Is There a Conservative Case for Transgenderism?

 

Go ahead and call it a ridiculous question, but if transgender activists ever want broad social acceptance, they had better figure out the conservative case for it.

The case of gay marriage is instructive.  Gay marriage was once considered a radical, extremist notion.  It has since gained broad acceptance.  And I think the reason is that the conservative case for gay marriage has always been there.  When gays first came out of the closet, they were not widely accepted and tended to live in gay ghettos, engaged in unrestrained promiscuity and extravagant lifestyles.*  What ultimately led to widespread acceptance of gay marriage was its underlying conservatism.  It meant that a same sex couple could integrate into the general population and live a convention life -- except for being a two-husband or two-wife couple.  

The next big battle was over who could be compelled to participate in a gay marriage and led to massive controversy over cake bakers, photographers, website designers and the like.**  The Supreme Court actually reach a very satisfactory resolution and persuaded champions of gay marriage by appealing to a basic liberal principle -- that no one should be compelled to engage in speech they disagreed with.  Anyone merely selling prefabricated wedding materials must sell to all comers, but if there was an "expressive" element, such as a written message, no one could be required to take part.  The controversy ceased.

And consider the biggest change to come out of Black Lives Matter -- police wearing body cameras.  I assume that this has become widely accepted because the police ultimately concluded it was not anti-police, or at least not inherently so.  No doubt body cameras deter a certain amount of police misconduct and make it easier to prosecute when it does happen.  Police cameras also clear the police of false accusations of misconduct.  They reinforce evidence of crime.  And the footage can be useful simply for refreshing memories and making sure stories are accurate before going into court.  

So, my advice to anyone wanting society to make a clear rule that gender is a matter of subjective self-identification had better figure out the conservative case for it if they want to make it stick

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*Then AIDS came along and wiped the whole lifestyle out, but that is a different story.
**The one group everyone agreed could not be compelled to participate was the clergy.