Nacim Bouchtia / “Yassine Meskhout” vs. transgender people

Nacim Bouchtia is an American lawyer, gun rights activist, and anti-transgender activist. As “Yassine Meskhout,” Bouchtia is a contributor to anti-trans activist Jesse Singal’s Substack Singal-Minded and has appeared with Singal and Katie Herzog on anti-trans podcast Blocked and Reported. Bouchtia befriended Herzog in 2018 after Herzog wrote an article for The Stranger about a street skirmish involving Bouchtia defending anti-trans journalist Andy Ngo.

Background

Nacim A. Bouchtia was born in June 1985 in Morocco and lived in Rabat. In 1995, Bouchtia’s parents won a US “diversity visa” lottery and immigrated to the United States. Bouchtia grew up in Virginia.

Bouchtia earned a bachelor’s degree from George Mason University in 2007. While there, Bouchtia left Islam and became interested in the writings of economist Bryan Caplan and in the “rationalist” movement. Bouchtia then worked in data analysis and IT support.

Bouchtia earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2011. Bouchtia was admitted to the Washington State Bar in 2014. After a stint at ACLU Washington working on reproductive rights, Bouchtia became a public defender and has practiced as Pavise Law.

In 2017 Bouchtia was incorporator and initial board of director for the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club (PSJBGC) and appeared in Kamau Bell’s United Shades of America to discuss the group. Bouchtia resigned in December 2018 after members were involved in a street skirmish with anti-trans journalist Andy Ngo, a skirmish which Bouchtia criticized. Bouchtia worked closely with PSJBGC member Willem van Spronsen, who was later killed in 2019 while firebombing a Tacoma detention center run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. PSJBGC disbanded in 2023.

Bouchtia uses the nom de guerre “Yassine Meskhout,” which roughly means “chief of the damned.” In 2023 Bouchtia married Lauren Lombardi, whom Bouchtia calls “Elle” when using the nom de guerre. A former funeral director, Lombardi became a paralegal at Bouchtia’s Pavise Law in 2024.

Anti-transgender activism

Bouchtia co-hosts The Bailey Podcast and is a moderator at The Motte.

In April 2020, Bouchtia posted a comment on reddit:

My snap judgment of seeing a transwoman is “this is a person who was born a man with a penis, but they’d rather try and pass as a woman to society”. I never ever shake this off, it remains at the forefront of my mind. When I come across the slogan “Trans women are women!” I just pause and want to ask “what does that mean exactly?”

In December 2020, Bouchtia posted on reddit, “Is It Possible That Trans People Don’t Exist?”

I’m starting to believe that anyone who identifies as trans is most likely a victim of adopting a strict gender binary framework, but in the “opposite” direction. One of the biggest reasons to adopt this alternative theory is that we know that gender paradigms exist and they can indeed be extremely stifling. “Individual grappling with uncomfortable societal expectations” is basically every coming-of-age story out there, and there is no shortage of examples of individuals trying to break into a role and facing repercussions for disrupting the norm.

Bouchtia’s first YouTube video posted is a 2024 interview with an ex-trans activist.

References

Stellmacher, Glen (August 7, 2024). Inside SPD’s use of aerial surveillance during the 2020 protests. Real Change News https://www.realchangenews.org/news/2024/08/07/inside-spd-s-use-aerial-surveillance-during-2020-protests

Ngo, Andy (2021). Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy. pp. 176 ff. Center Street, ISBN 9781546059585

Kroman, David (March 12, 2021). Court’s drug possession ruling upends WA’s criminal justice system. Crosscut / Cascade PBS https://www.cascadepbs.org/news/2021/03/courts-drug-possession-ruling-upends-was-criminal-justice-system

Herzog, Katie (December 7, 2018). Anti-Racist Protesters Harass Gay Asian-American Journalist. The Stranger https://www.thestranger.com/politics/2018/12/07/36874512/anti-racist-protesters-harass-gay-asian-american-journalist

Ngo, Andy (December 6, 2018 ). Antifa Went To Protest Fascists. They Targeted The Wrong Group — And Threatened To Kill Me. Daily Wire https://www.dailywire.com/news/antifa-went-protest-fascists-they-targeted-wrong-andy-ngo

Open Corporates. Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_wa/604264540

Antifa Watch. Nacim Bouchtia, Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club. https://antifawatch.net/ViewReport/25c04c99

Guo, Charlie (June 19, 2024). Honey, I joined a cabal. Artificial Ignorance https://www.ignorance.ai/p/honey-i-joined-a-cabal

Hughes, Sarah Anne (May 16, 2014). Cyclists Arm Themselves With Cameras As Insurance Against Dangerous Driver Behavior. DCist https://dcist.com/story/14/05/16/cyclists-use-cameras-dc-crashes/

Selected media by Bouchtia

“Meskhout, Yassine” (October 20, 2024). Voting Trump to Save Free Speech? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVB3w3FLRqI

“Meskhout, Yassine” (September 18, 2024). Pronouns are Annoying. LessWrong https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/zrHHLngm5CmQLD2zk/pronouns-are-annoying

“Meskhout, Yassine” (February 3, 2024). Two Singal Years. Substack https://www.ymeskhout.com/p/two-singal-years

“Meskhout, Yassine” (January 16, 2022). Three Little Pronouns Go To Court. Substack https://www.ymeskhout.com/p/three-little-pronouns-go-to-court

“Meskhout, Yassine” (December 28, 2020). Is It Possible That Trans People Don’t Exist? reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/BlockedAndReported/comments/klvl1f/is_it_possible_that_trans_people_dont_exist/

(April 9, 2020). Comment on Culture War Roundup for the Week of April 06, 2020. reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMotte/comments/fvsrae/comment/fmv3njp/

“Meskhout, Yassine” (August 24, 2019). Victim Blaming Andy Ngo. Substack https://www.ymeskhout.com/p/victim-blaming-andy-ngo

Media

The Walt Right (May 31, 2024). Episode 38 : Morocco, Apostasy, and Public Defense with Yassine Meskhout. https://www.waltbismarck.com/p/episode-38-morocco-apostasy-and-public

The Bayesian Conspiracy (August 9, 2023). 193 – Building Baileys with Yassine Meskhout. https://www.thebayesianconspiracy.com/2023/08/193-building-baileys-with-yassine-meskhout/

Embrace the Void (January 19, 2023). Defending the Public with Yassine Meskout [sic]. https://www.voidpod.com/podcasts/2023/1/19/defending-the-public-with-yassine-meskout

The Bailey Podcast (June 7, 2021). E027: Katie Herzog Interviews Yassine on Antifa & Andy Ngo. The Bailey Podcast https://thebaileypodcast.substack.com/p/e027-katie-herzog-interviews-yassine-59f

Blocked and Reported (June 3, 2021). Episode 67: An Ex-ACLU Gun-Toting Ex-Muslim Discusses Antifa And Andy Ngo (Search-Engine-Optimization Awareness Month Edition). https://www.blockedandreported.org/p/episode-67-an-ex-aclu-gun-toting-b05

Justin Murphy (October 15, 2019). Guns for the Left! With Former Member of the John Brown Gun Club. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjyBf4WgryY

Channel 253 (September 3, 2018). Ep. 43: The Left Case for the Second Amendment and a Well-Armed Citizenry with the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club. https://www.channel253.com/2018/09/03/ep-43-the-left-case-for-the-second-amendment-and-a-well-armed-citizenry-with-the-puget-sound-john-brown-gun-club-2/

Kamau Bell (June 4, 2017). S02E02: Kamau Buys a Gun. United Shades of America.