zucker. The paper was later retracted.

Media

FAIR (December 17, 2021). FAIR’s Gender Webinar with Abigail Shrier, Colin Wright, Zander Keig, and more! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XYzCE1ph5s

FAIR in Medicine (March 9, 2023). Dr. Carrie Mendoza: Pro-Human Medicine Means Ending Unquestionable Orthodoxies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXkUU3cLRzsMedia

FAIR (May 18, 2023). https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1OdKrzvXNozKX Understanding Gender Dysphoria with Dr. Michael Bailey

https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1OdKrzvXNozKX

Cathy “Bug” Brennan is an American lawyer and anti-transgender extremist. Brennan is a prominent and strident member of the movement’s gender critical faction.

In a 2011 letter to the United Nations, Brennan argued against certain legal protections based on gender identity and expression, claiming that “the proliferation of legislation designed to protect ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ undermines legal protections for females vis-Ă -vis sex segregated spaces.”

Brennan claims that eschewing the term lesbian for more inclusive alternatives is “catering” to trans people that will lead to “lesbian annihilation.”

Background

Catherine Margaret “Cathy” Brennan was born in The Bronx, New York on December 30, 1970 and lived there until 1976. Brennan graduated from Pine Bush High School in Pine Bush, New York in 1988. Brennan then earned a bachelor’s degree in 1992 from Fordham University, followed by a law degree from University at Buffalo in 1995. Brennan is admitted to practice law in Maryland (1996), New York (1996), Pennsylvania (2006), and Oregon (2017).

After briefly working as a reporter at Baltimore’s The Daily Record, Brennan then held advocacy and enforcement roles at Bar Association of Baltimore, The Women’s Law Center of Maryland, Advocates for Children and Youth, and the City of Baltimore. Since 2004 Brennan has worked at Hudson Cook LLP, becoming a partner in 2008.

Anti-transgender activism

In 2011, Brennan and Elizabeth Hungerford sent a letter to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women with their concerns about legal protections based on gender identity and expression, claiming such protections undermine legal protections based on sex.

Brennan became infamous in the mid-2010s for anti-trans trolling and verbal abuse on social media, particularly on Tumblr and Twitter. Brennan ran a site called Gender Identity Watch that documented trans people and their supporters, usually in disparaging terms. The anti-trans site was eventually suspended by WordPress for violations of their terms of use.

Brennan also allegedly contacted the Canadian caregivers of Emily Horsman (suspended user derpemily on Twitter) to complain about Horsman’s online activity.

The tone and tactics used, which included contacting people’s employers and doctors, made Brennan the most notorious trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) of the time:

The chief TERF figurehead is a Maryland attorney named Catherine Brennan who once served as a liaison on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. In July of 2012, a petition circulated to have Brennan removed from that position because, to put it mildly, she flatly rejected the “Gender Identity” half of her job description.

Apart from a sordid internet history of harassing, misgendering, and mocking trans* people, Brennan co-authored a letter with Elizabeth Hungerford to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, to argue against — yes, against â€” legal protections based on “gender identity or expression.” In so doing, Brennan has effectively allied herself with those on the Right who viciously deter trans* folks’ attempts to secure employment, housing and safe public spaces.

Since vacating the American Bar Association liaison position, Brennan has continued to spread her anti-trans* viewpoints at the annual Radfem conference. 

Allen, 2013

Brennan was also involved in Radfem Hub, a group blog and forum with a substantial anti-trans focus. In 2011, a Radfem Hub contributor named “Agent Orange” was revealed to be a men’s rights activist named James Huff. Huff then released a data dump from their forum that had a significant impact on members.

Brennan was involved in organizing the annual Radfem Conference. As the group began to have a harder time operating, including last-minute cancellation of their 2013 conference venue, Brennan made a legal claim to the Radfem Hub site. The content was then archived at other domains.

As of 2018, Brennan was no longer interested in running the Gender Identity Watch website. Anti-trans group Women’s Liberation Front then volunteered to maintain it. WordPress suspended Gender Identity Watch, GenderTrender, and a number of other virulently anti-trans sites in November 2018. Gender Identity Watch went offline in 2023.

References

Note: This site regrets previously misstating Brennan’s early childhood place of residence.

[Shanko, Linda] (January 29, 2015). Cathy Brennan files legal copyright claim over ownership of RadFem Hub. GenderTrender https://gendertrender.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/cathy-brennan-files-legal-copyright-claim-over-ownership-of-radfem-hub/ [archive]

Wiesel, George (April 11, 2014). Petition: Remove ‘Gender Identity Watch.’ https://www.change.org/p/facebook-remove-gender-identity-watch

Reilly, Peter J. (June 20, 2013). Cathy Brennan On Radfem 2013. Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterjreilly/2013/06/15/cathy-brennan-on-radfem-2013/

Brown, Elizabeth Nolan (October 21, 2013). Cathy Brennan Speaks on Trans Women. Bustle https://www.bustle.com/articles/7277-cathy-brennan-speaks-to-bustle-about-her-stance-on-transgender-people

Taylor, Dana Lane (February 25, 2014). Cathy Brennan Contacted My Doctor. http://danalanetaylor.com/2014/02/25/cathy-brennan-contacted-my-doctor

Taylor, Dana Lane (February 14, 2014). My “Harassment” of Cathy Brennan – The Real Truth. http://danalanetaylor.com/2014/02/14/my-harassment-of-cathy-brennan-the-real-truth/

