KISS frontman Paul Stanley has backtracked after criticising the encouragement of children to undergo gender-affirming care.
Stanley took to Twitter to voice his opinions on children’s sexuality and gender-affirming care last weekend, referring to the latter as a “sad and dangerous fad.”
“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,” he wrote.
Stanley’s statement 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.
“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.”
After receiving widespread criticism online, with many pointing out how pioneering his band had been in smashing taboos by being men wearing makeup and feminine clothing, Stanley returned to social media with a follow-up statement today.
“While my thoughts were clear, my words clearly were not,” he wrote on Twitter. “Most importantly and above all else, I support those struggling with their sexual identity while enduring constant hostility and those whose path leads them to reassignment surgery. It’s hard to fathom the kind of conviction that one must feel to take those steps.
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“A paragraph or two will remain far too short to fully convey my thoughts or point of view so I will leave that for another time and place,” his statement concluded.
— Paul Stanley (@PaulStanleyLive) May 4, 2023
