On Being a Democrat and Gender Skeptic

Finding a Voice in the Party

I am the local party unit secretary in Minnesota for the DFL, which is an anachronistic reference to a 1940’s merger of the Democrats and the Farmer-Labor parties. Very few farmers in Minnesota belong to the DFL anymore as Minnesota is as reflective as the rest of the country in the rural-urban divide between Democrats and Republicans. Most labor unions work with the DFL, but I think that fewer members of the rank and file follow along with it. There are conflicts between environmentalists and labor, especially up on the Iron Range, as many people depend on iron ore extraction and refining for their livelihood.

Artist Credit: Owen Smith. It’s Babe the Blue Donkey, with his sidekick Paul Bunyan.

Nothing is absolute, of course, and as someone who grew up in the rural northwestern part of Minnesota I witnessed much cooperation among people who vehemently disagreed on politics. Among the Blue-Green (labor-environmentalists) Alliance there were people who worked together to find solutions to both needs, those of jobs and protecting the environment. Nobody was called a laborphobe and kicked out of the party for hating mining. There may have been some angry words, and even drunken fist-fights near Silver Bay in the 1970’s, but Democrats remained Democrats even when they called each other crazy.

Gender, however, has created a whole new dynamic.

The State DFL Party sponsors a podcast, the DFL Debrief, and like the one I share with Greg Laden, it’s kind of regular but not fully. It’s got an ersatz schedule. I have enjoyed the podcast on and off, but like most politically sponsored media it is prone to the Halo V Horns effect. It makes sense given the source, but often lays it on thick. Everything that Democrats do is deemed as a “You Betcha” and everything that Republicans do is deemed as “Oh, Geez.” It’s a cutesy way to reference Fargo, the Minnesota movie and Netflix series that is filmed in an around Edmonton, AB. Oh, and Fargo is in North Dakota. ¹

It’s light listening meant to cheer on the troops in Minnesota during campaign seasons, and I do like the interviews that they feature with candidates. But, and you knew there was a big “but” coming, didn’t you? But, when ever the topic of Republican resistance to trans-enabling legislation is mentioned, one of the hosts disparages it as “just your typical Republican bigotry against LGBT people.” It makes me realize that there is a strong current within the Minnesota party that makes me hesitant to discuss my views whenever I am in a gathering of my party members.

The transphobia charge against anyone who is even the slightest bit skeptical about the idea of transgender identities is almost impossible to overcome, and the leftist view is largely un-critical acceptance of the trans claims and it is a struggle against the forces of darkness to protect kids from their backwards parents. Like this article from LeftVoices in January, for example:

It is extremely dangerous to downplay the detrimental impact of “gender skepticism” on transgender children. At the risk of alarmism: in this debate, kids’ lives are at stake.

We cannot take invalidating queer children lightly, especially now, when state legislatures across the country are launching the biggest attacks on trans youth on record.

The other side of this debate argues that parents have the right to know, weigh in on, and be critical of their child’s gender.

But what harm is caused by not allowing this? Parents will feel left out? They will feel like bad parents? Both articles focus heavily on these feelings, as if this impact on parents is comparable to the impact that gender invalidation has on their children.

This side also argues that children can’t decide this kind of thing at their age, that they could change their mind.

Here, the article quotes clinical psychologist Erica Anderson, who is transgender. Anderson — who has sold out her own community and become a shill for the anti-trans lobby — writes, “Transitioning socially is a major and potentially life-altering decision that requires parental involvement, for many reasons.” She goes on to argue that schools should forcibly out trans children to their parents, whether or not their parents are supportive.

But what harm is done by a child deciding to socially transition and then changing their mind? Dr. Anderson doesn’t elaborate.

One danger that I can see up front (and I’m not even a psychologist) is that this teaches children that their parents cannot be trusted. They say that secrets kept from parents around gender and sex issues are protecting children. It is an assumption that their parents are abusive.

Skepticism is viewed as being abusive towards children, putting them in danger because of the truism that transgender teens who do not get affirming care will kill themselves over it. School oficials need to have the best interest of the children at hear, but if they suspect it is dangerous for children to be at home in their “chosen gender identity” then they need to take steps to protect the child rather than keep secrets. When adults enable secrets between parents and children, it opens up mistrust and schools should not be engaged in this. They need to facilitate because they don’t know what the parent knows about the child, and the child may be getting treatment for past sexual abuse. This attitude of keeping it from parents very much plays into the hands of conservatives who talk about how the public schools are socially engineering the children.

