What Happens When Transgenderism Is No Longer Cool? Prosecutions, Hopefully

 The Federalist  Ideologues foisting the harmful lies of transgenderism onto kids should be laughed — and prosecuted — out of polite society.

"Transgender doctrine was always held together by the corporate assumption that it could not be questioned. It cannot survive being dismissed, or worse, laughed at. While any reports of its death are greatly exaggerated, it is certainly weakened."

 

"When the transgender fever fully subsides, it won’t be because of how celebrities like Kiera Knightley respond to idiotic questions about it. But it’s telling when celebrity windsocks no longer feel obligated to pay ritual fealties to social contagions, because social contagions rely on ritual fealties to survive.

"In a Decider interview published last week, Knightley — who voices a character in a forthcoming audiobook recording of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series — was asked if she was “aware” of the fury directed at Rowling and, by extension, the Potter franchise for Rowling’s “ongoing campaign against trans people.” (By this, the interviewer meant Rowling’s insistence that men cannot become women and should not be enabled to invade private women’s spaces.)

“ 'I was not aware of that, no. I’m very sorry,” Knightley said with a glint of sarcasm and a laugh.

"I highly doubt Knightley, who has included herself in what she describes as a “progressive” and “left-wing artistic” group of people, intended to become the new patron saint of conservative women’s magazines with that laugh. The actress’s previous deference to progressive sexual politics (“of course” she’s raising her daughters to be feminists, she told Vanity Fair) suggests she became the conservative icon du jour by total accident, though if she withstands the pressure to apologize for her momentary moral clarity, she deserves some respect for that. (If she really wants us to praise her bravery, she should speak up for women with the decisive conviction that Rowling has.) But at the very least, that Knightley felt free to react so candidly to the absurd demands of trans radicals suggests some kind of Overton window shift.

"So does a study, published the same day Knightley’s interview was posted, indicating a “Decline of Trans and Queer Identity among Young Americans.” Canadian professor Eric Kaufmann found the share of students at “elite” universities who professed to have irregular gender identities had dropped drastically in the past two years. Even more interesting, he concluded the trend reversal was happening independently of political or religious beliefs, which did not follow the same trendlines." . . .

Elle Purnell is the assignment editor at The Federalist. She has appeared on Fox Business and Newsmax, and her work has been featured by RealClearPolitics, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Independent Women's Forum. She received her B.A. in government with a minor in journalism.