Now Lady MAGA had been my drag sister for a while (different mothers), so I’m giving her the slightest smallest benefit of the doubt. I want to give her one last chance to enter the realm of real political discourse.
Her original article presented a long list of strawmen positions. Either intentionally or unintentionally she misrepresented real arguments, so I tried to fix them. I altered or replaced her strawmen with real positions that reasonable people actually hold. I didn’t argue for or against these positions, some of them are not my own, and I know there are stronger positions out there, but this was the best I could do.
Here is my message to her
Lady MAGA,
Girl, listen, your first attempt at political discourse completely missed the mark. The positions you attributed to your opponents were strawmen, they’re not real, girl. I hope this wasn’t dishonest on your part, like you deliberately wanted to make them look worse than they are so you can get your fans to hate them or laugh at them, but it kinda looked that way. It’s also completely ineffective. You’re never gonna get a person to change their position if you don’t address the position they actually hold. And if you misrepresent the argument to your followers, then when they meet with the actual arguments, they’ll be completely unarmed.
So to help you out, as a thanks for the Maleficent Doll you once gave me and that I still have, I went through and steelmaned the arguments. These are real positions real people have. If you can address these, instead of the ones you dreamed up, you’ll get a lot more respect and a lot less hate, and if you can refute them, then you have a chance of making actual converts to your cause.
As a side note, these aren’t all positions I agree with and I don’t argue for or against them here. In fact after our failed first attempt on the Insta, I’m pretty sure I’m not the one to engage with you on these or any issues. This is just to get you started on the right foot, if you are sincere that is.
I took these word for word form your blog, I put your strawman first and then my revised steelman underneath.
LGBTQIA+ CULT GUIDELINES TO BE ENFORCED BY LGBTQIA+ VIRTUE-SIGNALERS:
(Positions held by many in the GRSM community that many avidly support on social media)
- You must hate President Trump!
(You should not support President Trump because of his anti-HRSM rhetoric and because of the policies he supports explicitly and tacitly. Policies he supports explicitly include, but are not limmited to, a ban on transgender service members, blocking anti-discrimination legislation, denying legal status to the same sex partners of diplomants. Policies he tacitly endorses through appointments of anti-GRSM advocates to positions of authority range from a consitutional ban on gay marriage -supported by Mike Pence- to the funneling of funds from AIDS research into faith based reparative therapy -also supported by Mike Pence- to overturning Laurence Vs Texas, the court case that decriminalized homosexuality -supported by conservative and religious leaders in Trump’s circle-) Trump is an evil homophobe!
(Trump’s personal feelings are hard to understand because his rhetoric is so inconsistent, but he is, at best, an enabler of an homophobes and homophobia)
- Republicans are racists!
(Many Republican policies adversely affect People of Color disproportionately, and republican rhetoric stokes and feeds off of racial animus)
- The LGBT Community is under attack!
Actually that one’s good, people do argue that.
- The greatest threat to us is White, Christian men!
(A person’s religion and race are unrelated to our community’s political support. For examples see Candace Owens -conservative woman of color we oppose- and Pete Buttigieg -white Christian man we support-.)
- Socialism is the answer! Capitalism is bad!
(While many on the left support social democracy, we recognize that homophobia and oppression of the GRSM community can and has taken place under all economic systems including capitalism and socialism. For examples see how socialist regimes in the Soviet Union and South America persecuted GRSM individuals and how capitalist pressure from advertisers and economic boycotts have been among are most used and most effective tools.)
- Gender does not exist! There are endless genders!
(Gender is a social construct that exists bimodally along a spectrum)
- We cant say “gay,” we must say LGBT! In fact, we have to say LGBTQIA+ or we’re not inclusive!
(The word “gay” has not always been used to include people of diverse identities within the GRSM community so while we occasionally use it as a catch all term, we prefer to use longer acronmys to highlight the diversity and increase representation. We are definitely aware that this expanding acronym is confusing. We also know that in conversation the acronym can be cumbersome. As a remedy, we usually shorten it to LGBTQ+, Queer, or GRSM -gender/romantic/sexual/minority. The use of these terms is under constant discussion. This represents one of the many ideological divisions in our community, which some claim do not exist, but we welcome civil dissent and sincere questioning.)
