Nancy Rommelmann vs. transgender people

Nancy Rommelmann is an American writer who has appeared on anti-trans podcast Blocked and Reported and writes for anti-trans libertarian publication Reason.

In addition to appearing with Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal, Rommelmann has made appearances on other anti-trans outlets, including with Megyn Kelly, Jonathan Kay, Nick Gillespie, Bret Weinstein, Dave Rubin, and PragerU.

Background

Nancy Ann Rommelman was born on October 30, 1960. Rommelman’s parent Richard A. “Dick” Rommelmann was a successful lawyer. Rommelmann’s other parent was married three times. Nancy Rommelman has siblings.

Nancy Rommelmann attended several private schools in New York City after being kicked out for truancy. Rommelmann engaged in theft and drug use as a teen, leading to arrests.

Rommelman and partner Timothy James “Tim” Sampson (1956 – 2019) had a child Tafv Sampson (born 1989). Rommelmann married Din Johnson (born 1967). Johnson founded Portland-based Ristretto Roasters in 2005.

Writing on “cancellation”

Rommelmann became a darling of the anti-trans center-right after reportedly being “cancelled.” Rommelmann writes:

“In December 2018, I started a YouTube podcast entitled #MeNeither. The show’s “about” page reads, “#MeNeither is an almost-weekly conversation about the cultural issues of the day, and an attempt to create a space where people can find ways to think out loud through
uncomfortable topics.” One of those topics is the #MeToo movement and what I see as some of its excesses, including celebrities who exploit #MeToo for personal gain. Sexual assault and harassment are real, but the idea that any charge any woman—or man—brings must be believed without question… where’s the logic in that? I believe we are better off judging any claim of harassment, like any other claim, on its own merits. This, I would learn, is not a popular position.”

Rommelmann co-hosts the Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em podcast with Sarah Hepola. Their general thesis is that writers like them “self-censor” from covering certain topics out of fear of being “cancelled” by progressives.

Writing on trans issues

Rommelmann wrote a 2020 profile of conservative trans activist Erin Smith.

Rommelmann wrote a 2024 profile of Bubba Copeland aka Brittini Blaire Summerlin, an Alabama mayor who committed suicide after Copeland’s online transgender persona was outed.

References

Singer, Matthew (December 4, 2020). Portland Coffee Company Ristretto Roasters Is Going Out of Business. Willamette Week https://www.wweek.com/restaurants/2020/12/04/portland-coffee-company-ristretto-roasters-is-going-out-of-business/

Herron, Elise (19 February 2019). In Op-Ed For Quillette, Nancy Rommelmann Says #MeNeither Videos Could Cause Ristretto Roasters to Go Out of Business. Willamette Week.

Herron, Elise (January 10, 2019). Portland Author and Wife of Ristretto Roasters Owner Sparks Controversy With YouTube Videos Discrediting Prominent Sexual Assault Survivors. Willamette Week.

Acker, Lizzy (10 January 2019). #MeNeither YouTube videos create backlash for Portland coffee company. The Oregonian.

Acker, Lizzy (7 February 2019). Ristretto Roasters in Northwest Portland closes as #MeNeither controversy simmers. The Oregonian.

Genn, Roman (4 July 2001). “Gallery; Barhopping in Hollywood with Nancy Rommelmann, author of ‘Rommelmann’s Los Angeles Bar & Nightlife Guide'”. Los Angeles Times.

Selected writing by Rommelmann

Rommelmann, Nancy (October 20, 2023). The Long, Strange, Beautiful Road to ‘Killers of the Flower Moon.’ The Free Press https://www.thefp.com/p/the-strange-road-to-killers-of-the-flower-moon

Rommelmann, Nancy (June 7, 2024). The Slow Leave Taking: On Watching My Mother Slip Away. Make More Pie https://nancyrommelmann.substack.com/p/the-slow-leave-taking-on-watching

Rommelmann, Nancy (May 23, 2024). Bubba: A Cancel-Culture Casualty. Make More Pie https://nancyrommelmann.substack.com/p/bubba-a-cancel-culture-casualty

Rommelmann, Nancy (April 11, 2021). Indian Time: Dispatch from Tulsa. Make More Pie https://nancyrommelmann.substack.com/p/indian-time-dispatch-from-tulsa

Rommelmann, Nancy (October 2, 2020). The Conservative Trans Woman Who Went Undercover With Antifa in Portland. Reason https://reason.com/2020/10/02/the-conservative-trans-woman-who-went-undercover-with-antifa-in-portland/

Rommelmann, Nancy (February 18, 2019). The Internet Locusts Descend on Ristretto Roasters. Quillette https://quillette.com/2019/02/18/the-internet-locusts-descend-on-ristretto-roasters/

Rommelmann, Nancy (September 29, 2017). Taking My Ex Back In (for His Own Good). New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/style/modern-love-taking-my-ex-back-in.html

Rommelmann, Nancy (Feb 3, 2012 ). Dazed and Confused. New York Times Magazine https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/magazine/dazed-and-confused.html

Books

Forty Bucks and a Dream: Stories from Los Angeles (2024). Paloma Media Books, ASIN B0DD8PHWMT
The Queens of Montague Street (2024). ASIN‎ B0D6ZBZXH9
“Analog Anthems” in Go All The Way: A Literary Appreciation of Power Pop (2019). [Paul Myers & S. W. Lauden, eds.] Rare Bird Books, A Barnacle Book, ISBN 978-1945572784
To the Bridge: A True Story of Motherhood and Murder (2018). Little A, ASIN B073FCH41F
Destination Gacy: A Cross-Country Journey to Shake the Devil’s Hand (2014). She Writes Press, ASIN B07DF6GP1N
“Mother Lode” [originally 2013] in Spent: Exposing Our Complicated Relationship with Shopping (2014) [Kerry Cohen, ed.] Seal Press, ASIN ‏B00L4FSV7Y
Transportation: Stories (2012). Dymaxicon, ISBN 978-1937965099
Transported (2012) [photography by Tafv Sampson, text by Rommelmann] Dymaxicon, ISBN 978-1937965129
The Bad Mother: A Novel (2010) Dymaxicon, ISBN 978-0982866900
Rommelmann’s Los Angeles Bar & Nightlife Guide (2001). St. Martin’s Griffin, ISBN 978-0312269364
Everything You Pretend to Know About Food: And Are Afraid Someone Will Ask (1998). Penguin Group USA, ISBN 978-0140263732
MTV’s The Real Real World (1995). [co-author Hillary Johnson], MTV, ISBN 978-0671545253

Media

Jesse Singal and Katie Herzog (May 11, 2024). Episode 215: Making a Martyr (with Nancy Rommelmann). Blocked and Reported https://www.blockedandreported.org/p/episode-215-making-a-martyr-with

Megyn Kelly (March 2, 2022). COVID Hypocrisy Exposed as Restrictions Get Lifted, with Nancy Rommelmann and Matt Welch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HENp4Nlq03w

Rubin Report (March 5, 2021). Mob-Led Book Banning: Michael Knowles, Abigail Shrier, Nancy Rommelmann. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oQdsrsPVbM

Bret Weinstein (September 3, 2020). DarkHorse Podcast with Nancy Rommelmann. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfT_APUnp30

ReasonTV (August 31, 2020). How Portland’s Protests Drifted into ‘Dangerous Territory.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSQHJpJQMjk

PragerU (July 15, 2019). How to Become a Dangerous Person. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMZzivv8wPA

Gillespie, Nick (January 18, 2019). Meet Two Feminist Journalists Who Are Saying #MeNeither. Reason Podcast https://reason.com/podcast/2019/01/18/leah-nancy-podcast/