Megan Beth McCormick is an American attorney who chose to get involved in the controversy over the anti-transgender book The Man Who Would Be Queen by J. Michael Bailey.
Background
McCormick was born on March 23, 1982. According to information McCormick published online, she grew up in Wales, Wisconsin, and has the following education:
- Kettle Moraine High School (2000)
- University of Wisconsin-Madison (B.A. 2004)
- Chicago-Kent School of Law (J.D. 2007)
- Illinois Bar (2007)
- Wisconsin Bar (2008)
- Northern District of Illinois (2008)
- Milwaukee Bar Association (2017)
Work experience includes:
- Waukesha County Chief Judge Kathryn W. Foster
- Michael D. Robbins & Associates
- Schoen, Mangan & Smith
- Patton & Ryan LLC
- O’Connell, Tivin, Miller & Burns, LLC
- Weiss Law Office, S.C. in Mequon, Wisconsin
- Wilson Elser
- Griffin Purnell
Involvement
On J. Michael Bailey’s 51st birthday in 2008, Megan McCormick sent me the following unsolicited letter:
Ms. James,
I have a strange request: My friend idolizes you. Although I am not terribly familiar with your work, I know that he has frequently mentioned that your activism helped him while he was transitioning.
I am wondering if you ever distribute autographed photographs to fans. I know it seems kind of campy, but I think he would be really thrilled by the gesture (I would give it to him as a birthday gift).
Thanks for any response you are able to provide, and thank you for your activism.
Megan McCormick
Up until that point, I had always sent along an autographed headshot or other item to any fan who asked, at no charge. A number of things in the letter made me 99% sure McCormick was engaging in fraud, but on the 1% chance it was a legitimate request, I waited a few days, then offered to send something that did not have my photo but would still be appreciated by a fan:
Thanks for the sweet note! I don’t have any autograph-worthy pictures right now, but if you wish, I could send an autographed DVD of Casting Pearls. Just tell me the name and address to send it to.
Take care, Andrea
Rather than feeling guilty about her deception and reconsidering, McCormick got back to me within 20 minutes:
Andrea, Thank you so much for your consideration. I think he will love this. If you could please send the DVD to me (as I will be wrapping it as part of his birthday gift).
I gave her one last chance to reconsider her behavior:
Great! To whom should I autograph it?
But being not too sharp, she pressed forward with her
fraudulent request:
He goes by Mike.
At that point, I was almost certain that Megan McCormick was
planning to give this to Mike Bailey. I signed it something like “To Mike, best
of luck with your transition! Andrea.” In the past, Bailey has threatened to
appear in drag in public, but he has yet to make any announcements about his
very personal relationship to transgender women. In fact, he’s announced,
“Everything that I’m willing to say about my personal life I’ve already said…”
I sent this note to McCormick:
Mailed today. Please tell him I am really pleased that my work has been a source of hope and help! Take care, Andrea
Ms. McCormick disingenuously replied:
Thank you again–for everything.
While I wondered if McCormick might be in a sexual relationship with Bailey’s son or even Bailey himself (who has a taste for mannish younger women like McCormick who looked like he did in high school), I didn’t look into the matter.
About a year later, an undeniable connection between McCormick and Bailey emerged, at which point I spoke with her boss by phone. After I explained that she had represented herself fraudulently to me, her boss suggested I send a note requesting no further contact. I did just that on May 27, 2009, writing, “I do plan to post our correspondence below so there’s a record of your behavior.”
McCormick became a mother in 2016 and got married in 2019,
so let’s hope she no longer engages in this sort of troubling behavior.
References
McCormick, Megan B (July 2, 2008). Autograph request [unsolicited email to Andrea James].
Staff report (2017). Welcome New MBA Members! Milwaukee Bar Association Messenger, Winter, page 4 (lists Megan B. McCormick, Weiss Law Office) https://milwbar.org/images/downloads/mba_msgr_dec2017_9_hr.pdf
Staff report (November 2008). State Bar welcomes 122 new lawyers. Wisconsin Lawyer, Vol. 81, No. 11. https://www.wisbar.org/NewsPublications/WisconsinLawyer/Pages/Article.aspx?Volume=81&Issue=11&ArticleID=1608
Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (2015). https://issuu.com/cvlsf/docs/cvls_ar_2015
Megan Beth McCormick via Lawyers.com. https://www.lawyers.com/mequon/wisconsin/megan-beth-mccormick-157132304-a/
Megan Beth McCormick via Martindale. https://www.martindale.com/milwaukee/wisconsin/megan-beth-mccormick-300185516-a/
http://archive.is/wZ0uT
https://archive.ph/DY1kK
Kyle Scanlon was a Canadian author and activist for the transgender and gender diverse communities.
