FASTER, PLEASE: The Tide Is Turning Against Big Trans.

American progressives have a tradition of citing liberal Europe as a guiding beacon of liberty and tolerance. But they’re out of luck this time. Countries with long, continuous ties to old-world faiths and traditions are more resistant to a postmodern reality reset than we are. World Athletics, after all, was founded in Sweden and is currently based in Monaco. World Aquatics, which last year banned athletes who experienced male puberty from competing with females, is headquartered in Budapest. And it based its policy in part on a joint statement by the International Federation of Sports Medicine and the European Federation of Sports Medicine Associations, which said, “high testosterone concentrations…confer a baseline advantage for athletes in certain sports.”

When it comes to so-called gender-affirming care for children, Europe has also begun to wise up. Last year, England’s National Health Service closed down Tavistock, its sole child gender-identity clinic, after a review determined that its “unquestioning affirmative approach” to transitioning kids was potentially more harmful than beneficial. This approach, which the review notes “originated in the USA,” involves prescribing puberty-blockers, hormones, and other medical treatments that can cause lifelong sexual dysfunction and raise the risk of certain cancers. That’s to say nothing of the many tragic outcomes of gender-reassignment surgery. In the past few years, Sweden and Finland have also imposed greater restrictions on “gender-affirming” care for children.

If you’re an American who can still recall the contours of pre–Caitlyn Jenner reality, it may seem is if the country has gone too far off the deep end to come back. Research commissioned by Reuters found that some “121,882 children ages 6 to 17 were diagnosed with gender dysphoria in the five years to the end of 2021,” and “more than 42,000 of those children were diagnosed just last year, up 70% from 2020.” In the same period, 17,683 children started puberty-blockers or hormones. And this is undercounting as these tallies “don’t include children whose records did not specify a gender dysphoria diagnosis or whose treatment wasn’t covered by insurance.”

But, as with other causes that seem to seize the national conscience overnight, a public reckoning follows. Like defunding the police, “gender-affirming” the children is now unpopular. This month, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 61 percent of Americans, and 66 percent of political independents, “prefer a [presidential] candidate who opposes allowing medical treatment for minors related to gender identity.”

Related: Mark Judge explores “Transgenderism, Jazz Jennings and The Fly.”

Watching The Fly, it was remarkable how many parallels there were to the transgender cult. After his “transformation” in the teleportation pod, Seth Brundle has a period of euphoria and off-the-chart confidence. His libido is boundless, he can work out for hours, picks up women easily and defeats men who seem much stronger. He “loves who he is.” When someone asks if he’s a body builder, he says yes: “I build bodies then I tear them apart.”

It’s not enough for Seth to have done the experiment; everyone else has to affirm it — and even do it themselves. Seth’s mania, his pushiness that will not tolerate dissent, is a precursor to the angry, shouting, modern trans activists.

Then, reality sets in. Something is wrong with Seth’s body. He’s growing sharp hairs on his back, an ear falls off, his skin takes on ridges and teeth randomly pop out. It echoes the nightmarish medical consultations that happen after Jennings’ grotesque surgeries.

At her talk at the Heritage Foundation I attended, Chloe Cole said she sometimes saw herself as “a monster.” Jazz says something similar: “Sometimes my mind is just a monster.” Then a friend of Jazz’s puts it more bluntly: “I know some people that after they did their transition just went crazy.” But these people aren’t the monsters in this story. Save that term for their parents, their doctors, and our callous Dr. Frankenstein elites.

Still though, good money can be found in the performative arts: Dylan Mulvaney is now doing speaking engagements for $30K–$60K a pop.