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Bev Jackson is a Dutch anti-transgender activist. Jackson is a founder of UK anti-trans hate group LGB Alliance.

Jackson promotes the conspiracy theory that trans people and gender recognition based on self-identification are erasing or eradicating lesbians.

Background

Beverley Ruth Jackson was born in June 1951. At 11 years old, Jackson reportedly experienced antisemitism at a new school. 

Jackson studied math at the London School of Economics. Jackson was a founding member of the UK Gay Liberation Front, the only woman to attend the first GLF meeting in October 1970:

I was a student at LSE. I started there in 1969, I was studying maths, and I walked down the corridor and I saw a poster which said: “First meeting of the UK Gay Liberation Front.” It was the most astonishing thing because I had to translate it in my head as to what it might mean. I had heard that “Gay” was a new word for homosexual, and I knew “Liberation” was about freedom and “Front” sounded a bit militant. It sounded very exciting and I thought “I think I want to be on there that sounds right.” I went to this first meeting and there were 19 men there, and just one woman – me – so I was immediately voted on to the steering committee.

[…] I was among the minority of lesbians who decided to work within gay liberation; most lesbians worked within women’s liberation because of feeling more in common with other women’s issues. The fact of lesbians being doubly oppressed both as women and as homosexuals is just a really important part of understanding what it means to be a lesbian. 

Jackson has worked as a translator and writer. In 2015 Jackson was mostly involved with refugee rights, writing A Month with Starfish, a book about volunteering to aid refugees for a month on the island of Lesbos.

Anti-trans activism

In late 2016 Jackson began criticizing transgender youth and was surprised that other disagreed. Jackson’s radicalization happened in 2018 when Angela Wild went to the front of the Pride march with the “Get the L Out” group.

Jackson wrote a letter to Stonewall president Ruth Hunt expressing concerns “about young lesbians having nowhere to meet, not being able to call themselves lesbians any more, about the way in which people were encouraging children to think that they might be born in the wrong body and a whole range of other concerns that really worried me.” The letter was ignored.

Jackson has said of trans women:

Look: you can be a lovely gentle male and you can wear dresses and you can call yourself Lilian and it’s absolutely fine. But you’re still a male and you can imagine you might be all sorts of things, but you’re still a male.

The final straw for Jackson was when Stonewall opposed ex-transgender activist Keira Bell, who sued the Tavistock GIDS Clinic.

After a meeting commemorating the 50th anniversary of Gay Liberation Front was cancelled, Jackson and Kate Harris decided to have a secret meeting to start LGB Alliance. “But everyone kept the secret. Not one of the 70 people we invited gave away the meeting at which we formed LGB Alliance.”

Jackson remains committed to separatism for lesbian and gay people:

Gay men and lesbians need spaces of their own and they have a right to spaces of their own – and that we have to say this now in 2021 is an absolute outrage. We could really lose a lot here if we don’t stand together and fight against this madness.

References

Power, Nina (January 24, 2023). The Trans War on Tomboys. Compact Magazine https://www.compactmag.com/article/the-trans-war-on-tomboys/

Gentleman, Amelia (July 6, 2023). Mermaids v LGB Alliance: who was involved in tribunal case? The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/jul/06/mermaids-v-lgb-alliance-whos-involved-in-tribunal-ruling

Bawer, Bruce (September 12, 2022). How Amsterdam ceased to be gay heaven: The city is becoming Islamicized and gay people are paying the price. Spectator World https://thespectator.com/topic/how-amsterdam-ceased-to-be-gay-heaven/

Bridle, David (February 18, 2021). The first woman in the Gay Liberation Front in 1970 is fighting again for lesbian and gay rights in 2021. Lesbian and Gay News https://lesbianandgaynews.com/2021/02/the-first-woman-in-the-gay-liberation-front-in-1970-is-fighting-again-for-lesbian-and-gay-rights-in-2021/

Parsons, Vic (Augist 21 2020). LGB Alliance founder defends working with anti-abortion, anti-LGBT+ Heritage Foundation in resurfaced tweets. PinkNews https://www.thepinknews.com/2020/08/21/lgb-alliance-founder-bev-jackson-heritage-foundation-tweets/

