“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” ― George Orwell, 1984
Living on a rural farm, in a small, mostly rural county, in a very politically conservative state, I only rarely see the ‘transgendered.’ I saw one such gentleman pretending to be a lady, as a customer, in the Corto Lima restaurant in downtown Lexington several years ago, and another such gentleman working as a waiter in the now-several-years-closed Applebee’s on Bypass Road in Richmond. I thought such was humorous, because neither one came anywhere close to ‘passing’ as a real woman, but I had no interactions with either of them. They were doing what they wanted to do, in a manner which had no impact on me at all. Unlike the “Party’s” most essential command, I accepted the evidence of my eyes.
That, of course, was simple: these gentlemen who thought they were ladies weren’t trying to force me to accept them as ladies. The problem today as that so many of the ‘transgendered’ are attempting to compel the rest of us to accept their delusions. From The Wall Street Journal:
How the Tide Turned Against Transgender Athletes—and the Movement
Loss at Supreme Court this week leaves activists playing defense—even in blue states
By Louise Radnofsky | Wednesday, July 1, 2026 | 6:20 PM EDT
When 11-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson wanted to run cross-country in middle school five years ago, it seemed like a favorable moment to challenge a West Virginia ban on transgender girls like her joining female teams.
An openly transgender woman competed in weightlifting at the Olympic Games in Tokyo that summer. And the Supreme Court had recently delivered a landmark victory for the LGBTQ rights movement, establishing that bedrock federal civil-rights law prohibited employers from discriminating against workers on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.
By the time the justices issued their opinion on Pepper-Jackson’s case on Tuesday, upholding bans in West Virginia and Idaho, and 25 states like them, the tide had turned decisively. The transgender-rights movement has lost nearly all of its ground in red states, and is on the defensive in blue states.
Conservatives paint the era in which Pepper-Jackson brought her case as a lapse of common sense. “Today most people look at this and they can’t believe what we were going through six years ago,” said Raúl Labrador, Idaho’s Republican attorney general, who championed his state’s ban.
Note that reporter Louise Radnofsky used the feminine pronouns to refer to young Mr Pepper-Jackson. As per our published Stylebook, The First Street Journal always uses the pronouns and honorifics appropriate to the actual sex of the ‘transgendered, not the ‘gender’ they claim to be, but we also do not alter the direct quotes of others. We also use their real names, but have been thus far unable to discover Mr Pepper-Jackson’s birth name. While we’d like to see wiser journalistic practice from as august a publication as The Wall Street Journal, we are not surprised that they appear to be going along with the Associated Press Stylebook’s recommendations. 🙁
“I think there’s been a real backsliding over the past five years, not just specifically in the context of sports, but in terms of discrimination against trans people in general, and vitriol,” said Joshua Block, the ACLU senior counsel who represented Pepper-Jackson.
It’s simple: if Mr Pepper-Jackson, as well as people like Brayden Fleming and Will Thomas hadn’t been trying to compete in girls’ and women’s sports, had not been trying to impose their beliefs that they are real girls/women, they would have been like the two previously mentioned in restaurants: oddities, perhaps, but really none of our business.
But they made it our business. Mr Thomas took several victories away from real women, as have people like Abraham Fernandez Delgado in the Pyrite State. California tried to split the difference, with a split podium, having young Mr Delgado share the first-place spot on the podium with the top finisher among real girls, a compromise which pleased exactly no one. The supporters of ‘transgenderism’ said that it made it seem as though Mr Delgado was not a real girl — which he isn’t! — while those who support biology and common sense said that he should not have been allowed to compete against girls in the first place.
When the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in January, though, the optics had changed. For one thing, University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas had drawn significantly more attention to the issue—much of it negative. Thomas transitioned during college after competing on the men’s team as a freshman and sophomore. She set off an earthquake when as a senior she won an NCAA freestyle title in 2022. The university later stripped her of her records as part of a deal with the Trump administration.
Mr Thomas deprived a real woman, Emma Weyant, of the NCAA 500-yard freestyle women’s championship in 2022, something which caused real harm to the swimmer from Virginia. These things weren’t rec league titles, but real national championships.
Everyone wants to make this issue complicated, but it really isn’t. Our good friends on the left kept telling us to “follow the science” when it came to trying to mandate the COVID vaccines, but they are wholly unwilling to “follow the science” when it comes to ‘transgenderism, because it really is simple: people cannot change their sex. The ‘transgendered’ would find less hassle if they’d simply stop trying to hassle other people into accepting their delusions. They should live their lives in a way which doesn’t make their lives other people’s business.