Adam and Eve design by Hans Christiansen‘On the Existence of Two Genders’: A Poem by Brian Yapko The Society September 4, 2023 Culture, Poetry 58 Comments . On the Existence of Two Genders This poem is written in response to the trans-driven push to promulgate the idea that gender is either non-binary or does not exist at all—a nonsensical notion which is nevertheless gaining ideologically- driven traction as official policy in numerous “progressive” medical, legal and social settings. The record needs to be set straight. A temperature of ninety-eight point six; Your life expectancy, your height, your weight— All gauged with baselines; figures one may fix Upon an axis—quite divorced from hate— From which we then assess a deviation. We don’t claim nature’s failed. We simply see A reference point which serves as a foundation, A standard which marks objectivity. It is of baselines now that I must speak. Specifically, I bring up “him” and “her.” I celebrate that everyone’s unique— Appearance, faith, the foods that they prefer. But when self-interest feeds on fabrications, What’s real is threatened. It’s not merely diction. Such falsehoods poison simpleminded nations With claims a standard baseline is just fiction. Before a generation was deceived, Before the gender brainwashing began, We all knew how a baby was conceived: One female joined in coitus with one man. It’s true for mammals, reptiles, even birds. You think me bigoted to speak this way? Or ignorant? Don’t rush to scorn my words. I know my subject well. You see, I’m gay. I’ve been through every wringer you can name From threats of harm to rank discrimination. But I don’t manufacture foes to blame Or hijack churches, press or education. I’ve marched to claim my rights. That battle’s done. We vote, we wed, we enter any store. But you, transgender friend, forget you’ve won. And so you escalate a gender war. Acceptance matters, but I can’t engage In calumny, coercion or extortion To soothe my ego. This is why I rage When you aggrandize gender rights distortion. You’re gaslighting. You claim that black is white, The sky is red: it’s virtuous to steal. I pity you your psychiatric plight But don’t you dare claim gender isn’t real. I do not fight how you should live your life. Have surgery, wear make-up, change your name, Take hormones if that heals your inner strife. Get married as you will, love as you claim. But have the decency to certify That gender’s real and binary. Your hate Must not outweigh the truth. Do not deny The baseline norm from which we deviate. As for the monolithic views of those Who push the union of L-G-B-T… It’s time for a divorce. I never chose Alliance with the Trans Hegemony. For what has gay to do with the bizarre And bullying transgender push to change All aspects of our world to who they are? In fact, most gays I speak with think this strange. With godless anarchy as your prime goal What loyalty should I give to your issues? You trade all dignity for thought-control, Demanding pity. Let me grab some tissues. You threaten lawsuits. Parents must be stopped From interfering with indoctrination! Then force some trembling doctor to adopt Woke medicine. What an abomination! Cry victim when we dare resent the endless Entitlements you foist on our good will. Just scream “transphobe” until the sane are friendless. Consume us all—you’ll never eat your fill! You hypocrites claim gender isn’t binary. But speak of women’s sports and then you fight For status as “full female” in drag finery As if the fact you’re trans dare not see light. But this is wrong! Anatomy is real. With rare exceptions, skeletons display Two genders irrespective how you feel. The mandible, the pelvis are not gay Or lesbian or trans. You claim to be A follower of science and not hexes. There are no errors in an autopsy— The genitals alone prove just two sexes. I have a small suggestion to propound: Read history, psychology and learn How mass delusions gain steam and confound. Then grasp uniqueness as a gift you earn; A surgeon’s knife can’t change the soul inside; The drugs prescribed can’t alter who you are. A change of clothes won’t make the groom a bride. Ignoring baselines is a losing war. It’s time to make a U-turn and deny Coerced approval to define your worth. My life, all that I am, demands no lie. I seek no validation for my birth. I’ve suffered too with all I am and claim But I will give you love the best I can. Despite my flaws, can you give me the same? Do what you will. I still shall be a man. . . Brian Yapko is a lawyer who also writes poetry. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. NOTE TO READERS: If you enjoyed this poem or other content, please consider making a donation to the Society of Classical Poets. The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Trending now: 58 Responses Adela September 4, 2023 Bravo dear Brian! Perfectly said. Reply Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you very much, Adela. Reply Russel Winick September 4, 2023 Brian – thanks for this breathtaking, totally logical, magnificent poem. I hope it circulates widely. Reply Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you so much, Russel! I appreciate the generous words and hopes for wide circulation! Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant September 4, 2023 Brian, this superb poem has been crafted with an enviable skill that inspires me. Your linguistic dexterity and poetic mastery serve to enhance the monumental message the words deliver – a message this insane world should hear. The fact that the narrator is homosexual is of huge significance. Just as women have been targeted for eradication, so have gay people. If a minor is confused about their sexuality, it is automatically assumed by sick transgender idealogues that they have been born into the wrong body, that their “brains don’t match their genitals”. This excludes any possibility of them being gay – they just need to be chemically castrated and physically mutilated. Brian, you are right when you say, “Anatomy is real” and stanza 10 triumphs in explaining exactly why. Anybody denying this is lying to themselves and everyone else – especially our children who are in grave danger of making an irreversible adult decision that renders them infertile, plagued with post-surgery problems (mental and physical), and resentful of all those who didn’t acknowledge they were too young to have made a life-changing decision. Many are stepping up and speaking out now, only to be canceled as is the “new normal” in this post-truth world. Being gay does not mean that one is confused about chromosomes, nor does it mean embracing the brainwashing of minors. It’s time for us all to denounce this lie. Brian, I thank you wholeheartedly for your poetry and for your bravery. Reply Susan Jarvis Bryant September 4, 2023 … and isn’t it rich to find that those who spit the transgender narrative in our face constantly, present only two sexes to choose from when it comes to surgical intervention… if gender is “fluid” and there are multiple genders, why perform non-reversible procedures to secure the match of brain and genitals? If I’m confused… what chance does any child stand of making sense of the nonsensical? Reply Joseph S. Salemi September 4, 2023 The entire trannie racket, and the vast institutional agreement to support it without question, is totally unconnected with anything logical or coherent. Like most left-liberal fantasies today, it is based solely on emotion and infantile needs. So pointing out absurdities and contradictions in the narrative being pushed is useless — these people are immune to logic, and openly hostile to it if it contradicts their “feelings” and “wants.” This is why it makes no sense to talk to the left at all anymore — one might as well talk to a recorded answering-machine tape. I’m not saying this against Brian’s excellent poem — far from it. But it is written for intelligent persons who have not yet given up their rationality. That latter group does not include the current crop of left-liberal fanatics. Joshua C. Frank September 4, 2023 That’s true of all our poems. The left won’t listen to our words because of who we are, and because they hate rhyme and meter. However, people who have a worldview that’s basically in accordance with some kind of rationality are our audience. I know from experience that our poems have influenced people of that type. Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Susan, please see my reply to your primary comment below — I’m not sure how it got situated there! But as for this secondary comment, you are 100% right. There is no consistency but there is enormous hypocrisy. “Gender doesn’t exist.” “Gender isn’t binary.” “Gender is fluid.” Well, what we seem to have here is a different standard — a different reality, actually — for every single individual. In other words, once this becomes a subjective phenomenon, gender is meaningless. Which, in fact, is what leftists are trying to claim. Perhaps this position regarding gender has a domain of validity. But it is a highly limited domain since it is utterly subjective and entirely derived from fallible and suggestible personal experience. People on the left love to invoke the theory of evolution. Well, let’s apply it then — rigorously and not just as a catch-phrase. The existence of binary gender in the animal kingdom, including humans, has a much larger domain of validity and is derived from objective observation, including genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry and obstetrics. In the long run, objective observation always overrides subjective experience which is heavily tainted with psychiatric issues, ideological opportunism and the drunk compassion of all those liberals out there who are just so darned nice that they just can’t help themselves from enabling people to be who they want to be, no matter how destructive or illogical it may be. Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Susan, I am not only grateful for this generous comment but for the courage you consistently show in your poetry (as in your life) which has so inspired me and countless others. Your brave stand and support have encouraged me tremendously. I’ve been a contributor to the Society of Classical Poets for about three years now and have never felt that my sexual orientation was relevant. It’s not hidden because anyone can google me or go on Facebook and readily infer that I’m gay, but it was simply never relevant. Until now. The issue of transgender overreach and it’s aggressively insouciant threat to the women and gays is too compelling not to speak up. Furthermore, it’s been far too easy for our detractors both within and without the SCP to dismiss the poets here as Neanderthal ultra-conservatives who are heartless bigots. Rubbish. I have found more heart on this site — authentic worry for others — than on dozens of more contemporary, leftist-leaning sites. But I am a gay man who happens to still be a Democrat — someone who has litigated and marched for gay rights ever since the AIDS era. I have known dozens of men in my life who have died of AIDS and I have known men who have been gay-bashed and discriminated against in the most horrendous ways. And I have fought such discrimination. I speak on this subject from a perspective that is utterly unique on the SCP and, I believe, difficult for our detractors to dismiss as the ravings of a homophobe or transphobe. Frankly, my history and experience with the LGBT community makes this improbable. And, given my concern for the LGB community, makes it quite probable that my detractors are, in point of fact, deeply homophobic. Why else are they so eager to see a generation of gays and lesbians erased? I see a new phenomenon: a transgender movement which has bootstrapped itself to the gay rights movement and has now tried to appropriate all of our progress — hard-earned progress, believe me — without the slightest acknowledgment of what advocates like me have actually done for them, and without the slightest acknowledgment of how a new generation of gay men and lesbians are being erased because — smelling blood — they have decided that all children who are sexually confused are transgender and plopped by a non-existent or deeply negligent God into the wrong body. How in the name of heaven do these people think this is even possible let alone reasonable? I want to be very clear. It’s not the self-identification of trans that bothers me. Frankly, I could care less. But it’s the overreach which enrages me. An overreach based on lies, pseudoscience, political expediency and which damages others — especially women and gays, and even more especially, vulnerable children. I could keep going on and on but my poem does that for me. Suffice it to say that I’m deeply grateful for your inspiration and support, Susan, as well as your kind words about my poem. Reply Brian A Yapko. September 5, 2023 Joe and Josh, not sure why the position of my replies is coming out this way, but hopefully you’ll see this. I agree with you both concerning the unpersuasiveness of liberals regarding conservative arguments. Part of this, I think, is knee-jerk identity politics (“Why should I listen to you, you Cro-Magnon fascist?”) and part of this is an investment in their narrative that is so deep that it cannot be budged. And this is not just because it is what they believe. In my experience, many leftists and liberals pride themselves on the notion that they are practicing “integrity.” They are open-minded, of course, but they won’t change their views for anyone or in the face of evidence because, gosh darn it, they have integrity. Of course, when a conservative refuses to change his mind, it has nothing to do with integrity, which they have the market on. Our conservative thinker is considered bull-headed, thick, too stupid to be educated. “Integrity.” Uh huh. And when leftists demonstrate this, they perceive themselves as being open-minded, kind, loving of their fellow Man without ever once — EVER — recognizing their reflections in the mirror knitting next to the guillotine. Because they’re so nice. Sally Cook September 4, 2023 Our country is diminishing in every respect. Our laws are simply ignored, to the point where it is power and power alone that rules. But this is insanity! Congratulations on an excellent and comprehensive poem. The scum who advocate asexual abuse of children ought never to see the inside of any classroom. I would recommend something slightly smaller, with barred windowsl Reply Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Sally, I could not agree with you more. Thank you so much for the kind words about my poem and for advocating for defenseless children. Reply Roy Eugene Peterson September 4, 2023 While I am not of that persuasion, I recognize great poetry when I see it. The message is all the more meaningful of the binary nature of sexes as scientifically only two, when delivered from your vantage point. Deviation is mutilation. That is the effort to medically transform the body into something it is not and never can be is an aberration that I never can condone. I sense you spent a lot of time and intellectual energy in writing this remarkable and sincere poem from your own heartfelt perspective. Reply Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Roy, thank you so much for this very generous comment and for your strong insights regarding this poem. I am always inspired by your unwavering voice in support of faith, freedom, common sense and moral rectitude. Reply Phil S. Rogers September 4, 2023 Brian, excellent poem this morning, thank you. I have to wonder, why, after so many gains by the gay community in the past couple of decades this transgender movement is being pushed so hard it has become offensive to many people and it now seems to be destroying some of what has been accomplished. Reply Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you very much, Phil. Your point is a valid and insightful one. I believe the LGBT union is so entrenched in the thinking of gays and lesbians that it has not occurred to them how destructive their unthinking loyalty to trans issues actually is. Being supportive is one thing. Being a capo to a cause that affirmatively harms your own is another matter. The LGB community needs to wake up and consider the implicationsof their erasure. I’m hopeful this poems helps. Reply Allegra Silberstein September 4, 2023 Thank you for your honest and forthright poem so well done. Reply Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you so much, Allegra! Reply Mike Bryant September 4, 2023 Brian, I’ve already told you face to face in Austin how proud I am of your principled stands here at SCP. Well, this perfect poem only makes me prouder because you are standing up for ALL children. I think it is sad that there are some who will not stand up in solidarity with you and can only wonder what kind of skewed mindset would keep anyone quiet while our children are in such peril. I must say that our detractors have stated that SCP is somehow locked into some kind of Medieval mindset. Your poem here today goes a long way toward trashing that lie. I pray, as others have already said, that your words reach every single person that still has enough morality and common sense left to stand up and ROAR against the madness… just as you and the SCP have so admirably done. Reply Joshua C. Frank September 4, 2023 Actually, the medieval mindset has been severely mischaracterized by modern culture. Thanks to the movies, we picture the Middle Ages as something like the Egyptian enslavement of the Hebrews… but since when do movies from the Hollywood Left ever tell the truth? In reality, it was more like my lines, “Large families, small communities, the Church—/The simple country life for which I search.” For anyone interested, I recommend: The Reactionary Mind by Michael Warren Davis Catholic and Identitarian by Julien Langella Surviving Off Off-Grid by Michael Bunker The Case Against the Modern World by Daniel Schwindt Progress Debunked by Samuel Thomsen But yes, I can’t wait to see how our detractors go off on this one… Reply Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Josh, I’m on board with a restoration of human values, Medieval or otherwise — though I favor life as it existed before World War I when technology existed but had not yet wrought the devolution of society. Joseph S. Salemi September 5, 2023 Brian, you’re a man after my own heart. I dream of that marvellous period called “La Belle Epoque” which ran from about 1875 to 1914. What a great time to be alive! If I need to be cheered up, I just watch the movie “Gigi” or “Moulin Rouge.” Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Joe, we are very much on the same page! The Belle Epoque would be a wonderful time to be alive. I have a special penchant for Austria-Hungary of the 1880s and 90s — the decades leading up to Secession Art Movement in Vienna. “Gigi” and “Moulin Rouge” are great (especially the former which, unbelievably, is being culture-cancelled). But my go-to is a rhapsodically melodic and elegant Strauss Waltz. The Emperor’s Waltz (Kaiser-Walzer) is my favorite. World War I ruined everything. Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Mike, I am so happy to receive this generous comment. Thank you! I am humbled that I have made you proud and grateful for the opportunity to show SCP detractors that there is more to us than a Medieval mindset and that some of us have actually thought about issues deeply and independently from ideology. Ultimately — at least for me — this is all about the children. Children are suggestible and vulnerable. There’s a reason propagandists work so hard at catching them while they’re young. You can turn a child into a Hitler youth, a jihadist, a Cultural Revolutionary, a Bolshevik, a committed slave-owner or a Salem witch given the time and persistence of message. I’ve learned through many years of law practice and the study of children who serve as witnesses that they are imaginative, people-pleasing and often attention-seeking. They do not have the emotional intelligence of adults or even late-teens, and they certainly don’t have the experience necessary to make important judgment calls. Nor do they have boundaries. We do not allow children to serve in the military till they turn 18. We do not allow them access to alcohol until they turn 18 (in some states higher.) Any contract a minor enters into is voidable and unenforceable. And yet a child is prompted to question his or her sexual identity (concepts so beyond them it is criminal) and the Left jumps, all in the name of compassion for the poor confused child. And ideology. Shame on the Left for their dereliction of duty in failing to act like adults and parents and instead choosing the role of enablers and opportunists. I have no doubt that history will condemn them for their misguided overreach. Reply Joseph S. Salemi September 4, 2023 This poem is a magnificent tour de force. The argument is sustained for twelve solid stanzas, without a single awkward spot or metrical irregularity. That in itself is a feat, but even more impressive are the clear logical progression, the no-holds-barred attack on stupidity, and above all the real courage that it took to put this piece of razor-sharp writing into a public forum. Today in totalitarian Canada, this kind of frankness will get you into serious legal trouble, and there are millions of idiots in the United States who want the same thing to happen to anyone here who dares speak out against leftist public orthodoxy. Congratulations, Brian Yapko. You have demonstrated great poetic skill, but we all knew that already about you. You have also demonstrated, just like a combat soldier, bravery above and beyond the call of duty. Reply Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Joe, this is a comment which actually moved me to tears because you truly understand and appreciate the stress writing something like this could put a person under. Your recognition of this is incalculably valuable. Moreover, you have written much that has inspired me to say what must be said, damn the consequences. For that I thank you. I am, of course, deeply grateful for your generous words about the poem as a poem, but the phrase “bravery above and beyond the call of duty” really hit me hard — in the best possible way. We know the mindset of the Left only too well and that the likelihood of my being considered an apostate, dismissed as a traitor to the LGBT community, is very real. It will be a painful irony since I am, in fact, advocating for the survival of the gay community (along with disenfranchised women and vulnerable children) against a tangible threat, even as I issue a warning against becoming capos — but nonetheless there it is. As C.B. has stated on more than one occasion when quoting Luther — “I can do no other.” Truth matters. Deeply. Thank you for a comment which I will long remember and treasure. Reply Joshua C. Frank September 4, 2023 Brian, I’m truly impressed with this poem! Not only do you write 96 lines in perfect rhyme and meter, but you make a bold, logical, impassioned case for two and only two genders, each corresponding with biological sex. (I can really see your background in law shine through as I read your case.) This is the boldest poem you’ve written yet. Keep ’em coming! I’ve said for a long time that the very existence of transgender people is not evidence against gender being something very real, but evidence for it. After all, if male and female mean nothing, then why are people so driven to make permanent body changes to change from one to the other? Just like Michael Jackson singing about how it doesn’t matter if you’re black or white and then getting all those cosmetic changes to look white. I’ve heard that this whole trans thing taking off as it has is largely because of TikTok being used by China to manipulate America’s youth. Also, I hear that there are gay men who sleep with female-to-male transsexuals in a very heterosexual manner (I trust that anyone reading this knows what I mean, I’d rather not get graphic) and then claim they’ve never slept with women and bully others into not only agreeing, but doing the same. In short, thanks to the trans movement, there are gay men pressured to sleep with women like before the gay rights movement existed. It shows how ridiculous the whole “LGBT” concept is. And, as you’ve pointed out before, gay children are getting mutilated in the name of the trans movement, just like gays in Iran. If someone 15 years ago had said that the same would happen here, he would have been dismissed as crazy… yet, here we are. One more thought: only in an anti-child, anti-parent, anti-family culture such as ours—enabled by contraception, plus abortion for when that inevitably fails—could the trans movement have taken off as it has. In a sane culture, even if an individual person wanted to “change sex” (not that this could ever be possible), the prospect of becoming infertile would be enough to stop him. Your lines, “But you, transgender friend, forget you’ve won/And so you escalate a gender war” say so much. I think my favorite line is, “Just scream “transphobe” until the sane are friendless.” Reply Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Josh, I’m very grateful for this generous comment and I’m even more grateful for your strong support. I have taken no small amount of courage from your consistent willingness to write poetry which states hard but necessary truths. I’m tickled that you could see the lawyer in me, but I suppose that’s the foundation that leads me almost instinctively to try to make a logical argument founded on compelling evidence. For example, it’s really difficult to argue with skeletal structure or basic medical school anatomy. But, of course, people are more than the sum of their parts and so it was, I believe, important to also invoke some of my experiences as a member of the LGBT community for well over thirty years. The point you make about transgenderism actually implicitly the existence of binary genders is, I think, quite solid. It makes no sense to want to change genders if one doesn’t implicitly recognize the existence of genders. But as I also observed in an earlier comment to Susan, I think there are many who believe gender is so completely subjective that everyone’s gender reality becomes their own, much like their taste in music or food. It’s an outrageous paradigm to build a society on, and it’s completely subjective to the point where you can’t actually plan or build on it. This is one of the reasons why I can’t imagine that we won’t be laughed at 100 years from now for even entertaining the idea that gender doesn’t exist. It reeks of fad rather than revelation. You mention the idea of a “sane culture.” Well, that’s something to aspire to once this modern cultural revolution burns itself out. And yes, in a sane society people would not celebrate the sterilization of their children. They would criminalize it and sue for medical and psychiatric malpractice. What will they be brainwashed into celebrating next? And for those of us who love history — why does this abdication of common sense in the face of angry shouts, free speech restrictions and rushed-through legislation all sound so painfully familiar? Reply Mary Gardner September 4, 2023 Brian, I am in awe of your poetic skills. Your poem is perfect. Reply Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you very much indeed, Mary! Reply C.B. Anderson September 4, 2023 How does it feel, Brian, when you realize that you are preaching to the choir? As Joe Salemi writes, there can be no discourse with the other side, so I guess you have no choice but to speak to an attentive congeries of singers. Reply Joseph S. Salemi September 4, 2023 Kip, the other side is never open to what we say, but they sure as hell pay attention and listen, even if they pretend not to. The little Irish Marxist Conor Kelly admitted (at Burch’s website) that he was addicted to our commentary here. This is generally true, because otherwise there would be no explanation for the left’s constant and ferocious efforts to shut us down and silence us. Five’ll get you ten that many of the left-liberals at Eratosphere come to lurk the SCP every day. Even Stalin paid no attention to small opposition magazines in the Soviet Union that called for the restoration of the Romanovs. His attitude was that such a minuscule and barely noticed minority was no danger to him, and not worth the effort to silence. On the other hand, the hordes of cultural Marxists whom we have to deal with today are different. They literally cannot tolerate the slightest expression of disagreement with (and most especially, any trenchant critique of) their politically correct views. They listen to what we say very carefully, and they constantly think up ways and excuses to silence us. It isn’t working. That’s why they’re so pissed off. Reply Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you for this additional insight, Joe. I do believe we should be — and generally are — mindful that people who are not part of the SCP are nevertheless interested in what is said here. They read our work and our comments and that is the nature of a public forum. In other words, everything we say is “on the record.” The Marxist inability to tolerate disagreement is indeed something of a phenomenon. I attribute that to Marxists’ inner awareness that if their views are actually put on trial they will be shown to be discredited. This disturbs both their vanity and undermines their pet social justice theories, so they must put their fingers on the scale, so to speak, by silencing whatever dissent might actually threaten their brittle ideologies. Don’t worry. They are nice people who do it for a good cause. Susan Jarvis Bryant September 4, 2023 Brian, I want you to know your words matter to those who know they’re preaching to the choir, but hope others will join them in their endeavors to uphold the truth. Thanks again. Reply Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you so much, Susan. Words do matter because truth matters. And, thinking about it, maybe the choir needs preaching to from time to time. To keep them on their toes and nourish faith when it is flagging. Joshua C. Frank September 4, 2023 C.B., I’m not sure what the point of that comment was. It sounds like the aforementioned Conor Kelly calling us “a circle jerk.” I hope I’m wrong about that. The point isn’t to change the minds of other poets here; we’re already mostly united on a lot of issues. The point is to put these ideas into the minds of our readers, of whom there are many. A few of my readers have told me that I’ve changed their lives or started them thinking. I know you dismiss that as “anecdotal evidence” (so’s all of history and religion, by the way), but even if my poetry were to change only one life for the better, it would still be worth all the effort. Reply Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you for this additional comment, Josh. I agree fully with you. “The point is to put these ideas into the minds of our readers…” There are people out there who chew on our words and it is entirely possible that they may be influenced by our work. We can never know what seeds we plant may yet bear fruit. This seems like a good place to invoke the Parable of the Sower from Matthew 13: 1-9: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!” And so it may be with poetry. Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you for a comment, C.B., which pierces through all the rhymes and poetic tricks right to the heart of why I (or anyone, really) should bother writing something like this. It’s a grim question, in a way, because one may write from the heart and it may never see the light of day. Or it may be disparaged or — even worse — completely ignored. Or it may simply receive the sincere but undiscriminating praise that parents would give to their child simply for trying. But I think there’s more to it than simply preaching to the choir. I think your question deserves a deeper answer, and I’m going to pull that answer from my jury trial experience. A trial, by its nature, will have a winner and a loser. Some cases are losers from the start. Some cases that should lose end up winning. And some cases that should win end up losing. It’s rarely about justice — it’s usually about which side puts on the better show. (The musical “Chicago” gets it right.) Well, I’ve been on the losing end of cases before — cases where I knew the judge didn’t like my client; cases where I could see disdain or disbelief or boredom in the faces of the jury. I knew I was going to lose, even though I had justice on my side, I had the law on my side. So what’s a lawyer to do? YOU CREATE A RECORD. Even if you’re going to lose the case, you also know you are going to file an appeal and some detached panel of judges who see nothing but what’s in print in the record will revisit the case with far less subjectivity and passion than those involved in the actual trial. You create a record so that when the justice of the situation in real time seems in doubt, you can nevertheless know that people in the future will have a chance to look back and revisit these issues and maybe reverse bad decisions. You create a record because it’s a record of the truth, irrespective of whether people believe it now or are sympathetic to it now. You create a record because you hope. At least that is what I do. And so I write a poem where I may not convince a single soul who disagrees with me that I’m right and where, conversely, I may get praise from those who are like-minded. But I’ve made my record and my peace. Many, many people will disagree with it, and I’ve put myself into a position where maybe I’ll be reviled or maybe I’ll be ignored. But I was inspired to write this poem. Inspired. And what that means as far as its life beyond this page, its potential value and influence is above my pay-grade. Lastly, as far as how I feel…? It doesn’t matter how I feel. I will paraphrase you, C.B., because the phrase you have borrowed from Martin Luther has inspired me more than you can know: I could do no other. Thank you again for giving me the challenge of pondering these things in greater depth. Reply C.B. Anderson September 5, 2023 Good answer, Brian. You and Joshua have caused me to moderate my position — but you did it with prose! Susan Jarvis Bryant September 5, 2023 Really, C.B.? So sticking to the pastoral is a wise move and anything beyond the jocund daffodil is a futile endeavor when it comes to making a difference to the way people think? In Rudyard Kipling’s “If” there wasn’t a daffodil in sight, but his poetry is one of the reasons I write… and his rhyming, rhythmic, and rapturous words have made a difference to many, in the UK at least. I will say this, Brian’s poem is powerful enough to have elicited the prose you speak of… my poetry has got me dragged through the cyber mire by those who disagree vehemently with what my poetry says… my poetry is out there and recognized. I’m standing up for the children mutilated because of a sick ideology, those murdered through COVID protocols, and those duped by a draconian regime. My words are making a difference. The prose on this page would not exist without the poetry. Warren Bonham September 5, 2023 I can’t improve upon what’s already been said but I echo the sentiments. Great job on the message, meter and rhyme. Reply Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you very much, Warren! Reply Mike Bryant September 5, 2023 I happened on this very short video that makes it clear we are not alone in our mission. Also, below that video there is a transcript. https://conservativefiringline.com/watch-this-great-woman-tell-transgender-allies-that-they-are-the-villains-video/ Reply Joshua C. Frank September 5, 2023 Thanks Mike! I’d like to add an anonymous quote I saw shared online: “It’s strange how, on the one hand, we live in a veritable matriarchy – a Romper Room where feelings are central, women have all the power with regard to marriage and family law, women benefit from double standards, a woman’s mere word can destroy a man for life, women’s career and educational successes are centralized while men’s are ignored completely, etc., ad nauseam while, on the other hand, women are losing their rights to their own sports, privacy, and even to be able to self-identify as ‘women’ rather than as ‘birthing persons,’ ‘cis-women,’ or what have you. And no, ladies, it isn’t ‘men’ who are pushing for this; it is the LGBTQ+ crowd, political progressives, and – women (especially upper class women, who always carry on without concern about lower and middle class women). This isn’t a return of the long-dead ‘patriarchy;’ it’s something else altogether. But what is it?” Reply Mike Bryant September 5, 2023 Easy… it’s what the old killing communism has morphed into – a brand spanking new techno-medical fascist police state that turns every conceivable group against every other conceivable group. Chaos is the handmaiden of the powerful. The killings by these “philanthropists” have just barely started. Brian A. Yapko September 6, 2023 Josh, I think Joe Salemi nailed this one in a comment several months ago (I don’t recall the poem) in which he described how leftism had actually become something of a pseudo-religion for many on the Left. This is more than just the LGBTQ+ crowd and it’s more than self-identifying political progressives (because many members so take their positions so for granted they don’t even realize they have taken on extreme viewpoints.) There is an orthodoxy, a strong desire to evangelize, fury at apostasy, fear of heresy, and a number of other pseudo-religious qualities to this movement. Since rationality seems to be out of the question, how does one react to this other than to let it burn itself out from lack of evidentiary foundation? Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you, Mike. This is very powerful. The most amazing thing about trans allies — at least in my experience — is that they don’t actually know any trans people! They jump on the freedom bandwagon because it’s popular, because it’s part of the liberal package and because it’s a no-brainer that one should support those who have been discriminated against. But these allies don’t know them so they simply enable unrealistic demands which come at the expense of women and gays, and which affirmatively damage children. By the way, in my legal career and in several social contexts, including two gay choruses (Los Angeles and Portland) I’ve known probably thirty trans people, some of whom I became quite close to. Reply Mike Bryant September 5, 2023 Hey Brian, you said, “But these allies don’t know them so they simply enable unrealistic demands which come at the expense of women and gays,” I would add men to the list, however, the ones that suffer most are the children, as you have already said. God help us all. I think that Jesus mentioned about a millstone and being tossed into the sea… right? Brian A. Yapko September 6, 2023 How right you are, Mike. When truth is subverted, all are victims, including straight men (like “woman”, the definition of “man” has also been expanded by the progressive Cambridge Dictionary to include a trans subjective entry. I believe other dictionaries have followed suit.) But the most heartbreaking victims are the children who have both limited judgment and extraordinary vulnerability. Mike Bryant September 6, 2023 Brian, this is the elephant in the room. Where are the caring? Where are the outraged with their whips of speech turning over the operating tables of the mutilators? Where are the upright using their God-given voices to call down the unrighteousness? Where are the churches? Why are they silent? Are they filled only with church mice? Brian A. Yapko September 6, 2023 “Church mice?” Oh, Mike, How I wish it were as passive as that. Take a look at this. https://anglicanjournal.com/general-synod-authorizes-gender-transition-and-affirmation-liturgies/ Paul A. Freeman September 5, 2023 Brian, your poem could so easily have come out as a rant, but it’s reined in, educative, highly thought out and highlights the areas where, I reckon, the trans movement has gone awry. Thanks for the read. Reply Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Paul, I am so pleased to get this comment. My pleasure. Thank you very much for considering that the situation is more nuanced than is often described and, as well, for acknowledging the amount of thought that has gone into this piece. Reply David Hollywood September 6, 2023 A great poem Brian, and its timing from a personal perspective is perfect as my 14 year old daughter has been going through the external peer pressure influences and consequent insistence’s that as one of the older generation I am prejudiced in my beliefs, and I really don’t understand. But your poem in conjunction with a gay friend of mine has helped to provide (easier to accept than my parental attempts) third party explanations, descriptions and questions that have made her halt in her thoughts and tracks and reassess her rejections of the actual and natural ways we are created. Many thanks Brian for this wonderful presentation, and excellent poem. All best. Reply Brian A. Yapko September 6, 2023 David, I am so very, very pleased that my poem has actually been able to make a difference in your daughter’s thinking! This all by itself has made going forward with this challenging poem well worth it. Thank you so much for letting me know and for the kind words about the work itself. Reply Alena Casey September 8, 2023 This poem is metrically flawless and hits each logical and rhetorical beat well. Brian, you are brave to write this and brave to have it published. I hope the support you receive here and elsewhere far outweighs any backlash, and that your poem will touch hearts for years to come. Reply Brian A. Yapko September 9, 2023 Thank you so much, Alena. I simply cannot keep silent in the face of a travesty for silence implies consent. I very much appreciate your generous words and hopes for this poem’s ability to touch people in the future. Reply Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYour email address will not be published.CommentName* Email* Website Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Δ This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Russel Winick September 4, 2023 Brian – thanks for this breathtaking, totally logical, magnificent poem. I hope it circulates widely. Reply
