Kiss's Paul Stanley tried to criticise parents supporting trans kids and it completely backfired

Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley posted a statement criticising parents supporting young trans people, and it swiftly backfired.

Stanley is facing criticism from fellow musicians and other social media users after referring to gender-affirming healthcare as “a sad and dangerous fad”.

The 71-year-old hit out at a “lifestyle that confuses young children into questioning their sexual identification” in a Twitter post titled “My Thoughts On What I’m Seeing”.

Stanley wrote that while gender reassignment was a “needed choice” for some people “as adults”, the same cannot be said for children because “some adults mistakenly confused teaching acceptance with normalising and encouraging a situation that has been a struggle for those truly affected”.

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The post also saw Stanley say that many children had “no real sense of sexuality or sexual experiences [were] caught up in the ‘fun’ of using pronouns and saying what they identify as”.

Stanley’s post quickly sparked a backlash and it was slammed by a number of musicians.

Many, such as The Offspring guitarist Kevin Wasserman, referred back to Kiss’s elaborate stage outfits in their criticism, saying that it was “a very disappointing take, especially from someone who wore high heels, makeup and teased up hair his whole career”.

Musician and producer Steve Albini hit out at Stanley by writing: “I remember when punk rock came along and made you irrelevant the first time.”

Stanley is a founder member of Kiss alongside Gene Simmons Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Another sarcastically wrote, “I agree, children should only be dressing like this” and posted a picture of the group in their instantly recognisable stagewear.

One more added: “As a young kid your band helped teach me that I could be whatever I wanted to be. I guess it was just gimmickry after all."

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