I had to attend an all-day “Fair Housing” training yesterday for my job. A lot of super fun stuff was covered, including the death of the American Dream, how black homeownership has declined after sixty years of housing programs, and the one best one yet, which I’m going to talk about today.
Inclusiveness.
“Affordable housing” and “fair housing” programs focus a lot on discrimination because they originated in the 60s to combat (theoretically) white landlords refusing to rent to black and other minority tenants. Okay.
One can justify anti-discrimination policy because one’s business will not typically suffer for servicing a certain demographic. The individuals involved may not enjoy doing so, but several decades later I hope we can agree that business does not suffer from serving a diverse population. (I’m not talking affirmative action - just basic access / right to service.)
Sometimes the law has to prioritize one group’s needs over another. The need to honor one’s feelings - I don’t like them - was determined to be less important than the need to access food, shelter and transportation in a reasonable manner.
Going in the back door, traveling across town to approved neighborhoods, or enduring hostile behavior was considered unreasonable.
Theoretically anti-discrimination law exists to help reasonable people get reasonable things, and the courts exist to determine which party’s preference is more reasonable. Theoretically, preferences based on race are considered irrelevant because they are feelings rather than fact.
Conservatives are criticized all the time for their “feelings” regarding the Bible, God, marriage, heterosexuality, this nation’s value, authority structures, the right to profit, gosh I could go on and on. When are they going to get over it, my sister-in-law once asked.
Just get over your silly feelings, we’re told, and get with the program.
Until transgenderism. Now one group’s feelings are the most important consideration.
I have tried for six years to formulate a calm explanation of why the transgender movement bothers me. A lot. A lot a lot.
I’m not arguing about what an adult does with their body. You wanna have surgery, grow your hair out, take hormones, change your name - great.
I am arguing the idea that one can simply “identify” as the other gender. I am arguing the idea a man should be treated like a woman because he says he is one. I am arguing that it creates an unreasonable burden to track pronouns, build new bathrooms, silence vulnerable women, criticize female athletes, and oh by the way, it’s “fluid,” so you may have to redo all my paperwork tomorrow.
I quit a job over this. But all I can find to say are things like…
It’s not functional to track everyone’s personal preferences.
It creates an existential crisis for young people to tell them they have to question their sex.
You can trust the science. There are two genders.
It’s not feminist to tell a girl that to be treated the way she wants to be treated, she has to cut off her breasts.
You can’t in the same breath argue that one gender is better or worse, and then say gender is a social construct. All you’re really saying is that the only form of masculinity you’re comfortable with is to have girls dress up like boys.
Do you have any idea how much revenue is generated providing transitional services?
We don’t have the technology to actually change someone’s gender. Most transgender people never afford reconstructive surgery. Even if you can, it’s not like they can give you perfect equipment. The best you’ll achieve is to mutilate yourself.
No one else can “affirm” you. You affirm you.
The cases of incorrect sexual identification at birth are incredibly rare and you weren’t born into the “right” or “wrong” body. It’s just your body. The best way to feel great about yourself is to take good care of it.
Or that’s a favorite that I rarely let myself say: Doing this to kids is genital mutilation.
But to wrap it up, the presenter yesterday complained that there was never enough housing, never enough shelters. Maybe it is because it is impossible to reasonably accommodate men who want to be sheltered with (abused) women, impossible to help everyone feel safe when a wolf just has to put on a wig to walk amongst sheep, impossible to enforce conflicting policies like “we have to validate citizenship by checking ID"… unless they’re transgender… and remember to remember if they prefer to be called they…”
Impossible to financially justify building a shelter when you might be told you have to find the million dollars to add a wing on to it in order to accommodate the reasonable request that a totally different kind of human now be housed… differently, but the same, as the others.
We can paint white roses red all day long. I’m just waiting for Alice to wake up so we can end this silly, silly story.
Yet another clueless ninny.
Tell us..brain.. what is the difference between sex and gender. we will wait while you go look it up.
Thanks for speaking frankly on this topic. I have been very impressed with the work of Jennifer Bilek on this topic as well. She has a substack and a blog called the Eleventh Hour. Also an artist/filmmaker on YouTube under “Skirt go spinny” speaking through video.