This guy sucks.
Self-Inflicted Boomerism
It’s only day two of Pride Month, and Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is already jumping headfirst into deeply transphobic waters.
The billionaire took to Twitter today to post a series of transphobic tweets, an outburst that was seemingly spurred, at least in part, by the release of The Daily Wires’ new “documentary” titled “What is a Woman,” a transphobic pet project helmed by the media company’s premier trans antagonist, far-right personality Matt Walsh.
“Every parent should watch this,” Musk tweeted while linking to the Daily Wire video project. “Consenting adults should do whatever makes them happy, provided it does not harm others,” he continued in the thread, “but a child is not capable of consent, which is why we have laws protecting minors.”
But the founder didn’t stop there, going as far as to give credence to a post from a gay anti-trans group dubbed “LBG,” which is calling for the removal of what it calls the “TQ+ cult” from the LBGTQ+ acronym. The TQ+ community, of course, is absolutely not a “cult,” but Musk, ever the alt-right reply guy, decided to weigh in.
“Totally agree,” he replied. He also took a moment elsewhere to promote a tweet falsely equating gender-affirming care to the “mutilation” of children.
Though Musk is adamant that kids under 18 can’t be trusted to seek gender-affirming care, the plentiful body of research that exists on the subject actually shows that the prohibition of such care is far worse for young people’s wellbeing. The Twitter owner, however, whose trans daughter last year cut ties with her billionaire father completely, clearly prefers a destructive and non-scientifically supported stance.
Call It What It Is
This isn’t Musk’s first transphobic outburst. He’s been known to mock pronouns, and recently claimed that trans youth are being influenced by “propaganda” and thus cannot consent to affirmational care. And considering that he likely wants to keep currying favor with the far-right, it likely won’t be his last, either.
Trans people, particularly trans children, have become a convenient target for the far right — a group that Musk has quickly gone from rubbing elbows with to becoming a leading figure within — ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Florida governor Republican candidate Ron DeSantis, who has enacted a number of anti-trans laws in his home state and who Musk has already said that he would vote for, is notably expected to anti-trans mudslinging central to his campaign.
It all sucks, and we should call it what it is: transphobia, pure and simple. On that note, did we mention that Twitter’s new head of Trust and Safety resigned this week?
More on Elon and the trans community: Oh, Great, Elon Musk Has Entered the Trans Kids “Debate” Chat