- Speech we don’t like is hate speech!
(We don’t like hate speech)
- White privilege entails being a racist even if you don’t think you’re racist!
I had to break this one into three
(White privilege has nothing to do with racism, so even non-racists can experience white privilege.)
(You may be a racist even if you don’t think you’re racist)
(It is possible for a person to harbor no racial malice or overt prejudice and still support racist policies and structures. These people are often unaware that they are doing so, and so listening to and amplifying marginalized voices is the only way to raise awareness.)
- Transgender children under 18 have the right to take life-altering hormones!
Again I had to break this into two because there is a disagreement within the community
Some take the position:
(All children go through significant life-altering changes due to hormones during puberty, well before they are 18. If a child under the age of 18 experiences no gender dysphoria -the vast majority don’t- it is perfectly reasonable to allow them to go through hormonal changes before the age of 18, but if a child experiences dysphoria, it makes sense to delay the choice, through puberty blockers, until the age of 18 so the child can make that important life-altering decision as an adult. In short, it is okay for Cis kids to undergo puberty before they are 18 even though it involves life-altering hormones, but Trans kids should probably wait.)
There are some who might take the position:
( If a Cis kid can descide to go through puberty before they are 18, then a Trans kid should be able to descide too. If a Cis boy can decide to go through male puberty before he is 18, perminately altering his body, then a Trans boy should have the same choice.)
- Parents who don’t allow their children to “transition” to another gender are abusive!
I see people arguing this at two different levels
(There are many documented cases where parents’ refusal to accept a child’s gender identity, cis or trans, has caused great harm to the child. Lack of acceptance by parents is a leading cause of homelessness, depression, and suicide among trans children.)
(Denying puberty blockers and forcing a trans boy to go through female puberty to develop female secondary sex charactaristics would be just as cruel as giving a cis boy HRT and forcing him to go through female puberty.)
- People who own guns are dangerous! Stop the NRA!
Again there is disagreement
(Many of us are opposed to the NRA for reasons that have nothing to do with our membership in the community)
(Many of us support gun rights and the NRA for reasons that have nothing to do with our membership in the community)
- Anyone who questions the consequences of taking hormone therapy is transphobic!
(We actively support all research into the effects of hormone therapy since we are the ones exclusively affected. We are opposed to pseudoscience.)
Children as young as three know who they are and can change their gender!
(Children as young as three already begin to identify with, and perform, their gender. This is well documented in both trans and cis children. Many people celebrate and support their cis child’s gender identity and performance from an early age, this is fine because most children are cis. We are asking parents to be equally supportive if, on the rare occasion, their child begins to identify and perform a trans identity.)
- America is founded on White supremacy!
(America was founded on many ideals and ideologies including White supremacy, but also including equality, democracy, and liberty. The story of America has been one of challenging our demons and encouraging our angels and we have come a long way, changing and even going directly against the vision of the founding fathers. We oppose any efforts to sweep shameful aspects of America’s past under the rug to promote unquestioned nationalism.)
- The rainbow flag without a black and brown stripe is racist!
(The rainbow flag has long been used as a signifier of safe spaces for gay individuals or as part of the public campain for gay rights. Those spaces were not always open to women, people of color, or transgender/non-bianary people, and the public campain often took deliberate efforts to hide members of those groups. As a result, many do not see the rainbow flag as inclusive of women, people of color, or transgender/non-bianary people. Since there has been some marked effort of reverse this, many have come to accept the rainbow flag as all inclusive, but a flag with a brown and black stripe and/or a blue/pink/white pennant are used to explicitly welcome people into spaces and movements they had been excluded from.
-Think of it like the Rainbow flag vs the American flag. The American flag is slowly coming to represent all Americans. However, many places and causes that waved the American flag were not always friendly to the gay community, so the gay community created the rainbow flag. That doesn’t mean they think the American flag can’t represent them, it just means that it doesn’t explicitly represent them. To you the rainbow flag may represent POC and trans individuals, but since it hasn’t always, a more explicitly inclusive emblem is often needed)
- Not using someone’s “preferred pronouns” is dangerous and incites violence!