Background
Scanlon was born September 5, 1971 and moved from hometown Hamilton to Toronto in 1997.
Scanlon was active in Toronto’s lesbian community. After transition Scanlon was hired by the Lesbian Gay Bi Youth Line. Scanlon became the first openly trans man to be the Executive Director of an agency in Canada.
Later Scanlon was hired by the City of Toronto as the 519 Meal Trans Program Coordinator. At that time, Meal Trans was one of the only services available for trans people. During ten years of work for the City, Scanlon expanded the work of the 519. Scanlon became the Coordinator of the now diverse Trans Programming at the 519. Scanlon’s work expanded to include finding emergency housing and engaging homeless shelters to implement trans-positive policies, and often simply providing a supportive ear and a safe space for distressed clients.
In 2001 Scanlon was recognized for extensive community involvement with the Grassroots Trans Community Activist of the Year award from the Serving Our Youth (SOY) program.
While presenting at CAMH trying to address the many problems with their models of care in 2003, Scanlon was interrupted during his presentation by CAMH employee and anti-trans activist James Cantor. In 2008, Scanlon described the incident:
Cantor was made to apologize to me in a letter, but there he was also clever to apologize for my feeling harassed and did not in any way acknowledge he harassed me. Like I said, semantics. I definitely was told this would stay on his file for 7 years.
Scanlon’s work at The 519 led to becoming the Education, Training and Research Coordinator. Thanks in part to Scanlon, the 519 now offers a wide range of internationally renowned Trans Programs and Services.
Scanlon died on July 3, 2012. Scanlon did not live to see the day that a career serving the community would help lead to the closure of the worst parts of CAMH’s gender clinic.
The Canada section of this site is dedicated to Scanlon. Rest in power, Kyle.
References
Wong-Tam, Kristyn and Davis, Janet (July 11, 2012). Toronto City Council Condolence Motion: Kyle Scanlon. https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/rm/bgrd/backgroundfile-49114.pdf
Scanlon, Kyle (2008). James Cantor harasses trans speaker. [Complaint to CAMH]. https://www.transgendermap.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2023/02/kyle-scanlon-james-cantor-incident.pdf
Conway, Lynn (2007). Kyle Scanlon’s story. https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TSsuccesses/FtM/Kyle/Kyle.html
Richard Hanania is an American political scientist, right-wing eugenicist, and anti-transgender extremist.
In 2021 Hanania began hosting a podcast via Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI). Guests include other anti-trans extremists, including Chris Rufo, Aaron Sibarium, Eric Kaufmann, Michael Shellenberger, Razib Khan, Steven Pinker, and Jesse Singal.
2023
- Brian Riedl NOV 20, 2023
- Niklas Anzinger OCT 30, 2023
- Chris Rufo JUL 24, 2023
- Leopold Aschenbrenner MAY 15, 2023
- Bryan Caplan MAY 1, 2023
- Robin Hanson MAR 13, 2023
- Nicholas Bagley FEB 27, 2023
- Tim Miller FEB 13, 2023
- Jobst Landgrebe, Barry Smith JAN 30, 2023
- Joe Henrich JAN 16, 2023
- Garett Jones JAN 2, 2023
2022
- Alexander Young DEC 19, 2022
- Aaron Sibarium DEC 5, 2022
- Jonathan Anomaly NOV 21, 2022
- Rob Henderson, Zach Goldberg NOV 7, 2022
- Eric Kaufmann OCT 24, 2022
- Alex Tabarrok OCT 10, 2022
- Bryan Caplan SEP 26, 2022
- Tyler Cowen SEP 12, 2022
- Amy Wax AUG 29, 2022
- Stephen Grugett, James Grugett AUG 15, 2022
- Andrew Kenneson, Maxwell Tabarrok, Brent Skorup AUG 1, 2022
- Richard Lowery JUL 18, 2022
- David Bernstein JUL 4, 2022
- Seth Stephens-Davidowitz JUN 20, 2022
- Eric Kaufmann JUN 6, 2022
- Bryan Caplan MAY 23, 2022
- Eron Wolf MAY 18, 2022
- Jordan Lasker MAY 9, 2022
- Philippe Lemoine APR 25, 2022
- Gail Heriot APR 11, 2022
- Noah Carl MAR 28, 2022
- Steve Hsu MAR 14, 2022
- Jimmy Soni FEB 28, 2022
- Steve Hsu FEB 14, 2022
- Alec Stapp JAN 31, 2022
- Freddie deBoer JAN 17, 2022
- Jonah Davids JAN 3, 2022
2021
- Charles Fain Lehman, Gabriel Rossman DEC 20, 2021
- Philippe Lemoine DEC 6, 2021
- Leif Rasmussen NOV 22, 2021
- Robert Plomin NOV 8, 2021
- Michael Shellenberger OCT 25, 2021
- Razib Khan OCT 11, 2021
- Steven Pinker SEP 27, 2021
- Robin Hanson SEP 13, 2021
- Noor Siddiqui AUG 30, 2021
- Marc Andreessen AUG 16, 2021
- Philippe Lemoine AUG 2, 2021
- Eric Posner JUL 19, 2021
- Razib Khan JUL 5, 2021
- Mark Lutter JUN 21, 2021
- Sean McMeekin JUN 7, 2021
- Jesse Singal MAY 24, 2021
- Bryan Caplan MAY 10, 2021
- Garett Jones APR 26, 2021
- John Mueller APR 12, 2021
- Philippe Lemoine MAR 15, 2021
- Eric Kaufmann MAR 2, 2021 & MAR 29, 2021
- Razib Khan FEB 4, 2021
- Zach Goldberg JAN 22, 2021
- George Hawley JAN 9, 2021
Chandler Ellis Burr (born 1963) is an American journalist and perfume curator. Burr is known for his hereditarian views on sexual orientation and sex differences, and he claims that his critics “hate science.”