Wansell, Geoffrey (November 1970). Homosexuals demonstrate for equal rights. The Times

Selected writing by Jackson

Jackson, Bev (October 12, 2023). There is no such thing as a ‘trans lesbian. Spiked https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/10/12/there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-trans-lesbian/

Jackson, Bev (September 18, 2023). Banning ‘trans conversion therapy’ is a threat to gay kids. Spiked https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/09/18/banning-trans-conversion-therapy-is-a-threat-to-gay-kids/

Jackson, Bev (January 18, 2025). Cotton ceiling 2.0 Straight men should not be trying to seduce lesbians. The Critic https://thecritic.co.uk/cotton-ceiling-2-0/

Jackson, Bev (July 13, 2023). LGB Alliance will never be silenced. Spiked https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/07/13/lgb-alliance-will-never-be-silenced/

Jackson, Bev (May 12, 2023). Who took the SO out of SOGI? The UN bumbles on gender identity. The Critic https://thecritic.co.uk/who-took-the-so-out-of-sogi/

Jackson, Bev (July 23, 2022). CNN’s optical delusion: How American progressives get “TERF Island” wrong. The Critic https://thecritic.co.uk/cnns-optical-delusion/

Media

“Eliza Mondegreen” and Jenny Poyer Ackerman (December 21, 2024). Episode 20, featuring Bev Jackson. UnMuted https://jennypoyerackerman.substack.com/p/listen-to-episode-20-with-bev-jackson

Resources

A Month with a Starfish (amonthwithstarfish.com)

LGB Alliance (lgballiance.org.uk)

The Distance Magazine (thedistancemag.com)

X/Twitter (x.com)

The Critic (thecritic.co.uk)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

OV.UK (service.gov.uk)

Spiked (spiked-online.com)

Róisín Michaux is an Irish anti-transgender activist based in Brussels who claims to be “researching the explosion of the gender identity movement in EU/global institutions.”

Background

Michaux reportedly grew up experiencing poverty in a housing estate in a single-parent home.

Michaux “wrote for culture magazines in Belgium and abroad” before becoming a “Twitter TERF.”

Michaux is married and is a parent of children, one of whom was born in 2012.

Anti-transgender activism

Michaux writes anti-trans pieces for Substack, UnHerd, 4W, The Critic, and Reduxx.

Michaux says, “I am militant about stopping paediatric transgender transition.”

Working with right-wing media polemicist Roisin Michaux they seem to be the people promoting and hosting SFW followers from the mainland UK.

Peaked podcast

In 2023 and 2024, Michaux hosted a podcast that ran for 11 episodes.

  • Ireland: new priestly caste, new child abuse scandal May 3, 2024
  • Germany to vote on the wildest, weirdest self-id bill yet April 11, 2024
  • Did liberté ideals ripen France for trans? March 26, 2024
  • Italian girls haven’t escaped the gender meatgrinder March 16, 2024
  • Ireland’s constitutional woman-ectomy March 7, 2024
  • Wilders or women – who saved the Dutch from genderwang? Feb. 23, 2024
  • The worrying silence on Germany’s self-ID bill Feb. 16, 2024
  • Sex-clowning around in Slovakia Jan. 28, 2024
  • The trans lobby rolls into rural Ireland July 19, 2023
  • A date with a puberty blocker doctor July 17, 2023

References

Wallace, Freda (September 8, 2023). Terf Ireland / Emerald Vile. Inside the Hate Cult. Medium https://medium.com/@missfredawallace/terf-ireland-emerald-vile-f5a8b039e66f

Wallace, Freda (September 1, 2023). The Anti Science of Unherd- Dehumanisation 101. Medium https://medium.com/@missfredawallace/dehumanisation-24996b5686ae

Taln_Reich (December 2, 2022). Róisín Michaux [continued]. Fundies Say The Darndest Things https://fstdt.com/TCJ$N6R5HY$68

Taln_Reich (December 1, 2022). Róisín Michaux. Fundies Say The Darndest Things https://fstdt.com/W9RG.5BJY$S6K

