Sander Rietveld is a Dutch anti-transgender activist. Rietveld directed the 2023 anti-trans media piece “Het transgenderprotocol.” It was so one-sided that one of the subjects, Lucy Kortikasari, came out against Rietveld’s deceptive and biased practices.
Background
Rietveld earned a master’s degree from Leiden University in 1999. Rietveld did investigations at Netwerk from 2004 to 2010.
Rietveld authored the 2021 book Nieuwe kruisvaarders [New Crusaders] about connections between orthodox Christianity and far right populism.
Rietveld is host of the podcast ZEMBLA.
Anti-transgender activism
Rietveld directed Het transgenderprotocol. Personnel included:
Rietveld, Sander (2021). Nieuwe kruisvaarders: de heilige alliantie tussen orthodoxe christenen en radicaal-rechtse populisten. Prometheus, ISBN 978-9044645163
Megan McArdle is an American writer and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Megan J. McArdle was born January 29, 1973. McArdle earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994, and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago in 2001.
McArdle blogged under the name Jane Galt at Asymmetrical Information:
McArdle has something of a contrarian streak. Sheâs the âblack sheepâ of her ârabid Democratâ family. She took her pseudonym from the Ayn Rand novel Atlas Shrugged, solely to irk a frequent commenter on a New York Times Internet forum who smeared anyone to the âright of Chairman Maoâ as a âRandroid.â
McArdle authored the 2014 book The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success.
McArdle is married to Peter Suderman (born September 30, 1981), who ran the blog alarm-alarm.com. Suderman writes for Reason and previously worked for National Review, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, FreedomWorks, Doublethink, and Culture11.
McArdle has described distress from being personally misgendered: “Iâm 6-foot-2, tall enough that distracted store clerks often call me âsir,â a fact that caused me great distress as a young woman.”
McArdle, Megan (February 24, 2022 ). Opinion: Donât forget the other women swimming against Lia Thomas. [alt title: Donât forget the other women in the pool]. Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/24/lia-thomas-ivy-league-swimming-championships/
“Shannon Thrace” is the current stage name of an American author and anti-transgender activist. Thrace is part of the “trans widow” movement of people upset that their spouses made a gender transition.
Background
Thrace was married for about 14 years to someone who came out as trans. Their relationship fell apart over the following 18 months.
Thrace originally published under the pseudonym “Sharon Thrace.”
Linda Blade is a Canadian athlete, coach, and anti-transgender extremist. Blade considers transgender athletes “almost an existential threat to our sport.”
Background
Linda Blade was born on May 26, 1962 in Bolivia. Blade and spouse moved to Nigeria in the 1990s. They returned to Canada after they had a child.
Blade competed in track and field. Blade earned a doctorate from Simon Fraser University in 1994. In 1997, Blade began work as a sports performance coach.
In 2014, Blade was elected as president of the board for Athletics Alberta and was involved in shaping Canadian sport policy. Blade is president of the Edmonton Track Council, and is responsible for overseeing athletics programs across Alberta, including at Kinsmen Field House.
Anti-transgender activism
Blade is a frequent collaborator with Raine McLeod of AB Radical Feminists.
According to a 2021 report by The Canadian Anti-Hate Network, “Bladeâs staff bio at the Royal Glenora Club, an Edmonton-based private fitness and social club, describes her ‘struggle to preserve sports for biological females’ as ‘the hill I am prepared to die on.’â
Blade and Barbara Kay wrote the 2021 book Unsporting: How Trans Activism and Science Denial are Destroying Sport.
Blade is involved in anti-trans organization Independent Council on Womenâs Sports and maintains anti-trans website N=8. According to Blade, this equation “denotes the number of male born runners it took to change the rules of sport for ALL female athletes in the world across ALL sports.”
Blade was announced as a speaker at a 2023 anti-trans conference by Genspect.
Yamauchi, Mara (July 2, 2022). Dr Linda Blade and a life in athletics.World Athletics https://worldathletics.org/personal-best/lifestyle/linda-blade-life-in-athletics
Wesley Yang is an author and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Yang was born on October 3, 1974 and grew up in New Jersey.
Yang attended Rutgers University from 1993 to 1997. Yang began freelance writing in 2005. From 2011 to 2013, Yang was a contributing editor at New York. Since 2017 Yang has been a columnist at Tablet. In 2018 Yang became a contributing editor at Esquire.
Yang is author of the 2018 book The Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays. That book includes Yang’s provocative 2008 piece on mass shooter Seung-Hui Cho.
Yang coined the term “successor ideology.,” which was popularized by other reactionary centrists and conservatives. Yang describes it as “authoritarian Utopianism that masquerades as liberal humanism while usurping it from within.”
In 2022 Yang, spouse, and child were living in Montreal.