Burr was on the roster of the Human Biodiversity Institute (HBI), a hereditarian organization created by conservative businessman Steve Sailer.
Background
Burr was born in Chicago and graduated from Christian Science school Principia College. He then worked in the Southeast Asia bureau of The Christian Science Monitor. Burr later wrote for The Atlantic and US News & World Report. He identifies as gay and atheist and has written extensively about the perfume industry.
Views on sexual orientation
Following a 1993 Atlantic cover story on “homosexuality and biology,” Burr expanded that work into the 1996 book A Separate Creation: The Search for the Biological Origins of Sexual Orientation. That book also briefly covers the search of causes of gender identity and expression.
Views on bisexuality
As with many other HBI members, Burr has defended controversial psychologist J. Michael Bailey, in particular Bailey’s claims that men are “straight, gay, or lying,” a pernicious belief among some biased gay men and sexologists that male bisexuality doesn’t exist.
Burr wrote the following after New York Times journalist Benedict Carey presented an uncritical look at Bailey’s claims the bisexual men are “lying.”
The passage in bold perfectly summarizes why people like Burr can’t see their bias. Burr believes that because both “the right” and “the left” take issue with his spurious views, that Burr must be correct. This is a classic “argument to moderation” fallacy.
July 12, 2005
To the Editor:
Some gay and bisexual advocates are condemning “Straight, Gay or Lying?” regarding a study suggesting that bisexuality may not exist among human males – something those of us familiar with the scientific literature have known since, basically, forever.
Compare this hysterical – and anti-science – reaction to the conservative Christians’ anti-science reaction to studies showing that homosexuality is an inborn orientation like left-handedness. They’re identical.
The right hates science because the data contradict (in the case of homosexuality) Leviticus; the left because the data contradict the liberal lie that we’re environment-created, not hard-wired in any way.
These particular scientific facts are making these advocates scream like members of the extreme right, though it’s they who always tells the right to let go of concepts that are contradicted by science.
Chandler Burr
New York
The writer is the author of “A Separate Creation: The Search for the Biological Origins of Sexual Orientation.”
Resources
Chandler Burr (chandlerburr.com)
ProCon (procon.org)
Vaginoplasty with Timothy Terry
Contact information:
Address: (via NHS) Leicester General Hospital, Gwendolen Road, Leicester LE5 4PW
(private consult) The Leicester Nuffield Hospital, Scraptoft Lane, Leicester LE5 1HY
Phone: NHS: (0116) 249 0490, Private: 0116 276 9401
Fax: NHS: (0116) 273 0639 Private: 0116 246 1076
Website: http://www.nuffieldhospitals.co.uk
Email: [email protected]
Mr. Terry also performs orchiectomy.
General pages:
• LINK: Irish patients offered sex change operations, by Carl O’Brien, Irish Examiner August 14, 2001
Related pages:
Consumer experiences (most recent first)
• LINK: Beth’s SRS Diary by Beth (2003)
• LINK: Discussing Corrective Surgery with Mr. Timothy Terry (2000)
Some information provided by Krystyna Haywood at transsexual.org.uk
Associate Professor Peter Anthony Haertsch is an Australian plastic surgeon who has served our community. His practice is in Epping, New South Wales.
Contact information
References
Historic contact information: