The fallacy of radical wing activism

How radical-wing activism alienates allies, undermines popular support, and provokes political backlash

Over the past years, progressive movements have made breakthroughs in many political fields from minority rights to climate protection. Black Lives Matter have put the fight against racism on top of the agenda. LGBTQIA+ activists campaigned for equal rights. In turn, the fight for equality and against discrimination made significant progress. Fridays for Future raised awareness for the pending climate catastrophe and committed decision-makers to more ambitious climate protection goals.

Despite all this progress, critics lament that these measures amount to too little too late. Frustrated with the slow pace of electoral Parliamentary democracy, activists started to employ more radical strategies to jumpstart and fast forward change.

Unsurprisingly, this “radical wing activism” has been met with widespread criticism, undermined popular support for the agenda and caused political backlash that could jeopardize the progress made. Heated debates over the right approach caused frictions within the movements at large. It is therefore high time to assess the viability of the theories of change behind radical wing activism and suggest better ways to move forward.

Let us have a closer look at three recent radical-wing campaigns that triggered a political backlash and fragmented the wider movement.

Radical-wing Anti-Racist Activism

Over the past years, historical progress has been made in the fight against racism. Governments have put into place national action plans[1] and installed Anti-Discrimination Agencies[2]. Companies vow to be anti-racist employers and create workplaces free of discrimination[3]. Diversity in hiring and representation has become a widespread best practice.

And yet, radical-wing anti-racist activists are pushing the envelope. Critical Race Theory (CRT) expands the definition of racism far beyond the egalitarian and anti-discriminatory understanding of the term, namely as “the systemic asymmetry of power between whites and people of colour”. Being anti-racist in this way of thinking means overcoming the racist system by destroying all the institutions that produce racism. Radical-wing anti-racists believe that constitutional principles such as the rule of law, and institutions such as the justice system and the universities systematically privilege whites. Hence, these “white supremacist” institutions are to be replace with “anti-racist” ones. The Critical Race Theorist Ibram X. Kendi advocates appointing anti-racist political commissars who have the right to challenge any political decision[4].

Since, from the perspective of CRT, only whites systematically benefit from these structures, only whites can be racist. The pioneering theorist of White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo, goes even further.[5] According to her, a white person is always racist, even if they see themselves as an ally of anti-racist struggles. Creating an anti-racist society thus means dismantling white privilege. The political program of radical wing anti-racism is to undo historical discrimination through counter-discrimination today. Again, Ibram X. Kendi puts it bluntly: “The only remedy to racist discrimination is anti-racist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”

Radical-wing anti-racism has drawn widespread criticism from the Left. From Socialist Harvard philosopher Cornel West to the historian Barbara Fields of Columbia University, from Black Marxist Adolph Reed to Bhaskar Sunkara, founder of the Socialist magazine Jacobin, PoC critics see the radical-wing emphasis on race-based politics as a dead-end[6]. For the British journalist Kenan Malik, CRT inclusions and exclusions based solely on skin colour are reminiscent of the logic of racism. Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah finds it outrageous to accuse poor white people of being privileged. That may be true in terms of skin colour, "but their salient characteristic is not that they are privileged, but that they are poor". Lebanese activist Dyab Abou Jahjah criticises the concept of white privilege: Not being discriminated against is not a privilege, but should be the normal experience. He goes on to argue that the clash between identity groups always ends in a zero-sum game. What's more, those who try to intimidate their natural allies drive them directly into the arms of the racists and sexists. The right-wing strategist Steve Bannon openly confirms this fear: "The longer they [the Democrats, author's note] talk about identity politics, I got 'em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the Left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats." The unintended side effect of radical-wing anti-racism may well be the mobilisation of the numerically largest "white tribe" for a reactionary politics that deliberately reverses all the previous gains in the emancipation of minorities.

And indeed, opposition against Critical Race Theory has become the rallying ground for a conservative backlash. In the United States, conservative critics push back against anything they perceive as ideological indoctrination in the education system. Educators teaching CRT have reported threats and physical harassment[7].

American voters are split along partisan line over the question if students in public middle or high schools should learn that racism is an enduring part of American society, or that white people enjoy privileges based on their race. In a University of Amherst poll [8], 95% of Democrats believe that public schools should teach at least “a little” about racial inequality, while more than half of Republicans (52%) say that schools should not teach the subject at all.