Selected writing by Michaux

Michaux, Róisín; El-Nagashi, Faika; Zobnina, Anna (January 15, 2025). The EU is refusing to change course on gender: While national governments see sense on gender identity, Brussels goes full-speed ahead. The Critic https://thecritic.co.uk/the-eu-is-refusing-to-change-course-on-gender/

Michaux, Róisín (September 7, 2023). Abuses of affirmation: Inside the communities of trans mums. The Critic https://thecritic.co.uk/abuses-of-affirmation/

Michaux, Róisín (September 7, 2023). The plot to redefine conversion therapy. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2023/06/how-the-un-perverted-conversion-therapy/

Michaux, Róisín (August 30, 2023). The new front in the war against HIV. UnHerd https://unherd.com/2023/08/the-new-front-in-the-war-against-hiv/

Michaux, Róisín (June 16, 2023). Gender critical in Geneva: Yet another failed attempt to silence women. The Critic https://thecritic.co.uk/gender-critical-in-geneva/

Michaux, Róisín (January 17, 2023). You Meet More Perverts When You’re Poor. 4W https://4w.pub/you-meet-more-perverts-when-poor/

Michaux, Róisín (November 30, 2022). These Men Were Promised Lesbians. 4W https://4w.pub/these-men-were-promised-lesbians/

Michaux, Róisín (October 5, 2022). Trans Activists’ Speeches to Be Streamed into Classrooms of 15k Irish Schoolgirls. 4W https://4w.pub/stream-trans-activists-irish-girls/

Michaux, Róisín (September 22, 2022).Brighton: This is what #NoDebate looks like. 4W https://4w.pub/brighton-this-is-what-nodebate-looks-like/

Michaux, Róisín (September 22, 2022). Castrated ‘Eunuchs’ are Trans, Need Affirming care, says Professional Body. 4W https://4w.pub/castration-added-transgender-care/

Michaux, Róisín (September 13, 2022). The Forstater Verdict Has Wider Reach than You Think. 4W https://4w.pub/forstater-verdict-wider-reach/

Michaux, Róisín (August 31, 2022). Advocates for “Whores’” Rights Shut Down Prostitution Suvivors’ Event in Berlin. 4W https://4w.pub/prostitution-survivors-event/

Media

Paul Boonefaes (July 2, 2023). Roisin Michaux on The Based in Belgium Podcast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw9A241uNao

Women’s Declaration International (WDI) (January 25, 2023). No data, no problem? Róisín Michaux on dangers of Belgium self ID laws. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpiknHBmkkk

Resources

X/Twitter (x.com)

Substack (substack.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

4W (4w.pub)

UnHerd (unherd.com)

Reduxx (reduxx.info)

The Critic (thecritic.co.uk)

Muck Rack (muckrack.com)

“Mr. Menno” is the stage name of Menno Kuijper, a Dutch anti-transgender extremist and separatist based in the UK.

Background

Menno Kuijper was born June 19, 1976. Kuijper held numerous roles in marketing and social media from 1996 to 2012. From 2012 to 2021 Kuijper was head of design and production at mobile marketing firm Gappt.

Menno appeared in theatrical productions before focusing exclusively on anti-trans content. Performances include Brixton Batty Boy (2012).

Anti-trans activism

Since 2022 Kuijper has been director of communications for anti-trans group The Gay Men’s Network.

Kuijper considers the trans rights movement to be “gender woo woo,” promoting the outdated terminology “homosexual male” and other binary ideas about traits and behaviors.

In 2022 Kuijper created a “sea shanty” for queer trans-exclusionary group LGB Alliance.

Also in 2022, Kuijper showed up to an anti-trans “Save Our Sex Jubilee campaign” in a black morph suit and a diaper with a sign that said “Right Side of History.” Kuijper was apparently mocking black bloc protesters who interrupted the anti-trans “Standing for Women” protest in Manchester earlier that month. Transphobes mocked those protesters online as “Black Pampers,” a play on Black Panthers. Kuijper insisted it was not a blackface performance.

Kuijper appears in the 2023 anti-trans proaganda series Uncomfortable Truths.

