Evan Urquhart

"Bigots" is your word, not mine. The rest is knowledge I have as a result of my professional reporting on this topic, and I am presenting it to you in a neutral and unbiased way.

Certain forums that were concerned with general anti-trans activism exist. The idea of ROGD developed in these forums, these forums were not initially created to respond to ROGD but to discuss trans issues from an anti-trans perspeective.

fwiw I disagree with the idea that these forums were all transphobic. i get some emails from "concerned parents" and I'd say their views run the gamut. in some cases they're really just leery about hormones, which are in fact a big medical decision, and not motivated by bigotry

I agree that well meaning concerned parents have gotten mixed in, but you'd agree that "gender critical" forums were not originally for parents or about ROGD, it was a later focus? Opposing trans rights on behalf of women's safety was the original motivation, yes?

I actually think it really depends. 4thwave is mostly about kids, because the founder had a kid who temporarily identified as trans. I think sometimes people lump together different groups with different agendas. "Concerned moms" and GC folks sometimes overlap but not always.

Though I hear more from CM and have written stuff more in that wheelhouse, so I don't necessarily have a 100% accurate birdseye view

What I observed was that GC groups were throwing all sorts of things out there for years, largely unnoticed, and one thing that finally seemed to resonate was concern about social contagion in kids. The label ROGD came next, still before any researchers were involved.

I'm all for more research, and will follow the evidence wherever it leads. If social contagion theory is true it won't matter where it originated, or why. But, for now, while we still lack evidence, it seems important to recognize where the anecdotes and insinuations originated.