This week, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson visited San Francisco and spoke with 50+ local HUD staffers. His comments in the internal meeting upset several staffers, and caused at least one to walk out in protest.
According to the Washington Post, Ben Carson recounted “conversations with shelter operators and women’s groups who told him that homeless women would be traumatized if ‘big, hairy men’ walk into shelters identifying as women…”
This was too much for the San Francisco HUD staffers. The Washington Post used the occasion to criticize Carson, saying he “has a history of making dismissive comments about transgender people.”
According to the Washington Post, an HUD senior official responded: “The Secretary does not use derogatory language to refer to transgendered individuals. Any reporting to the contrary is false.” Carson’s office further clarified: “Carson was referring to men who pretend to be women to gain access to battered women’s shelters—and not singling out transgender women as ‘big, hairy men.'”
Ben Carson’s run-in with San Francisco leftists illustrates the sad state of public discourse today. Leftists tell us to “believe women” and “empower women,” but they refuse to define womanhood.
Will the designation “women” now be open to including anyone who wants to be included, as the transgender movement holds? This is radical subjectivity. It will have dangerous implications: Anyone who seeks to define womanhood could become guilty of hate speech.