Anti-transgender activism
Yang got involved in anti-transgender activism through Jesse Singal, Lisa Selin Davis, and “Eliza Mondegreen.” Yang cites anti-trans activism in Sweden and Finland as what finally provided cover for coming out as anti-trans. Yang walked around with anti-trans extremist “Billboard Chris” and found that nearly everyone agreed with the anti-trans messages Billboard Chris wears, yet still claims that anti-trans views are “heterodox.” Yang also had an extensive conversation with anti-trans extremist Leor Sapir.
Claire Lehmann is an Australian writer and anti-transgender activist. Lehmann is a key figure in the so-called intellectual dark web, described as a gateway to the far right. Lehmann is founding editor of anti-trans publication Quillette, also classified a pathway to right-wing radicalization.
Background
Claire (Jensen) Lehmann was born on July 18, 1985 and grew up in Adelaide, South Australia. Lehmann earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Adelaide in 2010. Jensen married Harold M. “Harry” Lehmann at age 27 and dropped out of graduate school when their first child was born in 2013.
Lehmann worked 2011-2014 as a Policy Research Assistant at Australian College of Nursing and 2015-2016 as a Communications officerâ at National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance.
Barbara Kay is a Canadian writer and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Barbara Kay was born on November 27, 1943 and grew up in Toronto with siblings.
Kay earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Toronto and a master’s degree from McGill University in 1966.
Kay wrote opinion pieces for the National Post before becoming a columnist in 2003. Kay has also written for in The Post Millennial, Pajama, The Walrus, Canadian Jewish News (CJNews), and Epoch Times. Key briefly wrote for Rebel News in 2017 before leaving due to views held by some staffers.
Kay and spouse Ronny Kay married in 1964 and have two children, including anti-trans activist Jonathan Kay.
Anti-transgender activism
Kay opposed Canada’s Bill C-16, which added âgender identity or expressionâ to protected classes in regards to discrimination, hate speech, and hate crimes.
In criticizing the bill in the Post Millennial, Kay described it as “velvet totalitarianism” and misattributed a quotation to Voltaire: “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” The passage was actually by white nationalist Kevin Alfred Strom describing Jewish people.
Kay told publication Canadaland:
âWith regard to the application of the quote to the Church of Gender Identity, I do not regret it at all, and here is why. The quotation makes a great deal of sense. The fact that an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist actually believed that the Jews ârule over youâ says a great deal about his twisted mind, but it does not reflect reality. I am neither a conspiracy theorist or a transphobic. My quarrel is not with trans gender people, who â I have said this repeatedly â simply want to live their lives in peace, but with the ideologues who are bent on imposing their belief system, founded in theory, but not in evidence, on everyone in the form of compelled speech and compelled expression of belief. The words of the quotation in fact make very good sense. That the mind who thought it up was corrupted by hatred to the point that he was delusionary about who âyou cannot criticizeâ is not my fault.â
During a July 18, 2018 Rights and Freedoms Institute event, Kay used the phrase again to condemn gender neutral pronouns as “compelled speech” and “compelled expression of belief.”
Kay’s Facebook profile uses the anti-trans dogwhistle “Adult human Female.” Kay and anti-trans activist Linda Blade wrote the 2021 book Unsporting: How Trans Activism and Science Denial are Destroying Sport.
Strom, Kevin A (August 14, 1993). All America Must Know the Terror That is Upon Us. American Dissident Voices via America First Books http://www.amfirstbooks.com/IntroPages/ToolBarTopics/Articles/Featured_Authors/strom,_kevin/kevin_strom_works/Kevin_Strom_1991-1994/Kevin_A._Strom_19930814-ADV_All_America_Must_Know_the_Terror_That_Is_Upon_Us.html [archive]
Adriaans, Eric (June 14, 2018). Panel Discussion: Bill C-16 Controversy. Toronto: Rights and Freedoms Institute. https://freedom-of-expression.ca/2018/06/14/panel-discussion-bill-c-16-controversy/ [archive]
James Lindsay is an American writer and anti-transgender activist.
Background
James Stephen Lindsay was born on June 8, 1979 in Ogdensburg, New York and grew up in Maryville, Tennessee. Lindsay attended Tennessee Tech, earning a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree. Lindsay earned a doctorate from University of Tennessee in 2010. After completing the degree, Lindsay worked as a massage therapist.
Anti-transgender activism
Lindsay and Peter Boghossian published a hoax paper in 2017 titled “The Conceptual Penis as a Social Construct.” They stated the paper parodied “poststructuralist discursive gender theory.” The paper was rejected by Norma, but later accepted by Cogent Social Sciences.
Lindsay, Boghossian, and Helen Pluckrose submitted 20 hoax papers, which they submitted to peer-reviewed journals using several pseudonyms. One recommended that people challenge their transphobia by inserting sex toys into their anuses.