Kuijper has appeared in the media with other anti-trans extremists, including Graham Linehan, joey brite, and Isabella Malbin.

References

Milton, Josh (June 2, 2022). Anti-trans protester wears black morph suit and nappy in bizarre stunt. PinkNews https://www.thepinknews.com/2022/06/02/anti-trans-denies-blackface-nappy-mr-menno/

Kuijper, Menno (August 15, 2012). Brixton Batty Boy Polari http://www.polarimagazine.com/tag/menno-kuijper/

Resources

Gay Men’s Network (gaymensnetwork.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Patreon (patreon.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

PayPal (paypal.com)

  • mrmenno

X/Twitter (x.com)

Razib Khan is a Bangladeshi-American writer and anti-transgender activist. Khan comes to anti-trans “sex science” via “race science” and is best known for laundering extremist views about race into mainstream media.

Khan hopes to usher in the “second age of eugenics” through genetic screening and manipulation to increase “good” traits and eliminate “bad” traits. Many of Khan’s like-minded colleagues consider being trans and gender diverse to be undesirable traits to be eliminated from the gene pool.

Since founding the group blog Gene Expression in 2002, Khan has been published in numerous anti-trans publications, including, Quillette, Substack, New York Times, Unz Review, Taki’s Magazine, and VDARE.

Background

Newamul K. “Razib” Khan was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1977. Khan’s family moved to the US in 1982. Khan lived in upstate New York as a child before the family moved to Oregon. 

Khan earned two bachelor’s degrees from University of Oregon in 2000 and 2006. While there, Khan wrote a blog called Razib’s Rants, which later became Gene Expression. Following graduate work at UC Davis, Khan was a software engineer before receiving money from Ron Unz to write about hereditarian and eugenic topics.

In 2010, Khan co-founded the group blog Brown Pundits with Zachary L. Zavidé and Omar Ali. Khan has also promoted an “intellectual brown web.”

In 2015, the New York Times announced they had contracted with Khan to write monthly pieces, but they rescinded the offer following protests.

Podcast

Khan has platformed a number of anti-trans guests, including:

In a 2023 Steven Pinker interview, they discuss “The ghost in the machine, particularly as repurposed today in service of gender ideology.”

References

Khan, Razib (March 16, 2023). Steven Pinker: The Blank Slate 20+ years later. Razib Khan’s Unsupervised Learning https://www.razibkhan.com/p/steven-pinker-the-blank-slate-20

Khan, Razib (April 2, 2023). Steven Pinker: The Blank Slate 20+ years later. Unsupervised Learning https://unsupervisedlearning.libsyn.com/steven-pinker-the-blank-slate-20-years-later

Cussins, Jessica (June 26, 2014). Quantified and Analyzed, Before the First Breath. Center for Genetics and Society https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/biopolitical-times/quantified-and-analyzed-first-breath

Khan, Razib (June 18, 2008). Curing the Gay. Unz Review https://www.unz.com/gnxp/curing-the-gay/

Mallot, Jason (June 02, 2006). Happy 4th Birthday GNXP. Gene Expression. https://www.gnxp.com/blog/2006/06/happy-4th-birthday-gnxp.php

“Godless Capitalist” (July 11, 2003). GENE EXPRESSION biographical sketches. Gene Expression http://www.gnxp.com/MT2/archives/000734.html [archive]

Media

Ali Rizvi and Armin Navabi (June 29, 2020). EP143: When Truth Is Controversial ? Evolution & Genetics With Razib Khan. Secular Jihadists https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n05ovnXvSUo

Resources

RationalWiki (rationalwiki.org)

Razib’s Rants (kattare.com/jsp/blog.jsp) [no archive]

Razib Khan (razib.com)

Razib Khan (razibkhan.com)

Substack (substack.com)

Brown Pundits (brownpundits.com)

Gene Expression (gnxp.com)

GenRAIT (genrait.com)

Discover Magazine (discovermagazine.com)

  • Gene Expression
  • discovermagazine.com/blog/gene-expression
  • blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp

YouTube (youtube.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Meghan Daum is an American anti-transgender activist who got involved through the intellectual dark web.

