51823, 920 PM ‘The Washington Post and the ‘An-Trans'Slur- WSJ ‘This copy for your persona, non-commercial use only. istbutlon and use ofthis material are governedby our Subscriber Agreement andby copyright av For nom personal use rt order mullple copes, please contact Daw Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008." vist wiwureprints.com. htepsfmaewansicomjarticles/the-washington-postané-the-antHtransslur-639228¢6 The Washington Post and the ‘Anti-Trans’ Slur Blue-state parents also want a say in education. By James Freeman Updated May 8, 2023 2:42 pm ET PHOTO: PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS Florida parents aren’t the only ones who don’t want a government employee talking to their 8-year-olds about sex. You'd never know it from much national media coverage, but this issue has great resonance far beyond the Sunshine State. “Let parents reject politicized instruction in NJ schools” is the headline on an editorial in the Press of Atlantic City, which notes: Arecent Stockton University poll confirmed what had been strongly suggested by events of the past year or so: Two-thirds of New Jersey parents want more say over what their children are taught in school. Parents in many school districts have sprung into action in response to state orders to start instructing grade school students in such politically divisive and personal issues as sexual identity and gender diversity. A few months into tps uw. ws). convantclesthe-washinglon-post-and-the-antsrans-sur-638228C8 7m _opin_pos_Atexrors_s 48sie, 8:20 “The Washington Pos andthe “ATrans Slur - WS the pandemic, the administration of Gov. Phil Murphy quietly ordered schools to instruct kindergarten through 12 students in chosen views about gender and sexual orientation. The Stockton poll found that adults in the blue Garden State overwhelmingly agree with adults in other states that kindergarten is not a place where adults should be initiating discussions on sexuality. Stockton posed a series of questions this way to the adults of New Jersey: Assuming they are addressed in an age-appropriate way, please identify in what grade level each of the following topics should be introduced, if at all: On the topic of “Gender identity and sexuality” only 12% said it should be introduced in “Elementary (grades K-4).” So even in this blue Northeast state, an overwhelming majority say they don’t want the subject introduced before middle school and a full 21% of Garden Staters say their preference is “Never.” In the sloppy radicalism that passes for much of contemporary media, parents’ reasonable desire to oversee such instruction is often miscast as some sort of bigotry, even when media outlets admit that such views are held by most of their readers. Now along comes a Washington Post report under this headline: Most Americans support anti-trans policies favored by GOP, poll shows But of course it’s not just the GOP and the use of the term “anti-trans” is highly tendentious. One can show respect and compassion to all people while, for example, rejecting more power for government-run schools to encourage kids to make life-altering decisions. The Post’s Laura Meckler and Scott Clement write about a Washington Post-KFF poll with the unsurprising finding that most people regard gender as determined at birth. No doubt many of the respondents understand the consequences if they stop saying what they believe under pressure from the progressive left. The Posties report: While a majority of Americans oppose access to puberty blockers and hormone treatments for children and teenagers, for instance, clear majorities tps Awww. ws. condartclesthe-washinglon-post-and-the-antsrans-sur-638228¢8?mod=hp_opin_pos.A¥exrocs_s 28sie, 920m ‘The Washington Post and he ‘Ant-Trans' Str WSU also support laws prohibiting discrimination against trans people, including in K-12 schools. Sounds like a tolerant and appropriately careful approach to the issue. So what exactly does it mean for a policy to be labelled by the media as “anti-trans”? Opposing gender reassignment surgeries on children and seeking to maintain competitive balance in girls’ sports both seem to qualify. Most Americans reasonably view such positions as pro-child. The Posties report: Even among young adults, who are the most accepting of trans identity, about half said in the Post-KFF poll that a person’s gender is determined by their sex at birth. Alyssa Wells, 29, a behavior therapist in Daytona Beach, Fla., who participated in the Post-KFF