Which came first, the chicken or the egg? When it comes to the transgender agenda, only the opposition is "mobilizing." On the front page of Sunday's paper, The New York Times falsely cast conservatives as the culture-war instigators over the controversy of transgender children on Sunday’s front page: “How a Campaign Against Transgender Rights Mobilized Conservatives.”
The subheadline oozed anti-GOP cynicism:
Defeated on same-sex marriage, the religious right went searching for an issue that would re-energize supporters and donors. The campaign that followed has stunned political leaders across the spectrum.
In the Trump years, 
the Times thrilled its liberal readership with the motto "Truth: It's more important now than ever." But obviously, when it comes to transgender issues, the feelings of people are Truth, and the biological realities are somehow just a sad excuse for a conservative crusade.
Reporters Adam Nagourney and Jeremy Peters (both of whom are gay activists in their work) wrote as if defeated social conservatives cynically went out to pick a fight against an imaginary foe, as if the left didn’t start the transgender fight through demands for “gender-affirming care,” howls about unsubstantiated epidemics of trans suicides, and invading women's spaces, especially sports for women and girls.
When the Supreme Court declared a constitutional right to same-sex marriage nearly eight years ago, social conservatives were set adrift.
The ruling stripped them of an issue they had used to galvanize rank-and-file supporters and big donors. And it left them searching for a cause that -- like opposing gay marriage -- would rally the base and raise the movement’s profile on the national stage.
They found a conservative to provide them the quote they needed for their "searching for a cause" angle.
“We knew we needed to find an issue that the candidates were comfortable talking about,” said Terry Schilling, the president of American Principles Project, a social conservative advocacy group. “And we threw everything at the wall.”
What has stuck, somewhat unexpectedly, is the issue of transgender identity, particularly among young people. Today, the effort to restrict transgender rights has supplanted same-sex marriage as an animating issue for social conservatives at a pace that has stunned political leaders across the spectrum. It has reinvigorated a network of conservative groups, increased fund-raising and set the agenda in school boards and state legislatures.
It's "unexpected" that the LGBT crusaders are now pushing hard on the T? A tired media trope appeared: "Republicans...seized."
The effort started with a smattering of Republican lawmakers advancing legislation focused on transgender girls’ participation in school sports. And it was accelerated by a few influential Republican governors who seized on the issue early.
But it was also the result of careful planning by national conservative organizations to harness the emotion around gender politics. With gender norms shifting and a sharp rise in the number of young people identifying as transgender, conservative groups spotted an opening in a debate that was gaining attention.
The Times never considers the idea conservatives are fighting for children not to be subject to irrevocable surgical operations at a vulnerable age, or trying to protect women’s spaces like locker rooms and restrooms from male intrusion and possible violence.
The appeal played on the same resentments and cultural schisms that have animated Mr. Trump’s political movement: invocations against so-called “wokeness,” skepticism about science, parental discontent with public schools after the Covid-19 pandemic shutdowns and anti-elitism.
Which side of the transgender fight is skeptical of science?? Nagourney and Peters tersely described tensions on the liberal side with blandishments like “existing disagreement in the medical profession” or “some on the left are still uncertain about how to best navigate the fraught politics of transgender issues.”
Nothing was written about female college swimmer Riley Gaines being trapped by angry protesters at San Francisco State University for speaking out against biological men invading women’s sports and spaces. In fact the Times has ignored the story in its news coverage. A mention in a column by Times columnist David French is evidently the paper’s only admission the shameful incident occurred.