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you so much, Russel! I appreciate the generous words and hopes for wide circulation! Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant September 4, 2023 Brian, this superb poem has been crafted with an enviable skill that inspires me. Your linguistic dexterity and poetic mastery serve to enhance the monumental message the words deliver – a message this insane world should hear. The fact that the narrator is homosexual is of huge significance. Just as women have been targeted for eradication, so have gay people. If a minor is confused about their sexuality, it is automatically assumed by sick transgender idealogues that they have been born into the wrong body, that their “brains don’t match their genitals”. This excludes any possibility of them being gay – they just need to be chemically castrated and physically mutilated. Brian, you are right when you say, “Anatomy is real” and stanza 10 triumphs in explaining exactly why. Anybody denying this is lying to themselves and everyone else – especially our children who are in grave danger of making an irreversible adult decision that renders them infertile, plagued with post-surgery problems (mental and physical), and resentful of all those who didn’t acknowledge they were too young to have made a life-changing decision. Many are stepping up and speaking out now, only to be canceled as is the “new normal” in this post-truth world. Being gay does not mean that one is confused about chromosomes, nor does it mean embracing the brainwashing of minors. It’s time for us all to denounce this lie. Brian, I thank you wholeheartedly for your poetry and for your bravery. Reply
Susan Jarvis Bryant September 4, 2023 … and isn’t it rich to find that those who spit the transgender narrative in our face constantly, present only two sexes to choose from when it comes to surgical intervention… if gender is “fluid” and there are multiple genders, why perform non-reversible procedures to secure the match of brain and genitals? If I’m confused… what chance does any child stand of making sense of the nonsensical? Reply
Joseph S. Salemi September 4, 2023 The entire trannie racket, and the vast institutional agreement to support it without question, is totally unconnected with anything logical or coherent. Like most left-liberal fantasies today, it is based solely on emotion and infantile needs. So pointing out absurdities and contradictions in the narrative being pushed is useless — these people are immune to logic, and openly hostile to it if it contradicts their “feelings” and “wants.” This is why it makes no sense to talk to the left at all anymore — one might as well talk to a recorded answering-machine tape. I’m not saying this against Brian’s excellent poem — far from it. But it is written for intelligent persons who have not yet given up their rationality. That latter group does not include the current crop of left-liberal fanatics.
Joshua C. Frank September 4, 2023 That’s true of all our poems. The left won’t listen to our words because of who we are, and because they hate rhyme and meter. However, people who have a worldview that’s basically in accordance with some kind of rationality are our audience. I know from experience that our poems have influenced people of that type.
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Susan, please see my reply to your primary comment below — I’m not sure how it got situated there! But as for this secondary comment, you are 100% right. There is no consistency but there is enormous hypocrisy. “Gender doesn’t exist.” “Gender isn’t binary.” “Gender is fluid.” Well, what we seem to have here is a different standard — a different reality, actually — for every single individual. In other words, once this becomes a subjective phenomenon, gender is meaningless. Which, in fact, is what leftists are trying to claim. Perhaps this position regarding gender has a domain of validity. But it is a highly limited domain since it is utterly subjective and entirely derived from fallible and suggestible personal experience. People on the left love to invoke the theory of evolution. Well, let’s apply it then — rigorously and not just as a catch-phrase. The existence of binary gender in the animal kingdom, including humans, has a much larger domain of validity and is derived from objective observation, including genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry and obstetrics. In the long run, objective observation always overrides subjective experience which is heavily tainted with psychiatric issues, ideological opportunism and the drunk compassion of all those liberals out there who are just so darned nice that they just can’t help themselves from enabling people to be who they want to be, no matter how destructive or illogical it may be.
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Susan, I am not only grateful for this generous comment but for the courage you consistently show in your poetry (as in your life) which has so inspired me and countless others. Your brave stand and support have encouraged me tremendously. I’ve been a contributor to the Society of Classical Poets for about three years now and have never felt that my sexual orientation was relevant. It’s not hidden because anyone can google me or go on Facebook and readily infer that I’m gay, but it was simply never relevant. Until now. The issue of transgender overreach and it’s aggressively insouciant threat to the women and gays is too compelling not to speak up. Furthermore, it’s been far too easy for our detractors both within and without the SCP to dismiss the poets here as Neanderthal ultra-conservatives who are heartless bigots. Rubbish. I have found more heart on this site — authentic worry for others — than on dozens of more contemporary, leftist-leaning sites. But I am a gay man who happens to still be a Democrat — someone who has litigated and marched for gay rights ever since the AIDS era. I have known dozens of men in my life who have died of AIDS and I have known men who have been gay-bashed and discriminated against in the most horrendous ways. And I have fought such discrimination. I speak on this subject from a perspective that is utterly unique on the SCP and, I believe, difficult for our detractors to dismiss as the ravings of a homophobe or transphobe. Frankly, my history and experience with the LGBT community makes this improbable. And, given my concern for the LGB community, makes it quite probable that my detractors are, in point of fact, deeply homophobic. Why else are they so eager to see a generation of gays and lesbians erased? I see a new phenomenon: a transgender movement which has bootstrapped itself to the gay rights movement and has now tried to appropriate all of our progress — hard-earned progress, believe me — without the slightest acknowledgment of what advocates like me have actually done for them, and without the slightest acknowledgment of how a new generation of gay men and lesbians are being erased because — smelling blood — they have decided that all children who are sexually confused are transgender and plopped by a non-existent or deeply negligent God into the wrong body. How in the name of heaven do these people think this is even possible let alone reasonable? I want to be very clear. It’s not the self-identification of trans that bothers me. Frankly, I could care less. But it’s the overreach which enrages me. An overreach based on lies, pseudoscience, political expediency and which damages others — especially women and gays, and even more especially, vulnerable children. I could keep going on and on but my poem does that for me. Suffice it to say that I’m deeply grateful for your inspiration and support, Susan, as well as your kind words about my poem. Reply
Brian A Yapko. September 5, 2023 Joe and Josh, not sure why the position of my replies is coming out this way, but hopefully you’ll see this. I agree with you both concerning the unpersuasiveness of liberals regarding conservative arguments. Part of this, I think, is knee-jerk identity politics (“Why should I listen to you, you Cro-Magnon fascist?”) and part of this is an investment in their narrative that is so deep that it cannot be budged. And this is not just because it is what they believe. In my experience, many leftists and liberals pride themselves on the notion that they are practicing “integrity.” They are open-minded, of course, but they won’t change their views for anyone or in the face of evidence because, gosh darn it, they have integrity. Of course, when a conservative refuses to change his mind, it has nothing to do with integrity, which they have the market on. Our conservative thinker is considered bull-headed, thick, too stupid to be educated. “Integrity.” Uh huh. And when leftists demonstrate this, they perceive themselves as being open-minded, kind, loving of their fellow Man without ever once — EVER — recognizing their reflections in the mirror knitting next to the guillotine. Because they’re so nice.