Republican lawmakers try to capitalize on the outrage in their base. In the US, 44 states have introduced bills or taken other steps that would restrict teaching critical race theory or limit how teachers can discuss racism and sexism. Eighteen states have imposed these bans and restrictions either through legislation or other avenues.[9] The U.S. Supreme Court struck down race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, effectively prohibiting affirmative action policies long used to raise the number of Black, Hispanic and other underrepresented minority students on American campuses[10]. This backlash against radical wing activism threatens to roll back the gains of decades of struggles for racial equality.

Radical-wing climate activism

A similar pattern emerges in the fight for climate protection in Germany. Over the past decade, a broad social movement has dominated the public discourse and informed the political agenda. Supported by majorities in most social milieus and across political party lines, path-breaking legislation was pushed through against the resistance of powerful energy and industry interests. Germany committed to ambitious climate goals, exited nuclear power, vowed to phase out coal, and massively invests in renewable energies and hydrogen.

However, since the swearing in of the self-declared “climate protection government”, a radical wing of the climate protection movement has taken to the streets. The Letzte Generation (“last generation”, LG) uses urban guerrilla tactics to block highways, airports[11][12] and other main traffic nodes[13]. LG Activists throw theatre-grade “oil” on paintings in museums, political party and corporation headquarters, and the monument displaying the constitutional rights outside the German Parliament. Cars were burned[14], private yachts[15] and jets[16] smeared with paint.

The traffic blockades have caused, sometimes violent, outrage by working class commuters. Vandalism of artworks have enraged the educated middle classes. While there still is widespread social and political support for the middle-class kids from Fridays for Future, radical wing LG protests faces opposition from across the political spectrum. According to a recent poll conducted for Der Spiegel magazine, 86% of Germans disapprove of protesters disrupting their commutes[17].

Core allies are distancing themselves. Fridays for Future warned of the risk of backlash, and of losing public support for environmental causes: “The climate crisis needs solutions for society as a whole and we can only find and fight for them together and not by turning people against each other in everyday life”[18]. The German World Wildlife Fund believes LG protests do a disservice to climate protest"[19]. Even the radical activist group Extinction Rebellion has given up on mass disruption[20], and criticizes LG for their counter-productive tactics[21] . The Green Party called the LG protests elitist and self-righteous, alienating working people[22][23]. In a survey[24], 82% of Germans agree with Chancellor Scholz who called the street blockades “idiotic”[25].

With public opinion turning (=> More in Common), so does the political response. When LG tried to bring Berlin to a stand-still through street blockades[26], the state started to crack down on protesters[27]. In the state of Berlin alone, 1980 climate protesters are being prosecuted[28]. Several activists have been handed jail sentences[29]. The Minister of Justice of Berlin state examines if LG is a “criminal organization”, potentially opening the way for stricter policing and harsher sentencing[30]. And the governing major of Berlin wants to extend preventive detention to curb street blockades by climate protesters[31].

With public opinion turning against climate protection activists¹, their political allies in the German Parliament suffered major defeats. After month of internal feuding, the traffic light coalition has decided to water down the climate protection law. Fridays for Future ‘s spokesperson Luisa Neubauer slams this “U-turn” as the biggest setback for climate protection in a decade[32]. As this article is written, the coalition partner FDP still resists one of the government’s climate flagship policies, the phasing out of fossil-powered heating systems in buildings[33].

Again, the same pattern emerges. Radical wing activism mobilises opposition, alienates allies, undermines popular support and invites a political backlash that endangers the progress made by movement as a whole.

Radical-wing Trans Activism

For decades, LGBTQ activists and their allies have fought for equal rights and against discrimination. Under the banner of “Love is Love”, historical breakthroughs have been made from same-sex marriage, criminalization of hate crimes over sexual orientation, and the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy[34]. Trans activists have successfully campaigned for the right to live their lives free from discrimination and undergo sex transition without any legal barriers. In most Western countries, the humiliating medical assessments before sex changes have been abolished. Several European countries have passed legislation allowing trans people to self-identify their gender.

