Unitarians Embrace Authoritarianism, Court Self Destruction Over Gender Ideology— An Open Letter to the Eliot Community
Long-time members banished from Eliot family camps for refusing to say 2 + 2 = 5
We, Bruce Lesnick and Carol Dansereau, have been banned from Eliot Institute family camps unless we are willing to sign a statement renouncing our gender critical views and embracing gender ideology. We stand accused of calmly, civilly discussing our ideas with others in the Eliot community, an act a panel of inquisitors deemed inherently harmful. To be clear,
Gender critical philosophy embraces science, biology and evolution, recognizing that, for humans, sex is determined by biology rather than feelings.
Gender ideology, by contrast, is the belief that whether one is a man, woman, boy, or girl is defined not by biology, but by feelings and self-ID.
What Matters
It doesn’t matter that we’re life-long socialists, antiwar activists, civil rights activists, labor activists and environmental activists. It doesn’t matter that we’re life-long fighters for gay rights, women’s rights and children’s health. It doesn’t matter that we’ve consistently defended free speech, democratic rights and rational thought. It doesn’t matter that, aside from gender ideology, differences of opinion on politics and religion are widely tolerated in the Eliot community, without anyone having the right to impose their views or beliefs on others. It doesn’t matter that the Eliot Covenant, which establishes the tone and goals of Eliot camps, implores us to “Consider the diverse perspectives and experiences that individuals bring to Eliot,” and to “Listen deeply to appreciate other people’s needs and points of view.” It doesn’t matter that we’ve been attending Eliot camps and supporting Eliot financially and with volunteer labor for decades. It doesn’t matter that we’ve been repeatedly referred to as “valued members of the community” and that one of us was honored with the Golden Hand and Heart Award. It doesn’t matter that we have been consistently calm and respectful in presenting our views on gender identity issues. Unless one is willing to pretend that a man who says he’s a woman is a woman (and vice versa), you are deemed a threat to individual and community “safety”.
One doesn’t have to agree with our gender critical views to see the harm in Eliot’s authoritarian trajectory. Free speech means nothing if you don’t defend it for those with whom you disagree. If this censorship is allowed to stand, which views will be banned next? Disagreement over Israel/Palestine? Disagreement over the war in Ukraine? Critiques of COVID policy? Where does it end?
Besides, as we wrote in our response to the “Safe Community Team” (SCT) that was formed to deal with the claim that we pose a safety hazard,
…when a civil discussion leads to a difference of opinion about how someone’s ideas comport with material reality, it is not the fault of the speaker if the listener takes offense. Having one’s closely held beliefs contradicted can feel bad, but it can often lead to personal growth. If your belief is on solid ground, then fending off criticism strengthens your ability to defend it. If your belief is shown to be flawed, then your personal knowledge is thereby increased.
All of the above would be reason enough to deplore the authoritarian moves against us. But there’s an even more important consideration.
The Harm That’s Ignored
In our conversations at camp, our writings, our videos and our responses to the SCT, we detailed concrete harm being caused by gender ideology. We drew attention to the harm gender ideology poses to women’s rights, gay/lesbian rights, children’s health and safety, and democratic rights more generally. At no point did the SCT rebut any of the proofs of harm that we offered.
Does the community have a right to hear this evidence? If the SCT and the Board think the evidence of harm we presented is false, why have they offered no references, citations or counter arguments to the very specific facts and studies we cited? Worse, if they accept that the harms we warn of are real, why don’t they care? And why rush to silence our attempts to bring those facts to light? Whatever happens regarding the fate and perception of gender ideology in the future, the SCT and the Eliot Board can’t say they didn’t know; they can’t say they weren’t warned. The same holds for anyone else who has read this letter and examined its appendices.
If this decision stands, there are a range of things you are no longer allowed to say at Eliot gatherings. You are forbidden from saying,
Sex is determined by biology (i.e. gonads), not feelings.
Sex is binary. There are only two gametes and hence only two sexes.
No human being can change his/her sex.
No human being is born in the “wrong body”.
It’s unfair for males who “identify as female” to compete in women’s/girls’ sports.
It’s harmful to women’s rights and safety for any men, including those who “identify as women”, to invade women’s rape shelters, bathrooms, hospital wards, prison cells and other private spaces.
There are reasons to be deeply concerned about the tens of thousands of children dissociating from their bodies who are being funneled into harmful, irreversible medical procedures.