Sally Cook September 4, 2023 Our country is diminishing in every respect. Our laws are simply ignored, to the point where it is power and power alone that rules. But this is insanity! Congratulations on an excellent and comprehensive poem. The scum who advocate asexual abuse of children ought never to see the inside of any classroom. I would recommend something slightly smaller, with barred windowsl Reply
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Sally, I could not agree with you more. Thank you so much for the kind words about my poem and for advocating for defenseless children. Reply
Roy Eugene Peterson September 4, 2023 While I am not of that persuasion, I recognize great poetry when I see it. The message is all the more meaningful of the binary nature of sexes as scientifically only two, when delivered from your vantage point. Deviation is mutilation. That is the effort to medically transform the body into something it is not and never can be is an aberration that I never can condone. I sense you spent a lot of time and intellectual energy in writing this remarkable and sincere poem from your own heartfelt perspective. Reply
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Roy, thank you so much for this very generous comment and for your strong insights regarding this poem. I am always inspired by your unwavering voice in support of faith, freedom, common sense and moral rectitude. Reply
Phil S. Rogers September 4, 2023 Brian, excellent poem this morning, thank you. I have to wonder, why, after so many gains by the gay community in the past couple of decades this transgender movement is being pushed so hard it has become offensive to many people and it now seems to be destroying some of what has been accomplished. Reply
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you very much, Phil. Your point is a valid and insightful one. I believe the LGBT union is so entrenched in the thinking of gays and lesbians that it has not occurred to them how destructive their unthinking loyalty to trans issues actually is. Being supportive is one thing. Being a capo to a cause that affirmatively harms your own is another matter. The LGB community needs to wake up and consider the implicationsof their erasure. I’m hopeful this poems helps. Reply
Allegra Silberstein September 4, 2023 Thank you for your honest and forthright poem so well done. Reply
Mike Bryant September 4, 2023 Brian, I’ve already told you face to face in Austin how proud I am of your principled stands here at SCP. Well, this perfect poem only makes me prouder because you are standing up for ALL children. I think it is sad that there are some who will not stand up in solidarity with you and can only wonder what kind of skewed mindset would keep anyone quiet while our children are in such peril. I must say that our detractors have stated that SCP is somehow locked into some kind of Medieval mindset. Your poem here today goes a long way toward trashing that lie. I pray, as others have already said, that your words reach every single person that still has enough morality and common sense left to stand up and ROAR against the madness… just as you and the SCP have so admirably done. Reply
Joshua C. Frank September 4, 2023 Actually, the medieval mindset has been severely mischaracterized by modern culture. Thanks to the movies, we picture the Middle Ages as something like the Egyptian enslavement of the Hebrews… but since when do movies from the Hollywood Left ever tell the truth? In reality, it was more like my lines, “Large families, small communities, the Church—/The simple country life for which I search.” For anyone interested, I recommend: The Reactionary Mind by Michael Warren Davis Catholic and Identitarian by Julien Langella Surviving Off Off-Grid by Michael Bunker The Case Against the Modern World by Daniel Schwindt Progress Debunked by Samuel Thomsen But yes, I can’t wait to see how our detractors go off on this one… Reply
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Josh, I’m on board with a restoration of human values, Medieval or otherwise — though I favor life as it existed before World War I when technology existed but had not yet wrought the devolution of society.
Joseph S. Salemi September 5, 2023 Brian, you’re a man after my own heart. I dream of that marvellous period called “La Belle Epoque” which ran from about 1875 to 1914. What a great time to be alive! If I need to be cheered up, I just watch the movie “Gigi” or “Moulin Rouge.”
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Joe, we are very much on the same page! The Belle Epoque would be a wonderful time to be alive. I have a special penchant for Austria-Hungary of the 1880s and 90s — the decades leading up to Secession Art Movement in Vienna. “Gigi” and “Moulin Rouge” are great (especially the former which, unbelievably, is being culture-cancelled). But my go-to is a rhapsodically melodic and elegant Strauss Waltz. The Emperor’s Waltz (Kaiser-Walzer) is my favorite. World War I ruined everything.
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Mike, I am so happy to receive this generous comment. Thank you! I am humbled that I have made you proud and grateful for the opportunity to show SCP detractors that there is more to us than a Medieval mindset and that some of us have actually thought about issues deeply and independently from ideology. Ultimately — at least for me — this is all about the children. Children are suggestible and vulnerable. There’s a reason propagandists work so hard at catching them while they’re young. You can turn a child into a Hitler youth, a jihadist, a Cultural Revolutionary, a Bolshevik, a committed slave-owner or a Salem witch given the time and persistence of message. I’ve learned through many years of law practice and the study of children who serve as witnesses that they are imaginative, people-pleasing and often attention-seeking. They do not have the emotional intelligence of adults or even late-teens, and they certainly don’t have the experience necessary to make important judgment calls. Nor do they have boundaries. We do not allow children to serve in the military till they turn 18. We do not allow them access to alcohol until they turn 18 (in some states higher.) Any contract a minor enters into is voidable and unenforceable. And yet a child is prompted to question his or her sexual identity (concepts so beyond them it is criminal) and the Left jumps, all in the name of compassion for the poor confused child. And ideology. Shame on the Left for their dereliction of duty in failing to act like adults and parents and instead choosing the role of enablers and opportunists. I have no doubt that history will condemn them for their misguided overreach. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi September 4, 2023 This poem is a magnificent tour de force. The argument is sustained for twelve solid stanzas, without a single awkward spot or metrical irregularity. That in itself is a feat, but even more impressive are the clear logical progression, the no-holds-barred attack on stupidity, and above all the real courage that it took to put this piece of razor-sharp writing into a public forum. Today in totalitarian Canada, this kind of frankness will get you into serious legal trouble, and there are millions of idiots in the United States who want the same thing to happen to anyone here who dares speak out against leftist public orthodoxy. Congratulations, Brian Yapko. You have demonstrated great poetic skill, but we all knew that already about you. You have also demonstrated, just like a combat soldier, bravery above and beyond the call of duty. Reply
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Joe, this is a comment which actually moved me to tears because you truly understand and appreciate the stress writing something like this could put a person under. Your recognition of this is incalculably valuable. Moreover, you have written much that has inspired me to say what must be said, damn the consequences. For that I thank you. I am, of course, deeply grateful for your generous words about the poem as a poem, but the phrase “bravery above and beyond the call of duty” really hit me hard — in the best possible way. We know the mindset of the Left only too well and that the likelihood of my being considered an apostate, dismissed as a traitor to the LGBT community, is very real. It will be a painful irony since I am, in fact, advocating for the survival of the gay community (along with disenfranchised women and vulnerable children) against a tangible threat, even as I issue a warning against becoming capos — but nonetheless there it is. As C.B. has stated on more than one occasion when quoting Luther — “I can do no other.” Truth matters. Deeply. Thank you for a comment which I will long remember and treasure. Reply
