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
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, “Blade’s 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.’”
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 Women’s 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
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 “You’re Not Trans. You’re Just Weird,” repeated many anti-trans talking points from the “parental rights” faction of anti-trans extremists:
You’re right. There is something different about you.
But you’re not trans, you’re just weird.
So we’re right here for you. We’ll always be here for you. But those online folks who urge you to “crack your trans egg” and rush to hormones and surgeries don’t know you at all. They don’t know that gifted kids and ADHD kids and Autism kids and Asperger’s kids are slower to develop emotionally and sexually. They don’t know that sexuality takes time and experience to figure out, and that the majority of trans teens seeking medical treatment haven’t even masturbated or kissed someone yet. They don’t know that 80% of trans children end up becoming comfortable with their birth sex if you just give them time. They don’t know that there are increasing numbers of desisting and de-transitioning people in their twenties. They don’t realize that hormones permanently stunt your growth, decrease your IQ, and can cause sterility. They don’t know that these hormones are prescribed off-label and there’s no research on the long-term outcomes. They don’t even know that the most recent research shows that short-term outcomes are clearly worse.
They don’t realize that you’re weird. But I do. You’re 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 didn’t 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 son’s 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 PITT”.
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/
Carl Benjamin, is a British far-right activist and media personality who has maintained three YouTube channels: Sargon of Akkad, The Thinkery, and Akkad Daily.
Benjamin has consistently espoused anti-transgender views and is associated with other anti-trans extremists.
Background
Carl Benjamin was born in 1980.
Benjamin was an early member of the so-called intellectual dark web, a gateway to the far right.
Steven Crowder is a conservative media personality and anti-transgender extremist.
Background
Steven Blake Crowder was born on July 7, 1987, in Detroit, Michigan. Crowder and older sibling Jordan grew up in Montreal. Crowder began acting as a child and began doing standup at age 17. Crowder attended Champlain College for less than a year before dropping out.
In 2009 Crowder began posting satirical videos on conservative platforms, including Pajamas Media and Big Hollywood. Crowder worked at Fox News from 2009 to 2013, when they ended the relationship after Crowder made negative comments about Fox News and host Sean Hannity.
In 2017, Crowder began the Louder with Crowder show on Conservative Review’s CRTV, whic soon merged with Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze. Crowder is known for a “Change My Mind” series, where he shows up on a college campus with a provocative sign. One of the most popular is “There Are Only 2 Genders,” which has been repeated many times.
In 2019 YouTube investigated Crowder regarding comments about gay journalist Carlos Maza, but determined the racist and homophobic slurs did not violate their policies. They demonetized the channel following criticism, but allowed it again on some videos about a year later. In 2021, YouTube suspended the channel for a week and demonetized the channel again. In 2022, Crowder’s channel was suspended for two weeks for violating its policy on harassment, threats and cyberbullying. In 2023, Crowder’s channel was suspended again for featuring Alex Jones as co-host. In 2021, Crowder sued Faceboook over alleged censorship.
In 2023, Crowder got in a dispute with anti-trans organization Daily Wire following failed negotiations to join the platform. Crowder moved the show to Rumble, later partnering with Alex Jones, Nick Di Paolo, and Bryan Callen for an extended show.
Crowder and Hilary Korzon married in 2012, have dizygotic twin children, and separated in 2021. In 2023, Korzon released a recording in which Crowder was angrily yelling.
Anti-transgender activism
Samantha Riedel summarized Crowder’s long history of transphobic content:
No group has captivated Crowder’s gaze more thoroughly, however, than transgender people. Crowder was an early adopter of the post-gay marriage pivot to transphobia as a conservative business model. In the late 2010s, Crowder was already hosting sham “debates” on whether there are more than two genders, physically threatening trans people at work, and infiltrating trans groups to accuse them of indoctrinating children — years before Chaiya Raichik would perfect the grift with Libs of TikTok. Since then, Crowder has kept the volume on his transphobia at 11 by attacking trans public figures like Elliot Page and spreading disinformation, for which he was briefly suspended from YouTube.
[…] Virtually any story seems like a good excuse for Crowder to hop in a dress and spend several hours in a makeup chair to, uh, own the libs? He has dressed in drag to “go undercover” at an International Women’s Day event, where he was welcomed as a trans woman by the cisgender organizers, and wore a floral dress and wig while just hanging out in the studio to kick off “Cultural Appropriation Month” in June 2022. There was also the “Tranny Bane vs. Jihadi Bond” skit, in which Crowder managed to combine his two favorite identity cosplays into one terrible package, and my #1 draft pick: the time he tried to pose as a trans woman at Planet Fitness, where he intentionally broke gym rules by slamming weights and was quickly banned from the entire chain for life. As Twitter user @RightWingCope put it, “I’ve seen Steven Crowder crossdressing more times than I’ve seen drag queens in my whole life.”
On November 6, 2023, Crowder released leaked notes purportedly written by the 2023 Nashville Covenant School shooter.
References
Campbell, Jason (August 7, 2023). Steven Crowder’s empire of hate collapses.Media Matters for America https://www.mediamatters.org/steven-crowder/steven-crowders-empire-hate-collapses
Elliot Kaminetzky is an American psychologist and anti-transgender activist. Kaminetzky primarily opposes medical consensus on care for trans and gender diverse youth.
Do not go to Kaminetzky for any kind of therapy. If you are a trans or gender diverse minor forced to see Kaminetzky, do everything in your power to end the sessions and find supportive local resources.
Background
Elliot M. Kaminetzky was born in March of 1985. In 2014 Kaminetzky married pediatrician Rachel Sharret (born 1985). They have three children.
Kaminetzky earned a bachelor’s degree from Yeshiva University in 2009 and a doctorate from Hoffstra University in 2016.
Following an internship at the Veterans Administration in 2017 and a fellowship at Northwell Health, Kaminetzky founded My OCD Care in 2018. In 2023, Kaminetzky was a founder of The Center for Child Behavioral Health.
Kaminetzky also attended the 2023 Genspect Denver conference of anti-transgender extremists:
While some may see us as hateful, I have only seen kind-hearted and brilliant people of all walks of life discussing youth gender medicine; one of the biggest medical scandals of our time.
“Arty Morty” is the stage name of a Canadian anti-transgender extremist. “Arty Morty” is best known for being sidekick to anti-trans extremist Graham Linehan and for co-founding LGB Alliance Canada.
Background
“Arty Morty” is a pseudonym that refers to a Sherlock Holmes case.
Megyn Marie Kelly was born November 18, 1970 in Champaign, Illinois to Edward Francis Kelly (1940-1985) and Linda (DeMaio) Kelly. Edward Kelly died when Megyn was 15. Kelly was raised Catholic.
Kelly earned a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University in 1992 and a law degree from Albany Law School in 1995. Kelly worked as a lawyer for about 10 years.
Kelly married Daniel “Dan” Kendall in 2001 the divorced in 2006. Kelly married novelist Doug Brunt in 2008. They have three children: Thatcher, Yates, and Yardley.
Kelly hosted several shows at Fox News from 2004 to 2017, including America Live, America’s Newsroom, and The Kelly File. During that time, Kelly was known for political reporting, debate coverage, and debate moderation. Kelly was at NBC News from 2017 to 2018 before being terminated over comments about blackface.Â
Kelly authored the 2016 memoir Settle for More.
Kelly founded Devil May Care Media, which produces the podcast The Megyn Kelly Show.
Anti-transgender activism
Kelly frequently criticizes prominent trans and gender diverse figures, including Rachel Levine, Jonathan Van Ness and Dylan Mulvaney.