Why I’m Leaving The Daily Wire
There is a critical distinction between speaking truth and being tactless, between sticking to the facts and sticking it to the libs.
After much consideration, I am tendering my resignation from The Daily Wire, a publication to which I dedicated my time and passion as an investigative reporter for the last six months.
My interest in the transgender debate became all-consuming when I realized that so many of our trusted institutions—the mainstream media, government, academia, civil rights and gay rights organizations, big tech, and the medical establishment—were misled on this issue and were misleading the public in turn. As a pro-choice atheist who has consistently voted Democrat throughout my adult life, this realization, as I’ve written, was nothing short of world-rocking.
When the documentary “What is a Woman” was released in 2022, I thought it was a brilliant commentary on the state of our culture. Matt Walsh didn’t insult his interviewees, but instead let them embarrass themselves with deeply incoherent attempts to answer a question any first grader should be able to answer. Even my liberal parents loved the movie. So, when The Daily Wire approached me with the opportunity to write exclusively on transgender issues with an emphasis on pediatric gender medicine, I accepted.
There were difficulties working for a decidedly conservative news and media corporation, which I anticipated. For instance, health professionals would not talk to me, much less go on the record, because of their suspicion of “Right-wing media.” But I pushed through these inconveniences because I felt that much of the criticism directed at The Daily Wire staff was misguided. Their position on transgender issues was sufficiently nuanced, and their editorial standards were, and remain, high.
I was told that The Daily Wire’s stance was that adults could live their lives however they pleased, so long as they kept kids out of it. There was no clash between safeguarding of children and tolerance for alternative adult lifestyles, even ones that some might regard as unhealthy.
It was a message I could get behind.
But recent videos and posts have weakened my confidence in their commitment to this message. On Valentine’s Day, Matt Walsh did a segment on his show about transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney that has now been viewed by millions. “You are weird and artificial, you are manufactured and lifeless, you are unearthly and eerie, you are like some kind of human deepfake,” Walsh said. “Everyone [who] looks at you will see something pitiable and bizarre.”
Walsh has defended these statements as “good strategy” because, he says, they rally the conservative base. He adds that the goal is not to “convince the other side” but to “defeat, humiliate, and demoralize” his opponents. This triggered a race to the bottom, with other social media personas one-upping each other to see who can take more extreme stances.
There are transsexuals who are not ideologues, who know they cannot literally identify out of their sex, and who believe that medical transition is a choice for adults—not children—to make. I count some of them as my friends. They are trying to educate the public, using their unique position as transsexuals to deflect ad hominem criticism that they are motivated by prejudice or perversion. Some have also participated in helping to pass legislation to protect women’s sports and safeguard children. Walsh’s rhetoric coincided with a sudden deluge of animus toward transsexuals like my friend Blaire White, simply for being transsexual.
I can only assume that the enthusiasm generated by Walsh’s hardline position encouraged another colleague of mine, Michael Knowles, to make a controversial statement at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Many left-wing media outlets deliberately misinterpreted Knowles’ claim that “transgenderism” should be “eradicated from public life entirely” as a call for “eradicating transgender people,” and many later corrected their headlines to accurately reflect the quote. A generous interpretation of Knowles’ statement is that he wishes to eradicate gender ideology, a postmodern social theory, from public life. So why not say that? On this issue it is extremely important to clearly distinguish between people and ideas so as not to feed into Left-wing manufactured hysteria about impending genocides.
The political Right often rails against “identity politics” and group labels yet many fail to distinguish between transgender people and transgender activists. Not all transgender people are transgender activists. In fact, many—especially of the older generation—find the extremism of contemporary trans activism appalling. Likewise, not all transgender activists are themselves transgender. Included in this group are doctors and researchers who pump out junk science and stake their careers on medical experimentation on vulnerable teenagers.
An important lesson we’ve learned from the growing number of detransitioners is that transgender identities are not always fixed. Being transgender is not innate and biological the same way that being gay is. Many are socially influenced to adopt transgender identities for a variety of reasons and are medically “affirmed” without proper evaluation.
A number of those who identify as transgender today may become detransitioners tomorrow. They will need our help, especially as they face a torrent of attacks from their former “community” for the sin of apostasy. Many of these people are susceptible to gender ideology in the first place because they struggle with mental health problems, body image issues, or autism. I would know: I’ve dealt with all three. If we do not exhibit compassion for this group of young people, we make it less likely for some to inevitably realize their mistake and reach out to us for help.
As a journalist, I have to believe there are reachable centrists, including moderate liberals, who are uncomfortable with gender ideology but who have been insulated from serious coverage of this medical scandal. Winning over hearts and minds is difficult enough without inflammatory statements such as “transgenderism must be eradicated from public life.” There is a critical distinction between speaking truth and being tactless, between sticking to the facts and sticking it to the libs.
I am keenly aware of the distinction between factual reporting and opinion. As a journalist and reporter, I dedicate my days and nights to meticulously surveying data, scouring the primary literature, and choosing the best words to accurately convey the truth. But such painstaking attention to detail is rendered meaningless when the company’s flagship entertainers and personalities speak impulsively and deploy divisive rhetoric for entertainment and clicks.
