CO is, despite our arid climate, starting to get as swampy as D. C. Provoking thought on transgenderism. A bill I was happy to see die.
In addition to career politicians lying, politics is a dirty business.
I'm sad to see that Colorado state-level politics seems just about as swampy as DC is. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I am still disappointed, however.
Take a look at the two links below. Neither one likely outlines behavior that is illegal. Both outline behavior that is skeevy to say the least.
One relates to Republicans. One to Democrats.
This problem goes beyond party. Both engage in behavior that, while technically legal, is not something either should be proud of. Both deserve to be called out for it.
We the people, who get to fund our government and live with its policy, deserve better than this sort of (I know it's an indelicate term, but forgive me) incestuous relationship between the connected and the powerful.
The fix to this problem is simple and one I've hammered on before: the fix starts by you and I and other ordinary people getting involved and speaking up.
https://www.cpr.org/2023/04/27/colorado-gop-chair-dave-williams-legislative-aide/
https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2023/04/27/emails-show-coordination-between-health-care-agency-activists-hospital-bills/
Presented to provoke some thought.
If you forced me to nail down a percent, I think that I'd put the amount that I agree with Mr. Armstrong at about 50%. I agree with him about 50% of the time. In any given op ed, I probably agree (on average) with about 50% of it.
I do often find his writing to be thought provoking. The op ed linked below is a good example. I found myself weighing my own ideas against his.
Let me toss out some of the thoughts I had while reading. Please feel free to add yours to the comments below. If you react viscerally one way or another, that's fine. I just ask that you be civil.
I share Mr. Armstrong's idea that (quoting): "...there are some complex issues involving such matters as transgender people in certain sports, age of consent for gender-affirming medical treatments, and potential “social contagion” at play in some young people identifying as transgender (see Carol Tavris’s critical take)."
**Quick side note, the "critical take" above is a link in the op ed and I thought it worthwhile enough to include it as another link for your convenience below. Worth a read.
Mr. Armstrong doesn't explicitly state it, though I imagine he may think it, but I WILL explicitly state it: I think it is perfectly possible and reasonable to hold the above view and yet still have respect for the dignity and humanity of a fellow human regardless of how they view themselves.
I think this is all too often forgotten. If there are those (and I agree there are) who demonize and dehumanize transgender people, there are those who, for lack of a better term, "lionize" them. Lionize in the sense that there can be absolutely no doubt, no concern about how we face the issues raised above.
Lionize, too, in the sense that any criticism leveled at a transgendered person, for any reason save their being transgendered, is related to to bigotry.
We should remember that transgendered people are still human. They're still liable to the same faults as you and I. They deserve the same respect and dignity we'd afford any other human, but they deserve the same expectations too.
Lastly, I want to weigh in on gender vs. sex. You know what? I do not really care.
I know it's been a bit of hot button issue, but I have better things to do with my time than get into a tug of war over it. Outside of some extremely rare cases, humans are both with either XX or XY chromosomes. That is a fact and cannot be changed.
That being said, however, I do not particularly care if someone sees themselves as he, she, or some mix. None of that changes reality, and, outside of not wanting someone under 18 having medication or surgery, I do not have a dog in this fight.
I look at it exactly the same as what I tell my students at the start of the semester: I'll call you whatever you'd like provided that saying wouldn't make my grandma blush.
Think of yourself as a male and have one x chromosome and one y? Thumbs up.
Think of yourself as a female and have one x chromosome and one y? Thumbs up.
That and all other permutations.
https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2023/04/25/armstrong-lets-try-some-acceptance-for-transgender-coloradans/
https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/behind-rhetoric-untold-story-of-gender-affirming-clinics/
A bill I was happy to see die.
The bill linked below died in its first Senate committee hearing last week. I was glad to see hear it. I had hoped to testify, but was unable and had to settle for sending in written comment.
Given the direction the other gun control bills had taken this session I was surprised to see it expire. I'm not sure what exactly doomed it, but I'll take the victory however it comes.
One bright spot of freedom mixed in with all the new regulations and intrusions that have come out of the Assembly this session.