Background

Daum was born February 13, 1970 in California. Daum earned a bachelor’s degree from Vassar College and a master’s degree from Columbia University.

Daum founded The Unspeakeasy in 2022 and is host of The Unspeakable podcast. Guests have included:

2021

2020

Daum co-hosts the podcast A Special Place In Hell with Sarah Haider.

Daum published the essay collections My Misspent Youth and The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion. Daum’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Vogue, GQ, and Harper’s.

Daum authored the book The Problem With Everything: My Journey Through The New Culture Wars.

Comments on Leelah Alcorn’s suicide

In 2018, Daum expressed what many felt was more sympathy for Leelah Alcorn’s unsupportive parents than for the dead teen.

“There’s no question that Leelah’s death and the circumstances leading to it are worthy of—and, in fact, demand— public rage. But along with that rage should come compassion, not just for the Alcorns but for anyone who’s ever been slow to reach acceptance, or whose circumscribed worldview has clouded their understanding of somebody else’s experience.”

References

Daum, Meghan (August 24, 2018). Nuance: A Love Story. GEN https://gen.medium.com/nuance-a-love-story-ae6a14991059

Daum, Meghan (2015-01-15). Op-Ed: Why blaming Leelah Alcorn’s parents only compounds the bigotry. Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-daum-alcorn-transparent-suicide-20150115-story.html

Schares, Evan Mitchell (2019-02-01). The Suicide of Leelah Alcorn: Whiteness in the Cultural Wake of Dying Queers. QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking. 6 (1): 1–25. doi:10.14321/qed.6.1.0001. 

Daum, Meghan (January 5, 2023). Why Do I Talk So Much About Trans Stuff? Because I Have Nothing To Lose.
The Unspeakable with Meghan Daum https://meghandaum.substack.com/p/why-do-i-talk-so-much-about-trans

Resources

Substack (substack.com)

The Unspeakeasy (theunspeakeasy.com)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Corinna Cohn is an American software developer who identifies as transsexual and gender critical. Cohn frequently appears in media to share conservative opinions and criticize various aspects of the trans rights movement.

Cohn was an officer in the Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network, an organization which promotes gatekeeping models of care.

Background

Corinna Ariel “Cori” Cohn was born on June 13, 1975 and transitioned in the 1990s.

Cohn ran a comic store and website called Otakurama from 2002 to 2005.

Cohn is a software engineer who has worked for Fusion Alliance and Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance.

Activism

Cohn is a longtime internet troll who participates in virulently anti-trans forums.

In 2018 Cohn was triggered by Twitter’s revised policies that prohibited deadnaming and misgendering trans and gender diverse people. Cohn began making media appearances soon after.

Cohn has appeared in media with an number of gender critical and anti-transgender people, including Benjamin Boyce, Miranda Yardley, Nina Paley, Carey Callahan, Genspect, Call Me Sam, Mars F (Upperhandmars), Stephanie Winn, Gender Dysphoria Alliance, ICONS – Independent Council on Women’s Sports, and Feminist Heretics.

Cohn is a board member of Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network, an activist group involved in the “ex-trans” movement that seeks to reduce options for medical transition.

In 2021 Cohn and fellow gender critical activist Nina Paley began the podcast Heterodorx.

In 2022 Cohn published a regret narrative in the Washington Post, suggesting that minors and young adults considering transition should “slow down.” Cohn has expressed the following regrets:

  • “a lifetime set apart from my peers”
  • “I wasn’t old enough to make that decision”
  • “I have resigned myself to never finding a partner”
  • “became a medical patient and will remain one for the rest of my life”
  • “intercourse never became pleasurable”
  • “I’m still working out how much regret to feel”

Via Media Matters for America:

Cohn, who hosts the podcast Heterodorx, has recently begun to put her anti-trans views into action. In late January, Cohn spoke in front of the Indiana House of Representatives in favor of HB 1041, a legislative effort that Cohn claimed would “strengthen the rights for girls and young women competing in sport” by excluding trans student athletes from competition. In her testimony, Cohn defined herself as “a transsexual,” arguing that her “sex is male, and neither science nor medicine can change that.” In the months since, Cohn has served as an expert and a witness for legislative efforts to restrict gender-affirming care in both Alabama and Ohio. 

