Bill Maher Says Trans is ‘Trendy’ But Maybe There Are ‘Solutions’ For Struggling Youth Besides ‘Hand Me the Dick Saw’
Bill Maher said on Friday that people should be allowed to ask questions about the human race “changing at a previously unprecedented rate” without it being attributed to bigotry, especially when it comes to kids. “we’re literally experimenting on children,” he said of puberty blockers and other measures that are part of an LGBTQ “trend” among America’s youth.
“New Rule: If something about the human race is changing at a previously unprecedented rate, we have to at least discuss it,” said Maher in the popular recurring segment. He pointed out the massive trend upward in the LGBT population of the United States, from less than 1% before 1946 to the whopping 20.85% of Gen Z self-identifying.
“If we follow this trajectory, we will all be gay in 2054,” said Maher. “I’m just saying that when things change this much, this fast, people are allowed to ask, what’s up with that? All the babies are in the wrong bodies? Was there a mix-up at the plant like with Cap’n Crunch’s ‘Oops All Berries’?”
He said that it’s all for the good that we now live in a time when members of the LGBTQ community are free to “live their authentic lives openly,” but again argued it’s fair to ask about major changes.
“It’s okay to ask questions about something that’s very new and involves children. The answer can’t always be that anyone from a marginalized community is automatically right, trump card, mic drop, end of discussion,” he said. “Because we’re literally experimenting on children.”
He then talked about puberty blockers and other actions taken that we either don’t know all of the consequences for taking or that can be a permanent change to a person.
“This isn’t just a lifestyle decision. It’s medical,” he said. “Weighing tradeoffs is not bigotry.”
There were a number of verified Twitter accounts that disagreed it’s not bigotry, including New Yorker writer Michael Schulman, who called Maher’s segment “Gay Replacement Theory” in a tweet.
More after transcript:
BILL MAHER: And finally, New Rule: If something about the human race is changing at a previously unprecedented rate, we have to at least discuss it. Broken down over time, the LGBT population of America seems to be roughly doubling every generation, according to a recent Gallup poll. Less than 1% of Americans born before 1946, that’s Joe Biden’s generation identify that way. 2.6% of boomers do. 4.2% of Gen X. 10.5% of millennials. And 20.8% of Gen Z. Which means if we follow this trajectory, we will all be gay in 2054. And then who’s going to buy this chair?
I’m just saying that when things change this much, this fast, people are allowed to ask, what’s up with that? All the babies are in the wrong bodies? Was there a mix-up at the plant like with Cap’n Crunch’s ‘Oops All Berries’? It wasn’t that long ago when adults asked the kid, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ they meant, what profession?
In the wake of America about to lose abortion rights, the ACLU recently tweeted a list of those who would be disproportionately harmed by this. You would think women might top that list? No, wasn’t even on the list. Second on the list was LGBT. Really? Abortion rights affects gay and trans people more than you know, breeders?
I’m happy for LGBT folks that we now live in an age where they can live their authentic lives openly, and we should always be mindful of respecting and protecting. But someone needs to say it: Not everything’s about you.
[APPLAUSE]
BILL MAHER: And it’s okay to ask questions about something that’s very new and involves children. The answer can’t always be that anyone from a marginalized community is automatically right, trump card, mic drop, end of discussion. Because we’re literally experimenting on children.
Maybe that’s why Sweden and Finland have stopped giving puberty blockers to kids. Because we just don’t know much about the long-term effects. Although common sense should tell you that when you reverse the course of raging hormones, there’s going to be problems. We do know it hinders the development of bone density, which is kind of important, if you like having a skeleton. Fertility and the ability to have an orgasm seem also to be affected. This isn’t just a lifestyle decision. It’s medical.
Weighing tradeoffs is not bigotry.
Yet, when a book questioning the sudden uptick in transitioning children was released, a trans lawyer with the ACLU named Chase Strangio tweeted, “Stopping the circulation of this book and these ideas is 100% a hill I will die on. How very civil liberties of him. James, by the way, has just been named one of the grand marshals of this year’s New York City Pride March, along with three other trans people and a lesbian. Huh, what’s missing here? Oh that’s right. A gay man.
[APPLAUSE]
BILL MAHER: That’s where we are now. Gay men aren’t hip enough for the gay pride parade. Compared to trans, gay is practically cis, and since is practically Mormon. And this is a phenomenon we need to take into account when we look at this issue.
Yes, part of the rise in LGBT numbers is from people feeling free enough to tell it to a pollster, and that’s all to the good. But some of it is: it’s trendy. Penis equals man? Okay, Boomer. Remember the prime directive of every teen is anything to shock and challenge the squares who brought you up. It’s why nobody gets a nose ring at 56. And if you haven’t noticed that with kids, doing something for the likes is more important than their own genitals, you haven’t been paying attention.
Dr. Erica Anderson is a prominent 71-year-old clinical psychologist who is herself transgender and who now says, I think it’s gone too far. The L.A. Times summarizes she’s come to believe that some children identifying as trans are falling under the influence of their peers and social media.
If you attend a small dinner party of typically very liberal upper-income Angelinos, it is not uncommon to hear parents who each have a trans kid having a conversation about that. What are the odds of that happening in Youngstown, Ohio? If this spike in trans children is all natural, why is it regional? Either Ohio is shaming them or California is creating them.
[APPLAUSE]
BILL MAHER: It’s like that day we suddenly all needed bottled water all the time. If we can’t admit that in certain enclaves there is some level of trendiness to the idea of being anything other than straight, then this is not a serious science-based discussion. It’s a blow being struck in the culture wars using children as cannon fodder.
I don’t understand parents who won’t let their nine-year-old walk to the corner without a helmet and EpiPen and a GPS tracker. And God forbid their lips touch dairy. But. But hormone blockers and genital surgery? Fine. Talk about a nut allergy.
I guess penises are gross now, but one might come in handy later on. And if you’re a man who wants to experience life without a pair of balls, you do not have to get surgery. You can get married. Ohhh, joke.
And never forget, children are impressionable and very, very stupid. Kids don’t know why mom drinks every day, or why dad has two cell phones.
Maybe the boy who thinks he’s a girl is just gay, or whatever Frazier was. Maybe the girl who hates girly stuff just needs to learn that being female doesn’t mean you have to act like a Kardashian.
Maybe childhood makes you sad sometimes. And there are other solutions besides hand me the dick saw.
And look, I’m sure the vast majority of parents do not take this lightly. And that is very hard to know, when something is real or just a phase. And I understand being trans is different. It’s innate. But kids do also have phases. They’re kids. It’s all phases. The dinosaur phase, the Hello Kitty phase. One day they want to be an astronaut. The next day can’t get to leave their room. Gender fluid? Kids are fluid about everything.
If kids knew what they wanted to be at age eight, the world would be filled with cowboys and princesses. I wanted to be a pirate. That. Thank God nobody took me seriously and scheduled me for eye removal and peg leg surgery.
Maher concluded that while he’s certain parents aren’t taking these decisions lightly, it’s important to note that kids are uncertain by their very nature.
“Maybe the boy who thinks he’s a girl is just gay, or whatever Frazier was,” said Maher. “Maybe the girl who hates girly stuff just needs to learn that being female doesn’t mean you have to act like a Kardashian.
“Maybe childhood makes you sad sometimes, and there are other solutions besides ‘hand me the dick saw.'”
Also on Friday, Maher torched members of the GOP, whom he described as “talking like Nazis.”
Watch the clip above, via HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher on YouTube.
