The LGBTQ community's effort to redefine the term lesbian to mean "non-men" who love "non-men" is a "travesty," a lifelong lesbian and TikToker said.
"I feel like we're experiencing an entire new form of domestic abuse, not just against lesbians, but against women in general," Carol Hatch, 52, told Fox News. "We’ve been told that trans women, which are biological men, are better than women, that we are now cisgender."
"And now we have young ladies who dislike themselves so much that they can't even say the word ‘woman,’" she added. "They have to call themselves ‘non-men.’"
The LGBTQ advocacy group, It Gets Better Project, posted a TikTok last month in collaboration with another creator, Phoebe, who identifies as a non-binary, trans-masculine lesbian. In the video, Phoebe discusses how women are unfairly gatekeeping the term "lesbian."
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"There’s a misconception that lesbian means a woman who loves other women," Phoebe said in the video. "Actually the definition is non-men who are attracted to, and love, other non-men."
"There are trans men who identified as lesbian for many years, there are non-binary folks of all kinds who identify as lesbians," they added. "There’s like a zillion different ways to be a lesbian."
It Gets Better Project did not respond to a request for comment.
But it's not just LGBTQ advocates who are pushing for the change. Johns Hopkins University defines lesbian as "a non-man attracted to non-men."
"While past definitions refer to ‘lesbian’ as a woman who is emotionally, romantically, and/or sexually attracted to other women, this updated definition includes non-binary people who may also identify with the label," the school's website states.
Hatch, who has been a lesbian as long as she can remember, called the notion a "travesty."
"Now there's no longer real lesbians because lesbians can be non-binary," she said. "Any time you put ‘non’ in front of something, you're taking your humanity away."
"‘I'm non this, I'm non that.’ You're non-human? What are you non?" Hatch added. "You're a young lady, and it's okay to be any kind of young lady. We have lost that."
The LGBTQ community's move toward eliminating gender identities detracts from the equality gay individuals and women fought so hard for over the past few decades, Hatch said.
"I feel so sad that they've taken away everything we fought for, that they feel so horrible about themselves that all they can call themselves is a non-man now," she told Fox News.
Having grown up in a conservative part of Arizona, Hatch said she remembers when gay Americans were treated like lower-class citizens and didn't enjoy the same rights as the rest of the country.
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"To be a more masculine woman — a.k.a. a butch — these things were not well accepted," she said. "And as time went on, we had to face a lot of discrimination."
Hatch said she was often misgendered, told to leave women’s restrooms, sexually assaulted and was even kicked out of the Marine Corps after disclosing to a psychiatrist that she was gay.
"We went through a lot of change, but there were a lot of growing pains," she told Fox News. "And women in general came along with that change, too. They were fighting for equal rights, equal pay at that time."
A blog post on the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth suicide prevention group, said stereotyping lesbians can be "reductive" and"damaging."
"When thinking about lesbian visibility, we should also consider that gender, appearance, and sexuality are separate parts of people’s identities, and sometimes they overlap and intersect in ways that aren’t straightforward," the post states.
Hatch, meanwhile, always thought of herself as progressive and in the past advocated for women and gay rights. But in recent years, she said she watched her community transform from something positive and welcoming into something unrecognizable.
Hatch no longer supports the LGBTQ community or even considers herself part of it — and many, she said, tell her she's not welcome. Now she uses TikTok to advocate against ideas her former community pushes.
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"They’re saying, ‘you don't know your own history, you’re erasing our history,’" Hatch said. "We lived our history. I was there. I lived it. How are you going to tell me I don't know what I lived?"
A February Gallup poll found that the number of adults who identified as part of the LGBTQ community more than doubled in the last decade, going from 3.5% in 2012 to 7.2% in 2022. Gen Z represents the largest share of the increase, with nearly 20% identifying as LGBTQ.
The explosion of gender ideology, Hatch said, is most likely a fad among young adults and teens and is stripping people of their uniqueness.
"Now, everybody's gay, everybody's trans," she told Fox News. "What was wrong with just being whoever you were?"
When gay Americans fought for same-sex marriage rights, opponents argued that it would lead to more extreme societal changes involving sex and gender.
"I mean, let's face it. It kind of almost looks like the slippery slope argument is true," Hatch said. "The reality is there are men in dresses going into locker rooms and exposing themselves. There are children at drag shows and there are children being put on hormone blockers or even in some cases surgically having things done."
"As much as we want to ignore it, we can't," she added.
At least 18 states have passed legislation restricting or banning gender surgery for minors, and another 13 are considering or debating bills this year to restrict sex reassignment procedures.
Hatch said she is plagued with guilt and regret witnessing the "butterfly effect" that decades of advocacy for gay and lesbian causes is having on children today.
"Had I known then what I know now, maybe I would have still wanted gay rights, but I think I would have fought harder to make sure that we didn't involve the children in adult things," she said. "Because it's horrifying."
"Is this the people we are now? Is this who we've become?" Hatch added.
To watch the full interview, click here.
