Lest anyone still doubt the growing totalitarianism of the left – and the LGBT left especially – the recent episode involving National Review correspondent Kevin D. Williamson should prove instructive.
TIME Magazine recently featured transgender actor Laverne Cox on its cover and instructed America that transgender is “America’s next civil rights frontier.” In response, Williamson’s opinion piece, “Laverne Cox Is Not a Woman,” [1] was published May 30th on the National Review Online. The subtitle to the article read, “Facts are not subject to our feelings,” and Williamson argued that sex cannot be separated from gender.
Cue the LGBT firestorm community, spawning outraged articles on lefty websites like Slate [2], The Daily Dot [3], Vanity Fair [4], and FlavorWire [5].
GLAAD, the self-appointed disciplinarian of all “offensive” opinions, chastised the Chicago Sun-Times for having the temerity to pick up Williamson’s article. GLAAD demanded the Sun-Times remove the article from its website and demanded contrition.
In a letter [6] addressed to the publisher and editor, GLAAD scolded: “…we…call on the Chicago Sun-Times to issue a public apology to Ms. Cox and all transgender people for running this dehumanizing and inaccurate column.” Oh, and if the Sun-Times knows what’s good for it, it will “…immediately institute transparent new standards for covering transgender people in your pages.”
Their letter concluded, “Kevin D. Williamson is not the arbiter of who is a woman, nor is the Chicago Sun-Times. It is beneath any reputable national journalistic outlet to reprint such dangerous and false rhetoric.”
GLAAD didn’t produce it’s own credentials to arbitrate what a woman is either, but the dudgeon was running that high, and why spoil a good snit?
In a piece on GLAAD’s website, the group’s President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis stated [7], "This ugly and insulting propaganda is dangerous to readers' understanding of who transgender people are."
Not only did Ellis’ statement demean readers and their capability to rationally consider both sides of the LGBT debate, but she hypocritically called Williamson’s article propaganda while herself demanding The Sun Times to only include pro-LGBT articles.
Ellis went on to dictate the terms of public discussion:, saying "These harmful messages about the validity of transgender identity have no place in a credible mainstream publication."
The Sun-Times’ apology was as quick and craven as you might expect, pulling the article from its website and issuing a groveling statement [8] in response to GLAAD. "Upon further consideration,” it read, “we concluded the essay did not include some key facts and its overall tone was not consistent with what we seek to publish.”
The apology continued on to say that Williamson’s article was invalid because it did not contain the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association’s acknowledgement of the necessity of the medical care for transgenders. But the Sun-Times finally got around to the real heart of the matter. Williamson’s article “failed as well to acknowledge the real and undeniable pain and discrimination felt by transgender people, who suffer from notably higher rates of depression and suicide.”
Williamson must have forgotten that all opinions must be censored, so to avoid being insensitive or, God forbid, offensive.
As the Sun Times skulked away with its tail between its legs, the GLAAD-ers rejoiced. Alan Jenkins, executive director and co-founder of The Opportunity Agenda, commented “Fantastic victory for truth, equality, and respect.” Not so hot for liberty, free speech and intellectual honesty, but there we are.
Silencing the voices of those who challenge your beliefs is always a triumphant victory.
It’s all of a piece with the left’s ongoing effort to continually redefine the terms [9] of the debate until there are no acceptable terms left with which to debate them. Failing to play their game is “hate speech.”