Cohn signed her testimony to the Ohio General Assembly as the secretary and treasurer of Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network. GCCAN was founded in 2019 under the stated mission “to empower recipients of gender transition-related care to become healthy and whole,” but it has rapidly aligned itself with the right-wing campaign against gender-affirming care policies, with Cohn serving as a board member. 

References

Tirrell, Alyssa (October 31, 2022). Recent witness in anti-trans legislative hearings claims that trans people “did not even exist in 1939” and could not have been victims of the Holocaust. Media Matters for America https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/recent-witness-anti-trans-legislative-hearings-claims-trans-people-did-not-even-exist-1939

Steve Hammer and Chuck Workman (September 3, 2003). 30 under 30: Innovators in the arts. Nuvo https://www.nuvo.net/arts/30-under-30-innovators-in-the-arts/article_c99ebd9c-ae71-5c71-93dd-4f0f26bc75bc.html

Selected writing by Cohn

Cohn, Corinna (April 11, 2022). Opinion: What I wish I’d known when I was 19 and had sex reassignment surgery. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/04/11/i-was-too-young-to-decide-about-transgender-surgery-at-nineteen/

Cohn, Corinna (June 22, 2020). For 30 Years, I’ve Tried to Become a Woman. Here’s What I Learned Along the Way. Quillette https://quillette.com/2020/06/22/for-30-years-ive-tried-to-become-a-woman-heres-what-i-learned-along-the-way/

Resources

Substack (substack.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

  • corinna-cohn-83026a24 [deleted]

Otakurama (otakurama.com) [archive]

Blogspot (blogspot.com)

Gender Care Consumer Advocacy Network (gccan.org) [archive]

  • Who We Are [archive]
  • gccan.org/who-we-are

X/Twitter (x.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Richard Hanania is an American political scientist, right-wing eugenicist, and anti-transgender extremist. Hanania claims that “trans ideology is closer to a religion than it is to most political beliefs.”

In 2023, Hanania was revealed to be the author of misogynistic and pro-genocidal posts on white nationalist sites under the pseudonym “Richard Hoste.”

Background

Richard Anton Hanania was born on August 28, 1985 and grew up in Oak Lawn, Illinois. After completing high school early, Hanania attended Moraine Valley Community College, then earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Colorado. Hanania then earned a law degree from University of Chicago and a doctorate from UCLA.

Hanania founded the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI), which includes an anti-transgender podcast. Guests include other anti-trans extremists, including Chris Rufo, Aaron Sibarium, Eric Kaufmann, Michael Shellenberger, Razib Khan, Steven Pinker, and Jesse Singal.

“Enlightened Centrists”

Hanania created a list of allegedly “enlightened centrists,” many of whom share Hanania’s disdain for transgender people.

References

Mathias, Christopher (August 4, 2023). Richard Hanania, Rising Right-Wing Star, Wrote For White Supremacist Sites Under Pseudonym”. HuffPost https://www.huffpost.com/entry/richard-hanania-white-supremacist-pseudonym-richard-hoste_n_64c93928e4b021e2f295e817 [archive]

Hanania, Richard (August 6, 2023). Why I Used to Suck, and (Hopefully) No Longer Do. Richard Hanania’s Newsletter https://www.richardhanania.com/p/why-i-used-to-suck-and-hopefully

Hanania, Richard (October 6, 2022). Why Gender Ideology Can’t Survive Elon. Richard Hanania’s Newsletter https://www.richardhanania.com/p/why-gender-ideology-cant-survive

Resources

Richard Hanania (richardhanania.com) [archive]

Substack (substack.com/

  • richardhanania
  • Richard Hanania’s Newsletter
  • Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology

Twitter (twitter.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

Coleman Hughes is an American writer and anti-transgender activist.

Background

Coleman Cruz Hughes was born February 25, 1996 and grew up in Montclair, New Jersey. Hughes earned a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in 2020.

Like Glenn Loury, Thomas Chatterton Williams, and John McWhorter, Hughes has gained a reputation for criticizing progressive views and policies around race.

