🐭 What's All This About 'Transgender Mice'? 🐭

QUEER WORD
TRANSGENDER MICE

What it means:

a calculated political deflection strategy, manufacturing outrage around an implausible scientific scenario in order to divert public attention from substantive issues.

Let’s use it in a sentence:

‘I don't know why you're all so worried about inflation when the real threat is Biden's army of transgender mice,’ said the pompous politician with the perfectly preposterous priorities.

A little bit of history:

On Tuesday 4th March 2025 President Trump gave his first address of this term to a joint session of Congress.

And if you’ve ever heard one of his speeches, you can probably guess how it went - long-winded, self-congratulatory, and meandering like a toddler explaining their favourite movie.

But in amongst all the unnecessary anecdotes and cruel scapegoating there was one claim that stood out for its sheer absurdity.

When discussing the savings that the DOGE (that’s the Department of Government Efficiency) had found, Trump claimed that $8 million (around £6.2 million) had been set aside by the previous administration to make mice transgender.

‘This is real’ he insisted.

Dear reader, this is not real.

The closest anyone could find was a research project unearthed by CNN fact-checkers that examined how feminising hormones affect the immune system and potential HIV susceptibility.

Except:

• it didn’t involve any mice. The research was conducted on monkeys

• and it didn’t cost anywhere near the $8 million stated. The actual amount was a more modest $477,121 (approximately £370,000)

The next day the White House put out a press release doubling down on the claims, citing a range of unrelated research papers, including:

• $3 million (£2.3 million) to examine how ‘sex-specific inflammatory mechanisms controlled by hormones’ might contribute to asthma

• $300,000 (£233,000) to analyse breast cancer risks for trans men, which did involve mice

• $1.2 million (£930,000) for a study using transgenic mice to examine how androgens may affect fertility in trans men

Note that last term: transgenic, not transgender.

So, what’s the difference?

Well, a transgenic mouse has had its genome altered for genetic research.

A transgender mouse would be... well, I think you know already.

One has a scientific purpose, the other is the main character in a picture book that I should really get to writing so that I can finally make my way on to the ‘Moms for Liberty’ banned books list.

So, what do we do? Roll our eyes and chalk it up to classic Trump?

No, we need to keep pushing back.

While it’s been clear for over a decade (yes, it’s been that long!) that Trump will say anything he likes - truth be damned - we still have to push back against the Republican Party’s anti-LGBTQ+ agenda - including these far-fetched soundbites that are crafted to stoke outrage and justify their harmful policies.

And yes, I KNOW it seems so absolutely ludicrous that no reasonable person would ever hear transgender mice and believe it, but all you need to do is look up your Uncle’s Facebook page or skim a far-right-wing Reddit thread to realise: some people really are that stupid.

But that’s precisely the goal—to get the soundbite circulating, unchallenged, until it becomes an unshakable ‘fact’ in the right-wing echo chamber.

And that’s what they want. To confuse and exhaust us, forcing us to waste our energy and spread ourselves thin putting out all the tiny fires they’re setting in the hope we’ll have no energy for the coming bonfire.

So, the conundrum that we face: fighting every single lie is exhausting. But not addressing them means the fire can burn out of control.

So how do we counter misinformation effectively without burning ourselves out (sorry, I seem to be going a bit overboard on the fire imagery here!)?

Well, it’s all going to depend on your specific circumstances and bandwidth, but here’s some starting advice:

• Pick your battles, but don't give up the war.

• Call out the absurdity when you have the energy - sometimes a well-placed ‘that's ridiculous’ hits harder than a full-blown thesis

• Share accurate information where it will actually make an impact, and remember that humour often travels further than fury

• Build communities of resistance where you can share the load -you don't have to debunk every falsehood alone

• Make sure you’re actively pursuing and maintaining your own joy

And this is the hardest one for me:

• Try not to get exasperated when you're arguing with a bad-faith debater. Their goal isn't truth; it's your exhaustion

Because, above all, we can’t let them drain us.

You don’t have to be on fire just to light the way. Sometimes the steady glow of truth is enough (sheesh! enough with the fire images already!).

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to write the first draft of my picture book about a transgender mouse who finds love, acceptance, and a tiny, tiny pair of dungarees.

QUEER JOY
News from around the web...

🎨 ‘These connections are crucial to making prison time easier, for creating safety, and for stealing joy in a place that isn’t designed for it’ - I found this article about the relationship that incarcerated queer people have with their tattoos to be fascinating.

🎵 Australian children’s band The Wiggles has just released a kid-friendly version of recent Grammy winner Chappell Roan’s ‘Pink Pony Club’ (which is a song about a gay bar!).

🚚 Meet the people giving voice to LGBTQ+ truck drivers

🎙️ Ever heard of The Steps, a legendary meeting spot in Toronto’s gay village? Well, this week on the Lost Spaces podcast we found out all about them thanks to author and speaker Michael Bach.

🏳️‍⚧️ The first ever transgender contestant to compete in Miss Georgia USA also happens to be a part-time hero - spending all of her free time fighting anti-trans bills

🪩 Ever been proposed to on the dancefloor?

QUEER THOUGHTS
Last week’s poll

So long to love!

Here’s how you voted in last week’s poll:

Most of you said no, or at least it depends - which, honestly, gave me a lot to think about.

And, honestly, I agree.

I think that much of my perspective in last week’s newsletter stems from the weight and meaning that was drummed into me about the word marriage rather than the gloriously messy reality of relationships themselves.

What came through, regardless of how people voted, was the importance of mutual respect, consistent communication, and a genuine understanding of each other's needs.

Here’s a little more of what you had to say:

🗣 T: "Definitely need romance in a relationship or a marriage. All of my boyfriends have been very romantic."

🗣 P: "I think both people need to go into it on the same level."

🗣 G: "I'm in a lavender marriage. My wife passed, and I needed to find someone to share expenses with, so I put a notice on a lesbian site. I found a womyn in the same situation, and we put our household together. We get along great, but it will never be romantic for so many reasons."

🗣 B: "Romantic love, for those unable to love themselves, may be too great a challenge to add on top of the intimacy of having (most of) one's life entwined with another(s)."

🗣 T: "I've shared a house with a non-romantic partner, and there were all sorts of problems that could have been resolved if it had been a different relationship. I now live happily with my romantic partner of 25 years. Of course, there are still problems, but it's a different kind of communication, with give and take."