KISS’ Paul Stanley clarifies views on gender transition: “I support those struggling with their sexual identity”
KISS frontman Paul Stanley has clarified controversial recent comments he made about gender reassignment surgery in children.
Stanley was recently criticised online for a statement in which he labelled children’s gender reassignment surgery “a sad and dangerous fad”.
In the statement, he said that “normalising” gender reassignment surgery in children has made it “a sad and dangerous fad,” claiming a “big difference” between “teaching acceptance” and advocating for such surgeries.
Now, Stanley has shared a further statement in which he admitted a poor choice of wording in the original post.
“While my thoughts were clear, my words clearly were not,” he wrote. “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. 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.”
— Paul Stanley (@PaulStanleyLive) May 4, 2023
The guitarist’s original statement added: “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.”
Among those criticising the statement in the replies and elsewhere online was The Offspring‘s Kevin ‘Noodles’ Wasserman, who wrote: “This is a very disappointing take, especially from someone who wore high-heels, makeup, & teased up hair his whole career.
“As a young kid your band helped teach me that I could be whatever I wanted to be. I guess it was just gimmickry after all. #thatsashame.”
Last year, Stanley joined many in the music and entertainment world by speaking out against Kanye West after the rapper shared a string of antisemitic and racially insensitive comments.
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Will Richards
NME