Anti-transgender activism

Hughes has written for several anti-trans publications, including Quillette, The Spectator, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, National Review, Washington Examiner, Manhattan Institute’s City Journal, and Heterodox Academy.

Coleman hosts Conversations with Coleman, which is a major platform for other anti-transgender activists, including:

  • Niall Ferguson
  • Kmele Foster
  • Inaya Folarin Iman
  • Batya Ungar-Sargon
  • Chloé Valdary

References

Hughes, Coleman (May 2023). A case for color blindness. TED https://www.ted.com/talks/coleman_hughes_a_case_for_color_blindness

Resources

Coleman Hughes (colemanhughes.org)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Patreon (patreon.com)

IMDb (imdb.com)

Bill Maher is an American comedian and anti-transgender activist.

Background

William “Bill” Maher was born on January 20, 1956 in New York City. Maher earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in 1978 and began a comedy career in 1979.

Maher hosted the panel show Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher on Comedy Central from 1993 to 1997 and on ABC from 1997 to 2002. In 2003 Maher began hosting the weekly show Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO.

Maher has platformed many anti-trans figures over the course of the HBO show, including:

  • Steve Bannon
  • Roseanne Barr
  • Andrew Breitbart
  • Pat Buchanan
  • Vivek Ramaswamy
  • Ralph Reed *
  • Hanna Rosin
  • Dave Rubin
  • Chloe Valdary

Key:

  • [no asterisk] >5 appearances
  • * = 5+ appearances
  • ** = 10+ appearances
  • *** = 15+ appearances
  • **** = 20+ appearances

Maher has had a far smaller number of trans-supportive guests. Maher has had trans guests, including:

  • Janet Mock
  • Eddie Izzard
  • Elliot Page
  • Chaz Bono

References

GLAAD (May 21, 2022). GLAAD Responds to ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’ Segment ‘Along for the Pride.’ https://glaad.org/glaad-responds-real-time-bill-maher-segment-along-pride-1/

Tapper, Jake (March 1, 2023). Maher: ‘Woke’ community wants to ‘shut down debate’ around transgender issues. CNN https://www.cnn.com/videos/media/2023/03/01/bill-maher-transgender-community-debate-tapper-intv-sot-vpx.cnn

Joseph A. Wulfsohn (January 21, 2023). Bill Maher says Biden admin ‘all-in’ on trans indoctrination of kids https://nypost.com/2023/01/21/bill-maher-biden-all-in-on-trans-indoctrination-of-kids/

Gabriel Hays (September 4, 2023) Bill Maher tells Joe Rogan gender surgeries are harmful, claims kids turn trans to say ‘f— you’ to parents. Fox News https://www.foxnews.com/media/bill-maher-tells-joe-rogan-gender-surgeries-harmful-claims-kids-turn-trans-say-f-you-parents

Molly Jong-Fast (May 26, 2022). Bill Maher Isn’t a Liberal Anymore. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/05/bill-maher-anti-lgbtq-transgender-comments/676673/

Bill Maher takes on Trans kids in sports, gender affirming surgery in debate with Neil Degrasse Tyson. The Hill https://thehill.com/video/bill-maher-takes-on-trans-kids-in-sports-gender-affirming-surgery-in-debate-with-neil-degrasse-tyson/9151163/

(August 6, 2023). Bill Maher interviews Riley Gaines to discuss the Transgender movement in sports, including penis sizes. Marca https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/tv-shows/2023/08/06/64ceeb79e2704e1ea48b460f.html

Vakil, Caroline (May 21, 2022). Maher says increase in those identifying as LGBT partly attributed to being ‘trendy’. The Hill

Wakefield, Lily (May 21, 2022). Bill Maher says US is ‘experimenting on kids’ and ‘everyone will be gay by 2054’. PinkNews

GLAAD (April 19, 2021). Medical Association Statements Supporting Trans Youth Healthcare and Against Discriminatory Bills. https://www.glaad.org/blog/medical-association-statements-supporting-trans-youth-healthcare-and-against-discriminatory

Media

Maher, Bill (May 20, 2022). New Rule: Along for the Pride. Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMBzfUj5zsg

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Helen Pluckrose is a British writer and anti-transgender activist. Pluckrose was editor of anti-trans group blog Areo magazine from 2018 to 2021.

