It doesn't get much more absurd than this. 

No, scratch that. It is 2024. We live in a simulation scripted by the Babylon Bee, and those guys are geniuses. It will get more absurd every day. 

Dr. Mary O'Connor is so respected by her colleagues that they invited her to speak as the keynote speaker at a Mayo event on the Florida campus. 

This is Dr. Mary O’Connor. She's employed by Mayo Clinic and was invited to speak at one of their conferences.

Dr. O'Connor believes there are only 2 s*xes and men cannot be women. Due to these radical beliefs, Mayo Clinic issued a statement condemning her after the Rochester,… pic.twitter.com/gqhupj4mTZ

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 17, 2024

Her work as an orthopedic surgeon and limb reconstructionist helps people every day, and one of her research foci is identifying the differences between male and female responses to disease and treatment. 

We have been assured for years, and I believe this to be true, that sex differences have been understudied in medicine. For instance, we now know that the presentations of heart disease in men and women can be very different. Apparently this can also be true in orthopedic matters. 

Who knew? You only know if you look, I guess. 

Her focus on sex differentiation is reflected in her opinions on alphabet ideology issues. She is not a fan, at least of the assertion that sex is a social construct. She believes it is a biological reality and says so. 

As far as I can tell, her speech at Mayo was not on this subject, but her being allowed to speak on any issue is offensive to the Rochester Pride folks, who trashed their Platinum Sponsor, the Mayo Clinic, for allowing this despicable person to speak. 

rochmpride On Mar 5, 2024 Mayo Clinic, one of our Platinum sponsors, hosted a conference entitled "Advancing Academic Career Excellence For Women 2024" at their Florida campus. As part of this conference, they invited Dr Mary O'Connor, an Emeritus Professor who is also an anti trans activist, to be the key-note speaker at this conference.

Dr. O'Connor routinely expresses her view that trans women are not women and advocates for the exclusion of trans women in many aspects of regular life (i.e. bathroom access, changing room access, and other public spaces). Dr. O'Connor also has a long history of misgendering and outing transwomen, mocking their appearance, demeaning their humanity, and accusing them of being sexual predators.

Once Rochester Pride became aware of this situation, we immediately contacted Mayo Clinic and expressed our deep concern and anger over this situation. Rochester Pride expects our partner organizations to be fierce allies to our community. Part of being an ally is publicly calling out and condemning bigotry, especially when it happens within their own institution. We are grateful to Mayo Clinic for finally addressing this issue. Although we believe this statement still downplays the seriousness of Dr. O'Connor's actions and there is still much work for Mayo Clinic to do in the fight against transgender bigotry and discrimination, we appreciate their willingness to listen, learn, grow and do more to advocate for the most marginalized within our community.

-Jennifer Winter

Chair, Rochester Pride Board of Directors

First of all, I seriously doubt that Dr. O'Connor actually has a history of "outing" transgender people or mocking them because if this were true Mayo would have done something about it. This is the equivalent of saying that J.K. Rowling calls for the genocide of transgender people. It is now a kneejerk reaction of the alphabet people to accuse anybody who disagrees with them of being the equivalent of Joseph Mengele. 

In any case, rather than defending their professor, Mayo jumped when Rochester Pride required it. Mayo gave them oodles of money, got dragged in public, had their employee slandered, and in response they caved to every demand. 

Mayo's obsequious statement is a model of pandering to the most entitled people on earth, pretending they have been victimized. 

Statement from Mayo Clinic to the Mayo LGBTI+ MERG regarding Dr. Mary O'Connor

"Sending on behalf of John Poe, Chair, Education Administration

Earlier this year Mary O'Connor, M.D., a former Mayo Clinic employee, was an invited speaker at the Advancing Academic Career Excellence For Women 2024 course on the Florida campus. Since that time, we have learned of Dr. O'Conner's social media activity which is inconsistent with Mayo Clinic values and does not represent the views of the organization.

Had we known, we would have reconsidered the invitation. We realize this has caused hurt at a time when the transgender community is facing ongoing discrimination and attacks.

We appreciate that it was brought to our attention. We will continue to learn, improve and grow in our commitment to the health and well-being of transgender and LGTBI+ staff, patients and community members.

Thank you for demonstrating Mayo Clinic values and creating a culture of equity and inclusion.

Thank you for your attention on this matter."

O'Connor is a fierce advocate for women--a TERF, as the alphabet people say--and ironically enough, was speaking at a conference on "Advancing Academic Career Excellence For Women." 

For Women. She opposes classifying males as women, and for this Mayo apologizes. 

Here we are, in the midst of a massive rethink of alphabet ideology worldwide (except in Canada and the United States, of course), and Mayo can't even muster enough courage to defend the speech of one of their professors and surgeons. They don't have to endorse her position but merely defend her right to share it. 

Instead, they caved to an organization they contribute to and a few loud employees who are, frankly, insubordinate and insane. 

I could say that this is pathetic, but in fact, it is much worse than that. It is dangerous to patients to academic freedom (she is a medical school professor expressing opinions on a subject she teaches), and it flies in the face of a basic medical fact. 

But Mayo is an Establishment organization and has to bow to the Establishment claim that transgender people are at some incredible risk due to people disagreeing with their wild and unfounded assertions. 

I have been treated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. It is an outstanding institution. 

And it is ruining itself in the service of an ideology that will be discredited worldwide in the near future. 

Shame. Shame on them.