Seventy to ninety percent of children experiencing gender dysphoria will desist and accept their natal sex if not socially or medically transitioned. A majority of the desisters will grow up to be healthy gays and lesbians. Socially and medically transitioning these children is referred to by many gay rights groups and activists as transing away the gay, which is one of the reasons they are opposing gender ideology.
We know what determines sex. It’s the type of gamete an individual’s body is optimized to produce: eggs or sperm.
But what is “gender”? No one is able to define gender in a non-circular fashion and without referring to sexist stereotypes. If you point this out, however, you too may be banned from Eliot for life.
Eliot’s present stance reifying sex self-ID over biology for defining who is male or female is akin to embracing creationism while banning participation from anyone who believes in evolution.
To borrow from J K Rowling (who, despite misguided claims to the contrary, has never written a transphobic sentence in her life),
For left-leaning [people] like us, this isn’t, and never has been, about trans people enjoying the rights of every other citizen, and being free to present and identify however they wish.
This is about the right of women and girls to assert their boundaries. It’s about freedom of speech and observable truth. It’s about waiting, with dwindling hope, for the left to wake up to the fact that its lazy embrace of a quasi-religious ideology is having calamitous consequences.
Moment of Truth
This is a pivotal moment for the Eliot community and others. Who will stand up on principle and denounce this censorious madness? You don’t have to agree with us on every point to abhor censorship and the stifling of discussion. You don’t have to be convinced of our argument to judge it worthy of attention and want to hear more.
You just need to believe that a community where people are encouraged to speak up when they see something wrong is a healthier model than one that prioritizes suppressing dissent as heresy. We encourage the brave and principled among you to contact the Eliot Board to denounce authoritarianism, the stifling of speech, and the way those have been used to banish us.
For our part, we have enjoyed Eliot very much over the years and will be sad to lose that connection and experience. We will miss people we counted as friends, even those who today choose to mute their voices and close their eyes to the unjust ruling handed down in our case; to the harm this ruling visits upon the Eliot community as a whole; and to the harms inherent in gender ideology, of which so many remain willfully ignorant.
But our integrity is not for sale. We will not be compelled to say “2 + 2 = 5” when we all know it isn’t true. We will continue to speak out, agitate and organize whenever we see injustice, even when others take the easy road, pretending not to see.
Appendices
For more details about the process and “evidence” that led to our excommunication and some reflection on its impacts, see Bowing to Gender Identity Bullies, the Unitarians Kick Us Out.
Below are links to the individual emails and documents exchanged in this process.
Additional links for more in-depth information:
Bruce and Carol’s three videos
Carol’s Substack
____Of special interest:
________Affirming Trans Identities is Harmful
________Hitchhiker's Guide to the Transgender Galaxy
Bruce’s Substack
____Of special interest:
________With Gender Ideology, The Left Is Shooting Itself in The Foot
________Some Socialists Double Down on Support for Reactionary Gender Ideology
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Kudos to you and Carol for fighting the good fight. It is very sad that the Unitarian Universalists, with their long-held reputation for being open minded and engaged in the search for truth as among their highest values, have succumbed to rank dogmatism for the sake of political alignment with the "woke." Evidence doesn't matter to them. A free exchange of ideas, open discussion and debate in a search for truth doesn't matter to them. All that matters to them is fealty to this new warped version of "liberalism."
My wife and I had a similar longstanding affiliation with our local Fellowship. We were both longtime members of the choir and, like you, I wrote and produced several comedy skits for our annual fundraisers. We attended all manner of social events there. But after Trump was elected and wokeness, in all of its manifestations, took hold, the Fellowship became progressively more insufferable, with the dogma being relentlessly shoved down our throats until we couldn't stomach it anymore.
Unlike you, we took the path of least resistance and just left. We could have put up a fight, but it was obvious to us that the overwhelming majority of the congregation had bought into the gender identity cult and related dogmas hook, line and sinker, and we determined that we had better ways of spending our time, fighting on fronts other than that one. Your experience helps confirm that, even if we had fought for a more tolerant and evidence-based approach to these issues, the result almost certainly would have been the same.
Bruce - Just wanted to say we love your content, and think free expression on topics like this is so important, especially these days! Keep fighting the good fight, and please check our articles out, as we know you'll love them! :)