How refreshing: an actual debate on transgenderism on Capitol Hill

Aug 3, 2023 by Jill

by Kurt Mahlburg, Mercator:

“I am a detransitioner. Another way to put that would be I used to think I was born in the wrong body, and the adults in my life, whom I trusted, affirmed my belief. And this caused me lifelong, irreversible harm. I speak to you today as the victim of one of the biggest medical scandals in the history of the United States of America. I speak to you in the hope that you will have the courage to bring the scandal to an end and ensure that other vulnerable teenagers, children, and young adults don’t go through what I went through…

“This needs to stop. You alone can stop it. Enough children have already been victimized by this barbaric pseudoscience. Please let me be your final warning.”

These are the words of courageous Californian teenager Chloe Cole, who testified last week during a debate on transgenderism that took place on Capital Hill.

“A debate?” you may ask.

Debates were those old-fashioned, long-form conversations in which two opposing points of view were expressed side-by-side, so that listeners might discern which side presented the stronger case.

They were a favourite format for cable news shows like CNN’s Crossfire, Hannity & Colmes of Fox News, or MSNBC’s The Cycle.

One day in the recent past, however, all of those shows were cancelled and replaced with productions that shunned debate in favour of monologues or conversations with trusted allies.

Shortly after, social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube also decided debate was no longer allowed. “Content moderation” quickly took its place. Soon, anyone with a heterodox opinion on abortion, homosexuality, Donald Trump, gender, Christianity or even censorship itself was censored — or at least rendered functionally invisible.

In no time at all, the narrative shifted from “censorship is not taking place, you paranoid quack” to “misinformation is dangerous and must not be allowed”.

With this short history lesson in view, it was deeply refreshing to see misinformation — err, debate — allowed to take place at last Thursday’s hearing on The Dangers and Due Process Violations of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’.

Read here

Watch: Chloe Cole’s distressing testimony