But more recently, radical wing trans activists in the United States and the United Kingdom have shifted the goal post. They started to police the use of speech by the majority population, demanding the criminalization of the use of “dead names” [e.g., the birth name used prior to transitioning], and to refer to a trans person by her preferred pronouns only. Those who refuse are labelled transphobes or TERFS (“Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist”) and subjected to cyber mobbing[35] and even physical violence[36][37][38]. Some of these demands have been met. In Canada, Bill C-16 amended the Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code to include "gender identity and gender expressions" in matters of discrimination. Critics saw this as the first attempt to criminalise the wrong use of pronouns[39]. Until it was struck down by the courts, the California Health & Safety Code § 1439.51(a)(5) stipulated that it was unlawful to “wilfully and repeatedly fail to use a resident's preferred name or pronouns after being clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns."[40]

Further, the trans rights movement made progress in their advocacy of access to “gender affirmative care” for transgender and nonbinary children and adolescents[41]. Gender affirmative care for minors includes treatment with puberty blockers all the way to Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) also known as sex reassignment surgery (SRS). The number of minor undergoing gender affirmative care is on the rise. In the U.S., 121,882 children aged 6 to 17 were diagnosed with gender dysphoria from 2017 through 2021. Over this five-year period, 17,683 U.S. children starting on puberty blockers or hormones[42]. Critics ascribe this rise to the direct targeting of minor on social media and schools.

Radical wing trans activism triggers a culture war. Newspeak, from “birthing persons” “pregnant people”[43] and “people with uterus” for biological women, as well as the perceived ban of the word “mother”[44] have irked many who consider themselves allies of trans-rights movement. Conservative anti-trans activists such as Ben Shapiro, Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull or Matt Walsh lead campaigns against trans women access to women’ spaces, such as sport competitions, toilets and changing rooms. Conservative legal groups have filed a growing number of lawsuits against school districts, accusing them of failing to involve parents in their children’s education and mental health care[45]. The targets are regulations in states like California, New Jersey, and Maryland, which expressly advise schools not to disclose information about students’ gender identity to their parents without their permission.[46] US Republicans rally around “parental rights,” a catch-all term for the decisions parents get to make about their children’s‌ upbringing.

Fuelled by outrage over several incidents, the culture war has now reached the mainstream. In Tennessee, Audrey Hale, a self-declared trans man gunned down three teachers and three young children before he was shot dead by police.[47] Public outrage grew when some radical transactivists slammed media for misgendering and deadnaming the shooter[48], and the Trans Radical Activist Network (TRAN) vowed to press ahead with the Trans Day of Vengeance despite the shooting[49].

Mainstream outrage crystallizes around the social implications of the right to self-declare, meaning the change of gender with a simple speech act, without any physical transition. Concerns over the fairness of trans women competing in female sports grew after Transgender swimmer Lia Thomas[50] and Trans- Powerlifter Mary Gregor started to break female records[51]. Public outrage grew when female swimmer Riley Gaines, who publicly calls for “protecting women’s sports”, has been harassed by trans activists. World Athletics (WA) announced new rules banning some transgender women athletes from competing in female track and field events. In Scotland, the Gender Recognition Reform drew widespread criticism. When the decision to place Isla Bryson, a transgender woman found guilty of raping two women before transitioning, in an all-female prison, triggered a public outcry[52], First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had to resign. In turn, England and Wales banned trans violent offenders from women’s prisons.

Criticism of radical wing activism is also voiced on the Left. Feminists have long warned against access for self-identified trans woman with biological male features to women’s safe spaces. As opposed to so-called “Trans-exclusionary radical feminism” (TERF) which asserts that trans women are not women, gender-critical feminists embrace the rights of trans people affirm their lived gender identity, but call for the alignment of transgender rights with women’s rights. For British philosopher Kathleen Stock and German feminist icon Alice Schwarzer, attempts to dismantle safe spaces, quota or gender just language for women are just the business as usual of the patriarchy.[53]

Former allies from the LGBTQ movement also start to distance themselves. Gay and lesbian rights activists compare the gender affirmative treatment of today with the infamous sexual conversion therapy of the past[54]. According to this critique, the gender-affirmative approach is homophobic because it pressures youth who would otherwise grow up to be gay or lesbian into being heterosexual trans people.[55] [56][57][58][59] Rifts within the LGBTQ alliance and between trans and feminist activists have weakened both movements.

