A flurry of legislative action on transgender issues has sparked more painfully evasive language from the media over what used to be easy-to-state basic biological categories, like “male” and “female.”
Check out the painfully awkward beginning of Kevin Freking’s Associated Press story Thursday:
Transgender athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth was male would be barred from competing on girls or women’s sports teams at federally supported schools and colleges under legislation pushed through Thursday by House Republicans checking off another high-profile item on their social agenda.
Not exactly a snappy lead, is it? Freking (or a copy editor hewing to a “woke” AP-style guide) used 10 words when one (“men”) would have sufficed.
The bill approved by a 219-203 party-line vote is unlikely to advance further because the Democratic-led Senate will not support it and the White House said President Joe Biden would veto it.
He struck again with another painfully prolix descriptor, as if trying to stay on the right side of transgender radicals.
Supporters said the legislation, which would put violators at risk of losing taxpayer dollars, is necessary to ensure competitive fairness. They framed the vote as supporting female athletes disadvantaged by having to compete against those whose gender identify does not match their sex assigned at birth.
(In place of the 12-word phrase in bold above, insert “males.”)
Opponents criticized the bill as ostracizing an already vulnerable group merely for political gain.....
The sponsor, Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., highlighted the case of Emma Weyant, a resident of his district and a 2020 member of the U.S. Olympic swimming team who finished second in the NCAA women’s 500-yard freestyle championship last year. She was defeated by Lia Thomas, who had competed for three years on the University of Pennsylvania men’s swimming team before joining the women’s team.
….
Democrats said every child regardless of gender identify deserves the opportunity to belong to a team and that preventing competitors from doing so sends the message that they don’t matter.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who has a transgender daughter, said Republicans were cruelly scapegoating transgender children to score political points. She said three-quarters of transgender students report having experienced harassment or discrimination at school and many have considered suicide.
“These bills tell some of the most vulnerable children in our country that they do not belong," Jayapal said. "Shame on you.”
A sort of companion piece, about legislative action on transgender issues at the state level, came from National Public Radio on Friday: “Minnesota to join at least 4 other states in protecting transgender care this year.” Things went awry right from the lead:
This year, at least 12 states have passed legislation to limit or ban gender-affirming health care for young people, adding to several already on the books….
The phrase “gender-affirming care” just assumes the truth of the new “woke” gospel that one can be born in the wrong type of body, and that it is everyone else’s responsibility to agree that a biological man can change into a woman, and vice versa, by believing they can.
NPR, a perennial winner of the woke Olympics, transgender division, audaciously played the suicide card.
"Frequently, we will talk about gender-affirming care as life-saving health care. And we're not saying that to be dramatic," says Dr. Angela Kade Goepferd, chief education officer and medical director of the Gender Health program at Children's Minnesota. Kade Goepferd says kids who can't access care "are at significantly higher risk of worse mental health outcomes, including suicidality."
