I'm Sorry, But We Have To Talk About Stephen A. Smith For A Second
Hope you’re ready for this…
I’M SORRY, BUT WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT STEPHEN A. SMITH FOR A SECOND
It was almost two weeks ago that Stephen A. Smith, noted sports commentator, seemed to take a definitive stance on the issue of LGBTQ+ rights:
broke - Kamala Harris: “i will follow the law when it comes to transgender individuals”
woke - Stephen Smith:
[image or embed]— onion person (@junlper.beer) February 6, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Hell, I even went as far as to praise him for his stance:
I'll be the first to admit that Stephen A. Smith and I do not agree on a LOT of things. But I'd be a fool not to acknowledge how powerful it is to have his voice in our corner.
Thank you, Stephen.
[image or embed]— Bobbi Elle 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈($0/120 goal) (@queersky.xyz) February 6, 2025 at 9:11 PM
So yesterday, it was with a rather heavy heart that I had to retract that praise.
I hereby retract my previous praise of Stephen A. Smith.
“That’s not just about LGBTQ rights. That’s about prying on the rights of females out there everywhere who were born female, and they’re at a decided disadvantage.”
awfulannouncing.com/espn/stephen...
[image or embed]— Bobbi Elle 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈($0/120 goal) (@queersky.xyz) February 16, 2025 at 4:05 PM
As it turns out, Stephen A. Smith’s support for transgender rights does not extend to the locker room. The sports blog Awful Announcing highlighted an interview with Smith conducted during Super Bowl week by Bloomberg, but not released until this past Saturday, (https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/stephen-a-smith-transgender-athletes.html) which touched on the possibility of him running for President of the United States in 2028. After which, “...he went on to share why he talks about politics, and to share a bunch of political takes.”
Eventually, he decided to bring up trans athletes. Here’s the relevant portion of the interview, thanks to Awful Announcing:
“I’m a centrist by nature. I don’t believe in operating on the fringes. I don’t like MAGA right and I don’t like the woke cancel culture on the left. I’m a centrist. To me, it’s about a strong economy, it’s about being fiscally conservative and socially liberal, but within reason. So that’s how I look at it. LGBTQ rights and all that stuff, I’m in full support of that, but when transgender athletes, men are transitioning to women and they’re competing in female sports, that’s a different animal to me.
“That’s not just about LGBTQ rights. That’s about prying on the rights of females out there everywhere who were born female, and they’re at a decided disadvantage.”
Sorry Stephen, but if you’re going to support us, it has to be full throated and unconditional. You can’t just pick and choose the rights you want us to have or not have. That’s exactly what Republicans across the country are doing, albeit they’re leaning heavily toward the ‘not have’ end of the scale.
Transgender people, non-binary people, asexual people, aromantic people, demisexual people...anyone who doesn’t conform to the gender binary is under unprecedented attack by Republican state legislatures and the federal government under Donald J. Trump. Any ally who places limits on the freedoms we are allowed to have is no ally at all.
AND WE DO NOT HAVE ANY SORT OF ADVANTAGE, STEPHEN! We take hormones and other drugs that are designed to block the production of Testosterone and raise the level of Estrogen in our bodies. I can tell you from personal experience that my two and a half years on hormone replacement therapy has left me less strong than I was before I started. And even before that, I wasn’t much of an athlete. If I were foolish enough to go one-on-one with any female athlete, there’s a very likely chance that I would have my ass handed to me on a platter.
Stephen, if this ever gets put in front of you and you read this far into it, I ask you: get to know some trans people. Learn our struggles, realize why we’re afraid, and do something to help us. With no strings attached.
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