"it's too easy to dismiss genuine criticism as a "right-wing' talking point."

This is something I struggle with daily. This is the solitary right wing position with which I identify, but the more I see of "trans" the greater becomes my loathing of it. Not only of the attention freaks incessantly making themselves the topic of conversation but the absurdity their beliefs, and the strident suppression of any and all debate by the activists.

Take puberty blockers. There is no question but that they do harm, yet even well-educated people who work with and prescribe them insist that they are as harmless as pausing song playback on an iPod. Research into the harm of transitioning is vehemently suppressed and researchers who don't come to activist-approved conclusions have their careers ruined and receive death threats.

What few longitudinal studies have been done on the transitioned show very high suicide rates 7-10 years later, but all we hear about is suicide among non-transitioned teens who were, incidentally, unhappy and miserable people before they even thought about "trans."

As much as with COVID, I don't think we have even begun to see the long term harm this is doing.