JamieSays
26861
713
24
https://www.them.us/story/james-talarico-trans-youth-focus-on-the-real-problem
Mar 11, 2026 11:45 PM
JamieSays
26861
713
24
https://www.them.us/story/james-talarico-trans-youth-focus-on-the-real-problem
IfYouBreathingYouAchieving
What is it with conservatives and their obsession with fem boys???
wabitgirl
If this man dies, we riot. Okay? Jesus, he's a breath of fresh air, and I pray that there are no grave skeletons in his closet.
McFrazzlestache
This guy reminds me of the werewolf from Silver Bullet in human form.
ThoseRulesArentReal
That’s not really a defense, but it is Texas so I’ll take it. I just don’t want this type of language to be confused with actual defense love and care that all kids deserve.
Evecannon66
As a transperson, I appreciate this religious man standing up for me. He is what a real Christian looks like, he is what a man of the modern era looks like. Religion has always been used as a way to control the masses and he's fighting right through it. I would love to see Religion banned because of its use by the powerful inside of government.
CaldariBob
The media is owned by his opponents.
WilsonFisk
He has taken a huge donation from Miriam Adelson...
eromitlab
Sure, we pressured thousands of kids to commit suicide, but at least that one trans person can't play high school badminton! -repub assholes
Margrave9000
Yup. Think of the millions of trans kids the patriarchy, capitalism, White supremacy and cishet hostility forced to unalive themselves until science finally spoke up and told us the truth on the matter.
JohnWickdidnothingwrong
The enemy is *desperate* to revive the culture war because they're cratering on everything else. Keep in mind that there is literally nothing that they will not do. Expect it to get worse fairly quickly.
ThisNameIsMaybeTaken
Look, the problem of trans youth is an important one. We need to address it by fully investigating the ultra rich, not just in our government now, but also those outside of government who have credible allegations of rape against children and bring them to justice.
FortifiedWhine
His hair-helmet freaks me out
PullShporttel
Defensive measure from having to live in Texas.
Bundalicious
How many fucking trans people are in the Epstein files?
Skywatcher16
theres probably a few that are in it, but are redacted for being victims. among perps? a big fat goose egg
Nanntuckett
Graham Platner put it well in a podcast when he said (I’m paraphrasing) “there are 2 trans athletes in Maine but tens of thousands losing healthcare. Which is more important?”
IHateApostrophes
Arguments like this are a bit of a cop out. He isn't exactly standing up for trans people, he's just saying "I don't think the issue is important" so he can conveniently side-step the issue. But at a time when trans people are facing genocide, explicit support is crucial.
B3N15
It get your argument but he's addressing the issue at the same level as the GOP. For lack of a better term, being a dick to trans kids is a secondary objective for the GOP. Most aren't talking about it because they feel strongly about it, they're talking about because it let's them scapegoat and fear monger out of having to engage in actual issues they don't have policies on.
Nanntuckett
The way he said it was not a cop out. His interviewer was trying to get him on a tangent but Platner didn’t fall for the red herring. He didn’t dismiss trans people and has been an advocate for them, but point out out we have bigger problems than trans athletes in high school.
IHateApostrophes
I think addressing what the Lemkin institute just announced as the middle stages of a genocide isn't something we should be casually dismissing with "there are more important things"
Kansas just invalidated trans people's IDs overnight and made it illegal to drive, with no notice, and sent out letters proving they're keeping lists of trans people.
The 4th circuit just stated it's legal for states to ban gender affirming care for adults.
When will politicians consider our lives important?
Nanntuckett
This wasn’t about dismissing it or saying other things are more important. At the time, he was avoiding a red herring being thrown at him. He’s a supporter of trans rights, but that wasn’t the topic of the interview.
The point is everything important (including trans rights) should be addressed but in their own respect. For Kansas, the bill stripping trans people of licenses should be addressed immediately. For Maine, trans athletes in high school takes less priority than losing Medicaid.
Nanntuckett
(Continued) The what-about-isms can go on all day. You can distract from anything with a different problem, but they all should be addressed. If I’m talking about stopping the war in Iran, that wouldn’t mean supporting trans rights isn’t important to me.
isthisjunkmail
If you’re focused on trans people, you’re focused on the wrong 1%.
clonedeeznuts
By design
thatwastooclose
This.
eronth
Can I be focused on helping them?
Lionskull
if you're a politician that is ignoring *gestures everywhere* to do it, then you're not only not helping them, you're hurting the cause. When you tax the rich, you help everybody including trans people, when you strip corporations of their "rights", then you are helping everybody including trans people. ignoring those and other issues to focus only on trans people is backwards thinking
beerlady
They're just jealous of people finding themselves an what makes them happy.
AnonOmis1000
Thats no excuse. Im jealous of people finding what makes them happy but I dont oppress them!
beerlady
Im not excusing them. Im jelly too, of the happy people I encounter, but they make me feel better about myself for a bit.
nclu
And trans athletes is what? 0.01% or something like that
HolyFreakingToast
THAT is the population that you need to focus on - the .01% - the real problems in America stem from that group.
nclu
The 100 richest families in the world
RyvaTheRenamon
In professional areas? Probably less than a hundred world wide. In amateur, quite a few.
Yet for some reason trans people playing sports and existing is an existential threat to everyone, while a measurably large amount of people are actively burning the planet and continuing to support these mass murderers and killers and not a thing is being done.
oneofrhesamsame
There are dozens of us dozens
IHateApostrophes
Quote a few? There are 10 trans athletes at the college level NCAA out of a total half a million student athletes. West Virginia passed a law that banned trans girls from sports, and at the time there was literally one such case in the entire state.
There aren't many trans athletes because the only thing American society hates more than trans people right now, is trans people in sports.
RyvaTheRenamon
You do know that amateur involves more than just people in state level stuff right? For example, people who play bowling for professional teams are not amateurs, but anyone who goes and bowls for fun is.
IHateApostrophes
As one of those amateurs, let me tell you, there are far FAR fewer trans people in sports than there statistically should be. 1% of people are trans. But far fewer than 1% of athletes, even at the casual level, are trans. Because we've literally been banned from darts, from chess, so many trans people don't want to face that scrutiny, so the numbers are lower than they should be because society pushes us out, because it doesn't think we belong.
nclu
Trans people in sports is a hypothetical supported by the none of the reality and none of the facts. Which is perfect for a moral panic. Because it’s about tweaking emotional tonal reactions without statistical evidence.
RyvaTheRenamon
It always boils down to emotional appeals and arguments because a lot of people are incapable of separating a disagreement from a personal assault.
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frozenlake247
Also a LOT of people can’t distinguish between emotional reactions/states, subjective opinions/thoughts, and objective facts/observations.
Worse, the more difficulty a person has distinguishing between these the more susceptible they are being misled the more confident they tend to be in their own understanding of the world, and the more defensive the generally are about any attempt to improve their understanding in any way that doesn’t confirm their bias.