Gender-critical man storms into a LGBTQIA+ meeting in a public library

The tweet reads: "Father interrupts Drag Story Hour for children calling it 'Men dressed as prostitutes reading filth to children.'" This is a clash between the old world and the new in a public library.

This is Ireland; a country with primarily traditional beliefs. A family man storms into a meeting held in a public library. The tweet doesn't tell us exactly what is happening in the meeting but it must be to do with transgender issues and self-identification of a certain sex or gender.

This is a clash between the more liberal minded people who believe that a person can self-identify as a certain sex and a family man who believes that there are only two sexes namely male and female and your sex is determined at birth biologically. The latter viewpoint is called 'gender-critical'.

This is a clash between established attitudes/values towards gender and the woke movement's attitude towards gender which is that there is a spectrum of genders as signified by the acronym: LGBTQIA+ which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and more.

The clash that we see in the video, for me, appears to encapsulate the sharply polarised attitudes of people all over the world on this topic. It is a very difficult topic.

My personal view is that mainstream society should be sensitive towards all people concerning their thoughts about their gender. We should respect all people's views on this. I do believe that there is a spectrum of mentalities regarding one's sex or gender. It's a spectrum rather than the black-and-white view which is you are either male or female.

That said, I understand the man who stormed into the library meeting. He sees it as a perversion and that the organisers were indoctrinating kids. It appears that one man was dressed in a dress to highlight the fact that there is this spectrum of sexes. He describes that man as being in drag and looking like a prostitute.

He has strong feelings of the old-fashioned kind. I understand him too because I think there are only two sexes: male and female. I do believe that sex is determined biologically but, as mentioned, we need to respect what is in people's minds as to how they identify. We need to give them space to express themselves. Listen to them and be open-minded.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that a girl might identify as a boy but we should give that person time to work through those feelings. We need to respect the girl. I would expect her to gradually - as she moved towards adulthood - to leave those feelings behind but if not and at a certain time in her life when she is entirely settled in her thoughts, consideration might then be given to changing her sex as she might suffer from gender dysphoria (a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity).

I don't believe that hormone treatments and operation should take place at an early age. I believe that does harm and there are some adults who dive in far too quickly to facilitate young boys and girls to change their biological sex through an operation.

Young minds are developing. We must allow them to develop before they have a clear picture on their sex. Perhaps one problem is that this particular area of diverging attitudes has possibly been hijacked by the woke movement. It becomes a clash between a liberal woke movement and establish conservative values. I don't think that this is helpful either.

It requires an open mind but above all respect for people and their differences. 

Do you have views on this? The woke movement affects all areas of life. Those who support it would say that it is an enlightened view of the world and that conventional attitudes are too closed and narrow-minded.

Some children identify as animals, often cats. That's another issue which has often hit the news media and which also causes a lot of anguish and discussion as it indicates stresses in school children which is supported by an increase in self-harming and suicidal thoughts.

Is self-identifying as a cat similar to self-identifying as the opposite sex? Are the underlying issues the same? Are kids troubled? Are they reacting to a deteriorating world? Many don't see a stable future. I think this is feeding back in their behavior.