This is not a game, and we cannot afford to make these issues overtly partisan. The bodies, minds, and lives of children are being permanently damaged, and everyone, not just reporters and journalists, has a duty to approach this issue with the seriousness it demands.
In light of these concerns, I can no longer in good faith maintain my employment with The Daily Wire. There are many wonderful journalists at this organization who continue to do stellar work, and I hold no animosity toward any of them. But when my employer can no longer make good on the promise I was given at the start of my employment, my only recourse is to resign.
Sincerely,
Christina Buttons
What now?
Though I’m leaving The Daily Wire, I am not leaving the fight. As an independent journalist I will continue my commitment to factual and rigorous reporting on gender ideology and pediatric gender medicine, with the goal of reaching people across the entire political spectrum.
I am writing a guidebook for parents called “The Parent’s Survival Guide To Gender Ideology,” which will provide parents with a short yet comprehensive survey of all the main issues to adequately equip them to push back against gender ideology in their schools and communities. A companion website will also be created to provide fact-based, nonpartisan information exposing gender pseudoscience.
I’ve illustrated several children’s books in the past and will be writing and illustrating a children’s book that teaches kids to embrace their individuality regardless of their (non)conformity to sex-based stereotypes.
You can help support my independent journalistic venture and other projects directly by making a one-time or recurring donation below. To follow my reporting and journalism, be sure to subscribe to this Substack, Reality’s Last Stand, where I will be teaming up with Colin Wright to combat sex and gender pseudoscience.
Your generous support gives me the ability to work full-time on helping to solve one of our society's most pressing cultural issues. Thank you.
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Very thoughtful article. I respect your decision and I actually think both approaches are necessary. My daughter has to scan the sideline if every club and middle school soccer game to see if it’s safe for her to head a ball, particularly in club finding it’s not. She’s already watched 3 friends sustain season ending injuries from boys playing dress up on a girls club team. This has been allowed to happen because left wing gender activists mock and belittle anyone who disagrees with them, and it works. It’s ok to fight a little fire with fire to bring down the faux superiority complex of the many kids and mommies who think it’s cute to encourage their sons to invade my daughters’ athletic competitions and private spaces. At the same time, there are many moderates, particularly those who have no interest in athletics and only sons, who have absolutely been insulated from the brutal reality of this movement that need to hear calm facts.
When my daughter first asked our pediatrician about this a few years ago he said the majority of the cases he had seen were mommy driven actual or close to Münchausen syndrome. That usually social stigma kept attention seeking parents, most often mom, from acting to harm their child for attention, but that social media seems to be fueling addictions to attention, and gender ideology gave these susceptible moms a license to encourage their child towards self harm. He said phycologists, YouTube, TikTok, and even some teachers certainly encouraged kids towards this ideology against their parents wishes, and he could often help those children, but what he had seen at the time was mostly mommy pushing it. My daughter was very upset her doctor couldn’t stop the mommy medical transitions. He explained reality - he won’t participate and will refer to another doctor, but he won’t lose his ability to help all his other patients and his livelihood for his family to not actually save a single child from this. That was an important lesson for her. An important lesson for me was that rightly mocking and demeaning those who promote child genital mutilation based upon an absurd notion that you can be born in the “wrong body” will be necessary to save many children not withstanding the unfortunate impacts on the very few adult males who are genuinely happier living as transsexuals.
We need both voices. We need the mocking, blunt truth to stop the Dylan Mulvaney’s of the world from making an all out joke of my daughter and all actual women and girls. He’s a jerk. He’s mean spirited. He is full on mocking everything it is to be a woman or girl and reducing us to some insane and condescending stereotype. He deserves ridicule. Relentless ridicule.
But we also need calmer voices like yours to change hearts and minds and embrace those who have been so permanently damaged by this cruel ideology. To remind the few true transsexual adults that nobody wishes them harm or cares how they live so long as they don’t deny biological reality. We need there to be voices of comfort and hope for the many thousands who will undoubtedly regret destroying their bodies, ability to be sexually intimate, and fertility. They are the biggest victims of this cruelty and it’s unfair to cast it aside as “self-inflicted” when it was others who promoted and enabled the harm - others who had a responsibility to do no harm. We need to stop the harm and help those who have been harmed and that is 2 different groups that will likely respond to different approaches.
I am much more conservative than you are and so disagree with you on many things -- ie, while I agree that Matt Walsh deliberately says provoking things (as does, say, Steven Colbert and many "news personalities" on the left) , I also agree with everything he said about Dylan Mulvaney. He does, indeed, look creepy, and no one does respect him. Moreover why you do not find DM's bizarre take on what it means to be a woman and his insistence that he is one incredibly insulting to yourself and all women is beyond me. However, I also think you're very good and thorough journalist and I appreciate the work you have done. It's not a good idea to say bad things about your employers, but then, I've read some of your personal tweets and I'm not surprised. I will continue to follow you because I want to support everyone writing about and otherwise covering this, whatever their personal opinions. This seems like a better fit for you and I hope it's a good move.