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The GOP has perfected a political strategy that frames progress as a mistake that must be undone. From climate policy to trans rights, the right isn’t just opposing change — it’s actively detransitioning America, unraveling progress under the guise of “common sense” and “restoring order.”
But this isn’t just about ideology. It’s about power.
Right now, the GOP frames any step toward justice as dangerous, unnatural and in need of correction. If we look closer, these attacks aren’t just similar — they are deeply connected. By comparing the right’s climate rollbacks and its war on trans rights, we can see a broader strategy at work: one that fuels fear, manufactures doubt, and ultimately serves the interests of those already in control.
The fight isn’t just about policy; it’s about who gets to belong in the future.
Take climate change. Despite overwhelming scientific consensus, climate denialists cherry-pick uncertainties, using rare instances of changing climate models to cast doubt on the entire field.
Similarly, the right has latched onto detransition stories, amplifying a handful of cases where individuals regret transitioning to suggest that all trans people will feel the same.
By focusing on individual regret rather than systemic realities, these movements create the illusion that climate action and trans healthcare are harmful mistakes rather than necessary progress. The message is clear: We must “correct” these wrongs by detransitioning the country back to a time before this supposed damage occurred.
But who actually benefits from this rollback?
Take the far right’s obsession with trans youth. They flood the airwaves with panic over puberty blockers, despite the minuscule percentage of youth receiving gender-affirming care.
A peer-reviewed study analyzing private insurance claims found that out of more than 5 million adolescents ages 8 to 17, only 926 received puberty blockers and 1,927 received hormone therapy between 2018 and 2022.
Similarly, climate policies are attacked as elitist schemes to control the working class — painting green energy initiatives as an attack on personal freedom, just as gender-affirming care is framed as an attack on children.
By shifting the focus onto symbolic enemies — the “radical trans activist” or the “climate elitist” — the right gives people someone to hate while avoiding the real sources of economic and environmental crisis.
And this isn’t just a cultural strategy. It’s a business model.
Capitalism is in the business of creating problems, then selling solutions.
It’s a distraction, and it’s working.
Queer ecology tells us that nature itself is fluid, adaptive, and in constant transition. Yet, the far-right insists on rigid, binary categories:
The obsession with detransition mirrors climate rollbacks in that both are framed as necessary corrections to a mistake.
The real question isn’t whether these issues are linked; it’s why they were ever separated to begin with. The fights for climate justice and trans rights are one and the same:
The GOP has perfected a political strategy that frames progress as a mistake that must be undone. From climate policy to trans rights, the right isn’t just opposing change — it’s actively detransitioning America, unraveling progress under the guise of “common sense” and “restoring order.”
But this isn’t just about ideology. It’s about power.
Right now, the GOP frames any step toward justice as dangerous, unnatural and in need of correction. If we look closer, these attacks aren’t just similar — they are deeply connected. By comparing the right’s climate rollbacks and its war on trans rights, we can see a broader strategy at work: one that fuels fear, manufactures doubt, and ultimately serves the interests of those already in control.
The fight isn’t just about policy; it’s about who gets to belong in the future.
The manufactured crisis: Who profits from reversal?
To justify rolling back both trans rights and climate protections, the right leans on manufactured crises, presenting change as a dangerous social experiment gone wrong. The most effective way to do that? Weaponizing doubt.Take climate change. Despite overwhelming scientific consensus, climate denialists cherry-pick uncertainties, using rare instances of changing climate models to cast doubt on the entire field.
Similarly, the right has latched onto detransition stories, amplifying a handful of cases where individuals regret transitioning to suggest that all trans people will feel the same.
By focusing on individual regret rather than systemic realities, these movements create the illusion that climate action and trans healthcare are harmful mistakes rather than necessary progress. The message is clear: We must “correct” these wrongs by detransitioning the country back to a time before this supposed damage occurred.
But who actually benefits from this rollback?
- Fossil fuel companies profit from climate skepticism, ensuring we remain dependent on dirty energy.
- Right-wing politicians fundraise off anti-trans fearmongering while avoiding economic issues that might actually improve people’s lives.
The spectacle: trans lives and climate policy as distractions
None of this would work without media spectacle. Right-wing politicians and media outlets know that the most effective way to keep people from questioning power is to keep them emotionally invested in a performance.Take the far right’s obsession with trans youth. They flood the airwaves with panic over puberty blockers, despite the minuscule percentage of youth receiving gender-affirming care.
A peer-reviewed study analyzing private insurance claims found that out of more than 5 million adolescents ages 8 to 17, only 926 received puberty blockers and 1,927 received hormone therapy between 2018 and 2022.
Similarly, climate policies are attacked as elitist schemes to control the working class — painting green energy initiatives as an attack on personal freedom, just as gender-affirming care is framed as an attack on children.
By shifting the focus onto symbolic enemies — the “radical trans activist” or the “climate elitist” — the right gives people someone to hate while avoiding the real sources of economic and environmental crisis.
And this isn’t just a cultural strategy. It’s a business model.
Capitalism is in the business of creating problems, then selling solutions.
- Oil companies push carbon capture technology while continuing to pollute — ensuring the crisis is never fully solved, only managed.
- The right promotes “detransition support” while banning trans healthcare, creating a crisis where one didn’t exist.
It’s a distraction, and it’s working.
Nature as a battleground: the far-right’s fear of fluidity
At its core, the war on trans people and the war on climate action stem from the same fear: fear of change.Queer ecology tells us that nature itself is fluid, adaptive, and in constant transition. Yet, the far-right insists on rigid, binary categories:
- Man/Woman
- Fossil Fuels/Renewables
- Traditional/Disruptive
- Fossil fuels are labeled “natural” energy, while renewables are framed as “forced” and “unnatural.” This rhetorical tactic is explored in a 2025 study on far-right climate discourse.
- Trans identities are labeled “unnatural choices,” requiring government bans to prevent people from making “mistakes.”
The Far-Right’s Detransition Obsession Mirrors Climate Rollbacks
Capitalism is not interested in actual progress — it only cares about control.The obsession with detransition mirrors climate rollbacks in that both are framed as necessary corrections to a mistake.
- The Paris Agreement withdrawal was presented as a return to “energy independence.”
- Anti-trans laws are framed as returning to “biological reality.”
- Climate denial isn’t about scientific debate — it’s about maintaining corporate power, as Time reported earlier this year.
- Anti-trans laws aren’t about protecting kids — they’re about enforcing gender hierarchies, as outlined in a March New York Times editorial.
Who Owns the Future?
If we allow the right to detransition America, we risk a world where progress is always reversible and power remains in the hands of those who benefit from disorder and fear.The real question isn’t whether these issues are linked; it’s why they were ever separated to begin with. The fights for climate justice and trans rights are one and the same:
- A fight against the illusion of permanence
- A fight against manufactured crises and controlled reversal
- A fight for a future that actually belongs to all of us
- We must refuse to accept their manufactured doubt. Trans rights and climate action are not mistakes that need fixing.
- We must reject their false nostalgia. There is no past to return to, only a future to create.
- And most importantly, we must recognize that these struggles are connected.
