By Erik Musum
Recently, a member of The Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chapter at Gettysburg college, submitted an opinion piece to The Gettysburgian entitled “Free Expression is Being Supplanted by a Culture of Intimidation.” In it he portrays the response to Dr. Ryan T. Anderson’s event was stemming from a fear that he will demonstrate a rhetoric that is “powerful, logical, and based in reality,” one that will combat “radical gender ideology” that our campus is alleged to promote.
The phrasings and terms this article uses is indicative of YAF’s attitudes toward trans people and the way they view their own ideologies. They claim that neither Dr. Anderson nor YAF “deny the right of any individual to exist. To say otherwise would be a baseless lie.” And yet, in their own words, “going beyond the top search results” will show their claims to be framed in the most generous ways, to the point of frank dishonesty. Whether or not Dr. Anderson believes trans people should have the right “to exist” is almost irrelevant, when he believes that gender affirmation (which is generally considered to be lifesaving by the scientific community in the forms of things like hormonal replacement therapy, gender reassignment surgery or even just social acceptance) should be replaced by what is best described as conversion therapy. This form of “therapy” has been known to drive people to not just serious depression, isolation, and self-hate, but suicide, and to promote it after decades of research have shown it to be so dangerous is not only irresponsible but downright reprehensible. It is irrelevant what words Dr. Anderson or YAF use to describe their political goals and aims, when what they are doing works to create a society where transgender people are to be converted to fit the shell of forms of a society that would rather they did not exist. Dr. Anderson does not call for them to be murdered, no one is saying that, but he would rather they be hidden away and be “Just like the rest of us,” an imagined norm of cisgender heterosexuals.
What he promotes is actively dangerous, and if YAF wants to start arguing for the case of conversion therapy, they should be honest rather than hide behind the moralistic language of “logic” and “honesty.” Additionally, Dr. Anderson gained popularity and relevance for his opposition to gay marriage. Is this really the figure YAF believes is not spreading hate? Someone who compared gay marriage advocates to opponents of interracial marriage? A man who was the chief editor of a paper which claimed that the decriminalization of gay sex caused the 2011 molestation scandal at Penn State Or who compared being a homosexual to being a pedophile or alcoholic? His claims are so ridiculous that some seem like something that would be made up, like claiming the television program Glee is “corrupting the youth.” Let us not pretend he is just “presenting new ideas;” he actively wishes for the rights given to LGBTQ+ American Citizens to be stripped away. Is there nothing so un-American as labor to take away the rights of people who worked to secure them for decades?
Even the member’s use of the phrase “radical transgender ideology” demonstrates rhetoric that lacks substance and is constructed to sidestep statements that reveal the true intent of speakers like Dr. Anderson. It is no different from “the gay agenda” or “critical race theory,” rhetorical clichés that right wing activists in this country pull out in opposition to any progress or even discussion regarding the rights of minority groups. These notions lack substance and create a culture of panic and opposition to people living as they have the right to. Such terms have caused a surge of panics at school board meetings across the country the past year with parents refusing for their children to be taught that race has played a massive part in the shaping and creation of American society.
To quote Human Rights Watch, “Radical gender ideology” works as “symbolic glue,” it means both nothing and everything at the same time as it attacks feminism, reproductive rights, transgender people, and even the existence of intersex bodies. It has been used as a talking point in Europe by different far-right and nationalist groups, proclaiming that progress being made for the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people originates in “dark forces at work to destroy the social order.” Authors such as Roman Kuhar & David Patternote have even demonstrated connections between these conspiracies to fears of masonic orders or a Jewish world order.
These cliches are used to attack and weaken groups who are already under threat, presenting them as a large or wider collective delusional, often backed by a large nebulous outside force, an “other” on the attack. We saw the same in America, with desegregation activists often accused of being ploys for the Soviet Union, working to sow the seeds of communism and disrupting “American values.” They mean little and are often reframed to mean whatever the speaker wishes them to mean. Was the desegregation movement in America “Radical race ideology?” Was the movement for gay rights in America “Radical homosexual ideology?” What is so radical or ideological about asking for groups to have the rights they constitutionality deserve? Do these phrases mean anything when used this way, or are these speakers scared of pulling out the classic “gay agenda,” given that it has become cliché that gay people use the term ironically?
Regardless of whether YAF or Dr. Anderson is aware of the origins of their cliched rhetoric or how it is used, they only help legitimize these panics, and if they wish to side with groups that openly advocate for the imprisonment and punishment of LGBT people, they should be frank rather than pussyfoot around and claiming that they are not. Debunking these conspiracies has been done time and again, and I think any critical research can prove this to be true if one “goes beyond the top google results.” These are tools of rhetoric used to portray minority groups as insidious actors trying to subvert American values.
Who is behind this “Radical gender ideology?” Where is it being promoted? What are its beliefs? Can they answer any such questions? If not, they should not be given the time of day. But when they do answer these questions, the answers they give are telling. The Heritage Foundation, the organization, for which Dr. Anderson works, claims it to be a movement that works to “denying the biological reality that human beings are dimorphic,” creating a world where transgender equality would exist, comparable to 1984.
