Concerns About Gender Identity Practices
Recently, there was a disturbing report highlighting the plight of LGBTQ+ individuals in Iran, where being gay can lead to a death sentence. In many cases, individuals are forced into harsh gender reassignment surgeries, resulting in the disappearance of effeminate men who are then reclassified as typical straight women. Problem solved, right?
What’s alarming is how this situation reflects a medical system treating homosexuality as something to be corrected through surgery. The aim here isn’t to support personal identity; it’s about enforcing conformity. Transitioning becomes a mechanism for promoting state-mandated heterosexuality.
In Iran, this pressure is state-driven. In the U.S., it’s more about cultural and medical influences, rather than laws, yet the outcomes can be surprisingly similar. Many gender-nonconforming children—who might grow up to be gay—find themselves redirected onto a medical path.
Interesting, isn’t it, that some want to broaden access to these kinds of outdated practices? Take Zohran Mamdani, for instance; his campaign has backing from entities like the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has ties to groups like Hamas.
Euphemisms often do significant work. If you package oppressive interventions with softer labels, it’s startling how easily you can persuade folks that they’re something progressive. We used to recognize gender variance as part of human development, but now society often labels it as a disorder. A boy acting like a boy is just a boy, yet if he shows traits associated with girls, he’s led to believe he might be a girl. Similarly, a girl who enjoys sports and dislikes dresses is told she may be “born in the wrong body.”
This context makes Mamdani’s stance particularly troubling. He advocates a perspective that resembles the very systems that have politically favored him.
New York City shouldn’t become a test ground for practices that, even when dressed up with progressive language, are akin to those used in repressive regimes. The real difference here lies in how it’s marketed to parents—as kindness, not coercion. But ultimately, the outcomes can be the same.
Ben Appel notes in his book, “Cis White Gay: The Making of a Gender Maverick.”