Democrats in Minnesota support the attitude that gender affirming care is an essential part of the framework of LGBTQIA2S rights and protections. The governor signed an executive order making Minnesota a refuge state for transgender-affirming care. This means that those youngsters denied affirmation-care in other states are able to come to Minnesota and get it.

Walz said his order would protect doctors who provide gender affirming care and families that came to Minnesota to receive care for their transgender children. He wants the state Legislature to pass a bill that would codify those protections.

Rep. Leah Finke, DFL-St. Paul, is chief sponsor of a “Trans Refuge” bill, which she said became her top priority in November when Democrats won a trifecta of control of both chambers of the Legislature and the governor’s office.

“The situation is escalating too rapidly in the United States against trans and gender expansive people for us to not use every tool we have to protect people,” Finke said.

Dr. Kelsey Leonardsmith, director of the gender care clinic at Minnesota Community Care in St. Paul, said recent legislative changes in Iowa, South Dakota, Florida, Texas and other states have turned families into refugees in order to find treatment for their transgender children. Leonardsmith says health care decisions should be made by patients, their parents and their doctors not the government.

“No one else belongs in that room making those decisions,” Leonardsmith said.

….

Opponents of providing transgender medical treatments for adolescents argue young people may later regret their decision. Advocates say there’s little evidence of later regret, patients are counseled about the possibility and many parts of the transitioning process are reversible entirely or in part.

John Helmberger, CEO of the Minnesota Family Council, said that gender affirming health care can have a life-long impact on children and called it a “sham.”

“People who struggle with their gender identity deserve compassionate care that will help them become comfortable in their bodies, not mutilate them,” he said. “Vulnerable kids deserve so much better than the Walz Administration and the medical establishment are willing to offer them.” (emphasis mine)

Walz framed the executive action not only as a protection of rights and making the state a safe harbor for people who’ve lost access to care in other places. He also said it was a rebuke of lawmakers and leaders in other states who are forcing their beliefs on people without evidence.

“I think it boils down to this, we are seeing this sweep across the nation. It’s being led by bullies,” Walz said. “(They’re) simply using the state apparatus to bring cruelty down on the most innocent amongst us.” ²

Here I am in Minnesota, a liberal Democrat since the McGovern campaign, with no one to talk to about this issue. There are so many untruths in this article and I will need multiple posts to address them. But at the same time that Scandinavian governments are starting to tap the brakes on affirmation treatment in order to review the science, Minnesota is not only stepping on the accelator but has cut the brake lines of other states that are doing the right thing even if for the wrong reasons.

If you live in Minnesota and find yourself in a similar predicament, wondering how to start communicating with other Democrats on this issue, please comment or send a private message to me. Kids are going to be endangered.

I’m aware that if anyone from the party does a basic search they will discover this substack and my twitter (@malegauze) and they will see who I am (a would-be TERF and a transpobe in their eyes.) I’ve been asked to join the progressive caucus, but won’t because I can’t keep silent on this issue any longer, and wouldn’t be able to keep seated if a motion came up to further entrench this ideology here.

1. Many scenes that were set in Brainerd were actually filmed in my hometown of Hallock, MN. The Cohens needed snow and cold to lay the setting properly, and that year there was early thaw. They kept on moving north as the snow receded faster than Prince William’s hairline.

2. I had posted a comment at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and it was deactivated as being “abusive.” I am able to view it, so I am copying and pasting it here:

It's past time to do some investigating on this, and as a reporter you have a responsibility to do so.

There are a growing body of detransitioners who were rushed into "affirming care" but had not had any talk therapy to discover where their feelings of gender identity came from. And they are suffering from the same side effects from the "puberty blockers" that adults do when given the drugs as last resort for prostate cancer and other care.

I am not a conservative bully, I am a liberal DFL'er in Minnesota and can't support this executive order, but there is no one else in my party that I can find who will even listen; instead just write off anyone who objects as transphobic or a bully.

Kids need care, but that means actual talk therapy. These body modifications, even puberty blockers, lead to a lifetime of medical dependency. And breasts and penises don't grow back when detransitioners realize their mistake. It's too late. We don't let kids get tattoos, why do we give them such dangerous treatments?