Jerry Coyne is an American biologist and anti-transgender activist. Coyne frequently logrolls for other anti-trans activists, including Richard Dawkins and Jesse Singal.
Background
Jerry Allen Coyne was born on December 30, 1949.
Coyne earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary in 1971 and a doctorate at Harvard University in 1978. Following postdoctorate work at The University of California at Davis, Coyne worked at University of Maryland. In 1996 Coyne took a position at University of Chicago, ending active teaching in 2015.
Anti-transgender activism
Coyne is one of a number of retired biologists who mischaracterize discussions about transgender people as an attack on science, biology, or evolution. As many noted transgender biologists have explained, scientists are questioning many of the flawed assumptions and biases in biology that emerged in the 19th century.
Coyne is fundamentally incurious about these challenges to accepted wisdom, characterizing them as “coddling the identities of students.”
As biologist Julia Serano explained, saying sex is socially constructed:
“simply means that our definition of sex and the way that we categorize people into sexes, is determined by society and our assumptions about how the world works. In our society, people are assigned a legal sex at birth based on the presence or absence of a penis – that is a social process. When people decide that it’s chromosomes, or a particular reproductive organ, that defines a person’s sex, that is a social decision – one that ignores the diversity and variability of sexually dimorphic traits.”
Mamone (2017)
References
O’Leary, Denyse (July 27, 2021). Darwinian biologist Jerry Coyne defies the transgender lobby. https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/darwinian-biologist-jerry-coyne-defies-the-transgender-lobby/
Buttons, Christina (October 20, 2022). Renowned Biologist Rebukes ‘Inclusive’ Biology Instruction. Daily Wire https://www.dailywire.com/news/renowned-biologist-rebukes-inclusive-biology-instruction
Coyne, Jerry (October 17, 2022). A discussion of gender and sex. Why Evolution Is True https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2022/10/17/a-discussion-of-gender-and-sex/
Coyne, Jerry (February 19, 2020). Viewpoint: Biologist Jerry Coyne challenges view that sex is ‘a spectrum, not a binary’—such claims ‘undermine public trust in science.’ Genetic Literacy Project https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2020/02/19/viewpoint-biologist-jerry-coyne-challenges-view-that-sex-is-a-spectrum%E2%81%A0-not-a-binary%E2%81%A0-such-claims-undermine-public-trust-in-science/
Media
Coleman Hughes (May 27, 2023) Evolution, Intergenerational Trauma, and Gender with Jerry Coyne. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3QJ-Jzbeq8
Resources
Why Evolution Is True (whyevolutionistrue.com)
- whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com (2009–2022) [archive]
Twitter (twitter.com)
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)