Joshua C. Frank September 4, 2023 Brian, I’m truly impressed with this poem! Not only do you write 96 lines in perfect rhyme and meter, but you make a bold, logical, impassioned case for two and only two genders, each corresponding with biological sex. (I can really see your background in law shine through as I read your case.) This is the boldest poem you’ve written yet. Keep ’em coming! I’ve said for a long time that the very existence of transgender people is not evidence against gender being something very real, but evidence for it. After all, if male and female mean nothing, then why are people so driven to make permanent body changes to change from one to the other? Just like Michael Jackson singing about how it doesn’t matter if you’re black or white and then getting all those cosmetic changes to look white. I’ve heard that this whole trans thing taking off as it has is largely because of TikTok being used by China to manipulate America’s youth. Also, I hear that there are gay men who sleep with female-to-male transsexuals in a very heterosexual manner (I trust that anyone reading this knows what I mean, I’d rather not get graphic) and then claim they’ve never slept with women and bully others into not only agreeing, but doing the same. In short, thanks to the trans movement, there are gay men pressured to sleep with women like before the gay rights movement existed. It shows how ridiculous the whole “LGBT” concept is. And, as you’ve pointed out before, gay children are getting mutilated in the name of the trans movement, just like gays in Iran. If someone 15 years ago had said that the same would happen here, he would have been dismissed as crazy… yet, here we are. One more thought: only in an anti-child, anti-parent, anti-family culture such as ours—enabled by contraception, plus abortion for when that inevitably fails—could the trans movement have taken off as it has. In a sane culture, even if an individual person wanted to “change sex” (not that this could ever be possible), the prospect of becoming infertile would be enough to stop him. Your lines, “But you, transgender friend, forget you’ve won/And so you escalate a gender war” say so much. I think my favorite line is, “Just scream “transphobe” until the sane are friendless.” Reply
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Josh, I’m very grateful for this generous comment and I’m even more grateful for your strong support. I have taken no small amount of courage from your consistent willingness to write poetry which states hard but necessary truths. I’m tickled that you could see the lawyer in me, but I suppose that’s the foundation that leads me almost instinctively to try to make a logical argument founded on compelling evidence. For example, it’s really difficult to argue with skeletal structure or basic medical school anatomy. But, of course, people are more than the sum of their parts and so it was, I believe, important to also invoke some of my experiences as a member of the LGBT community for well over thirty years. The point you make about transgenderism actually implicitly the existence of binary genders is, I think, quite solid. It makes no sense to want to change genders if one doesn’t implicitly recognize the existence of genders. But as I also observed in an earlier comment to Susan, I think there are many who believe gender is so completely subjective that everyone’s gender reality becomes their own, much like their taste in music or food. It’s an outrageous paradigm to build a society on, and it’s completely subjective to the point where you can’t actually plan or build on it. This is one of the reasons why I can’t imagine that we won’t be laughed at 100 years from now for even entertaining the idea that gender doesn’t exist. It reeks of fad rather than revelation. You mention the idea of a “sane culture.” Well, that’s something to aspire to once this modern cultural revolution burns itself out. And yes, in a sane society people would not celebrate the sterilization of their children. They would criminalize it and sue for medical and psychiatric malpractice. What will they be brainwashed into celebrating next? And for those of us who love history — why does this abdication of common sense in the face of angry shouts, free speech restrictions and rushed-through legislation all sound so painfully familiar? Reply
C.B. Anderson September 4, 2023 How does it feel, Brian, when you realize that you are preaching to the choir? As Joe Salemi writes, there can be no discourse with the other side, so I guess you have no choice but to speak to an attentive congeries of singers. Reply
Joseph S. Salemi September 4, 2023 Kip, the other side is never open to what we say, but they sure as hell pay attention and listen, even if they pretend not to. The little Irish Marxist Conor Kelly admitted (at Burch’s website) that he was addicted to our commentary here. This is generally true, because otherwise there would be no explanation for the left’s constant and ferocious efforts to shut us down and silence us. Five’ll get you ten that many of the left-liberals at Eratosphere come to lurk the SCP every day. Even Stalin paid no attention to small opposition magazines in the Soviet Union that called for the restoration of the Romanovs. His attitude was that such a minuscule and barely noticed minority was no danger to him, and not worth the effort to silence. On the other hand, the hordes of cultural Marxists whom we have to deal with today are different. They literally cannot tolerate the slightest expression of disagreement with (and most especially, any trenchant critique of) their politically correct views. They listen to what we say very carefully, and they constantly think up ways and excuses to silence us. It isn’t working. That’s why they’re so pissed off. Reply
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you for this additional insight, Joe. I do believe we should be — and generally are — mindful that people who are not part of the SCP are nevertheless interested in what is said here. They read our work and our comments and that is the nature of a public forum. In other words, everything we say is “on the record.” The Marxist inability to tolerate disagreement is indeed something of a phenomenon. I attribute that to Marxists’ inner awareness that if their views are actually put on trial they will be shown to be discredited. This disturbs both their vanity and undermines their pet social justice theories, so they must put their fingers on the scale, so to speak, by silencing whatever dissent might actually threaten their brittle ideologies. Don’t worry. They are nice people who do it for a good cause.
Susan Jarvis Bryant September 4, 2023 Brian, I want you to know your words matter to those who know they’re preaching to the choir, but hope others will join them in their endeavors to uphold the truth. Thanks again. Reply
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you so much, Susan. Words do matter because truth matters. And, thinking about it, maybe the choir needs preaching to from time to time. To keep them on their toes and nourish faith when it is flagging.
Joshua C. Frank September 4, 2023 C.B., I’m not sure what the point of that comment was. It sounds like the aforementioned Conor Kelly calling us “a circle jerk.” I hope I’m wrong about that. The point isn’t to change the minds of other poets here; we’re already mostly united on a lot of issues. The point is to put these ideas into the minds of our readers, of whom there are many. A few of my readers have told me that I’ve changed their lives or started them thinking. I know you dismiss that as “anecdotal evidence” (so’s all of history and religion, by the way), but even if my poetry were to change only one life for the better, it would still be worth all the effort. Reply
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you for this additional comment, Josh. I agree fully with you. “The point is to put these ideas into the minds of our readers…” There are people out there who chew on our words and it is entirely possible that they may be influenced by our work. We can never know what seeds we plant may yet bear fruit. This seems like a good place to invoke the Parable of the Sower from Matthew 13: 1-9: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!” And so it may be with poetry.
