While he may be best known as one of the gender-bending faces of the shock rock movement, Alice Cooper revealed that he’s not in favor of real gender-affirming care.
In a new interview with Stereogum, the 75-year-old rock star shared his opinions about best-practice medical care for transgender youth, saying that he was “afraid that it’s also a fad.” Using common anti-trans talking points to elaborate, the star said that he felt children were not mature enough to make major decisions about their gender identity.
“I find it wrong when you’ve got a 6-year-old kid who has no idea. He just wants to play, and you’re confusing him telling him, ‘Yeah, you’re a boy, but you could be a girl if you want to be,’” he said. “I mean, if you identify as a tree … I’m going, ‘Come on! What are we in, a Kurt Vonnegut novel?’ It’s so absurd, that it’s gone now to the point of absurdity.”
Cooper then took aim at “the whole woke thing” at large, claiming that society has taken progressive language too far. “Who’s making the rules?” he asked. “It’s getting to the point now where it’s laughable. If anybody was trying to make a point on this thing, they turned it into a huge comedy. I don’t know one person that agrees with the woke thing.”
The “School’s Out” singer even shared anti-trans rhetoric about access to public bathrooms, claiming that allowing transgender people to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity would lead to violent crimes. “A guy can walk into a woman’s bathroom at any time and just say, ‘I just feel like I’m a woman today’ and have the time of his life in there,” Cooper said. “He’s just taking advantage of that situation … Somebody’s going to get raped.”
Despite Cooper’s claims, research shows that gender-affirming care significantly reduces rates of depression and suicidality among transgender youth. Meanwhile, medical professionals providing gender-affirming care point out that minors are not able to make these life-altering decisions by themselves, and that the Endocrine Society and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health do not recommend gender-affirming surgery for anyone under the age of 18.
“Prior to any gender-affirming medical or surgical intervention, all minors must have an intake with a knowledgeable mental health provider internal to our system,” Dr. Joshua D. Safer told Billboard last year. “Once deemed ready for a medical/surgical intervention, the processes we have for adults are then brought into play.”
The “No More Mr. Nice Guy” singer is far from the first rocker to share anti-trans sentiments over the last year. In May, Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley called gender-affirming care “a sad and dangerous fad,” making similar claims to Cooper about children “playing” with gender rather than understanding their identity. Twisted Sister lead singer Dee Snider backed up Stanley’s comments, saying “there was a time where I ‘felt pretty’ too. Glad my parents didn’t jump to any rash conclusions.” Both rockers have since walked back their comments.
