I'm all for defending freedom of expression, religion, speech, etc. But this is weighing into topics that aren't really about freedom and in some cases they're actively fighting against freedom. AKA it's become way more political and one sided.
From the descriptions you gave, I did not expect most of those links to end up being "The ACLU harmlessly addresses a trans issue in passing."
I think there's an argument to be made for the ACLU becoming increasingly performative, with catchy Twitter slogans edging out the real work, but this isn't it.
There is no “harmlessly addressing” the trans issue.
People feeling uncomfortable with their bodies and performing mutilation is sad. Some people remove their feet as a kinda fetish. Trans people try to look like something else to make themselves feel normal (evidence is that’s not super effective, but that’s beside the point).
The main issue isn’t that. People can do what they want in my opinion. It’s the compelled speech that the ACLU is promoting. “You have to use someone’s pronouns” is the exact opposite of free speech. It’s about as authoritarian a position as you can take. Imo pronouns are even more insidious because (a) they can change by the day and (b) you rarely use someone’s pronouns with said person, so other people have to “enforce” the proper pronoun use.
No, civil liberties has nothing to do with people using someone’s pronouns. It has to do with the freedom to say what you want to say, not compel others. ACLU is now on the side of compelled speech.
Really hard to take your grievances seriously under all that hate speech.
This isn't me policing your speech, by the way, saying that you shouldn't say something isn't the same as saying you shouldn't be able to say something.
Is the ACLU actively trying to force you to use specific pronouns, or is that just something they say because it's good social media optics?
The tweet in which you allege they’re “claiming there’s [sic] no men” is actually saying the exact opposite? It’s saying there are many different types of men.
Good sources, thanks for sharing. I didn't know a lot about the ACLU prior to this thread(other than in the news), but I agree - this is way beyond the scope of what the ACLU has been known for for years. Is there some other group that sticks to more neutrally standing up for folks, politics be damned?
My name is gender-ambiguous but I am pretty strongly male-presenting in person. People I meet over email/text communication often misgender me. Before 2016, when I met those people in person, they would joke about it. Today, it terrifies them that I might tell someone or escalate it, and I have gotten profuse apologies related to the pronouns.
I don't like that this sort of thing terrifies people. It creates a real bias in people's minds against working with anyone whose gender they don't know. The ACLU used to agree with me.
My free speech rights are being threatened. Does it matter what identity merit badges I own to have rights? You may be surprised what group I ostensibly am one of, and yet I find their pushing of this anti-free speech to be atrocious.
Perhaps it’s offensive to the other side being forced to accept someone born the opposite sex as exactly equivalent? Perhaps it has nothing to do with judging them or their lifestyle? Perhaps by the same logic they shouldn’t care about grouping themselves forcibly into a group their offending at least some of the members of?
Fighting against due process: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/see-you-court-aclu-sues...
claiming there's no men: https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/1196877415810813955
and this: https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/1199725066302308354
Telling families to discuss pronouns: https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/1250795126584217602
and this: https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/1453779768063766529
I'm all for defending freedom of expression, religion, speech, etc. But this is weighing into topics that aren't really about freedom and in some cases they're actively fighting against freedom. AKA it's become way more political and one sided.