Anne Bauer: Fearful of discussing gender identity?

After reading the flurry of letters and columns responding to Karen Bercovici’s March 5 column “LGBTQ and the erasure of true female identity,” I went back to look at the points made and what was ticking everyone off. Accused of a “lack of humanity, trying to make trans lives more difficult, bigotry, taking away rights, erasure of trans identity, hatefulness” — yikes.

With responses like these it’s amazing anyone dares to share their views in the Gazette. I for one am glad her column was printed because it raised some thoughtful issues worth discussing in a reasoned manner. Since when is the left so hell-bent on sounding like the people they protest?

Bercovi’s column wasn’t about erasing anyone else, it considered the concept of gender identity and how it has taken hold of our culture and pushed policy, medicine, and education in ways that have very big consequences. Bercovi fears that some sort of pure definition of female is at risk. I doubt we have much agreement about what that is, but it’s worth talking about and how it should affect laws and social practice.

As a doctor, I can say that medicine has ventured into gender-affirming care without the data that we like to see because it seems like the compassionate thing to do. But is it always? Can we even talk about this? Some of us like thinking about the big questions, and we like people to raise those questions in the Gazette.

Anne Bauer

Northampton