by Aaron Warner

The Town of Hartford Select Board voted to hoist the LGBTQ flag from the town’s municipal building for the month of June (a.k.a. “pride” month). It passed over vocal opposition from residents and selectboard members Lannie Collins and Rocket who said the flag has become a symbol of division and should not be compared to the American flag designed to unite us.  

Board members Dan Fraser, Mike Hoyt, Ally Tufinkjien, Mary Erdie and Kim Souza were all in favor. They chose not to hear discussion from the town, nor raise the issue publicly other than to make it the last agenda item for that meeting.  

Hartford historically has been a welcoming town despite struggling through economic woes in the early 2000s.  The downtown area had struggled to maintain healthy businesses and seemed to be looking for its identity and an economic facelift.  It’s since gotten both.  

Ripe for gentrification that has taken place since the turn of the century, Hartford/White River Junction now boasts a relatively thriving downtown section surrounding its older infrastructure.  Board member Souza runs the Revolution clothing store around the corner from the town building and just down from the staple façade, the Coolidge Hotel.  

Next door and recently recovering from flooding is the Turkish run eatery the Tuckerbox, across from another Middle Eastern themed venue Little Istanbul. New office buildings boasting modern architecture run counter the town court house just around the corner from the main avenue, which also features an area favorite taqueria and bar Trailbreak.  

Nestled along the railroad tracks across from Trailbreak are blue collar comfort fare Big Fatty’s BBQ catty corner to high end dining Elixer.  The new central attraction recently upgraded is the Northern Stage home to off Broadway and other area productions situated next to The Village, a recently constructed assisted living high rise. Rio Blanco salon, Phnom Penh Sandwich Station and Tip Top pottery round out the eclectic flavor of this now Bohemian district once filled with diners, gift shops and pizzerias adjacent the railroad station.  

As a resident it’s not hard to appreciate the economic upgrades to the once flailing downtown.  Hartford, like so many small New England towns, saw its industry shipped overseas only to have those overseas come and reconnoiter the empty infrastructure.  It appears to be in part the realization of the American dream, and one wonders if the new business owners are here for that reason, or is this the realization of the globalist vision riding in on the backs of the progressive political class now prevalent in town.  It’s difficult to tell. 

The town has clearly achieved a diversity of businesses and business owners because of its natural American hospitality given to inclusivity.  None of these businesses were subject to harassment or intolerant behavior from the residence. In fact, the town has welcomed all with relative ease which explains the rapid growth. However the activists on the Board are also pushing to have a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee aimed at solidifying the political power of the progressives who apparently need to ensure the other taxpaying adults in the already diverse, equitable and inclusive hamlet mind their new woke p’s and q’s.  

One citizen, yours truly, can’t help but point out the hypocrisy of Board members such as Souza and others who balked and complained about American flags being strewn along the road to commemorate Memorial Day in the freest country on earth. A flag that represents the highest of ideals for a people who wish to be free and prosper, which is precisely what this country and this town offer to those businesses who have planted their hopes here.  Businesses that would not enjoy the same blessings in Turkey or Cambodia where LGBTQ rights are suppressed or even outlawed have found safe haven in America.  America is still the most sought foreign nation to chase the dreams offered due to its freedoms and opportunities made possible by the very founding fathers and Judeo-Christian ethics derided by Souza and her progressive cohort.  

Tuesday night Board member Mary Erdie gave “homework” in the form of a book to the other members.  I didn’t catch the title but I noticed one of the co-authors is Ibram X. Kinde, who’s most famous written line is “the only remedy for past discrimination is present discrimination and the only remedy for present discrimination is future discrimination”.  

This statement is also associated with the notion of white privilege, clearly enjoyed by the likes of Erdie, Souza, Hoyt, Fraser and Tufinkjien.  (Author’s note: I reject the notion of white privilege and systemic racism in a country and town that has equality of opportunity and elected Barack Obama to the highest position in the land).  The only selectboard member of color, so far as I can tell, is Asian-American Rocket who has repeatedly spoken in support of the American flag and against promoting identity politics.  Rocket is also a left of center political thinker who explained he loved his LGBTQ friends and what their flag represents but not to the level of flying it over the town.  

He countered my statement last night stating his concern over extremist rhetoric on either side, whether it’s conflating LGBTQ with pedophilia (I didn’t) or conversely likening the American flag to white supremacy (agreed).  

