The Passing of Michael Moore

Space for Redemption

My family currently attends the nearby United Church of Christ (UCC). We go every Sunday, and our children participate in various church activities, including Sunday school for the younger kids and a robust youth group for our middle and high schoolers. While a UCC church wasn't my initial preference, we couldn't find an Episcopalian congregation nearby when we moved to the suburbs.

I discovered the UCC after a google search for the “most educated religious groups” in the United States. I mention our church affiliation because I want to provide context for what happened last Tuesday morning.

As I was walking my 1st grader to the school bus, I received an email notification titled only "The Passing of Michael Moore." I was horrified, as I'm a huge fan of Michael Moore and have seen all of his films. As I walked home, I realized my biggest sadness was that he would never have the chance to make a film about this gender mess.

Upon returning home and searching for Michael Moore's obituary in The New York Times, I realized my mistake. The Michael Moore who passed away was actually a member of our congregation. Michael Moore the filmmaker is not dead. However, this incident got me thinking. I would love to see Michael Moore make a film about pediatric gender medicine.

The story has all the elements: a medical scandal: big pharmaceutical companies harming children, institutions exploiting a minority population, heroes, and whistleblowers.

Moore is a connection to my past that I find hard to shake. He was born in 1954, and is roughly my parents age. Moore was raised Catholic, as I was, and from a working-class background, as I am. The film, Bowling for Columbine was released in 2002, Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004, and Sicko in 2007.

His film Sicko is my favorite. It is about the American health care system and has a striking scene in which a man named Rick accidentally sawed off the top of his middle and ring finger. He had no health insurance and was told by the hospital he could have his middle finger reattached for $60,000 or the ring finger for $12,000. He chose the ring finger.

Most of Moore’s films are considered political documentaries. If you are a fan of Matt Walsh’s films What is a Woman? or the newest film Am I Racist?, then you sort of have Michael Moore to thank. Moore, with his baseball cap and microphone, is known for attempting to speak to the powers that be, usually CEOs of large multinational corporations or the head of the NRA. I can imagine him storming into a clinic in the Netherlands. He demands to speak to the Dutch Protocol Clinicians who started this all and asks them pointed questions about how many children they've harmed.

He then tracks down Dr. Polly Carmichael in England and Dr. Norman Spack from Boston. The film culminates in a federal hearing where the government, finally fulfilling its liberal mission, issues a scathing report.

Moore celebrates the Democrats' victory as they mandate an end to such treatments, establish a fund for detransition care, and create a reconciliation council to compensate those who lost their jobs for speaking out.

The film includes moments of humor and music, but Moore also knows how to make us cry. He accompanies detransitioners to hospitals, where they intervene to stop surgeries before they begin. Can you imagine it?

There are days that I desperately need this redemption arc, where these heroes of my liberal past come bursting forth and ride in to save the day. This redemption arc is so tantalizing because it removes some pressure from our backs: that maybe today someone else will shoulder the yoke.

We press on. We must.

I still read Michael Moore’s substack—even on a day like today when it’s titled, “My Salute to Jon Stewart.” I honestly have no idea what he thinks, if anything, about this gender mess. Soon, I think, I will hand-write a letter to Moore. I will tell him what he meant to me as a younger person and as a liberal person. I will share my story with him and hope that he can see that he still has time left to take up the yoke with us and tell this story.

You can reach Michael Moore at mike@michaelmoore.com if you are ready to share your story with him, you can let him know I was relieved to find out he is still alive and you can share my Free Press Article with him if you wish.