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you for a comment, C.B., which pierces through all the rhymes and poetic tricks right to the heart of why I (or anyone, really) should bother writing something like this. It’s a grim question, in a way, because one may write from the heart and it may never see the light of day. Or it may be disparaged or — even worse — completely ignored. Or it may simply receive the sincere but undiscriminating praise that parents would give to their child simply for trying. But I think there’s more to it than simply preaching to the choir. I think your question deserves a deeper answer, and I’m going to pull that answer from my jury trial experience. A trial, by its nature, will have a winner and a loser. Some cases are losers from the start. Some cases that should lose end up winning. And some cases that should win end up losing. It’s rarely about justice — it’s usually about which side puts on the better show. (The musical “Chicago” gets it right.) Well, I’ve been on the losing end of cases before — cases where I knew the judge didn’t like my client; cases where I could see disdain or disbelief or boredom in the faces of the jury. I knew I was going to lose, even though I had justice on my side, I had the law on my side. So what’s a lawyer to do? YOU CREATE A RECORD. Even if you’re going to lose the case, you also know you are going to file an appeal and some detached panel of judges who see nothing but what’s in print in the record will revisit the case with far less subjectivity and passion than those involved in the actual trial. You create a record so that when the justice of the situation in real time seems in doubt, you can nevertheless know that people in the future will have a chance to look back and revisit these issues and maybe reverse bad decisions. You create a record because it’s a record of the truth, irrespective of whether people believe it now or are sympathetic to it now. You create a record because you hope. At least that is what I do. And so I write a poem where I may not convince a single soul who disagrees with me that I’m right and where, conversely, I may get praise from those who are like-minded. But I’ve made my record and my peace. Many, many people will disagree with it, and I’ve put myself into a position where maybe I’ll be reviled or maybe I’ll be ignored. But I was inspired to write this poem. Inspired. And what that means as far as its life beyond this page, its potential value and influence is above my pay-grade. Lastly, as far as how I feel…? It doesn’t matter how I feel. I will paraphrase you, C.B., because the phrase you have borrowed from Martin Luther has inspired me more than you can know: I could do no other. Thank you again for giving me the challenge of pondering these things in greater depth. Reply
C.B. Anderson September 5, 2023 Good answer, Brian. You and Joshua have caused me to moderate my position — but you did it with prose!
Susan Jarvis Bryant September 5, 2023 Really, C.B.? So sticking to the pastoral is a wise move and anything beyond the jocund daffodil is a futile endeavor when it comes to making a difference to the way people think? In Rudyard Kipling’s “If” there wasn’t a daffodil in sight, but his poetry is one of the reasons I write… and his rhyming, rhythmic, and rapturous words have made a difference to many, in the UK at least. I will say this, Brian’s poem is powerful enough to have elicited the prose you speak of… my poetry has got me dragged through the cyber mire by those who disagree vehemently with what my poetry says… my poetry is out there and recognized. I’m standing up for the children mutilated because of a sick ideology, those murdered through COVID protocols, and those duped by a draconian regime. My words are making a difference. The prose on this page would not exist without the poetry.
Warren Bonham September 5, 2023 I can’t improve upon what’s already been said but I echo the sentiments. Great job on the message, meter and rhyme. Reply
Mike Bryant September 5, 2023 I happened on this very short video that makes it clear we are not alone in our mission. Also, below that video there is a transcript. https://conservativefiringline.com/watch-this-great-woman-tell-transgender-allies-that-they-are-the-villains-video/ Reply
Joshua C. Frank September 5, 2023 Thanks Mike! I’d like to add an anonymous quote I saw shared online: “It’s strange how, on the one hand, we live in a veritable matriarchy – a Romper Room where feelings are central, women have all the power with regard to marriage and family law, women benefit from double standards, a woman’s mere word can destroy a man for life, women’s career and educational successes are centralized while men’s are ignored completely, etc., ad nauseam while, on the other hand, women are losing their rights to their own sports, privacy, and even to be able to self-identify as ‘women’ rather than as ‘birthing persons,’ ‘cis-women,’ or what have you. And no, ladies, it isn’t ‘men’ who are pushing for this; it is the LGBTQ+ crowd, political progressives, and – women (especially upper class women, who always carry on without concern about lower and middle class women). This isn’t a return of the long-dead ‘patriarchy;’ it’s something else altogether. But what is it?” Reply
Mike Bryant September 5, 2023 Easy… it’s what the old killing communism has morphed into – a brand spanking new techno-medical fascist police state that turns every conceivable group against every other conceivable group. Chaos is the handmaiden of the powerful. The killings by these “philanthropists” have just barely started.
Brian A. Yapko September 6, 2023 Josh, I think Joe Salemi nailed this one in a comment several months ago (I don’t recall the poem) in which he described how leftism had actually become something of a pseudo-religion for many on the Left. This is more than just the LGBTQ+ crowd and it’s more than self-identifying political progressives (because many members so take their positions so for granted they don’t even realize they have taken on extreme viewpoints.) There is an orthodoxy, a strong desire to evangelize, fury at apostasy, fear of heresy, and a number of other pseudo-religious qualities to this movement. Since rationality seems to be out of the question, how does one react to this other than to let it burn itself out from lack of evidentiary foundation?
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Thank you, Mike. This is very powerful. The most amazing thing about trans allies — at least in my experience — is that they don’t actually know any trans people! They jump on the freedom bandwagon because it’s popular, because it’s part of the liberal package and because it’s a no-brainer that one should support those who have been discriminated against. But these allies don’t know them so they simply enable unrealistic demands which come at the expense of women and gays, and which affirmatively damage children. By the way, in my legal career and in several social contexts, including two gay choruses (Los Angeles and Portland) I’ve known probably thirty trans people, some of whom I became quite close to. Reply
Mike Bryant September 5, 2023 Hey Brian, you said, “But these allies don’t know them so they simply enable unrealistic demands which come at the expense of women and gays,” I would add men to the list, however, the ones that suffer most are the children, as you have already said. God help us all. I think that Jesus mentioned about a millstone and being tossed into the sea… right?
Brian A. Yapko September 6, 2023 How right you are, Mike. When truth is subverted, all are victims, including straight men (like “woman”, the definition of “man” has also been expanded by the progressive Cambridge Dictionary to include a trans subjective entry. I believe other dictionaries have followed suit.) But the most heartbreaking victims are the children who have both limited judgment and extraordinary vulnerability.
Mike Bryant September 6, 2023 Brian, this is the elephant in the room. Where are the caring? Where are the outraged with their whips of speech turning over the operating tables of the mutilators? Where are the upright using their God-given voices to call down the unrighteousness? Where are the churches? Why are they silent? Are they filled only with church mice?
Brian A. Yapko September 6, 2023 “Church mice?” Oh, Mike, How I wish it were as passive as that. Take a look at this. https://anglicanjournal.com/general-synod-authorizes-gender-transition-and-affirmation-liturgies/
Paul A. Freeman September 5, 2023 Brian, your poem could so easily have come out as a rant, but it’s reined in, educative, highly thought out and highlights the areas where, I reckon, the trans movement has gone awry. Thanks for the read. Reply
Brian A. Yapko September 5, 2023 Paul, I am so pleased to get this comment. My pleasure. Thank you very much for considering that the situation is more nuanced than is often described and, as well, for acknowledging the amount of thought that has gone into this piece. Reply
David Hollywood September 6, 2023 A great poem Brian, and its timing from a personal perspective is perfect as my 14 year old daughter has been going through the external peer pressure influences and consequent insistence’s that as one of the older generation I am prejudiced in my beliefs, and I really don’t understand. But your poem in conjunction with a gay friend of mine has helped to provide (easier to accept than my parental attempts) third party explanations, descriptions and questions that have made her halt in her thoughts and tracks and reassess her rejections of the actual and natural ways we are created. Many thanks Brian for this wonderful presentation, and excellent poem. All best. Reply
Brian A. Yapko September 6, 2023 David, I am so very, very pleased that my poem has actually been able to make a difference in your daughter’s thinking! This all by itself has made going forward with this challenging poem well worth it. Thank you so much for letting me know and for the kind words about the work itself. Reply
Alena Casey September 8, 2023 This poem is metrically flawless and hits each logical and rhetorical beat well. Brian, you are brave to write this and brave to have it published. I hope the support you receive here and elsewhere far outweighs any backlash, and that your poem will touch hearts for years to come. Reply
Brian A. Yapko September 9, 2023 Thank you so much, Alena. I simply cannot keep silent in the face of a travesty for silence implies consent. I very much appreciate your generous words and hopes for this poem’s ability to touch people in the future. Reply