Not only is this a gross misunderstanding of what those who advocate for transgender rights believe in, but it also seeks to frame what groups like The Heritage Foundation advocate for in their terms. They are the ones “in reality.” “We are the ones speaking the truth, they’re the delusional ones,” or “facts don’t care about your feelings.” It is the rational ones against the deranged fools in their framing, and this is a dishonest framing. Not only is there still meaningful debate in the scientific community regarding the “cold hard idea” of the idea of a rigid binary two biological sexes, but the erasure of biological sex is also not what transgender people advocate for. They advocate for people to live as and be affirmed as the gender identity they feel most comfortable and most happy with, and we have science to show that it does make them happier, and frequently saves lives. If the author or really member of YAF decided to engage with scholars of gender honestly, if they read into the histories and experiences of transgender people, or even just listened to them, they might discover this. Julia Serano, Judith Butler, Paisley Currah, these thinkers, and more are just some of the many activists who have engaged and fought against the claims speakers as Dr. Anderson makes, and they have done it for a long time. At a liberal arts college such as Gettysburg, I would hope not just members of YAF, but students, in general, would be willing to engage with these scholars, empathize with their experiences and understandings of gender, and reconsider truly what it means to be a woman, man, or anything at all. If not for yourself or your own experiences, then do it for your peers.
Even setting aside how the claims of people like Dr. Anderson can be debunked through “going beyond the top google results,” this is a rehash of gay panics we’ve gone through time and again. Is this any different from the fear that “they’re turning kids gay?” Can we pretend he is not just reciting the same script he used to fight against gay people’s right to marriage, their right to have children, and their right to not be imprisoned for their love?
Minority groups in America are still under attack. Access to lifesaving transgender healthcare is under threat in Arizona, Montana, Texas, Florida across the country. The very existence of gay people is something being hidden in Floridian schools now. Just here in Pennsylvania an entire school district was found to have created a culture of discrimination towards its LGBTQ+ students. American society is not being “consumed” by this transgender moment of radical gender ideology. It is in response to LGBTQ+ people finally becoming visible, or discussions on race finally being held in America, that these dishonest tools of false rhetoric must be pulled out, time and again, to demonize those whose greatest sin was asking to be respected and treated like everyone else.
Dr. Ryan T. Anderson is not proposing anything that is not mainstream on the right wing in this country, and which transgender people have not had to fight against for decades now. To pretend he is speaking some unspoken truth rather than the false narratives flowing through this country is the actual crime committed on this campus. He is not the child claiming the emperor has no clothes, he is the tailor who sewed for the emperor, the one who fabricates a lie fooling the one in power who wishes to be intellectual, and the second we decide to call it out, we are the foolish peasants who know no better, lacking the “logic” or “reason” to see his clothes. The emperor has no clothes, trans people exist, and the rights of LGBTQ+ in America are under attack.
There is no “Gender ideology” seeking to convert your kids to have blue hair, adopt new pronouns and join Antifa. Transgender people are real, and you likely know one or maybe one yourself without realizing it yet. And if a child is exposed to the idea of trans people existing makes them reconsider their gender identity, and maybe that is a good thing. People finding out who they are through experimentation is healthy, reconsidering our identities is a fundamental part of life. If someone is so easily “turned trans” by discovering that trans people even exist, it seems likely to me they were trans the whole time.
This article is not meant to discuss whether YAF has a right to speak on this campus or invite such a speaker. That is a discussion for another article. I personally believe they have the right to, although they should be entirely aware of the consequences of this while they complain of counter events being hosted. People should and likely will respond by inviting transgender rights activists and for Gettysburg pride to get just a little more intense next year. If they complain then, well, it speaks for itself. It is more their intellectual dishonesty which worries me, that which they claim their opponents do, is so blatant to be concerning and should be discussed in the “free marketplace of ideas” which YAF holds so dear to their heart.
We students at Gettysburg are not scared of YAF’s “logic.” We are scared our friends are being undermined by speakers like Dr. Anderson who make a living off spreading fear of minority groups. His work is not opposed in defense of “Radical gender ideology,” whatever such a phrase may mean. It is opposed because it actively undermines the rights of people on this campus, our friends, our loved ones, and our families. Let us not pretend Dr. Anderson is speaking out against some Orwellian society, where “2+2=5.” He speaks neither to any truth nor any power. His claims are not only false but blatantly homophobic and transphobic and if YAF wishes to defend his claims that our gay peers are no different from alcoholics or pedophiles they may go right ahead and show Gettysburg college what they believe. We are not just talking about a “difference of opinion” here, this is a difference in fundamental morals. Just because you are protested does not mean you are correct. We are not boycotting you because you are right, we are boycotting you because we love our friends, and when we see someone who actively seeks to take their rights away, we respond in kind.
We are not scared of your “truth,” we fear your lies, ones which will hurt those we love and our own lives. Queer people don’t want to convert anyone, they just want to live life and pursue happiness, as all American citizens deserve.
