Ben Appel
@benappel
Writer in @wsj, @newsweek, @thefp, @queermajority, @dcexaminer, @quillette, @spikedonline, @unherd. Memoir CIS WHITE GAY: THE MAKING OF A GENDER HERETIC, Nov. 4
IT'S HAPPENING! My book is available for preorder! CIS WHITE GAY: THE MAKING OF A GENDER HERETIC publishes on November 4. Pass it on! amazon.com/Cis-White-Gay-…
‘The buzzword on campus was “decolonization” — of land, of curriculum, of language, of thought. Professors and students didn’t just challenge Western institutions; they sought to delegitimize them entirely.’
I saw Columbia craziness up close — and the city’s headed that way if Zohran Mamdani becomes mayor trib.al/KGKhaWa
OF COURSE trans activist Laverne Cox had a years-long relationship with “a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, MAGA Republican” New York City cop. them.us/story/laverne-…
U.S. gender clinicians are like “every major medical association agrees that uber femme gays must be castrated.”
I swear to god, if people don’t get it through their thick skulls that there are many reasons why people identify as trans and not just because they have some magical “gender identity” that doesn’t “align with their sex” I’m gonna run away and never come back.
People have asked where this quote came from. I first read it in Bob Ostertag’s “Sex Science Self: A Social History of Estrogen, Testosterone, and Identity” (a must-read). He cites a 2002 documentary. I found the clip: youtube.com/clip/UgkxU2iZR…
Disco icon Sylvester, on what gay liberation meant to him: “I could be the queen that I really was without having a sex change or being on hormones.”
Excellent essay. Well-written, powerful, and honest. We must amplify these voices.
Check out my latest essay about detransition, grief, and the long-term consequences of HRT. “Our bodies don’t get a do-over. We’re still down the rabbit hole, sorting through the broken potions and oversized cake, trying to piece ourselves back together.” 🔗 ⬇️
Oh for sure
I sort of suspect that a fair amount of what gets referred to as “woke” isn’t really ideological so much as the result of some deeply maladjusted people having been given disproportionate influence over the way everyone else is supposed to live
A man saying “your refusal to believe I’m a woman denies my humanity” is like a Christian saying “your refusal to believe in Jesus denies my humanity.” People are free to believe whatever they want. No one is free to make others believe it too.
MY. GOD.
First day home after phalloplasty. Catheter in your left hand, skin tube in the right here you are shuffling to avoid clots...
The federal gov. still funds the 988 Lifeline, which assists anyone—young or old—experiencing a crisis. However, it will no longer subsidize or reroute vulnerable youth in crisis to the Trevor Project, an organization that promotes harmful gender and sex pseudoscience to kids.
the skeleton of Marlene Dietrich just clawed its way out of the grave and is now roving the countryside in search of a pair of eyeballs to roll
Bella Ramsey makes history as the first openly non-binary person to recieve multiple Emmy nominations #NOH8
Brilliant discussion between @byrne_a, @benappel and @JamieWhistle on the Informed Dissent podcast 👇 open.spotify.com/episode/4TpjZr…
“This is easily the most extraordinary outbreak of mass irrationality I have encountered in my life, & it has permanently & profoundly altered my conception of human beings.”
For unrelated reasons, I’ve resigned my position at Harvard. But I haven’t been able to speak frankly with *anyone* for c 5 yrs, & it’ll be hard to forget the spectacle of this nation’s ‘intellectual élite’ enforcing moral auto-lobotomy as a condition of entry to polite society
Yeah I’d call that an endorsement
YES IT'S ALMOST HERE! Ben is such a brilliant writer, funny, acerbic, intellectual, always grounded in care for the ways modern culture can hurt people. I love everything I've read by him and and I can't wait to get my mitts on this
Great to talk public safety & sanity last night with @tracegallagher on @foxnewsnight and join my friend @BrandonStraka. And the segment included a surprise quote from another friend @benappel — a good night all around! foxnews.com/video/63755419…
“The ideology I encountered at Columbia — anti-police, anti-capitalist, anti-Israel, and proudly anti-American — has found its candidate in Zohran Mamdani.” And lest you doubt the connection, Rise Up, Columbia is only too eager to claim Mamdani as a “Columbia community member.”
“The ideology I encountered at Columbia — anti-police, anti-capitalist, anti-Israel, and proudly anti-American — has found its candidate in Zohran Mamdani. And if he wins, that ideology will be codified into city policy.”
Having covered Columbia’s campus antisemitism, I’m with @benappel on this.
There’s a great @nypost piece by @benappel laying out this case in stark terms—and Ben speaks from experience: I saw Columbia craziness up close—and New York City’s headed that way if Zohran Mamdani becomes mayor (Welcome to the New York Post pages, Ben!) nypost.com/2025/07/10/opi…
There’s a great @nypost piece by @benappel laying out this case in stark terms—and Ben speaks from experience: I saw Columbia craziness up close—and New York City’s headed that way if Zohran Mamdani becomes mayor (Welcome to the New York Post pages, Ben!) nypost.com/2025/07/10/opi…
Mamdani’s lack of experience with anything other than student activism means NYC would still experience governance by Columbia’s encampment.