# Republicans' war on transgender people: Omnibus thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 3, 2022, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609 "2022-06-03T02:20:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 92
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1821 "2025-03-10T20:50:32Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > but not okay with punishing people who use sex-based not gender-based pronouns Well, i will continue to throw them out of my dance club. Because, you know, they cause trauma and make our dancers feel unsafe. And it’s actually very important that people feel safe, i agree with you on that. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1822 "2025-03-10T20:54:21Z")
I am actually okay with you doing that in any dance club you own, manage or have control over - as long as you’re not out picketing places with a different policy ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1823 "2025-03-10T20:59:03Z")
The majority of dance clubs currently have no policy at all about how to treat each other. So I can guarantee you I’m not on the fools errand of trying to picket them all. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1824 "2025-03-10T21:04:46Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > not okay with punishing people who use sex-based not gender-based pronouns Deliberately using the wrong pronouns for an individual, in opposition to that individual’s clearly specified choice, is a gratuitous rudeness right up there with deliberately using the wrong name for an individual. Do you also believe, for example, that somebody who has sincere beliefs on the sacred indissolubility of marriage is entitled to get away with calling a divorced and remarried woman “Mrs. Firsthusband”? Although the name she actually uses is “Mrs. Secondhusband” or “Ms. Maidenname”? If I had an employee who disrespected a colleague’s name preferences in that way, they’d be fired, “sincere beliefs” or not. Similarly for one who disrespected a colleague’s pronoun preferences. If you can’t treat your co-workers, or fellow club members, or gym users, or whatever, with the common basic courtesy of respecting their fundamental choice of nomenclature, your ass is out the door. And if you want sympathy for allegedly being “punished” for your “sincere beliefs”, you’ll have to go whine to your fellow 'phobes for it, because you aren’t getting any from me. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1825 "2025-03-10T21:13:26Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I am actually okay with you doing that in any dance club you own, manage or have control over - as long as you’re not out picketing places with a different policy Because heaven forbid anybody try to influence public opinion and advocate for policy changes by legally exercising their right to public protest, right? Yeah, what a brave defender of free speech you are, to be sure. (Weren’t you just recently telling us how you go out and publicly disseminate leaflets in opposition to transgender-inclusion policies that you disagree with? [ETA: [Why yes, you were.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religion-transphobia-and-category-errors/1013878/90)] And you have the nerve to pre-emptively wag your sanctimonious finger at puzzlegal in case she might be legally protesting policies that she disagrees with? Sheesh.) ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1826 "2025-03-10T21:24:24Z")
😆 laughing my fucking ass off. Also > [@Kimstu](#): > > If I had an employee who disrespected a colleague’s name preferences in that way, they’d be fired, “sincere beliefs” or not. Similarly for one who disrespected a colleague’s pronoun preferences. Yes, of course. It’s just basic respect and courtesy. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1827 "2025-03-10T21:35:43Z")
To quote a meme I saw awhile back; “You better respect my trans friends or your pronouns are going to be was/were.” ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1828 "2025-03-10T22:21:50Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > But definitionally “this person is female” means “their body is the sort that has a female reproductive system” Hey, @Aspidistra - I asked you this before but apparently you don’t consider my question worth answering. So I’ll ask it again: My “female reproductive system” has been entirely removed. Does that mean I’m no longer a woman? Or, apparently, no longer worthy of your notice? Since you no longer consider me a woman and I’m certainly not a man what, exactly, am I? Which toilet am I supposed to use? Am I permitted to be naked in front of women or not? Please, do answer. I’m sure the response will be enlightening. Or perhaps bigoted. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1829 "2025-03-10T22:28:59Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > They have now, according to DemonTree’s link ? Where the hell did that come from? Sorry Aspidistra, I put the wrong username on your link attribution. (Self)-reported. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1830 "2025-03-10T23:56:48Z")
In the UK they have an old proverb: “Give the dog a bad name and hang it.” That’s precisely what’s happening there. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1831 "2025-03-11T06:11:13Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > My “female reproductive system” has been entirely removed. Does that mean I’m no longer a woman? You can remove yourself from the category if you like. I’m not going to though. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1832 "2025-03-11T06:30:27Z")
So, a lack of a female reproductive system does _not_ factor into your definition? ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1833 "2025-03-11T06:35:20Z")
