KISS frontman Paul Stanley has been criticised online for a statement in which he labelled children’s gender reassignment surgery “a sad and dangerous fad”.
Today (May 1), Stanley shared a seemingly unprompted statement to his Twitter account titled “my thoughts on what I’m seeing”.
In the statement, he said that “normalising” gender reassignment surgery in children has made it “a sad and dangerous fad,” claiming a “big difference” between “teaching acceptance” and advocating for such surgeries.
He wrote: “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. There ARE individuals who as adults may decide reassignment is their needed choice but turning this into a game or parents normalizing it as some sort of natural alternative or believing that because a little boy likes to play dress up in his sister’s clothes or a girl in her brother’s, we should lead them steps further down a path that’s far from the innocence of what they are doing.
“With many children who have no real sense of sexuality or sexual experiences caught up in the ‘fun’ of using pronouns and saying what they identify as, some adults mistakenly confuse teaching acceptance with normalizing and encouraging a situation that has been a struggle for those truly affected and have turned it into a sad and dangerous fad.”
— Paul Stanley (@PaulStanleyLive) April 30, 2023
Among those criticising the statement in the replies and elsewhere online was The Offspring‘s Kevin ‘Noodles’ Wasserman, who wrote: “This is a very disappointing take, especially from someone who wore high-heels, makeup, & teased up hair his whole career.
“As a young kid your band helped teach me that I could be whatever I wanted to be. I guess it was just gimmickry after all. #thatsashame.”
This is a very disappointing take, especially from someone who wore high-heels, makeup, & teased up hair his whole career. As a young kid your band helped teach me that I could be whatever I wanted to be. I guess it was just gimmickry after all. #thatsashame
— Noodles
(@TheGnudz) April 30, 2023
Steve Albini also kicked back at the comments, writing: “I remember when punk rock came along and made you irrelevant the first time.”
I remember when punk rock came along and made you irrelevant the first time.
— steve albini (@electricalWSOP) May 1, 2023
Last year, Stanley joined many in the music and entertainment world by speaking out against Kanye West after the rapper shared a string of antisemitic and racially insensitive comments.
Stanley joined the cohort of those condemning West’s antisemitism, sharing a statement aimed at people using West’s struggles with mental illness as an excuse for his behaviour. West has long been open about his diagnosis with bipolar disorder and struggles with his mental health – something Stanley has been supportive of in the past, asking fans to have “compassion” for West.
In his new statement, the KISS singer and rhythm guitarist wrote: “Mental illness IS a disease but [it] should NEVER be used to minimize the danger of hate speech, advocating anti-semitism and violence against religions or ethnicities. We have found ways over centuries to rationalize this behavior and viewed the atrocities that followed. SPEAK UP!”
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