survey, said her views have changed on this issue in recent years as she has learned more, chiefly from Christian podcasts. “At first Iwas on the side of acceptance, like using the pronouns and stuff, because I want people to be kind to each other. I don’t want people fighting all the time,” she said. But she has come to see things differently. “My concern with transgender is mostly with the children.” “We can’t vote until we're a certain age, we can’t smoke, drink or whatever, but we can change our bodies’ anatomy and how it works?” she said. “It just doesn’t seem like that’s okay to me.” One hardly needs to listen to Christian podcasts to hold this view. Cal Faculty Member Makes the Elizabeth Warren Excuse Martha Ross reports for the San Jose Mercury News: After Elizabeth Hoover was hired as an associate professor by UC Berkeley in 2020, the anthropologist was mentioned in the campus media as one of the small but growing number of Native American scholars who could help make the campus a more welcoming place for learning and research into Native American history, culture and contemporary issues... tps Awww. ws) condartclesthe-washinglon-post-and-the-antsrans-slur-638228c8?mod=hp_opin_pos.A¥exrocs_s issie, 8:20 “The Washington Pos andthe “ATrans Slur - WS On Monday, Hoover issued an apology that confirmed what other Native American scholars and activists had been saying about her for more than a year — that the Ivy League-educated expert on environmental health and food justice in Native American communities is a White person who long presented herself as a Native American academic, as she built a high-flying academic career and gained a position at one of America’s top public universities. “Lam a White person who has incorrectly identified as Native my whole life,” Hoover said in a lengthy statement posted on her website. In her statement and in an interview with this news organization, Hoover said she always assumed she was Native American because that’s what she was told while growing up in upstate New York. She said she never knowingly falsified her identity or tried to deceive anyone. “I’m a human,” she said. “I didn’t set out to hurt or exploit anyone.” Yet Ms. Hoover admits that when skeptical questions were raised in the past, she didn’t make the effort to establish the facts. Ms, Hoover admits in her apology: Iwas first directly challenged in my Indigenous identity when I began my first assistant professor job. At the time, I interpreted inquiries into the validity of my Native identity as petty jealousy or people just looking to interfere in my life. As such, I allowed my ego to drive my response and answered these inquiries with my family’s story, rather than doing the proper research for the correct documentation to unequivocally prove that I was descended from these communities. So she’s an academic who chose not to do any research about an issue at the heart of her academic career? Before Ms. Hoover's recent apology, some skeptics had taken to calling her a “pretendian,” according to the Mercury News report. But even after acknowledging the falsehood, it seems that Ms. Hoover is not planning to resign. Ms. Ross reports: Given Hoover's professional research skills, it makes no sense that she waited so long to verify a Native identity, said Desi Small-Rodriguez, an assistant professor in UCLA’s Sociology Department and American Indian Studies Program and a member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe...” Small-Rodriguez called Hoovers’s apology “gaslighting” and said: “An average person could get tps Awww. ws. condartclesthe-washinglon-post-and-the-antsrans-sur-638228¢8?mod=hp_opin_pos.A¥exrocs_s 45sie, 920m ‘The Washington Post and he ‘Ant-Trans' Str WSU away with accepting family lore, but Hoover is PhD from an Ivy League Institution. It’s totally unacceptable.” If Ms. Hoover now resolves to pursue an academic career marked by integrity and high standards of scholarship, perhaps she should consider focusing simply on justice, rather than “food justice.” James Freeman is the co-author of “Borrowed Time: Two Centuries of Booms, Busts and Bailouts at Citi” and also the co-author of “The Cost: Trump, China and American Revival.” Follow James Freeman on Twitter. Subscribe to the Best of the Web email. To suggest items, please email best@wsj.com. (Lisa Rossi helps compile Best of the Web. Thanks to Ethel Fenig and Tony Lima.) tps Awww. ws) condartclesthe-washinglon-post-and-the-antsrans-slur-638228c8?mod=hp_opin_pos.A¥exrocs_s 55