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Science museum bows to trans criticism
© Reuters / Toby Melville
The Science Museum in London has agreed to alter an exhibit on human biology and sex characteristics after receiving complaints over a perceived lack of transgender representation and its “non-inclusive narrative.”
Museum authorities confirmed that the exhibit, titled ‘Boy or Girl?’, is currently under review to “take into account new scientific and curatorial research and visitor feedback.” The exhibit apparently covers subjects such as hormones and chromosomes and asks, “How are boys and girls different?”
According to internal documents reviewed by The Telegraph, the museum was taking “action to consult the Museum of Transology” about the display. This Brighton-based exhibition bills itself as the UK’s “most significant collection of objects representing trans, non-binary and intersex people’s lives.”
The move to “update [the] non-inclusive narrative” follows complaints noted in internal emails about the “lack of mention of transgender” people. However, the paper states that the display already accounts for topical gender-related issues like dealing with feelings of being “born in the wrong body.”
Currently, the display apparently includes an information panel which states that “sex usually refers to someone’s biological characteristics,” while “gender is more difficult to define.” It also describes a person’s “gender identity” as “our sense of yourself as male or female, or, for some people, neither or both. It may not match your biological sex.”
It may or may not make any sense whatsoever! And, God only knows there is nothing scientific whatsoever about gender identity that contradicts biological sex!
The exhibit reportedly includes a fake penis to be worn under clothing as a “packer” in order to project a male appearance, as well as a compression vest used to flatten the chest. It also features testosterone patches, which are typically used to regulate changes caused by the male hormone in the body.
No mention here, I'm sure, of the severe dangers of gender suppressant hormones. They stopped using them at Karolinska Institute in Stockholm because of the horrible effects.
According to The Telegraph, the exhibit, which is housed in the museum’s ‘Who Am I?’ gallery, had previously been modified in 2016 after complaints about a sign that stated how “your X and Y chromosomes define your biological sex.”
That sounds too scientific to have any place in a gender discussion.
Although no physical alterations have yet been made to the display, the museum’s management told the paper that the gallery is updated “on a rolling basis, where resources allow” to incorporate feedback and findings.
Record-breaking trans swimmer causes wave of outrage
3 Dec, 2021 12:01
A trans female college swimmer who once competed as a man has smashed records in women's college competitions in the US, causing a backlash online.
Lia Thomas attends the University of Pennsylvania and during a November 20 swim meet with Cornell and Princeton smashed the 200-yard freestyle time while notching the second-fastest national time in the 500 freestyle.
Breaking Penn's program records in both events, she topped freestyle individual races in the 100, 200, and 500-yard events and helped her team finish first in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Putting up a time of 1:43.47 in the 200-yard freestyle, the Austin, Texas, native could have secured a silver medal at the NCAA's Women's Championships, and her 4:35.06 showing in the 500-yard freestyle would have been good enough to clinch bronze.
Before the pandemic, however, Lia – who will have had to complete one year of testosterone suppression treatment before making her switch – was known as Will and competed on Penn's men's swimming team for a full three seasons.
Competing as a man in the 2018-2019 campaign, Thomas was second-team All-Ivy League in events such as the 500-yard freestyle, 1,000 freestyle and 1,650 freestyle.
"Being trans has not affected my ability to do this sport and being able to continue is very rewarding," she explained to Penn's student newspaper in the summer.
But as news of her current form has become more widespread, some social media onlookers have reacted with anger.
"My two daughters swim competitively," began one response. "They practice 3-4 times a week almost year-round. My girls and many others work their asses off for years and even decades. This kind of sh*t angers me to no end. This is not progress."
"There are some sports where biological women can compete evenly with biological men. Swimming is not one of them," concluded another.
"There are none. Stop the capitulation," someone replied.
"Why don't all the women simply refuse to compete?" it was posed. "That would end this nonsense quite quickly, wouldn't it?"
"Why aren’t male athletes supporting females athletes and also not competing in protest?" a separate party snapped back. "This is not just women’s problem to solve!"
"I am genuinely curious if this person would feel guilty at all. He was a great swimmer on the men's team just two years ago…now she is the best swimmer on the women’s team," one more user pondered.
