I am responding to Abby Weinreb’s letter to the editor, “Anti-’Jazz’ letter spreads hate, prejudice” and Josh Saefkow’s “I am Jazz: Parents beware of this attack on our children.” Perhaps Saefkow alluded to WW II’s Pearl Harbor Attack in his letter because we are in the middle of a culture war over gender. Both letters have their own ammunition.
The major players on each side of the “war” are the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) with Welcoming Schools representing one worldview, and Family Research Council (FRC) representing the other worldview.
FRC says gender is inextricable from biology and is binary, which has been the traditional view and is part of an ideological belief system, but it still has scientific validity.
HRC says gender is one’s internal sense of being male, female, both or neither, and the outward expression thereof (not tied to biology) which varies over time and cultures. This view has influenced AMA and APA positions on this topic.
Both Saefkow and Weinreb used words that won’t bring us to the peace table of this war. Saefkow’s accusations of “attack” and “deceitful assaults” and “… exploit confused children and feed on their fantasies,” is hyperbolic and extreme rhetoric to say that one worldview is trying to dominate another worldview using public education.
On the other side, Weinreb describes Saefkow’s worldview as one of “hate and prejudice” and “hateful and ignorant,” claiming that her worldview is better than Saefkow’s.
These are fighting words in light of the fact that Saefkow encouraged “expressions of … love” and not “hate.” Finally, when Weinreb stated that Saefkow’s view should not be respected because it “doesn’t respect someone’s existence,” she is out of bounds, as existence does not equate to gender identity.
Saefkow erroneously stated that “Jazz” suffers from depression from sex reassignment surgery. However, “Jazz” was diagnosed with depression in sixth grade, before any surgery, according to the mother.
Weinreb accused Saefkow of claiming “Jazz” was imbalanced. However, Saefkow inferred transgender youth like “Jazz” suffer the effects of imbalanced hormones — which does happen with puberty blocking hormone “treatment” like “Jazz” has undergone.
Weinreb emphatically states: “Just to be clear, one does not become transgender: you are born that way. Just like you can’t become a different race, you can not become transgender.” Genetic/natal factors are just one subset of many hypothesized causes of transgender identity.
There is ample scientific evidence that genetic/natal factors are not conclusive. For example, only 20 percent of identical twins both identify as transgender.
Consistently, longitudinal scientific studies show a high percentage (upwards of 75 percent) of children with gender dysphoria do not persist with it into adulthood.
Though both worldviews agree that gender identification for most is not a conscious choice, Wienreb’s emphatic statement is either a personal or ideological belief, not an objective scientific fact.
We are divided by two opposing worldviews on gender and in our pluralistic society we will never totally agree. Neither worldview’s ideologies should be imposed on our children in our public schools.
Weinreb would not want her child exposed to material from FRC, just as Saefkow’s does not want HRC materials used with his child.
Weinreb is advocating that Saefkow’s view be shut out from the media because of hate, even though Saefkow disavows hate. Silencing a voice in the media is an affront to our society’s right to freedom of speech.
One thing we can all agree on is to treat each other with dignity and respect. People whose internal gender identity is not aligned with their biological sex are not pariahs or lepers and normally suffer much from within (gender dysphoria).
No one should suffer from outside insults or unkind words or actions, or undue discrimination. The golden rule is one we should all agree with.
Let’s unite where we can and respect the rights of others to have different worldviews and ideologies, and not use our government or public schools to promote them (which can easily turn into indoctrination or coercion), especially on this one issue which we are so divided on.
Kevin Grill
Fayetteville, Ga.
