Topic: Media Research Center
Mysterious gay-bashing Media Research Center sports blogger Jay Maxson is anti-transgender too, to the point that the MRC pulled a post of his (or hers) mocking Caitlin Jenner. That post wasn't so offensive, though that the MRC fired Maxson as a blogger, however; Maxson's transphobia has continued unabated, particularly over the past few months.
Unsurprisingly, Maxson has signed onto the right-wing hysteria over transgender athletes:
- A Feb. 8 post attacked "the jaded opinion of SBNation Outsports LGBTQ apologist Ken Schultz" for pointing out Republican senators' demogoguery on the issue, defending the senators as "two people who realize gender is immutable."
- On Feb. 17, Maxson asserted that states banning transgender athletes were trying to "preserve the integrity of women’s sports," huffing: "Who’s really at risk of harm here? Confused boys and men? Or entire teams of girls and women trying to maintain a fair playing field against the intrusion of bigger, stronger males?"
- A March 4 post attacked a sports blogger who "shrieked" about Sen. Rand Paul's hostile questioning of transgender Biden nominee Rachel Levine and "slammed Kentucky’s “second-worst senator” for calling transition surgery what it actually is: “genital mutilation," adding that the writer "faulted Republicans because only one percent of Americans are confused about their gender, but that miniscule number actually plays into the hands of those who oppose bending gender rules for such a tiny group. Especially when it only appeases the LGBT movement while putting women and girls at a disadvantage in sports."
- Maxson complained in a March 12 post: "Doing the dirty work of LGBT pressure groups, 550 woke college athletes are demanding the NCAA pull postseason events out of states legislating for the integrity of women’s sports."
- On March 15, Maxson denied that he and his fellow right-wingers are the aggressors in pushing anti-trans laws: "Sports associations and LGBT activists fired the first shot of a raging culture war battle by waving biological males into female games."
- Maxson whined in a March 17 post on the idea that the NBA might pull its All-Star Game out of Utah over a possible anti-trans law there: "What's more contemptable: a league that cares about trans "women" competing in women's sports more than it does Chinese human rights abuses? Or a basketball team that wants all-star game revenue so bad it derails a state bill to protect the integrity of women's sports?" Maxson concluded by lamenting, "Utah’s trans bill eventually bit the dust. However, it certainly didn’t help the gender confused to have the powerful voice of an NBA team speak out against their best interests."
- On March 18, Maxson attacked NBA legend Dwayne Wade for defending the rights of his transgender child: "Former NBA all-star Dwyane Wade is now scoring points in bunches for the LGBT movement. He’s also getting PC points for his trans child Zaya and playing shutdown defender against the state legislatures trying to level the playing field for female athletes." Maxson further whined: "Wade also scored LGBT points by taking his family to a Miami Pride event two years ago and by acting as a pronoun cop. "America's Dad" refers to Zaya with she/her pronouns."
- In an April 14 post, Maxson bashed an "ultra-leftist" writer for "verbally bludgeoning hateful, ignorant conservative state lawmakers working to protect women’s sports. She accused them of trying to 'otherize' trans athletes and open a new front in the culture war, repeated LGBT talking points and urged the NCAA to hurt conservative states in the pocketbook." Maxson provided no evidence to support his claim thatthe writer is "ultra-leftist," nor did Maxson deny that transgender athletes are being "otherized."
- On April 26, Maxson defended his fellow anti-trans activists at the right-wing Alliance Defending Freedom from criticism for "representing female plaintiffs against fake girls."
- Maxson spent a May 17 post whining about the possibility of transgender athletes at the Olympics: "That trans athlete explosion the world has been bracing for, the one LGBT activists keep denying? Well, it’s here now. There may be as many as nine trans women (biological dudes) bursting onto the Olympic stage in Tokyo this summer, all of them threatening to take medals away from actual women," further sneering, "Welcome to the wide, wacky world of alphabet sports."
- That was followed by a May 18 post heaping hate on a "hardcore leftist" USA Today sports writer (again, Maxson offers no evidence to support that claim) who defended transgender athletes, adding, "The USALGBT Today writer has no sympathy or concern whatsoever for the young girls and women victimized by the intrusion of males into their respective sports.
That's not all. In a March 17 post, Maxson -- despite having displayed no qualifications as a legitimate researcher -- attacked a piece in Scientific American by psychiatrist Andrew Turban that doesn't hate transgender athletes as much as he (or she) does:
It’s easy to tell when a psychiatrist is in the tank for transgenders in sports. First, he only addresses the underlying problem of psychological confusion very late in his LGBT-approved puff piece. Then, he slams lawmakers for trying to preserve the integrity of women’s sports and says trans girls should not have to "lie" about their gender and play on boys teams.
[...]
The reason boys want to compete as “girls” is because of pre-existing confusion in their gender identity. We did not see the boys Terry Miller or Andraya Yearwood emotionally damaged while they were breaking 17 state girls sprinting records in Connecticut[.]
[...]
Turban says girls win most of the competitions in female sports. Which is true because there aren’t hordes of cosmetic-and hormone-altered boys clamoring for acceptance on girls’ teams. But those who do so demonstrate clear and unfair physical advantages. He also mentions that Miller and Yearwood failed to win their sprint races immediately after Alliance Defending Freedom sued the state of Connecticut. Dubious timing! Each of the boxing bums of the week who lost to Mike Tyson in the first round also took a dive.
[...]
Turban advises lawmakers to work on more important things — “instead of manufacturing problems and ‘solutions’ that hurt the kids we are supposed to be protecting.”
Here's another suggestion. How about counselors actually work with young people to address their psychological struggles, instead of encouraging them to continue in their confusion and delusion.
In a May 6 post, Maxson went on a sneering tirade against another transgender athlete who might appear in the Olympics:
Pay no attention to the men walking off with the women’s sports trophies, say LGBT activists. It’s a non-issue, they insist. Despite their denials, the controversy will flare up to new heights this summer at the Olympics in Tokyo. There, Laurel Hubbard, of New Zealand, is expected to be the first transgender athlete in Olympic history.
Laurel was for most of his life known as Gavin. He’s been mopping up the competition in women’s weightlifting for a few years and is one of the favorites to medal in the Summer Olympics.
[...]
The realities of biology are such that no one can actually change their gender. To get around that inconvenient truth, international athletic federations merely require men to lower their testosterone levels in order to disrupt the competitive balance in women’s sports.
The realities of right-wing punditry at the MRC is that the official right-wing narrative must be maintained, and Maxson has definitely done what he (or she) has been told.
