SHUTTING DOWN TRANS DISCUSSION ONLY ENCOURAGES THE ZEALOTS
0Shutting down trans discussion only encourages the zealots
April 23. 2022 — 5.00am Save Log in. register or subscribe to save articles for later. Share Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size 23 View all comments It takes a brave person to go public with a controversial view. When expressing the view attracts a strong ad hominem response. such as an accusation of transphobia. it takes someone who’s crazy brave. The chances that the only person who will speak up is a zealot are significantly increased. The Liberal candidate for Warringah Katherine Deves has the kind of kamikaze streak it takes to speak out on the complicated and highly emotional issues that arise when the rights of biological women and trans women come into conflict. Unfortunately. she has shown a repellent willingness to wound people in the process. It is not necessary to attack gender transitioners in order to defend biological sex. But because so many people are too afraid of being attacked by trans activists to speak up at all. she is the one who is putting the case for the women who believe their biological realities are not being respected. Katherine Deves. the Liberal Party’s candidate for Warringah. Independent candidate for North Sydney. Kylea Tink. believes the Coalition is using Katherine Deves to dogwhistle to the suburban electorates. If that’s the case. the Labor leader must be as well. The prime minister has refused to withdraw his support for Deves’ candidacy. despite the public urging of his party’s moderate faction. Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese addressed the question of whether transgender people should have an automatic right to compete in single sex sports by saying that “girls should be able to play sport against girls and boys should be able to play sport against boys”. If they are dog whistling. who is the dog? Surely. it couldn’t be those women who want to know that they can finally speak about subjects which affect them in the most intimate ways without being called transphobes? Tink is wrong that the topic is only resonating in the “suburbs” – code for voters out beyond the “Red Rooster Line”. An example of how this issue is resonating in the tertiary educated classes can be found in the comments on articles in the Herald and The Age – a demographic typically well within the barista burbs contested by the independents. Readers display a keen interest in having a conversation about how to support the rights of trans women without disregarding the rights of biological women. An article by trans advocate Dale Sheridan received both agreement as well as plentiful respectful disagreement. Many commenters took issue with the notion that the conversation that needs to be had is “anti trans”. Commenter Herodetus. for instance. assured Sheridan that nobody is thinking of her as a “dangerous and disgusting trans woman” explaining that “we are transparently speaking our truth about bodily differences. not mindlessly using sport as a cover to be vile”. SF added that it is “not bigotry to support women in sport nor are people attacking transpeople by wanting fairness in sport” while cmiley22 noted that “anti discrimination laws rightly prohibit discrimination against trans people” but said that “many concerns are about broad reaching implications that affect a large sector of the community. especially women. who are already disadvantaged.” These discussions show that the conversation can be had with kindness if we acknowledge that people’s needs and desires have the potential to be in conflict. Pretending that potential does not exist. or giving one side a trump card to shut down discussion. makes a nasty fight out of what should be a sensitive conversation in which both feelings and facts are acknowledged. To be clear. both the feelings of trans women and biological women are valid. And both the physical facts of trans women and biological women are relevant. The fact for many biological women is that trans women are typically...
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