News and Events => Opinions & Editorials => Topic started by: Jessica_Rose on January 30, 2026, 01:14:51 PM Return to Full Version
Title: The far right thinks kids are property, not people...
Post by: Jessica_Rose on January 30, 2026, 01:14:51 PM
Post by: Jessica_Rose on January 30, 2026, 01:14:51 PM
The far right thinks kids are property, not people. This is the heart of the anti-trans moral panic.
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/01/the-far-right-thinks-kids-are-property-not-people-this-is-the-heart-of-the-anti-trans-moral/
Alex Bollinger (30 Jan 2026)
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon got to the heart of the moral panic over trans kids in a statement earlier this week, where she attacked California for protecting trans kids from getting forcibly outed to their parents: "Children do not belong to the State—they belong to families. We will use every available mechanism to hold California accountable for these practices and restore parental rights."
That is, the right sees children as property, and, to them, the only debate is whose property they are. The possibility that they're actually human beings who belong to no one is simply unthinkable.
Liberals, on the other hand, see children as human beings: Human beings who need extra help and care, who need boundaries and education, but they're still people; people with their own identities, thoughts, and interests that their parents can't control, who will eventually become adults who are not who their parents may have wanted them to be.
This attitude is what's boiling underneath the right's anxiety about trans kids, but they rarely come out and say it because many people who haven't thought too much about this issue would reject the idea that parents can force their kids to become the kind of adults they want them to be.
It's why they stop talking to their trans or queer kids when they come out or kick them out of their homes. They're supposed to be what their parents want them to be, and it's so deeply ingrained that they sometimes can't even understand how their kids could be their own people.
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/01/the-far-right-thinks-kids-are-property-not-people-this-is-the-heart-of-the-anti-trans-moral/
Alex Bollinger (30 Jan 2026)
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon got to the heart of the moral panic over trans kids in a statement earlier this week, where she attacked California for protecting trans kids from getting forcibly outed to their parents: "Children do not belong to the State—they belong to families. We will use every available mechanism to hold California accountable for these practices and restore parental rights."
That is, the right sees children as property, and, to them, the only debate is whose property they are. The possibility that they're actually human beings who belong to no one is simply unthinkable.
Liberals, on the other hand, see children as human beings: Human beings who need extra help and care, who need boundaries and education, but they're still people; people with their own identities, thoughts, and interests that their parents can't control, who will eventually become adults who are not who their parents may have wanted them to be.
This attitude is what's boiling underneath the right's anxiety about trans kids, but they rarely come out and say it because many people who haven't thought too much about this issue would reject the idea that parents can force their kids to become the kind of adults they want them to be.
It's why they stop talking to their trans or queer kids when they come out or kick them out of their homes. They're supposed to be what their parents want them to be, and it's so deeply ingrained that they sometimes can't even understand how their kids could be their own people.