Screenshot via YouTube @PagerU
Mario Lopez is the center of controversy after he made comments that parents supporting trans kids is “dangerous.” But is there more to the story?
Lopez, a father of three, made this comment back in June during an interview on The Candace Owens Show. While the interview was from a month and a half ago, clips have resurfaced on the internet and caught Twitter’s unwanted attention.
In the 40-minute interview, Owens brings up the topic of a “weird trend” in Hollywood. Specifically, the conservative figure stated discomfort with celebrities like Charlize Theron announcing support of their children in however they choose to identify. While that seemed nice, Theron was preemptively defining her child’s gender in an effort to be progressive.
“Yes, I thought she was a boy, too,” Theron told the Daily Mail. “Until she looked at me when she was 3 years old and said, ‘I am not a boy!’”
Owen then shared her thoughts on the moment with Lopez by saying:
Lopez joined the conversation by stating it’s the parents’ job to guide the child through these issues.
He then concluded that parents need to “let kids be kids.”
Of course, there were plenty of people online, and especially on Twitter, who didn’t agree.
While I won’t support this idea of mob mentality on Twitter and “canceling someone” for not agreeing with you, I don’t wholly agree with Owens. But I don’t disagree with Lopez.
Yes, it’s the parents’ job to guide their children, but not to limit them. A child’s gender expression is not connected to their sexuality, as Lopez incorrectly assumes. But on the flip side, Lopez is right that parents have to leave room for children’s exploration and not immediately label them as transgender at such a young age.
As Dr. Christina Brown, a social psychology professor at the University of Kentucky told Yahoo News:
So in the end, Owens is the dangerous one for trying to govern what other parents are doing (and coming off a bit hostile). And maybe Theron is a little to blame as well, for ironically limiting the child by trying to define them as transgender without room to grow.
And again, people on news sites and social media are too quick to blame based on news headlines alone. But Lopez doesn’t deserve to be canceled (at least on this one statement). Ultimately, Mario Lopez is saying that parents should “let kids be kids,” and develop their gender expression and identity as they like over time. Whether they are trans or not, it’s not for the parents to decide. And isn’t that the right call in the end?
Perhaps instead of saying it is “dangerous as a parent to make this determination,” Lopez should have specified that it’s dangerous to overeagerly/preemptively define kids (as young as 3) as transgender. Then maybe the internet wouldn’t have rushed for its pitchforks.
This post was created by one of our Contributing Writers and does not reflect the opinion of Instinct Magazine or the other Contributing Writers when it comes to this subject.
Update: The last few paragraphs of this article have been updated to further elaborate partial support of Lopez.