Pluckrose is critical of postmodernism and cultural constructivism. While claiming to take a centrist position that is generally trans-supportive, Pluckrose has espoused many anti-transgender views.

Background

Pluckrose was born in August 1974. Pluckrose earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of East London and a master’s degree from Queen Mary University of London.

Pluckrose was a social care worker from age 17 to 34.

In 2017 Pluckrose, Peter Boghossian, and James A. Lindsay carried out the “grievance studies” affair, where they submitted 20 hoax papers to academic journals in hopes of getting them published. One recommended that people challenge their transphobia by inserting sex toys into their anuses.

Pluckrose was editor of anti-trans group blog Areo magazine from 2018 to 2021, founding Areo Magazine Ltd in 2019. Pluckrose and Lindsay published the book Cynical Theories in 2020. Pluckrose founded Counterweight Support Limited in 2021.

Pluckrose and spouse David have one child.

Anti-transgender activism

Pluckrose asserts that “extreme trans activists” want to compel people to accept the following:

  • people must believe that trans people “straightforwardly are the gender they experience themselves to be”
  • people must use language that reflects a trans person’s gender
  • people must be trans-inclusive when choosing sexual partners

Pluckrose’s most significant anti-trans position is that “transitioning children is difficult to justify ethically.”

Pluckrose’s reasoning is a form of cisgender supremacy that prioritizes the well-being of cisgender children over the well-being of transgender children. According to Pluckrose, giving parental consent to medical transition for a trans youth “cannot justify permanently damaging the bodies” of young people who might not benefit in the long term from medical transition. In Pluckrose’s argument this “collateral damage” is worse than collateral damage to trans young people denied medical transition.

Pluckrose’s position is predicated on the potent “regret” narrative and its medicalized manifestations: “desistance” in minors and “detransition” in adults. Regret narratives are vastly overrepresented in mainstream media because it taps into parental anxiety and justifies suspicion about all trans people. Those who believe being trans is a medical problem like “social contagion” often believe there is a cure. Those who believe being trans is an ideology or cult often cling to the powerful fantasy of trans apostasy.

Ideologues who wish to involve themselves in the bodily autonomy of others often amplify regret narratives. For instance, though abortion regret is rare, abortion opponents amplify regret narratives to make abortion less accessible for those who might benefit, including minors.

During Pluckrose’s tenure at Areo, there were several articles critical of trans people (written by people like anti-trans activist Louise Perry), and no articles written by trans people.

In a 2020 Quillette interview, Pluckrose complained about trans activism:

People are being no-platformed, fired, and cancelled for disagreeing with these ideas. Here in the UK, the police have investigated somebody posting a limerick on Twitter that did not adhere to trans activism’s concept of gender identity and a journalist publishing an interview with a historian who said slavery was not genocide. Gender critical feminists are routinely threatened and intimidated for making arguments that self-ID is a threat to women’s sex-based rights. 

References

Pluckrose, Helen (September 27, 2017). An Argument for a Liberal and Rational Approach to Transgender Rights and Inclusion. Areo https://areomagazine.com/2017/09/27/an-argument-for-a-liberal-and-rational-approach-to-transgender-rights-and-inclusion/

Hill, Jason D. (December 16, 2020). On Activist Scholarship: An Interview with Helen Pluckrose. Quillette https://quillette.com/2020/12/16/on-activist-scholarship-an-interview-with-helen-pluckrose/

Perry, Louise (July 8, 2019). Minds Without Bodies: Transgenderism and the Authentic Self. Areo https://areomagazine.com/2019/08/07/minds-without-bodies-transgenderism-and-the-authentic-self/

Smith M (pseudonym) (2018). Going in Through the Back Door: Challenging Straight Male Homohysteria and Transphobia through Receptive Penetrative Sex Toy Use. Sexuality & Culture. 22 (4): 1542. 10.1007/s12119-018-9536-0

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