My First Encounter With Trans
Authored by Richard C. Crandall via American Thinker,
My first encounter with trans was in the early 1950s, when Christine Jorgensen became the first widely known person to undergo "sex reassignment" surgery. I remember some of my peers mocking Christine by threatening to swap the feminine lips and masculine mustache between Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. After some laughter, eye-rolling, and snide smiles, seven-year-olds settled the issue: It was ridiculous - we called it crazy - to believe that Mr. Potato Head could become Mrs. Potato Head any more than a man could become a woman.
The trans issue reemerged with the Reimer twins, Bruce and Brian. In the 1960s, during what was supposed to be a routine circumcision, Bruce's penis was destroyed. Dr. John Money at Johns Hopkins University saw an opportunity to demonstrate that sex roles are a blank slate at birth and are shaped by culture, not genetics. He convinced Bruce's parents that with surgery, hormones, and therapy, Bruce could be successfully transitioned to female. Bruce was castrated, given hormones, renamed Brenda, and not told that he had once been Bruce. From the beginning, "Brenda" didn't like acting like a girl. He tore off his dresses and played with his twin brother's toys more than his own. After applying makeup, Brenda said he looked like a clown. By his early teens, Brenda was confused, depressed, lonely, and suicidal. When Brenda was finally told that he was Bruce, he realized that he was normal and that those trying to turn him into a female were the problem. Brenda became David, underwent penile reconstruction, a double mastectomy, and hormone treatment and married a woman.
For years after "Brenda" became David, Dr. Money claimed that Bruce's transition to Brenda was successful. After the truth came out, I again thought the trans issue was resolved. However, in what can only be described as a new level of hell, swapping parts between Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head has been replaced by dolls that allow children to swap internal and external sexual parts.
I hold the same view I did at age seven. I will reconsider my stance when trans advocates agree to the following conditions.
First, we can change our race. Whites who claim to be black or Native American are called race hoaxers, even though some have demonstrated substantial knowledge of and connection to their new race. A recent example involves a white woman who received injections to darken her skin and surgeries to enlarge her lips. She plans to undergo butt augmentation and surgery to widen her nose. She feels that she is black, even though she is told she will never be black. But if all it takes for a man to be a woman are feelings and mutilating surgery, shouldn't this woman's feelings and surgeries make her black?
Second, we can change our age. If the sex listed on a birth certificate can be altered based on feelings, why not the date of birth? Many people feel younger or older than their chronological age, and some even undergo surgery to look and feel younger. If feelings, rather than biology, determine one's sex, shouldn't they also determine age?
Third, we can be both sexes. Recently, a judge ruled that a man who doesn't identify exclusively as male or female can have a surgically created vagina in the space between his scrotum and anus. And just in time, we have sologamy, "the practice of marrying oneself." Would this be a heterosexual marriage?
Fourth, we can change our species. Individuals who feel they are reptiles tattoo their hands and faces to resemble snake or lizard scales. Those who want to become snakes undergo surgery to remove their ears and noses and have their teeth filed to resemble fangs. Those who identify as lizards have their fingers and thumbs amputated, leaving claw-like hands. They have also had their tongues surgically altered to look forked. If removing a penis and testicles transforms a man into a woman, then does removing ears and fingers transform a human into a reptile?
Fifth, we can become space aliens. To achieve this transformation, one man tattooed his body black and removed his upper lip, nose, and ears. Another man, in addition to full-body tattoos, cut off some fingers, his ears, and part of his nose. A third man has full-body tattoos and fangs. He also chopped off a finger on one hand and had the other hand surgically altered so that his fingers remain in a permanent "V" formation. Again, if feelings and mutilation can change a man into a woman, then don't feelings and bodily mutilation transform someone into a space alien?
Sixth, we can choose our nationality. If men who feel they are women are allowed to use women's bathrooms and locker rooms, then shouldn't people who feel they are of a certain nationality be allowed to live in the country they feel they belong to?
Seventh, it would be easier to adjust feelings to match the existing body than to mutilate the body to match feelings. Why do trans proponents accept only chemical and surgical mutilation to align the body with feelings when it is more rational and humane to use therapy to adjust feelings to align with one's sex?
Eighth, feeling the desire to amputate a healthy arm or leg is abnormal. Body Integrity Dysphoria (BID) is a condition in which the body does not match how someone feels it should look. This goes beyond simply feeling that one's nose is too big or one's breasts are too small. Individuals with BID feel they have too many arms or legs, leading them to want the problematic limb amputated. Others with BID may wish to be paralyzed or to lose their hearing or sight. If chopping off a healthy arm is abnormal, then isn't removing healthy sexual organs also abnormal?
Ninth, we can belong to the ethnic group of our choice. Shouldn't feelings be enough to belong to an ethnic group?
Tenth, we don't need to accept and accommodate individuals' feelings about their identities. If a man who feels he is a woman also feels he is a queen, do we need to accommodate his feelings by addressing him as "Your Majesty" and bowing to him?
Eleventh, the feelings of trans people do not supersede those of people who believe trans people are mentally ill. Trans people demand that others tolerate their feelings, yet they don't tolerate others' feelings. We have seen men who look like men but feel they are women become unhinged when addressed as "sir" rather than "ma'am." There is the same lack of tolerance for those who feel that men pretending to be women should not be allowed to participate in women's sports. They are even incapable of tolerating a T-shirt featuring the logo "XY ≠ XX." If trans people don't respect others' feelings, then can't others disrespect the feelings of trans people?
Feelings do not change reality, and the reality is that there are no Joseph Mengele, Dr. Moreau, Dr. Fauci, or Dr. Frankenstein medical procedures that can turn us into space aliens, reptiles, or the opposite sex.
Image via Pexels.
Tyler Durden Mon, 08/10/2026 - 19:15