Everything about transgender ideology is a lie, so it follows that politicians supporting it are complicit in the lie, if not actively demanding agreement with it; the best current example being James Talarico. He’s the Democrat in the U.S. Senate race in Texas, and a lot of eyes are on him and his campaign. Talarico has toed the trans-ideology line for years to win local elections and his party’s Senate nomination. But now that he’s in a competitive general election, he compounds his deceit by lying about his position on youth sports.
When Texas lawmakers drafted legislation in 2021 to protect girls from boys playing against them in public school sports, Talarico voted to kill it. Given his penchant for decrying opponents as “extremists and zealots,” one might think Talarico would vote to safeguard girls from the extreme zealotry of people who demand that bigger, stronger, faster boys compete against them. Instead, he thought it would be fine for boys to compete against girls.
Five years later, he’s singing a different tune, albeit with a soupçon of rhetorical legerdemain. He claimed in September that he would “oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it risks safety or fairness,” allowing Talarico to define what is safe and fair. If we were talking about boys playing on the girls’ chess team, that would be one thing. But when young women experience long-term medical problems after suffering a concussion at the hands of a boy playing girls’ volleyball, that’s a problem. In 2021, Talarico didn’t see a problem. Now, he says he might.
Talarico is on record saying, “I hope we all recognize that trans girls are girls,” which is an obvious lie. Sadly, there’s no indication that anyone has asked whether he still believes that. Worse still, it seems like the Internet wants to hide Talarico’s statement. Google AI claimed, “There is no public record or verifiable source showing that Texas State Representative James Talarico made the specific statement ‘we all recognize that trans girls are girls.’” Apparently, videotaped statements delivered on the floor of a legislature don’t meet Google AI’s standard for public or verifiable sourcing.
His intransigence is reflected in another remark he made in the well of the Texas House of Representatives when he described efforts to protect female athletes as “immoral and hateful.” It’s tempting to describe this comment as an example of projection because Talarico can’t or won’t say what precisely is hateful about boys competing against other boys instead of girls, and it parallels similarly incendiary statements.
When Talarico launched his political career in 2017, he told supporters, “You can’t be a good neighbor if you are bullying kids who just want to use the bathroom.” That’s true. The problem is, nobody is bullying boys for using the men’s room. Conversely, I would hope a good neighbor might intervene when a boy tries sneaking into the ladies’ room because that’s not normal. Talarico’s ‘good neighbor’ schtick is a one-way proposition. You’re a good neighbor when you let a boy invade the privacy of girls, but you’re a bad neighbor for protecting girls. There is no compromise with him on this issue; you’re either with him, or you’re bad. Talarico then brags that “compromise is one of my values,” while denigrating people who disagree with him.
Believing something that is incontrovertibly false is a problem, and there are a lot of people who suffer from such delusions. According to the Cleveland Clinic, “A delusion is an unshakable belief in something that’s untrue. The belief isn’t a part of the person’s culture or subculture, and almost everyone else knows this belief to be false.” This diagnostic description applies to those who believe they are overweight when they’re not, like so many anorexics, or people who think they’re Napoleon. The diagnosis also describes the entire narrative surrounding transgender ideology.
People suffering from transgender ideology need and deserve proper care and treatment for their delusion. Less clear is whether this applies to politicians or trans-allies. Those promoting or supporting such delusions do so for a variety of reasons. Political advantage and social acceptance come to mind, and likely account for Talarico’s positions on the issues. In truth, he’s exploiting a mental disorder for personal gain and power.
But there are less cynical reasons for acquiescing to transgender ideology. Some parents might go along with it because they fear the government will persecute them for not affirming their child’s delusion. Others fear losing their job if they don’t refer to a woman as a man and vice versa. When people are compelled under pain of punishment to accept and promote this lie, it proves the deception.
Texans will soon be voting in the general election. If people don’t vote for Talarico, will they be slandered as immoral, hateful, extremists, zealots, bullies, and bad neighbors? Perhaps, by some. But if you want to elect a duplicitous, exploitative charlatan, he’s your man.