.. bridge too far at age 10. Does anyone else know or remember this book? I think it's been out of print for a long time. 6/6

...I've always found it amusing that his articulation of how wonderful it would be to be a girl in order to argue that it's not-all-that had the effect of shining a light on what I actually felt inside. I remember wishing I had the courage to buy the companion "Girls & Sex," but that was a...5/

...attempt to persuade the boy reader how wrong this was, and how swell and wonderful being a man was. I was absolutely fixated on this paragraph, and all I could feel at the time was shame at my excitement in reading and re-reading it, unpersuaded. It took me many decades to come out, but...4/

..to be girls. The paragraph I can still vaguely remember from ~40 years ago (I have no idea where that book is) went something like this: "Some boys may imagine how much more wonderful life would be as a girl, and feel the urge to wear dresses and engage in girl activities.." He went on to.. 3/

I don't remember much of the book, except that it was a bit formal and outdated by the 80s, the kind of thing you'd imagine a 50 yo born in 1913 writing for the young folk. But there was a ?chapter on homosexuality. The thing is, what Pomeroy imagined as the 'homosexual impulse' was boys wanting..2/

This smacks of their position being negotiable rather than firm. Which is fine if we're talking about the marginal tax rate for people making > $X a year, but not with human rights.

But it isn't "purity testing" to ask for people to stand for a clear position. Buttigieg gestures at discomfort narratives around trans kids in sports, but doesn't articulate which trans rights are a red line for him. Even McBride says we need a "big tent," but where is the red line?

…want capitalist healthcare, but to cover everyone, I can live with that even though I think we should be single-payer. If they don’t want to pack the court, ok, but what’s the solution to a rogue, unmoored branch of gov’t? On trans rights, what DO you believe are our rights, specifically? 6/4

One more thought; this goes both ways, in that I don’t expect the center to agree with all of the left’s positions. What is most infuriating is the sense that the center *has* no steadfast positions, that they change based on polling data and making concessions to the right. If they…5/4

…may just lose to MAGA. To save our country, I beg of the center to stop talking down to the left and deriding moral principles as “purity testing.” If you won’t work to keep the marriage intact, it will cease to be viable, and while I know you’ll reflexively blame the left, it will be on you. 4/4

…the left as an annoyance that should just shut up with its “purity tests.” Overall, it would be a relief if this marriage could end and this country could have at least 4 parties - left, center left, center right, and MAGA. But we’re all aware that if there is a left/center-left divorce, we…3/4

…the sentiment of the latter that the relevance of the left is to fall in line with the trad candidate they choose. The center bristles at the notion that they would need to treat the left as a valued partner in an uneasy coalition. Rather than try to hold the coalition together, they treat….2/4

Even better would be a cancelled comedian doing a set on how ridiculous cancelled comedians are then pivoting to mocking the audiences coming to see cancelled comedians.

In the long run, we need not only Medicare for All, but a far better and less fragmented public health system that works in concert with the healthcare system. /7

And now they are using that to dismantle what little infrastructure we do have to protect public health - from disease, from tooth decay, from toxic chemicals—as part of a larger project to dismantle any part of government that works for the common good. 6/