Thanks Stella for a great conference and Helen for an insiring talk.
There is a tragic irony in all of this. Activist attorney and transwoman Autumn Scardina just lost her case against Colorado baker Jack Phillips (on narrow procedural grounds) but what must have been her motivation for pursuing this attack against Phillips for so many years? Yes, the declaration of one’s identity is a personal act, but it must be supported by everyone else in the person’s world for it to have legitimacy. I frequently ask my trans clients why they give others in their world the power to ruin their day by mis-naming or mis-pronouning. I suspect that many, at a deep level, don’t really believe the trans identity themselves and need societal acceptance to reassure them and validate it. What appears to be individualistic, depends really on social compliance. Thus, the frenetic attempts by trans activists to instantiate the ideology in the culture so that it becomes “self evident” to all.
THIS point right here is critical! Thank you Helen Joyce!
"I don’t hold out much hope that we are going to all forget about the idiotic idea that people have gendered essences, at least not any time soon. Once an idea is out in the world, it’s pretty much impossible to get it back into the box. But the consequences of holding this particular bizarre and harmful belief, both for the believer and for everyone else, can be constrained."
I've been saying this for a while... why are we still calling this an "ideology" and not naming it a "religion"?
In America at least, the Establishment clause of the 1st Amendment bans government from esablishing a state religion. And yet that is EXACTLY what the Biden admin essentially did via regulatory fiat (literally just a vocabulary bait and switch).
We need to call out gender ideology as a religion, allow people to practice it to their hearts content, and reinforce the boundaries between secular and religious life that this country was founded on.
With hender ideology s a religion, adherants would not have access to infringe upon the following:
1. Health insurance for GAC (because the treatments would be elective)
2. School curriculum
3. Practicing in school (no compelling people to affirmation rituals like preferred pronouns)
4. Sports
5. Prisons, if practice infringes on another's rights
6. Employment
7. Free speech
8. Psychotherapy
...I could go on. Point is, the fundamental unfalsiable belief now has a mass following, texts, rites, tenets,practices, and temples (the individual body)... and those temples crash into other people's spaces against their will!.
As a religion, gender ideology would get regulated separate from secular life, just as Christianity or Islam or judiasm. The big question is... why have the big religious groups not fought back yet? If I weren't an atheist I would be utterly PISSED OFF that the gender religion gets to essentially be the new national religion, taught in schools while my kids can't pray in school or make everyone read the bible. I mean, if we are going to have religion in school we need to let them all in!
Is there a sound legal argument for this? At least in the US? Not sure if the UK has an establishment clause but in the US we take that part of the 1st amendment very seriously!
Thanks Stella for a great conference and Helen for an insiring talk.
There is a tragic irony in all of this. Activist attorney and transwoman Autumn Scardina just lost her case against Colorado baker Jack Phillips (on narrow procedural grounds) but what must have been her motivation for pursuing this attack against Phillips for so many years? Yes, the declaration of one’s identity is a personal act, but it must be supported by everyone else in the person’s world for it to have legitimacy. I frequently ask my trans clients why they give others in their world the power to ruin their day by mis-naming or mis-pronouning. I suspect that many, at a deep level, don’t really believe the trans identity themselves and need societal acceptance to reassure them and validate it. What appears to be individualistic, depends really on social compliance. Thus, the frenetic attempts by trans activists to instantiate the ideology in the culture so that it becomes “self evident” to all.
THIS point right here is critical! Thank you Helen Joyce!
"I don’t hold out much hope that we are going to all forget about the idiotic idea that people have gendered essences, at least not any time soon. Once an idea is out in the world, it’s pretty much impossible to get it back into the box. But the consequences of holding this particular bizarre and harmful belief, both for the believer and for everyone else, can be constrained."
I've been saying this for a while... why are we still calling this an "ideology" and not naming it a "religion"?
In America at least, the Establishment clause of the 1st Amendment bans government from esablishing a state religion. And yet that is EXACTLY what the Biden admin essentially did via regulatory fiat (literally just a vocabulary bait and switch).
We need to call out gender ideology as a religion, allow people to practice it to their hearts content, and reinforce the boundaries between secular and religious life that this country was founded on.
With hender ideology s a religion, adherants would not have access to infringe upon the following:
1. Health insurance for GAC (because the treatments would be elective)
2. School curriculum
3. Practicing in school (no compelling people to affirmation rituals like preferred pronouns)
4. Sports
5. Prisons, if practice infringes on another's rights
6. Employment
7. Free speech
8. Psychotherapy
...I could go on. Point is, the fundamental unfalsiable belief now has a mass following, texts, rites, tenets,practices, and temples (the individual body)... and those temples crash into other people's spaces against their will!.
As a religion, gender ideology would get regulated separate from secular life, just as Christianity or Islam or judiasm. The big question is... why have the big religious groups not fought back yet? If I weren't an atheist I would be utterly PISSED OFF that the gender religion gets to essentially be the new national religion, taught in schools while my kids can't pray in school or make everyone read the bible. I mean, if we are going to have religion in school we need to let them all in!
Is there a sound legal argument for this? At least in the US? Not sure if the UK has an establishment clause but in the US we take that part of the 1st amendment very seriously!