A person born female who took their reproductive system out still has a female skeleton (including adaptations which make it harder for us to resist violence), XX chromosomes, shorter height, less muscle, and so on, and are generally are a lot closer to the female average than the male average ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1834 "2025-03-11T08:23:26Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > You can remove yourself from the category if you like. I’m not going to though. But you yourself said: > [@Aspidistra](#): > > But definitionally “this person is female” means “their body is the sort that has a female reproductive system” So which is it? Is having female reproductive organs the defining difference or not? You basically said anyone lacking them is not female, now you’re back tracking. Which is it? This is the problem with the anti-trans crowds - their definitions invariably capture cis women as well. Just as the toilet police invariably try to bar cis women who don’t meet some arbitrary standard of “feminine”. > [@Aspidistra](#): > > A person born female who took their reproductive system out It wasn’t fucking voluntary and I certainly didn’t do it myself. > [@Aspidistra](#): > > still has a female skeleton (including adaptations which make it harder for us to resist violence), XX chromosomes, shorter height, less muscle, and so on, and are generally are a lot closer to the female average than the male average Oh, so it _isn’t_ just reproductive organs or just chromosomes - it’s about all those other things as well. Do you even have a definition for what you’re talking about, or is it all just gut “feelings”? Tall women aren’t women now? Muscular, athletic women aren’t women now? If a woman isn’t sufficiently “average” she’s not a woman any more? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1835 "2025-03-11T11:50:43Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I am begging you people to at least occasionally consider the possibility that people get upset about things _because they are genuinely terrible for them_ and not just “oh, ha! those _them_ people. Those _other tribe people_ My tribe told me all about them - they’re the ones who get off on being mean for Absolutely No Reason”. You mean like all the ways in which trans people are being actively persecuted mentioned in this thread? Why don’t you ever consider the possibility that the positions and policies you advocate _are genuinely terrible for them_? Do you believe that trans women (who according to you are “biologically” male) should be [incarcerated in men’s prisons](https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/23/us/trans-women-incarceration/index.html)? Do you believe that [trans men](https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a43991897/shawn-stinson-interview/) should be forced to use women’s restrooms? Will that make cis women feel safer? What do you think will happen to the trans men if they do use the women’s restrooms? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1836 "2025-03-11T13:45:54Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > I keep opening this thread to see updates on _Republican’s war on transgender people_. But all I see is various posters’ opinions on transgender people, how they think transgender people should present themselves in public, etc Much as MAGA is an American subset of a more general surge in nationalist populism, the Republican Anti-trans front in the American “culture wars” is the weaponuzation of a subset of a more general phenomenon. The issue would be useless to the Republicans if there weren’t millions of people out there already bothered by gender identities and ready to embrace the message. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1837 "2025-03-11T13:49:53Z")
And the Republican message had nothing to do with stirring up the trouble and enabling/empowering the troublemakers in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1838 "2025-03-11T13:58:33Z")
Fuel, heat, air. You can bring some or all of them, or you can have them all already there and use them, but the latter is easier for the arsonist. Don’t get the impression I am somehow exonerating the arsonist. Just that it’s not as if absent Republican demagoguery we’d all be buying the world a Coke and keeping it conpany. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1839 "2025-03-11T14:02:42Z")
Yeah, I don’t buy the idea that the current anti-trans-rights backlash, like the similar anti-gay-rights backlash thirty-plus years ago, is just a spontaneous expression of public concern about the transgender rights movement allegedly “going too far”. That’s what they tried to tell us about the gay rights movement too (and many conservatives are still beating that drum along with the transphobia drum). But the right wing was working assiduously to create and promote that backlash, not merely observing its spontaneous emergence. Same thing nowadays with the anti-trans backlash. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609/1840 "2025-03-11T15:28:00Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > This is the problem with the anti-trans crowds - their definitions invariably capture cis women as well. Just as the toilet police invariably try to bar cis women who don’t meet some arbitrary standard of “feminine”. Well said. Remember when JK Rowling was stirring up hate on Xitter against that Moroccan Olympic athlete who was unquestionably assigned female at birth and had identified as female her entire life, but who _just didn’t look quite right_ to the self-appointed arbiters of femininity? They’re coming for the trans people first. If we don’t speak up for them, they’ll be coming for us soon enough. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609.md?page=91) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-war-on-transgender-people-omnibus-thread/965609.md?page=93)