Weekly Roundup
Evidence in Exile
For FAIR’s Substack, FAIR in Medicine Interim Director Nikki Johnson, MD, writes about FAIR’s fight for evidence-based dialogue about gender-affirming care at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting.
My experience at the 2024 American Psychiatric Association annual meeting underscores a profound disconnect between the guardians of established medical doctrines and the burgeoning need for open, evidence-based discourse on gender-affirming care. Despite facing unexpected barriers and outright dismissal, FAIR’s commitment to fostering informed discussions proved both necessary and impactful. Engaging directly with psychiatrists and health professionals, we witnessed the profound value of open dialogue and healthy skepticism—principles that should anchor all medical practices, especially those involving vulnerable populations like minors.
Free Speech and the Art of Difficult Conversations with Angel Eduardo and Mónica Guzmán
FAIR Advisor Greg Thomas and Aryeh Tepper welcome writers Monica Guzman and Angel Eduardo to their show "Straight-Ahead" for an extended exploration of the value of free speech and the art of engaging in difficult conversations.
What an Honest Conversation About Gender Sounds Like
For Quillette, FAIR Advisor Jonathan Kay writes about self-styled trans apostate Debbie Hayton.
What makes Hayton unusual as a trans activist is that she acknowledges that her decision to assume a female identity doesn’t trump her male biology. And so I was able to speak to her without having to choose between courtesy and honesty. It was a “safe space” for both of us, in the sense that Hayton came into the conversation trusting that I’m not a bigot, while I knew I wouldn’t be denounced for alluding to (perfectly obvious) facts concerning human sexual dimorphism.
Indeed, this meeting of the minds made me wonder whether the culture war over gender might have been avoided entirely had it not been hijacked by fanatics such as Lavery. What “gender crits” object to aren’t trans and non-binary people themselves (certainly, no one is seeking to “deny their existence,” as the morbid slogan goes); but rather the experience of being hectored by aggressive activists who refuse to acknowledge either biological reality or the need for policies that properly balance the rights of trans people against those of everyone else in society.
The Psychology Of Being In A Minority
For his Substack The Weekly Dish, FAIR Advisor Andrew Sullivan writes about how the Biden left is hurting and disempowering non-majority Americans. Subscribe to The Weekly Dish to read the full article.
What Biden did at Morehouse, and what his administration has done in every way imaginable, is to uphold this view of the world. From its crude race and sex discrimination to its support for critical queer theory and transing kids, it is spreading a message that not only holds minorities back; it tells them that the country they live in — the freest and most diverse in human history — is defined by hatred of the black, brown, gay, queer, and trans populations, and was really founded in 1619 to oppress, and not in 1776 to liberate.
My entire adult lifetime has proven this wrong with respect to gay men and lesbians. The transformation of American culture, society, and law on this question shows how ready Americans are for change, if they are engaged respectfully and reasonably and in good faith. And it is simply absurd to describe the country that elected a black man twice for president, and whose immigrants are overwhelmingly non-white, as somehow a form of “white supremacy.”
Americans for Meritocracy
For the Manhattan Institute, Michael Hartney and Renu Mukherjee write about their findings that Americans favor merit-based admissions criteria and reject anti-testing narratives.
This prompt is not only in tension with the Court’s opinion in Students for Fair Admissions—the majority noted that “universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today”—but it also goes against public consensus that race should play, at most, a minimal factor in admissions. Our findings from the 2022 CES show that for large swaths of the American public—including, we would note, most nonwhite Democrats—merit trumps race when it comes to university admissions; and this is especially true when Asians are framed as the victims of affirmative action.
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What us FAIR doing in K-12? Do school staff who are encouraged to participate in supporting LGBTQ+ students and staff by wearing pride gear in June have any legal recourse? They will be ostracized as pariahs if they don't because the prevailing narrative is that LGBTQ+ rights are "under attack." In fact, trans activists and unstable students have frequently been the attack-ers, have made "hit lists" (Watertown MA) and carried out mass shootings (Nashville TN). Is there nowhere to turn when rainbow gear is implicitly coerced?
Where is the movement to demand institutional neutrality in our public K-12 schools where it is absolutely appropriate? Many moderate and conservative working class families have no other option than their local public schools. Why should their children be subjected to relentless social justice activism that is clearly partisan? Please help!