As a result, the political backlash against transgender rights is in full swing. In the United States, 48 states have introduced 496 so-called anti-trans bills targeting the rights of trans people from receiving basic healthcare, education, and legal recognition. As of 2023, 40 of these bills have passed, 364 are still active, and 92 have failed[60].  Public outrage over radical-wing activism, resonating deeply within the political mainstream, weakens the political momentum for the fight for equal rights and against discrimination. The political backlash threatens to repeal the progress made for trans rights, and spurs resentment against the wider LGBTQ community[61][62] [63] 

The false theories of change behind radical-wing activism

In all three cases a clear pattern emerges. Campaigns for equal rights and climate protection have been met by increasing approval across social milieus and within the broad political mainstream. But as soon as the majority population is asked to alter their beliefs or police their speech to conform with the agenda advocated by radical-wing activists, mainstream support starts to dwindle. Using public policy to alter the way of life held by a vast majority of the population, sparks wide-spread backlash. The far right uses this opening to wage a culture war. Conservatives then jump the bandwagon, and push for the roll back some of the progress made by progressive movements. Finally, critical voices from within the movement start to distance themselves from radical activists and the overreach of their agenda. The movement starts to split. Mass mobilization falters, public opinion turns, political momentum collapses, political battles are lost. As a result, the gains in rights and recognition fought over for decades are rolled-backed.

At the root of radical-wing strategies are flawed theories of change. They are based on three false premises.

First, radical-wing activists base their theory of change on the "Overton window". The American lawyer Joseph P. Overton set out how the acceptance of an idea in public discourse depends crucially on whether it is located within the established corridor of opinion. When political thought leaders expand this range of what can be thought and said, these new ideas are initially perceived by many as radical. Through the expansion of the Overton window, ideas that were previously considered radical are then understood as part of the mainstream in public discourse. The movement as a whole, so the logic goes, profits from the radical-wing vanguard who pushes the boundaries.

Second, social activists have borrowed the idea of “tipping points” from climate change science [64]. Once a critical mass of the population is reached, the argument goes, popular opinion will flip, and once economic incentives are set differently, economies will change, resulting in a paradigm shift of the entire system. Echoing the famous saying of Margaret Mead “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”, radical activists believe that instead of electoral majorities, only a small percentage of the population is needed to tip the balance towards radical change[65].

Third, radical wing activists push for institutional innovations to by-pass Parliamentary democracy, which is perceived as a slow, corrupt, and resistant to change. A variety of citizens councils – often to be guided by activists and “scientists”, are to be entrusted with extraordinary authority to circumvent the Parliament, press the government, and police the population. But it is precisely this anti-majoritarian posture that alienates allies, erodes popular support and triggers political backlashed.

To scrutinize radical-wing strategies and tactics is not to say our goals should be less ambitious. To overcome the systemic crisis, we must restructure the social, political and economic order that generates ever new ones. However, such monumental changes provoke resistance from those who profit from the status quo. The forces of inertia are strong, and the critical paradigm change cannot be implemented by any single social group – however powerful.

Only a broad social coalition bringing together as many milieus as possible can mobilise the power resources needed to implement the necessary shift in the development path. But building broad societal alliances means bringing people together, not splitting them into uncompromising camps. This is why radical wing activism is a dead end. To bring milieus with different interests, identities, worldviews, and values together in a common fight for a better future, we need programmatically broad platforms to broker social compromise between their lifeworlds. Acknowledging the social balance of forces, and building inclusive alliances to shift them, is therefore a better way to struggle for transformative change.

---

[1] https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/downloads/EN/publikationen/2018/nap-en.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=4

[2] https://www.antidiskriminierungsstelle.de/EN/homepage/homepage-node.html

[3] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/15/what-it-means-to-be-an-anti-racist-company.html

[4] Ibram X. Kendi: How To Be an Antiracist, New York 2020.

[5] Robin DiAngelo: White Fragility. Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, Boston 2018.

[6] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/us/adolph-reed-controversy.html

[7] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/04/opinion/crt-backlash-du-bois.html

[8] https://www.umass.edu/news/article/umass-amherst-poll-examines-americans-views-race-issues-including-critical-race-theory

[9] https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/map-where-critical-race-theory-is-under-attack/2021/06

[10] https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-supreme-court-strikes-down-university-race-conscious-admissions-policies-2023-06-29/#:~:text=WASHINGTON%2C%20June%2029%20(Reuters),and%20other%20underrepresented%20minority%20students

[11] https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/climate-activists-glue-themselves-airport-tarmac-berlin-munich-2022-12-08/

[12] https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/gesellschaft/letzte-generation-146.html

[13] https://www.dw.com/en/germany-climate-activists-block-streets-in-berlin/a-64284326

[14] https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/klimaaktivisten-bekennen-sich-zu-brandanschlag-auf-autos,TjiTYMY