With the International Olympic Committee (IOC) revising its 2015 guidelines it no longer finds fit for purpose, it was claimed that Thomas could one day challenge the legacy of seven-time gold medal winner Katie Ledecky.
The new guidelines set to be brought in after February's Winter Olympics in Beijing suggest trans women no longer need to reduce testosterone levels in order to compete.
Furthermore, the organization's new stance is that there should now be no automatic presumptions that trans women have advantages over other women.
This is so stupid as to be hardly believable.
UMC children's home sues HHS for forcing placement of kids
with same-sex, or unmarried couples
By Michael Gryboski,
Christian Post Reporter Twitter|
Friday, December 03, 2021
A Tennessee-based children’s home affiliated with the United Methodist Church has filed a lawsuit against the federal government over a rule requiring the organization to place kids in the homes of same-sex married couples or cohabitating couples.
Holston United Methodist Home for Children, which first opened in 1895 and has helped over 8,000 children, filed the litigation Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Greeneville.
Holston, which receives some reimbursement for its services via the HHS’ Title IV-E, is religiously opposed to placing children in homes headed by cohabitating partners or those in same-sex marriages.
The children’s home, which sits on 155 acres of hillside in Greeneville, takes issue with HHS regulation that bars discrimination in HHS-funded foster programs based on religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and marital status.
The regulation was enacted in 2016 during the end of the Obama administration. The Trump administration issued exemptions to the rule for faith-based organizations, which were recently rescinded by the Biden administration.
“It would substantially burden Holston Home’s exercise of its religious beliefs to knowingly engage in child placing activities in connection with couples who may be romantically cohabitating but not married, or who are couples of the same biological sex,” the lawsuit reads.
“If Holston Home were to knowingly engage in child placing activities concerning placements of children in connection with couples who may be romantically cohabitating but are not married, or who are couples of the same biological sex, it would need to engage in speech with which Holston Home disagrees and which violate Holston Home’s religious beliefs.”
The lawsuit names the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, Jooyeun Chang of HHS’ Administration for Children and Families and the Administration for Children and Families as defendants.
Holston is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal nonprofit that has successfully argued several religious liberty cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The lawsuit cites the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling that found that Philadelphia officials were wrong to exclude a Catholic charity from the city’s foster program because the organization doesn’t place children in the homes of same-sex couples in accordance with Catholic teaching on marriage.
“The Supreme Court has recently recognized the harms that may come to children from expelling faith-based agencies from foster care and adoption programs,” the lawsuit states, citing the case of Fulton v. City of Philadelphia.
“Many other agencies in the State of Tennessee are willing to engage in child placing activities with couples with whom Holston Home does not work. Elimination of the 2016 Grants Rule as unlawful, or recognizing religious exemptions to it, will not prevent any child from being placed in his or her forever home, nor will it prevent any couple qualified by a state to foster or adopt from being able to work with an agency receiving Title IV-E funds.”
ADF Senior Counsel Matt Bowman said in a statement that he believes the Biden administration is “wrong to remove religious exemptions to its unlawful grants rule.”
“This leaves Holston Home and other faith-based nonprofits with an untenable choice to violate their religious beliefs or lose critical grants necessary to their operations, which benefit everyone, including the government,” stated Bowman.
“The Supreme Court has recognized the harms to children and society of expelling faith-based agencies from foster care and adoption programs, and now it’s time this administration follows suit by respecting Holston Home’s constitutionally protected religious freedoms and repealing this illegal rule.”
Last month, HHS rescinded waivers granted to faith-based child welfare agencies who contract with the federal government. Instituted during the Trump administration, the waivers exempted organizations that receive them from policies mandating that “no person otherwise eligible will be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination in the administration of HHS programs and services.”
“Today’s action supports the bedrock American principle and a core mission of our Department — to ensure Americans have access to quality health and human services,” Becerra stated on Nov. 18.
“Our action ensures we are best prepared to protect every American’s right to be free of discrimination. With the large number of discrimination claims before us, we owe it to all who come forward to act, whether to review, investigate or take appropriate measures to protect their rights.”
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