Alice Cooper believes transgenderism is “a fad”
Rock veteran Alice Cooper has waded into the culture wars and claimed transgenderism is a “fad”.
Cooper’s comments were in retaliation to remarks by Paul Stanley from Kiss, who said earlier this year in a statement: “There is a BIG difference between teaching acceptance and normalizing and even encouraging participation in a lifestyle that confuses young children into questioning their sexual identification as though some sort of game and then parents in some cases allow it.”
Stanley was supported by Dee Snider. Following a backlash, the Kiss musician shared an essay re-affirming his stance, and now he’s been backed up by Cooper.
Speaking to Stereogum, Cooper, who releases his new album Road on August 25th, provided his thoughts on the topic: “I’m understanding that there are cases of transgender, but I’m afraid that it’s also a fad, and I’m afraid there’s a lot of people claiming to be this just because they want to be that. I find it wrong when you’ve got a 6-year-old kid who has no idea. He just wants to play, and you’re confusing him telling him, ‘Yeah, you’re a boy, but you could be a girl if you want to be.’ I think that’s so confusing to a kid. It’s even confusing to a teenager.”
Cooper continued: “You’re still trying to find your identity, and yet here’s this thing going on, saying, ‘Yeah, but you can be anything you want. You can be a cat if you want to be.’ I mean, if you identify as a tree… And I’m going, ‘Come on! What are we in, a Kurt Vonnegut novel?’ It’s so absurd, that it’s gone now to the point of absurdity.”
The singer concluded by saying: “I say let somebody at least become sexually aware of who they are before they start thinking about if they’re a boy or a girl. A lot of times, I look at it this way, the logical way: If you have these genitals, you’re a boy. If you have those genitals, you’re a girl.”
Earlier this week, Nick Cave thrust his support behind the transgender community. In the latest edition of his Red Hand Files newsletter, a trans fan named Amelia asked for his thoughts. In response, Cave said he has an impulse “to treat everyone with equal love and respect, regardless of their race, gender, sexuality, religion or anything else. I essentially see the world as a collection of individuals, each unique in their brokenness, who have at their core a common and binding sameness of spirit.”
“So, Amelia,” he continued, “although I am slightly uncertain as to where I am supposed to stand on such things, or rather why I am supposed to stand anywhere, I will say this – I love my trans fans fully and wish them the best, as I love all my fans and wish them the best. I feel toward them that same duty of care that I feel toward all those who exist within my sphere.”
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