[15] https://www.tagesspiegel.de/gesellschaft/panorama/gezielte-aktionen-gegen-reiche-letzte-generation-bespruht-yacht-und-farbt-hafenbecken-grun-10017253.html

[16] https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/schleswig-holstein/Letzte-Generation-sprueht-Privatjet-auf-Sylter-Flughafen-an,sylt1562.html

[17] https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/grosse-mehrheit-lehnt-aktuelle-protestformen-der-klimabewegung-ab-spiegel-umfrage-a-47623bc2-6018-4782-bdf0-6dbe2f2b4cd6

[18] https://www.thelocal.de/20230412/fridays-for-future-criticizes-germanys-letzte-generation-climate-protestors

[19] https://www.dw.com/en/wwf-worried-about-optics-of-last-generation-protests/a-64905999

[20] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/03/tuesday-briefing-extinction-rebellion-battle-for-the-future-of-climate-activism

[21] https://www.zeit.de/green/2023-01/extinction-rebellion-letzte-generation-klimaaktivismus

[22] https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/klimawandel-gruene-kritisieren-letzte-generation-elitaerer-und-selbstgerechter-protest-a-7d866d47-02fb-4813-b424-ff1a764c8a9e

[23] https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/letzte-generation-robert-habeck-kritisiert-neue-klimaproteste-a-b5403765-b5a7-4f6b-8cda-9aeb7a590950

[24] Civey for Table Media, 25.5.2023

[25] https://www.spiegel.de/politik/olaf-scholz-zu-letzte-generation-kanzler-bezeichnet-klebe-aktionen-als-voellig-bekloppt-a-8c459d08-5530-46be-91e4-4108da36fceb?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&fbclid=IwAR1Une8I65_Vr1MYxZswCbpGi5WCmMd-T7WsQdfGZp2l2AWj_TU2FJpHf-c#ref=rss

[26] https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/protest-und-klebewochen-in-berlin-klimaaktivisten-wollen-die-ganze-stadt-lahmlegen-9647486.html

[27] https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/gesellschaft/letzte-generation-durchsuchungen-104.html#:~:text=Aktion%20gegen%20Klimaaktivisten%20Bundesweite%20Razzia%20gegen%20%22Letzte%20Generation%22&text=In%20mehreren%20Bundesl%C3%A4ndern%20sind%20Wohnungen,auf%20Bildung%20einer%20kriminellen%20Vereinigung.

[28] https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000034763/razzia-bei-der-letzten-generation-sind-klimakleber-eine-kriminelle-vereinigung?fbclid=IwAR06fTq59o0PeZBs0y4gcY6SAjdBIhgV2MbZKugRdINneeP4bNwzSYKs_Xk

[29] https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/letzte-generation-haft-strafe-heilbronn-100.html#:~:text=Der%20Protest%20der%20%22Letzten%20Generation,Bev%C3%B6lkerung%20%2D%20in%20Unverst%C3%A4ndnis%20und%20Zuspruch.&text=Zwei%20Frauen%20und%20ein%20Mann,Geldstrafen%20von%2060%20Tagess%C3%A4tzen%20verurteilt.

[30] https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/berlin-justizsenatorin-laesst-pruefen-ob-letzte-generation-kriminelle-vereinigung-ist-a-b9cf4739-4e75-497f-8740-46af530d4077?fbclid=IwAR11bWL5g1WVQAk0j78xSnYFooUvesRMJ4kzLU_pmJysXae65hTCc150K3U

[31] https://www.zeit.de/politik/deutschland/2023-05/berlin-polizei-regierender-buergermeister-kai-wegner-praeventivgewahrsam?utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F&fbclid=IwAR0qtEls7G3R1aYx2AvU_0sYRju1SGiqbZd-dP0kpYRme0RWzwAc6BvFzR4

[32] https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article244835016/Luisa-Neubauer-kritisiert-die-Gruenen-heftig-und-sieht-Deutschland-auf-4-4-Grad-Pfad.html

[33] https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/heizungsgesetz-bundestag-verschoben-100.html

[34] https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/stonewall-milestones-american-gay-rights-movement/

[35] https://medium.com/@rebeccarc/j-k-rowling-and-the-trans-activists-a-story-in-screenshots-78e01dca68d

[36] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/oct/26/woman-punched-in-brawl-between-transgender-activists-and-radical-feminists

[37] https://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/feminist-speaker-julie-bindel-attacked-transgender-person-edinburgh-university-after-talk-545841

[38] https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/riley-gaines-confronted-by-protesters-after-speech-against-trans-participation-in-womens-sports/

[39] https://www.cbc.ca/cbcdocspov/features/canadas-gender-identity-rights-bill-c-16-explained#:~:text=Bill%20C%2D16%20added%20the,religion%20and%20disability%2C%20among%20others.

