Cultural indoctrination war

On March 31, the Biden administration released a statement celebrating what is called the “Transgender Day of Visibility.” The statement used the word “affirm” or “affirming” 29 times. Some examples: The administration pledged to strengthen federal measures to “protect transgender youth against discrimination, including when those youth seek gender-affirming care.” It pledged to emphasize “the positive impact of gender-affirming care on youth mental health.” It pledged to confirm that “providing gender-affirming care is neither child maltreatment nor malpractice.” It pledged to create an information bank to show why “gender-affirming care … is important to transgender, nonbinary, and other gender expansive young people’s well-being.” It pledged to use the Justice Department to knock down laws like Alabama’s by “reaffirming that transgender children have the right to access gender-affirming health care.”

And so on. You get the idea. Not surprisingly, the phrase “gender-affirming” and its variants are showing up more and more in the media discussion of puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and surgery. Such measures are also benignly described as “medical care.” And who could be against medical care? Who could respond negatively to a positive word like “affirming?”

Just like the “Don’t Say Gay” situation, supporters of the Florida bill and now the Alabama bill, and other bills like them around the country, face a battle of language as well as substance. And with the current administration, the activist world, and much of the media arrayed against them, it is an uphill battle.