There are a lot of unlikely names among the Ethics Heroes, and Emmanuel, the Clinton enforcer and Chicago machine pol is a surprising as any of them. But he alone among current Democratic 2028 Presidential aspirants had the guts and integrity to answer directly an Axios survey on controversial trans issues sent to these hacks, liars, rogues, and phonies. It asked,
“Should transgender girls be able to participate in girls’ sports? Do you believe transgender youths under age 18 should be able to be placed on puberty blockers and hormones? Can a man become a woman?”
Emmanuel answered no to the first and last questions, and defaulted to “parents, not legislatures, should decide” regarding the middle one. True, Rahm has about as much chance of winning the White House as a Democrat in 2028 as I do, but still: he not only gave an answer, he gave one that his party’s wacko base will hate. I’m not concerned about whether I personally agree with Emmanuel. He is ethical because he was willing to answer the questions.
Of the rest, the only two that even made a pass at genuine, candid answers (and failed) were Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and incompetent—but historic!—Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Buttigieg directed a spokesperson to respond that decisions about trans athletes should be made by sports leagues, which does not address whether allowing biological males to compete with women is fair or responsible, That’s called “passing the buck.” The Governor said that trans youths don’t “deserve an unfair advantage on the playing field,” which leaves open the weasel option of claiming that they don’t have such an advantage, and he ducked the last two questions entirely.
As for the rest…Former Vice President Harris, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, California Rep. Ro Khanna and Gavin Newsom, among others, declined to respond at all.
This is almost certainly because they don’t think that men can become women, but don’t have the guts to say so.
Ethics Alarms 
IMO, RAHMbo’s Plus Column is a lonely place, but it should make room for this:
“We’ve spent the past five years debating pronouns without noticing that too many students can’t tell you what a pronoun is“
PWS
Okay, Rahm, now do Minneapolis and Minnesota and New York and Chicago and all the other anti law enforcement citiees and states and federal immigration law enforcement.
I will bravely answer all three questions of the survey!
NO
NO
NO
that wasn’t difficult at all
I will bravely answer all three questions of the survey!
NO
NO
NO
that wasn’t difficult at all
I will bravely answer all three questions of the survey!
NO
NO
NO
that wasn’t difficult at all
Probably not intended but you have also answered three times 🙂 Such braverism!
I meant to note that I deliberately left the repeats up, representing three more honest reactions than any Democrat was willing to provide.
This actually got me thinking of the “don’t touch that question” indicator as a way to map out the trigger points of a particular ideology or dogma-that-shall-not-be-questioned.
We saw this play out at the end of the Biden presidency with all kinds of back-pedaling, not-really-an-answer answers etc. when supporters were asked if Biden was suffering from cognitive decline (duh! we saw it on national television!)
What might be three questions that Trump supporters (and I fully understand that not all EA commenters would identify as such) would be loath to answer, instead preferring to deflect, change the subject, attack the person asking the questions, etc.?
Great point, Holly. I’m thinking….
Do you think the US should take over Greenland to protect its security?
Good one! Possible non-answers:
Of course national security for North America is an important priority.
We will always be vigilant when security issues arise.
Why is it you don’t want to talk about our highly successful operation in Venezuela?
Atypical Gender Development: a reviewGender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES)Authors:Professor Michael Besser, DSc, MD, FRCP, FMedSci. (UK)Dr Susan Carr, MPhil. MFFFP. DDRCOG. (UK)Professor Dr Peggy Cohen-Kettenis PhD. (The Netherlands)Dr Pamela Connolly PhD. (USA)Professor Dr Petra de Sutter, PhD. (Belgium)Professor Milton Diamond, PhD. (Chair) (USA)Dr Domenico Di Ceglie, FRCPsych., DIP. PSICHIAT. (Italy) (Child Section) (UK)Dr Yuko Higashi, Ph.D. (Japan)Dr Lynne Jones, MP, PhD. (UK)Dr Frank Kruijver, MD., PhD. (The Netherlands)Dr Joyce Martin, MRCGP, MB, ChB, D.Obst.RCOG. (UK)Professor Zoe-Jane Playdon, BA(Hons), PGCE, MA, MEd, PhD, DBA, FRSA. (UK)Mr David Ralph, MBBS, BSc, FRCS, MS. (UK)Mrs Terry Reed, JP, BA(Hons), MCSP, SRP, Grad Dip Phys. (UK)Dr Russell Reid, MB, ChB, FRCPsych. (UK)Professor William Reiner, MD. (USA)Professor Dick Swaab, MD, PhD. (The Netherlands)Mr Timothy Terry, BSc, MB, BS, LRCP, FRCS (Urol), MS (UK)Dr Philip Wilson, DPhil MRCP MRCPCH FRCGP. (UK)Dr Kevan Wylie, MB, MmedSc, MD, FRCPsych, DSM. (UK)Published in: International Journal of Transgenderism 9(1): 29-44. 2006
In sum, gender identity, whether consistent or inconsistent with other sex characteristics, may be understood to be “much less a matter of choice and much more a matter of biology” (Coolidge et al., 2000). The scientific evidence supports the paradigm that transsexualism is strongly associated with the neurodevelopment of the brain (Zhou et al., 1995; Kruijver et al., 2000). It is clear that the condition cannot necessarily be overcome by “consistent psychological socialisation as male or female from very early childhood” and it is not responsive to psychological or psychiatric treatments alone (Green, 1999). It is understood that during the fetal period the brain is potentially subject to the organising properties of sex hormones (Kruijver et al., 2000; 2001; 2002; 2003). In the case of transsexualism, these effects appear to be atypical, resulting in sex-reversal in the structure of the BSTc, and possibly other, as yet unidentified, loci (Kruijver, 2004). The etiological pathways leading to this inconsistent development almost certainly vary from individual to individual, so no single route is likely to be identified. Different genetic, hormonal and environmental factors, acting separately or in combination with each other, are likely to be involved in influencing the development of the psychological identification as male or female. Psychosocial factors and cultural mores are likely to impact on outcomes (Connolly, 2003).