The Ignorant Bully’s War on Trans People

Stop pretending this is a complex ideological debate. The war on trans people is not about faith, or tradition, or protecting women. It is the simple, ugly spectacle of ignorant bullies tormenting a minority they do not have the education to comprehend. It is a war waged by people who failed biology, now trying to legislate it, driven by a fear of what they are too stupid to understand.

The science is not on their side; it is a flying kick to the teeth. Human sex is not a neat, two-part binary you learned in a fifth-grade picture book. It is a complex biological spectrum. Chromosomes can be XX, XY, XXY, XYY, or mosaic. Hormones can fluctuate wildly. Brains have structures that show patterns aligning more with one gender than another, regardless of the body they inhabit. The very existence of intersex people… millions of them in this country alone… obliterates the simplistic male/female binary these bullies cling to. To argue that gender is a simple matter of chromosomes is like arguing that a car is just a block of metal. It ignores the engine, the wiring, the fuel, and the entire system that makes it run. Their entire argument collapses under the weight of a basic science textbook.

And this brings us to the most fundamental truth, the one that terrifies them the most: gender identity is not a democratic decision. It is not up for a public vote. It is not for a politician, a pundit, or a panicked parent to decide. The only people who have any standing to determine a person’s gender are the individual themselves and, if they choose, their doctor. That is the entire list. The process of transition is not a casual whim; it is a deeply personal, often painful, and medically supervised journey. It involves therapy, medical evaluation, and a mountain of personal introspection. To reduce that to a “trend” or a “social contagion” is to spit in the face of every person who has ever had to fight for their own identity. It is the height of arrogant ignorance to believe you know someone better than they know themselves.

Their ignorance is not just scientific; it’s historical. The persecution of trans people is a modern aberration, a vile export of Western colonial narrow-mindedness. For millennia, cultures around the world recognized and often revered gender-diverse individuals. The Two-Spirit people in many Native American nations were not shunned; they were often seen as healers, visionaries, and sacred members of the community. In South Asia, hijras have been a recognized third gender for centuries. The Ottomans had their recognized roles, as did the ancient Romans. These were not fringe oddities; they were integrated parts of their societies. The idea that trans people are a new, dangerous phenomenon is a lie. The dangerous phenomenon is the modern, colonial-minded intolerance that seeks to erase them.

And for what? To persecute a group that makes up roughly one to two percent of the population. In a country of over 330 million, that is not some tiny fringe. That is millions of people. Millions of Americans who are being used as political punching bags by a movement devoid of real ideas. These are children being harassed in bathrooms, adults being denied life-saving healthcare, and human beings being stripped of their basic dignity so some washed-up pundit can score points with the lowest-information voters in their base. It is a national disgrace, a moral panic fueled by deliberate misinformation and gleeful cruelty.

This is the behavior of a child on a playground. A child who doesn’t understand something different, so they point and laugh and throw rocks. They invent “cooties” to justify their fear and their malice, much like they invent nonsense philosophies about being an “alpha male” or taking a “red pill” to feel powerful in a world they can’t comprehend. They don’t engage with the subject; they just scream slurs and try to beat it into silence. That is the entirety of the anti-trans movement. It is not a philosophy. It is a tantrum. It is the brute, brainless politics of the ignorant bully, who sees something they cannot control and immediately tries to destroy it.

They are not protecting anyone. They are not defending anything. They are simply exposing their own intellectual and moral bankruptcy. They are terrified of a world that is more complex than the one they were taught, and their response is to try to legislate that complexity out of existence.

But you cannot legislate away someone’s identity.

You cannot legislate away their relationship with their doctor.

You can only reveal yourself to be the ignorant, cruel, and pathetic bully you have always been.

Follow the Vanguard on Social Media – X, Instagram and FacebookSubscribe the Vanguard News letters.  To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit davisvanguard.org/donate or give directly through ActBlue.  Your support will ensure that the vital work of the Vanguard continues.

Categories:

Breaking News Opinion

Tags:

Author

  • Matt Stone is an independent journalist and author based in Northern California. His work examines culture, memory, and the moral weight of everyday life through a clear, grounded lens. Stone’s writing currently consists of fiction and poetry, often exploring the intersection of personal experience and broader social currents.

    View all posts

15 comments

  1. Note how this article jumps/blurs between sex vs. gender – something I’ve noticed repeatedly regarding these type of articles/comments.

    “To argue that gender is a simple matter of chromosomes is like arguing that a car is just a block of metal. It ignores the engine, the wiring, the fuel, and the entire system that makes it run. Their entire argument collapses under the weight of a basic science textbook.”

    So, are you talking about gender, or sex? Or, are you stating that sex is a component of gender, as an engine is to a car?

    And what is gender, anyway? (Most of us had no trouble defining sex not so long ago.)

    Why is self-perceived gender even important to anyone? How did that come up in the first place?

      1. They are more interested in “owning the libs” than in any real introspection or exchange of ideas about the topic. Pick almost any random article from this blog and you will see that this is the case with these 3 particular fine gentlemen.

    1. Sex and gender identity are two very different things. If everyone would just agree on the definitions, I believe society could at least have the conversation. But . . . I might as well ride a tricycle off a ski jump.

          1. MS, you sure insult people a lot, for someone who purports to want a better world. Did it ever occur to you you may not have all the answers and it’s good to listen to a variety of opinions without making insults that have nothing to do with the subject matter and are only pejorative?

  2. “Thats a lot of of words for “i dIDn’t gEt PaSt FifTh graDe BioloGy…”

    Seems to me that if they’re teaching that there might be a problem with “SixTh graDe BioloGy” (and BeYond) these days.

    Or maybe I have even less trouble with this observation than Supreme Court justices do.

    Denying biology doesn’t make you enlightened, tolerant, or anything else in your sick imagination – it’s just makes you a (slang for a male organ) – which you apparently don’t “believe in” despite presumably having one, or being one yourself).

  3. I’m so sorry this is the reception you are getting. 6th-grade contrarian baloney was way too generous for this rogue’s gallery.

    You’re really throwing out a lot of pearls before swine here, Matt, and I’m sorry this is the level of discourse you receive.

    You and your words and the thought you put into your pieces deserve more than this from people who have apparently nothing better to do with their time than act like trolls and try to “own the libs” on a political blog. And all old men. How pathetic.

    Their whining about your response obviously demonstrates they know nothing about the Paradox of Tolerance. If they aren’t engaging in good faith, why should you or anyone else?

    [edited]

    1. Kendra, I completely agree. Three unfunny muppets (only talking points are shoved up them by another’s hand) who cant even think their way to a cogent elementary argument, combined.
      Unfortunately, I myself feel a need to monitor the comments in order to preserve the integrity of that in which I have written. But, your words are indeed meaningful, and perhaps I should just go back to ignoring them all together. ☮️💚

      1. MS say, “But, your words are indeed meaningful”

        Yes, especially the ones that were [edited] out.

        MS say, “perhaps I should just go back to ignoring them all together. ☮️💚”

        Cool, then I can comment on your articles and you’ll only *feel in your bones* that I am saying something about your article, without ever knowing what I actually said.

        KS, say, “And all old men. How pathetic.”

        Many cultures respect the wisdom of their elders (can’t wait for the response to this one #lightfusegetaway#)

        KS say, “they know nothing about the Paradox of Tolerance.”

        I know about it, I just don’t believe in it.

        KS say, “If they aren’t engaging in good faith, why should you or anyone else?”

        So, because of your perception of us, you admit you aren’t acting in good faith and encouraging the author not to as well?

Leave a Comment