[40] https://reason.com/volokh/2021/07/17/california-court-strikes-down-law-that-criminalized-certain-uses-of-non-preferred-pronouns/

[41] https://opa.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2022-03/gender-affirming-care-young-people-march-2022.pdf

[42] https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-transyouth-care/

[43] https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/09/pregnant-people-gender-identity/620031/

[44] https://www.nzz.ch/meinung/der-andere-blick/tagesschau-ersetzt-das-wort-mutter-warum-protest-sich-lohnt-ld.1732918?reduced=true

[45] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/22/us/gender-identity-students-parents.html

[46] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/22/us/gender-identity-students-parents.html

[47] https://talk.tv/news/8166/nashville-gender-advocates-accuse-media-of-deadnaming-school-shooter-audrey-hale?fbclid=IwAR1AdWY48CSwIFo8oALI5rQmPxaLkXsSXZ4MxhI1N-a-4r40O_MJF6bCiwg

[48] https://talk.tv/news/8166/nashville-gender-advocates-accuse-media-of-deadnaming-school-shooter-audrey-hale?fbclid=IwAR1AdWY48CSwIFo8oALI5rQmPxaLkXsSXZ4MxhI1N-a-4r40O_MJF6bCiwg

[49] https://www.newsweek.com/trans-day-vengeance-canceled-threats-washington-dc-1791705

[50] https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/18/sport/lia-thomas-transgender-ivy-league-swim-championships/index.html

[51] https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/05/16/stripped-womens-records-transgender-powerlifter-asks-where-do-we-draw-line/

[52] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-64661974

[53] https://www.emma.de/artikel/realitaet-wiegt-schwerer-als-ideologie-339251

[54] Criticism cited and refuted in Florence Ashley Homophobia, Conversion Therapy, and Care Models for Trans Youth: Defending the Gender-Affirmative Approach, https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/SexualOrientation/IESOGI/Academics/Ashley_Homophobia_Reparative_Therapy%2C_and_Care_Models_for_Trans_Youth_Final_pre-copyedit.docx

[55] Bannerman, L. (2019, April 8). It feels like conversion therapy for gay children, say clinicians. The Times. Retrieved from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/it-feels-like-conversion-therapy-for-gay-children-say-clinicians-pvsckdvq2

[56] Bewley, S., Griffin, L., & Byng, R. (2019, February 11). Safeguarding adolescents from premature, permanent medicalization. Retrieved from BMJ Rapid Responses website: https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l245/rr-1

[57] Littman, L. (2018). Parent reports of adolescents and young adults perceived to show signs of a rapid onset of gender dysphoria. PLoS ONE, 13(8), e0202330.

[58] Marchiano, L. (2017). Outbreak: On transgender teens and psychic epidemics. Psychological Perspectives, 60(3), 345–366. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332925.2017.1350804

[59] Soh, D. (2018, October 23). The unspoken homophobia propelling the transgender movement in children. Quillette. Retrieved from https://quillette.com/2018/10/23/the-unspoken-homophobia-propelling-the-transgender-movement-in-children/

[60] https://translegislation.com/

[61] https://au.news.yahoo.com/outrage-over-nearly-nude-drag-show-for-mums-and-babies-041630532.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAFPvuhi8M7BsVFQl8jsmkLNfTaNLO44vwD7_bt6myldfKdbhF8J66hWiQwJnN-wUIrQ9GYFvK0Tvn9Z4qK1no17w-uKIZXaAUoIRLWHTI1cqCiNT3hedPAjRqQ0-RNxYPalfxBmW0E7bco3mcJsrUBByk-H-euoDfOUVyxBPyvWx

[62] https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2023/03/21/drag-story-hours-spark-angry-anti-lgbtq-rallies-latest-in-nyc-included-proud-boys/?sh=77dcb60f2fa6

[63] https://www.fr.de/politik/kita-aus-tilman-kuban-cdu-politiker-loest-auf-twitter-shitstorm-auf-92266195.html

[64] https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1900577117

[65] https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world

1. More in Common Klimastudie, May 2023, https://www.moreincommon.de/klimabewegung/