This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
I am proud to be a committed supporter of the LGBTQ community. Have I always been this way? No, I wasn't this way when I was a teenager in the 90s because I was raised in a conservative Christian household.
Frankly, I didn't know any better, I was still young and formulating my own thoughts, so I took on the views of my family and the people they forced me to be around in church. But during my teens, through healthy debate and discussions with friends, peers, teachers, and anyone who would talk to me, I started to formulate my own thoughts and beliefs, and by my early twenties, I fully supported the LGBT community.
These days you aren't allowed to formulate your own thoughts. If you do, supporters from the left and right are going to bully you back in line with their narrow extremism. Do you know what this does? It alienates everyone else in the gray area with more complex opinions and only sets back progress towards the truth. It also doesn't freely allow young ones to formulate their own thoughts out of fear of societal rejection.
There are two examples in the news recently that I'd like to bring to light that support this opinion.
Carissa Pinkston, a 20-year-old model, posted this tweet: "Being Transgender does NOT make you a Woman. It makes you simply transgender." Then she was scolded for the remarks, so then she lied and said she was transgender. She was caught in her lie and apologized. That was wrong to say she was transgender, but now the story is about her lying about being transgender, and not her original remarks.
During an interview on The Candace Owens Show, Mario Lopez talked about young trans kids, really young trans kids, three year-olds who have decided their gender and sexuality. He spoke about how certain forms of parental support could lead to harmful repercussions later in life. "When you're a kid... you don't know anything about sexuality yet. You're just a kid," Lopez said.
"I think parents need to allow their kids to be kids, but at the same time, you gotta be the adult in the situation… I think the formative years is [sic] when you start having those discussions and really start making these declarations," Lopez added. "I just personally think it's just way too young to start making these [declarations]."
I agree with both of them. I'm an LGBTQ supporter that factually knows that transgender people aren't indeed biologically and naturally the gender they want to be. "Where's Adam? Grab him and stone him and shove him in the gutter for disagreeing with us!" said the mob mentality. What Pinkston and Lopez said only slightly differs from the far left, but there is still outrage over what they said.
Transgender people are emotionally and mentally the gender they transitioned to be, but biologically and organically they are not that gender. As much as they want to be, they aren't. Do we have to point this out every chance we get? No, I don't think it's polite to do that. If a man wants to be a woman and feels like a woman, then let them be a woman. If you're out having a nice dinner with someone who is transgender, don't tell them they aren't biologically that gender. Yes, it's the truth, but it's not nice to point it out. Life is already hard for them; they need your support, not random maliciousness.
To comment on what Lopez said, he isn't wrong, and shouldn't get hazed for what he said. Three year-olds don't know the difference between Cheetos and Doritos let alone the depth of sexuality one figures out from puberty to becoming an adult. One minute kids want to be a firefighter, and the next minute they want to be a superhero. Most 18-year-olds don’t completely know their own sexuality. The college years are a great time for finding out your sexual tendencies.
Should you discourage a three year-old boy from dressing up like a girl? No. Should you encourage a three year-old boy to dress up like a girl? No. Should you let them pick out their own clothes? Within budget and reason, sure. Should you support their decision without parental influence? Yes. Do I think some parents are so overly eager to be tolerant and accepting that they push their kids to decide their gender and sexuality? Yes. Do bad parents do this? Yes. Do all parents do this? No.
These two subjects only happened to be something from the liberal left. If today's outrage subject happened to be about guns or cars and someone slightly disagreed with the conservative right, then I would have commented on that as well, and probably will in the future. I support the right to bear arms and drive fast cars, but I do think there needs to more regulations on both. I just pissed off both the political left and the right. I'm getting good at that.
In recent years I've been called everything from a shill, snowflake, and communist, to the other side of the spectrum which is a xenophobe, climate denier, and a fascist. Recently I've been spending my time in a political no man's land essentially because both sides are becoming bullies and extremists.
I do not disagree with their disagreement. Political extremists can keep their own opinions, and I'll respect that. I disagree with their outrage, and I'm shocked at the fact there's no room for healthy debate anymore, that anyone seeking a healthy discussion is ousted and flogged publicly. It saddens me that the world has gotten to this point.
I think in their own way Pinkston and Lopez were looking for the answers, looking for the truth, looking for a healthy debate and all that happened was they got kicked in the ribs and spat on. You should be able to walk around on this planet and simultaneously be pro-LGBTQ and pro-gun without verbally getting the crap kicked out of you.
