Dee Snider Explains Why He Won’t Apologize for Gender-Affirming Care Comments

Dee Snider is not backing down from his recent comments in support of Paul Stanley’s opinion on gender-affirming care.

To recap: Stanley shared a statement on April 30 across multiple social media platforms titled “My Thoughts On What I’m Seeing.” The statement contained multiple inaccuracies pertaining to parents seeking gender-affirming care for their trans/non-binary children. (A breakdown and examination of those inaccuracies can be read in the article below.) Snider would later retweet Stanley’s statement and said, “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.”

While Stanley later walked back his statement, Snider has not. In fact, the Twisted Sister frontman appears to be doubling-down saying in a new interview with Fox News Digital, “You don’t have to cave, you don’t have to apologize if you did nothing wrong.”

Snider continued, “If you did something wrong, you know? If you did something wrong, you raped a woman, yeah you gotta do more than apologize, but at the same time that’s not something you stand strong about. But if you have a position and a belief and people come at you for it, everybody is folding!”

RELATED: Dee Snider Responds to Being Dropped from SF Pride

Snider then compared his controversy to one RuPaul faced after saying he likely wouldn’t allow a transgender woman to participate on RuPaul’s Drag Race after they transitioned and had surgery to alter their body.

“The same time my thing was going, RuPaul was apologizing cause he said he wouldn’t have trans women on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race.’ And he apologized and took it back cause they freaked out,” said Snider. “Well what’s wrong with that statement? It’s called the ‘Drag Race.’ Dressing in drag is men dressing as women – now we’re accepting that you’re a woman, so a woman dressing as a woman? That’s not a trick.” (It should be noted that the RuPaul controversy Snider is referring to actually happened in March 2018.)

As for Stanley walking back his initial comments, Snider said, “People are so quick to apologize when they’ve done nothing wrong. And Paul immediately apologized and he didn’t say anything wrong. You know, and he took back his words, and I won’t do it.”

We’re Parents of Trans Kids. Here’s What Paul Stanley Has Wrong About Gender-Affirming Care.

Paul Stanley made headlines in the past 48 hours due to his social media post regarding gender-affirming care.

Stanley’s entire statement can be read below, which he titled “My Thoughts On What I’m Seeing.” According to Stanley, what he is seeing are parents “encouraging participation in a lifestyle that confuses young children into questioning their sexual identification as though some sort of game.” Additionally, he says, ” … 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.” 

Stanley appears to recognize the existence of trans people in his statement. However, he also appears to take issue with parents that are helping their children receive gender-affirming care. 

I am the proud stepmother to a young trans woman who has been receiving gender-affirming care for over a year now. The improvement in her mental health and overall well-being has been immense. There are not enough words to describe the positive change I’ve seen in her, and I make my living off of writing words.

Understandably, I found Stanley’s comments very disappointing, especially since I’m a longtime KISS fan. I’ve seen the band multiple times in concert and even own a couple of KISS Kondoms. I don’t believe Stanley was being malicious — unlike certain beer-shooting musicians — but it seems what he’s “seeing” isn’t the full picture.

I reached out to my fellow Beasley Media Group colleague Adam 12 from Boston’s Rock 92.9 to discuss all of this, since he, like me, is a proud parent to a trans child. Here is our discussion of what we think Stanley has wrong about gender-affirming care.

The following discussion has been edited for length and clarity. Additional notes/statistics will be in italics and parentheses. 

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