(Not using someone’s pronouns can cause immediate and long term psychological harm and in many documented cases has incited or led to physical violence.)
- Places with no gender-neutral bathrooms are unsafe!
(Transgender people are not safe if there is no where for them to use the bathroom. Forcing them to use the wrong bathroom often puts them in danger.)
- Questioning homophobia within Islam is Islamophobic!
There is not a large enough consensus among the GRSM community on Islam and Islam is not a uniform enogh ideology for any claim to be considered representative. You might as well ask what the Bronie community’s position on dessert is.
- Christianity is bad! Islam is a religion of peace not to be questioned!
See above
- The real terrorists are white Christians!
I wouldn’t say there is a large enough consensus on this issue to put a position down as at all representative or even common, but I have seen this one -
(Christians are capable of terrorism and white-right-wing-extremist terrorism is responsible for more domestic terror attacks since 9-11 than any other group)
- You cannot disagree with or attack the ideas of any person of color without being racist!
(Our community is generally anti-racist but we do not shy away from criticizing the ideas of POC. -See Canadace Owens or any conflict between the GRSM community and the “Black Church”)
- Anytime white people do anything that wasn’t created by white people it’s cultural appropriation!
Another example of acceptable dissent and disagreement.
(There is a difficult line to draw between cultural exchange, cultural appreciation, and cultural appropriation. As an historically oppressed group we are sensitive to the issue and many may view this as oversensitivity. We think any person using signifiers from an oppressed culture should seek out and be sensitive to the views of members of that culture. But since not all members of said culture might agree, the argument persists and artists, comedians, drag, filmographers, and writers, etc. including white artists continue to be at the forefront of cultural art, exchange, and appreciation.)
- Biological men who identify as women deserve to compete in women’s sports!
I had to break this up again because there’s nowhere near a consensus
Three positions I’ve run across
(Trans women should be allowed to compete in women’s sports)
(Trans women whose HRT has sufficiently erased any hormonal based advantage should be allowed to compete in women’s sports)
(Competitive leagues in sports should not be based on biological sex but on different levels of genetic and hormonal advantage/disadvantage. Thereby women with high testosterone or men with low testosterone -I’m oversimplifying the science here- could compete in different legues whether they are cis or trans.)
- Salons who won’t wax a transgender woman’s testicles deserve to be shut down!
First note - literally everyone hates Jessica Yaniv
(Salons should not be allowed to turn away a person based on the person’s gender or gender identity. If a business would provide a service to a cis person they must provide that same service to a trans person. Scrotal and vaginal waxings are two different services. If a company doesn’t provide scrotal waxing, they should not be forced to provide it. If a company offers vaginal waxing, they must offer it to anyone with a vagina, man or woman, cis or trans)
- There’s nothing wrong with child drag queens performing in adult environments!
(Parents should determine what environment is too adult for a child to be in. It makes no difference if the child is performing drag or any other type of dance or theatre. Young girls have been dancing in skimpy outfits with tons of makeup and fake eyelashes for years. There are literally international dance leagues for young girls. Some young boys want the same opportunity, unfortuantley gay bars are sometimes the only venue that will allow boys to express themselves in this way. A gay bar can be a perfectly safe place for a child to perform drag. Parents should accompany and supervise any child in any of these spaces)
- Men can have periods, too!
(Transmen are men and they often menstruate. Basic biology.)
One final thought. There are people out there who will have much more solid positions and come up with way better arguments than I ever could. Don’t run from them, don’t caricature them. Don’t fight with strawmen. If you’re going to be sincere, you’ve got to seek out those people. Challenge yourself with the best arguments the other side has to offer. In your last video on Trump’s pro-Pride tweet, you stopped reading the news stories the moment they disagreed with you… If you do that get you’ll never get anywhere near understanding.
Very Sincerely,
Roary Hollace
