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As a recent arrival to PT who proudly hails from the progressive bastion of San Francisco, I am dismayed by the display I witnessed at last week’s city council meeting. What I saw were two sides talking past each other, lazy rhetoric informed by lazy thinking, and the failure of leadership to moderate discussion. It is exactly the kind of thing playing out all over the country right now, but frankly, I had expected better in PT.

Unable to reign in emotion, many of those arguing on behalf of Ms Jaman project distrust and a naked cynicism that denies the humanity of trans people. There is absolutely no cause to utter “trans***ual” and “pedophile” in the same sentence. In fact, there are perfectly legitimate objections to be made to the state law that do not require the coupling of trans people with pedophilia or predatory behavior. Quite simply, the law provides a loophole for *cisgender* men to access the private spaces of women under false pretenses. That is the issue, isn’t it? It should be so stated.

On the other side, the repeated dismissal of Jaman and her ilk as “bigots” is being done in extremely bad faith in an effort to silence the opposition with something like a blunt instrument. Proponents are effectively daring them to disagree and face the consequences. Similarly, the mantra that “trans women are women” is wielded as the rhetorical equivalent of a mic drop, but it willfully ignores the biological reality that remains an important component of gender and is invoked by those who criticize the law.

The mayor closed the meeting by stating his wish to “err on the side of open discussion.” Sir, it is your *obligation* to facilitate open discussion. When you talk about speech coming close to “stepping over the line,” you are conflating uncomfortable, offensive, and discriminatory. We will not be able to move this issue forward if your constituents are afraid to speak for fear of guilt or cancellation. On the contrary, it will only breed resentment and hate.

I do not know Ms Jaman, and while I was not particularly impressed by her testimony, the optics — specifically, her history at the pool and the clumsiness with which the facts have been compiled — are such that it is reasonable to conclude that she has not been given her due process. At the very least, I would hope that the community can come together toward some kind of reconciliation in this case. Tolerance is not a zero-sum game.