Twisted Sister lead singer Dee Snider came to KISS co-founder Paul Stanley's defense Monday, backing his controversial take lambasting gender-affirming care for minors as a "sad and dangerous fad" in a Twitter post over the weekend.
"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," Stanley wrote in the tweet.
He continued, "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."
KISS CO-FOUNDER BLASTS ‘NORMALIZING’ SEXUAL STRUGGLES IN CHILDREN: ‘SAD AND DANGEROUS FAD’
Snider jumped into the conversation and seconded the opinion with a retweet. He captioned with, "You know what? There was a time where I ‘felt pretty’ too. Glad my parents didn’t jump to any rash conclusions! Well said, @PaulStanleyLive."
Snider, whose notoriously flamboyant '80s hair band Twisted Sister performed in glam getups evocative of drag, later elaborated on his stance after criticism poured in on the thread.
In the thread, one user wrote, "Dee, PLEASE, PLEASE DON’T fall for the bulls--- being spun by the Right. This is no fetish, it’s not ‘confusion,’ and it’s been noted for thousands of years though only seriously studied in the past 100. PLEASE!"
Snider responded with the following: "I'm not, Elle. Parents need to be less reactionary; Right and Left. No need to steer the child in either direction. Let the kid figure it out for themselves knowing their family is supportive. I had a vet/cop harda-- dad who, while he shook his head A LOT...let me do my thing."
Both Snider's and Stanley's takes sparked backlash from some who have since labeled the rock legends as "transphobic" while others showed their support by saying calling them "true Americans" and thanking them for speaking out on an increasingly controversial topic.
Stanley's post concluded by saying, "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."
Conversations surrounding gender-affirming care for minors have dominated the spotlight of late, particularly as several red state legislatures look to ban the procedures – including surgeries and puberty blockers – for minors.
Members of the Biden administration, meanwhile, including Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine and Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, have voiced their support for gender-affirming care for minors.