In so doing he made my point.  If we’re going to be hyper-critical of the American flag and use that as pretext for tearing it down, then what’s good for the goose is good for the gander so we’ll measure by the same level of discrimination when considering the pride flag.  Who are its founding fathers?  

Last night I started with Dr. John Money (my comment begins at 13:30 of the town’s Youtube video here).  Below this article is the transcript. 

To listen to the commentary from the meeting go here.  It occurs over the first 20 minutes. 

John Money 

Good evening board members, comrades and activists. 

Despite the lack of national identity and obvious culturally divisive nature of the symbol, the board voted to erect the LGBTQ flag over this town municipal building for the month of June, also called unironically “pride” month.  

As of the past few years it’s become en vogue among the dissident left, including in our town, to take issue with the American flag over criticism of the founders participating in the institution of slavery.  Criticism of institutional slavery is fair and should be welcome.  Which is why founders Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and others also wrote at length the struggle they had over the moral failing of the institution which ultimately led to its national demise thanks to the Civil War.  Even more ironic though is the sour grapes here in Vermont.  Why? Vermont was the first state in American history to abolish slavery doing so in 1777, a mere one year after we became a nation. 

What if we turn the same critical eye on the founders of the pride flag? 

Let’s start with Dr. John Money. 

Money is widely considered the founding father of the trans movement.  A sexologist and psychologist who practiced at Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, he is credited with inventing the terms “gender identity” and “gender role”.

Like many sexologists, Money believed pedophilia was a harmless sexuality which, when practiced “properly,” led to the child suffering no harm. In fact, Money’s theories on pedophilia were so sympathetic that, to this day, his work is prominently featured on the website of the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA)

In the 1990s, Money allowed himself to be featured in interviews with Paidika, a pedophile psychology journal. In a 1991 interview for the journal, Money is quoted as saying:

“If I were to see the case of a boy aged ten or eleven who’s intensely erotically attracted toward a man in his twenties or thirties, if the relationship is totally mutual, and the bonding is genuinely totally mutual, then I would not call it pathological in any way.”

Money also noted that he “never” reported any pedophiles to police, even those who were actively abusing children due to his belief that adult-child sex was normal and “often beneficial.”

But Money’s views on pedophilia hardly touch the darkest and most depraved facets of his history, those being reserved for the case of David (born Bruce) Reimer.

Born in Canada in 1965, Reimer was the victim of a botched medical circumcision when he at 6 months old. The procedure sought to address a urination problem Reimer was experiencing, but instead, thanks to failed new and experimental medical technology, left his penis mutilated beyond repair.

Reimer’s parents saw the charismatic Money on t.v. and arranged a meeting.  Money was developing his theory of gender reassignment from work with intersex people.  In the Reimer twins he had the perfect test subjects for his theory with David’s twin Brian as the control.  

Money convinced the young parents to reconstruct David’s genitals to create a vulva and raise their son as a girl claiming gender is merely a social construct. 

During check-ups, Money would subject the twin boys to disturbing experiments. They were forced to replicate sexual intercourse with each other, touch and inspect each other’s genitals, and watch pornography. Money would show the twins photos from smut magazines and “explicit” sexual photos of kids. He would then prod them about their sexual arousal, and question their attractions. The children were also expected to comply in front of audiences of as many as 6 other adults, and some reports state Money also took photos and videos of the children engaged in rehearsed sexual activity. At the time, both of the twins were just 6 years old.

When alone with the children, Money was abusive and got irate with them for refusing to perform for him. In a later statement, they both recall fearing he would “whup” them if they did not do as he asked and strip their clothes.

As David Reimer aged, he became increasingly resistant to seeing Money, and begged his parents not to force him to go to Baltimore for check-ups. Despite feminizing hormones and surgery, Reimer identified as a male and refused to believe he was a girl though he had never been told he was born a boy — a catastrophic rebuttal of Money’s theories on gender.

By the age of 14, Reimer was experiencing suicidal ideations and refused any further contact with Money. He demanded the truth from his parents, which they eventually told him in 1980.

Despite that, Money proceeded to declare his experiments a success, and his “findings” were used in later studies to justify genital surgeries imposed on some intersex children with ambiguous genitalia.

Both Reimer and his brother would take their own lives, with Brian committing suicide via drug overdose in 2002 after a life-long battle with schizophrenia, and David shooting himself in the head in 2004 at the age of 38. Their parents stated that they attributed their son’s deaths to the trauma imparted upon them from Money’s methods.

Thus began the founding of modern transgenderism thanks to John Money.