Michael Ramirez: Guest Essay: "Dear Mr. Wheeler" by Bree Lindquist 3-29-25
From America's Premier Editorial Cartoonist
I’m vocal about how unusual sanity is on the left right now. I make no secret of it. When my leftist and liberal friends (and many of my conservative ones) complain to me about Donald Trump’s administration, an easy comeback is, “Well, are you surprised? You’re allowed to argue with some nuance as an independent or a republican. The democrats eat any dissent alive. Who wants to support anyone who is so incredibly cruel to people who just might vote for them?”
Moderation has become so incompatible with the apparent philosophy of the left that when a democrat steps outside of his or her party line, it’s an act of courage and swift consequence. A few days ago, New Hampshire state representative Jonah Wheeler delivered a speech on the house floor explaining his support for a bill that upholds single-sex spaces in certain circumstances, attesting that women have a right to safety and privacy from males. Half of his democratic colleagues walked out to show disdain for this commonsense viewpoint. A few days later, in a vicious struggle session, he was attacked by democratic constituents over Zoom, including old childhood friends and teachers who said he was making the world a more terrible place. He had the conviction and grace to stand by his words, weathering the storm until the stream ended with a barrage of racial slurs and a flood of pornography, because of course it did.
It’s a given that democrats rabidly support abortion rights. But, outside of that, they seem unconcerned and even incensed when women want anything else for themselves. Single-sex spaces exist for a reason, and to show my support for this particular young, reasonable, and passionate voice that is up-and-coming in American politics, I sent him a letter. It’s doubtless one of many he’s received in recent days, but while I’m very angry at democrats as a whole right now for being so stubborn and pigheaded, I can’t ignore the courage and resilience it takes to endure this kind of abuse from your own party in the name of what is right, and not what is popular. I’ve decided to share that letter below, today.
Dear Mr. Wheeler
by Bree Lindquist
Dear Mr. Wheeler,
I used to call myself a democrat and have historically voted that way. I am now an independent voter. The primary reason is all to do with the issue of gender, sex, and the left’s seeming unwillingness to disentangle their definitions of these words. This muddling absolutely silences, endangers, and humiliates women in intimate and vulnerable spaces where the definition of sex (biological and immutable) matters, and gender (expression of arbitrary sex stereotypes) is irrelevant.
I have lost friends over this issue because I dared to voice my concerns and my doubts. It seems like the democrats I know, much like the ones who shouted at and abused you during your struggle session, would rather use their assumed moral superiority to bludgeon others into submission than honestly examine what they’re actually doing: giving women’s equity away to a few very special men. This is religious fervor like I haven’t seen it since the Bush era evangelicals, and it hurts democrats as a whole to call themselves the party of reason, science and evidence, and then say with their whole chests that some people are just born in the wrong body and must be corrected with hormones, surgery, and the participation of others in their catechism.
I support religious freedom up to the point where it affects others’ freedom to practice, or choose not to. As a woman and a mother, I have been affected by this issue, and I would consider myself to have defected from the Democratic Party over its senseless adherence to dodgy science and emotional conflation with other civil rights. Some very smug colleagues of yours really thought they had something when they compared this struggle to racial segregation; they are telling us all something very ugly about themselves. It’s amazing how the true bigots are revealed when they are all trying to out-virtue each other and secure their place on the so-called “right side of history.”
The right side of history is, was, and always has been the side that protects and advocates for women and children. Once their safety concerns are thrown aside to cater to any group of men (and for the purposes of clarity and practicality, I must consider transwomen a subset of men), social contracts and the trust we have in each other and our communities crumble.
The best among men understand why women need private spaces for intimate functions. Every time we use the restroom we must get partly undressed. Women take on caretaking roles for young children and the elderly at higher rates and are often charged with their protection throughout the day, making these private spaces even more crucial. The burden of proof for why we don’t deserve safe and fair sports, prisons, and crisis shelters should not be on us. It should be on the people trying to take those rights and protections away, and so far they have failed to make a compelling case. The closest they have come is changing their language to obfuscate their intentions, as when “women” actually means “females and some males,” or “gender” doesn’t mean “sex”, except when someone wants to falsify a legal document and it does.
I have come to believe that only the worst men feel that it is their human right to violate these protected spaces. Only the worst women feel justified in supporting them and enthusiastically giving away the rights and consent of their sisters. I believe that many of these democrats who are doubling down right now feel guilt for voting against legitimate civil rights struggles in the past and see trans issues as the logical extension of gay rights and voting equality. Strip away the flowery language of “affirmation” and “euphoria”, however, and you’re left with mental illness and narcissism run amok, elevating the preferences of a few over the safety and rights of half the population. We should not be deifying extreme and ruinous individuality at a point in history when stitching together a coherent concept of community might be the only thing that can save us.
I am not in New Hampshire. Sadly I am currently not one of your constituents. But I have endless respect for your composure and courage and will support your political ambitions any way I can. Thank you for listening to women. If you run for a higher office in the future, under any ticket, you have my vote.
Sincerely,
Bree Lindquist
The original essay can be found on Bree’s Substack.
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Very good Bree, I couldn't have said it better.