Jordan Peterson Saying 'Trans Women Are Men' Sparks Furor

Jordan Peterson's recent comments about trans women are "alarming" and "spewing hate," according to an LGBTQ+ activist.

The controversial influencer has come under fire for his comments erasing transgender women's identities.

"Trans women Are men Enough is enough," he tweeted on Sunday.

The comment was posted as a caption on a retweet of a CNN article about changes to Kansas state laws that would require that people's driver's licenses and birth certificates reflect the gender they were assigned at birth.

The change "requires the Kansas Department of Revenue to list individuals' biological sex at birth on driver's licenses," according to Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach.

Stacy Lentz a co-owner of the historic Stonewall Inn in New York City, slammed Peterson's comments as "false information."

"It's crazy with all this anti-trans stuff out there, but it's how a person identifies [that defines their gender identity] and that's the end of the story," Lentz told Newsweek. "So a trans woman is a woman and a trans man is a man and that's what most of our community feels."

In a press release, Kobach said: "State records must be accurate and reflect the truth as defined in state law. A birth certificate is a record of what happened at the moment a baby came out of the womb. That baby weighed a specific amount and was a specific sex. Similarly, a driver's license is a state document reflecting a state database for state purposes. It is not a canvas on which a person can paint one's expression and preferences."

Barb Wasinger, a Republican state representative, said: "Women are being erased in the record books. Women need the protection of Title IX, and we need the protection of SB 180."

Lentz who is also the co-founder and CEO of The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative said comments such as Peterson's cause "misinformation."

"When folks are out there using their platform for hate and especially well known folks like that, it's alarming and I think there tends to be a system of, I don't want to call it brainwashing... but there's power in platforms," Lentz explained.

"Especially on social media using your platforms, your Twitter, your Facebook or whatever as a well-known person and out there spewing hate is just not good for the LGBTQ community period and especially not good for the trans, non-gender conforming folks that are already under attack, it just multiplies it," Lentz said.

People on Twitter took exception to Peterson's comments.

"You know, for all the bs these fake thought leaders spew, they're limited worldviews never even consider the possibility that the world isn't stuck in the 50s," wrote one person.

Another added: "The concept of being born intersex is just completely lost on these people like are you telling me that a person who is born with both genitalia who decides to express as a women is DEFINITIVELY a man??? Like please just give up your doctorate at that point Jesus Christ."

And a third wrote: "Prolly the dumbest doctor ever this is like 8th grade barely passing science knowledge, how can you have a psych doctorate."

Others agreed with Peterson.

"There's no such thing as a 'male woman,'" one wrote.

"Trans women, are trans women, who were likely once men, and can never be women," another wrote.

According to the National Center for Transgender Equality: "Transgender people are those whose gender identity is different from the gender they were thought to be at birth."

The groups adds that: "When we're born, a doctor usually says that we're male or female based on what our bodies look like. Most people who were labeled male at birth turn out to actually identify as men, and most people who were labeled female at birth grow up to be women. But some people's gender identity—their innate knowledge of who they are—is different from what was initially expected when they were born. Most of these people describe themselves as transgender."

Peterson is no stranger to wading into debates about the LGBTQ+ community.

He recently accused transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney of "parodying women" in a way that "makes blackface appear loving."

Mulvaney has been at the center of a national controversy after Bud Light collaborated with her for two social media posts and sent her commemorative cans of the beer with her face on it. The personalized, not-for-public sale cans marked one year since her gender affirming transition.

"Dylan has been harassed and bullied for simply existing," medical doctor Eric Burnett wrote online, in response to a tweet that has since been deleted. Peterson clapped back at Burnett's assessment.

"For simply existing?" Peterson replied. "How about 'for parodying women in a manner that makes blackface appear loving'? How about for 'taking narcissistic exhibitionism to a new high'?"

Peterson's most recent tweet comes at a time when LGBTQ+ issues are under attack to the point where the Human Rights Campaign declared a "state of emergency" for the community.

Its unprecedented action comes as a result of more than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills either being considered by state legislators or having already passed into law across the country and Congress in 2023, more than any other year on record. Of those bills, around 220 target transgender people, including banning them from competing in sports events in their chosen gender and preventing minors from accessing gender-affirming health care, which could include speaking to a mental health professional.