Taylor, Dana Lane (October 19, 2013). Jancie Raymond [sic] and Cathy Brennan contacted my employer. http://dana.stopabuseonline.org/2013/10/19/jancie-raymond-and-cathy-brennan-contacted-my-employer/ [archive]

Allen, Samantha (July 10, 2013). Counterpunch and the War on the Transgendered. Jacobin http://jacobinmag.com/2013/07/counterpunch-and-the-war-on-the-transgendered/

Admin (May 18, 2013). Radfem Hub is now an archives. https://radicalhubarchives.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/radfem-hub-is-now-an-archives/

Busey, Kelli (July 30, 2012). Remove Cathy Brennan as liaison To ABA’s Commission on LGBT. https://www.change.org/p/linda-rusch-gonzaga-univ-school-of-law-remove-cathy-brennan-as-liaison-to-aba-s-commission-on-lgbt

Busey, Kelli (July 29, 2012). Catherine Brennan’s “Sorry about Your Dick” TweetPic Ignites Trans Firestorm. Planet Transgender https://www.planetrans.org/2012/07/catherine-brennans-sorry-for-you-dick.html original URL: http://planetransgender.blogspot.com/2012/07/catherine-brennans-sorry-for-you-dick.html [archive]

[Busey, Kelli] (June 11, 2012). RadFem Cathey Brennan [sic], Lawyer, Maliciously OUTS 17 Y.O. Transgender Youth To His High School. Planet Transgender https://www.planetrans.org/2012/06/cathey-brennan-laywer-maliciously-outs.html original URL: http://planetransgender.blogspot.com/2012/06/cathey-brennan-laywer-maliciously-outs.html

Sandeen, Autumn (May 24, 2012). The Bittersweet “Change Of Gender” Court Ruling: It Came With Cyberbulling [sic]. Pam’s House Blend http://pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com/2012/05/24/the-bittersweet-change-of-gender-court-ruling-it-came-with-cyberbulling/ [archive]

Reed, Natalie (May 7, 2012). The “Gender Atheist” vs. The Transgender Atheist. Freethought Blogs https://freethoughtblogs.com/nataliereed/2012/05/07/the-gender-atheist-vs-the-transgender-atheist/

Brennan, Cathy (June 2013). Ladybug’s Political Smackdown: Pride in the Name of Lesbians. Baltimore OUTloud https://www.baltimoreoutloud.com/thinking-outloud/equality/ladybugs-political-smackdown/item/1358-pride-in-the-name-of-lesbians [archive]

Ramseyer, Laurel (August 10, 2011). Cathy Brennan & Elizabeth Hungerford take their anti-trans activism to the UN. Pam’s House Blend http://pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com/2011/08/10/cathy-brennan-elizabeth-hungerford-take-their-anti-trans-activism-to-the-un/ [archive]

Allen, Mercedes (August 4, 2011). Less Than Woman, Less Than Human. The Billerico Project http://www.bilerico.com/2011/08/less_than_woman_less_than_human.php [archive]

Brennan, Cathy; Hungerford, Elizabeth (August 1, 2011). [Response to United Nations] via Sex Matters https://sexnotgender.com/gender-identity-legislation-and-the-erosion-of-sex-based-legal-protections-for-females/ PDF available at https://radicalhubarchives.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/communication_csw_un_brennanhungerford_08012011_.pdf

Resources about Brennan

RationalWiki (rationalwiki.org)

WordPress (wordpress.com)

Maryland Courts (mdcourts.gov)

Oregon State Bar (osbar.org)

Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board (padisciplinaryboard.org)

Resources associated with Brennan

Cathy Brennan (cathy-brennan.com)

Bug Brennan (bugbrennan.com) [archive]

Gender Identity Watch (genderidentitywatch.com) [archive]

Pretendbian (pretendbian.com) [archive] / pretendbian.wordpress.com

Pretendbians (pretendbians.com) [archive]

Name the Problem (nametheproblem.com) [archive]

You Are a Special Butterfly (youareasplendidbutterfly.com) [archive]

Gender Fatigue (genderfatigue.com) [archive]

This is Not The Transgender Day of Remembrance (transgenderdayofremembrance.wordpress.com)

Hudson Cook (hudsoncook.com)

CounselorLibrary (counselorlibrary.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Tumblr (tumblr.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

  • facebook.com/pages/Gender-Identity-Watch
  • facebook.com/RadicalFeminismByTheSea
  • facebook.com/OrganizingForWomensLiberation
  • facebook.com/ActualDykes

Substack (substack.com)

Tumblr (tumblr.com)

Medium (medium.com)

WordPress (wordpress.com)

  • genderidentitywatch.wordpress.com [suspended – archive]
  • pretendbian.wordpress.com

Academia.edu (academia.edu)

X/Twitter (x.com)

  • FinTechEsq
  • bugbrennan (suspended in 2013, reinstated in 2022 by Elon Musk)
  • Alleged accounts documented by RationalWiki:
    • BadhbhCatha
    • PegasusBug
    • Unicornbug
    • orgwomenslib
    • RadfemsRespond
    • SisterTrinity
    • ActualDykez
    • NameTheProblem (suspended)
    • GIDWatch (suspended)
    • JenderFatigue (removed)
    • BossAssBomb (removed)

Instagram (instagram.com)