The hoax was uncovered by Toni Airaksinen of Campus Reform in 2018.
Lindsay is a proponent of the right-wing LGBT grooming conspiracy theory and helped popularize “groomer” as a slur directed at LGBTQ educators and activists. Lindsay considers the Pride flag to be “the flag of a hostile enemy.”
Lindsay was a featured speaker at the 2023 anti-trans Genspect conference in Denver.
New Discourses
Lindsay founded the New Discourses wesbsite, now owned by Christian nationalist commentator Michael O’Fallon of Sovereign Nations.
Lindsay published a series of anti-trans posts by contributor “Donna M.,” the pen name of Linda Kramer, “a writer who was censored by Medium when her insights on transgender issues were labelled ‘hate speech.'”
The New Discourses podcast frequently attacks the trans community. Anti-trans episodes include:
Jaschik, Scott (May 22, 2017). Hoax With Multiple Targets. Inside Higher Ed https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/22/faux-scholarly-article-sets-criticism-gender-studies-and-open-access-publishing
Linda Kramer is an American writer and unaccepting parent of a gender diverse adult child.
Kramer publishes anti-trans propaganda under the pen name “Donna M.”
Background
Linda Marie Wolfgram was born in May of 1972 and married Peter Kramer (born 1971) at age 22. They have four children: Benjamin (born ~2001), Jonah (born ~2003), Emma Grace (born ~2004), and Anna (born ~2006).
Kramer created the Travels with Children blog, posting extensively about family trips in the area.
Anti-trans activism
“Mommy bloggers” are highly susceptible to anti-transgender extremism. When one of Kramer’s children came out as gender diverse, Kramer decided to vent on Medium with a cruel “open letter” to this child, but really written for the approval of other unsupportive and anti-trans parents.
The piece was taken down by Medium as a violation of policies on anti-trans content. The piece gained some notoriety among transphobes after being taken down. It was later republished by James Lindsay on New Discourses.
The piece, titled “Youâre Not Trans. Youâre Just Weird,” repeated many anti-trans talking points from the “parental rights” faction of anti-trans extremists:
Youâre right. There is something different about you.
But youâre not trans, youâre just weird.
So weâre right here for you. Weâll always be here for you. But those online folks who urge you to âcrack your trans eggâ and rush to hormones and surgeries donât know you at all. They donât know that gifted kids and ADHD kids and Autism kids and Aspergerâs kids are slower to develop emotionally and sexually. They donât know that sexuality takes time and experience to figure out, and that the majority of trans teens seeking medical treatment havenât even masturbated or kissed someone yet. They donât know that 80% of trans children end up becoming comfortable with their birth sex if you just give them time. They donât know that there are increasing numbers of desisting and de-transitioning people in their twenties. They donât realize that hormones permanently stunt your growth, decrease your IQ, and can cause sterility. They donât know that these hormones are prescribed off-label and thereâs no research on the long-term outcomes. They donât even know that the most recent research shows that short-term outcomes are clearly worse.
They donât realize that youâre weird. But I do. Youâre weird, kiddo.
Kramer believes peer pressure and social contagion led their child to identify as trans:
Forty-eight hours after my son announced to us that he thought he might be trans, this teen girl sent me a text congratulating me on having a trans son, saying I must be so proud, and offering to help educate me if I had any questions. You might be surprised to hear that I did not take a teenage girl up on her offer of advice on the psychosocial and sexual development of my son.
Her gall continued. It was clear she had found a new venue for her deep desire to venge justice upon the world. Clearly, this was a wounded and neglected trans boy whose parents just didnât understand him. Despite her busy schedule of therapy to deal with her anorexia, cutting, and suicide attempt, she found time to provide him clothing and test out nail polish on him.
Over the next few months, we scrambled to find a good therapist, add in an anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medicine, and try to expand our sonâs world. By January, he was pulling out of his depression, desisting from his trans identity, engaged and happy, and doing well in school.
According to what appears to be a final post in 2022, “Donna M. has unsubscribed from Twitter in order to protect her privacy and move on. Parents of gender-questioning teens looking for support should visit PITTâ.
In the course of attacking 300,000 American children, Kramer publicly outed their own child, apparently feeling the best way to “protect their privacy” was to divulge deeply personal family information in order to promote anti-transgender propaganda.
References
Pfitzinger, Julie (May 28, 2011). It’s time for a family adventure.Minneapolis Star Tribune https://www.startribune.com/it-s-time-for-a-family-adventure/122695629/
“Donna M.” (September 22, 2021). A Call for a Defense of Parenting Act.New Discourses https://newdiscourses.com/2021/09/call-for-defense-of-parenting-act/
“Donna M.” (July 21, 2022). Nevertheless, He Desisted.New Discourses https://newdiscourses.com/2022/07/nevertheless-he-desisted/