Bryan Young, the author of numerous BattleTech stories, shared his approval of Star Wars marketing a transgender character to children.

Bryan Young via
Battle Bound YouTube

The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm recently released a new book titled Star Wars: The Secrets of the Clone Troopers that is marketed towards children and features a so-called transgender character clone trooper, a male pretending to be a woman in this case.

X user SW_Holocron, who appears to have purchased a copy of the book that is written by Marc Sumerak and illustrated by Alberto Buscicchio, revealed the book “includes a first look at Sister, a trans woman clone trooper.”

The user added that the Clone Trooper Rex, who writes an in-universe account of the Clone Troopers, describes Sister, “When one of our kind expressed her gender identity differently than her fellow troopers, she featured she’d have to hide who she truly was inside. Fortunately, her brothers in the 7th Sky Corps gave her the name Sister as a constant reminder that she belonged.”

As noted by That Park Place’s Jonas J. Campbell the book is being marketed towards children.

 

In fact, Simon and Schuster’s listing of the book states, “Learn the secrets of the clone troopers in this interactive, fully illustrated guide for readers of all ages.”

It also adds, “Star Wars: The Secrets of the Clone Troopers contains beautiful illustrations that will enthrall child and adult readers alike.”

A screenshot of Simon & Schuster’s listing of Star Wars: The Secrets of the Clone Troopers

The character first appeared in EK Johnston’s Queen’s Hope back in 2022. In a now deleted post, Johnston shared concept art of the character created by Uzuri Art.

Johnston wrote in the post, “Her name is Sister, because her brothers wanted to make sure everyone knew that she belonged.”

EK Johnston on X

In another post, Johnston added, “Sister doesn’t have a huge part in the book, so we didn’t want to use her existence as promo. I made her to be shared, not just with readers, but with other SW writers as well. ps she’s functionally immortal. plot armour that makes darth maul look like a pushover.”

EK Johnston on X

In an interview with the Force Friends Rewatch, Johnston specifically wanted the character to interact with a young Anakin and revealed that the idea to make the character so-called transgender came from Lucasfilm’s Story Group.

While discussing the notes she received from her first draft, Johnston shared, “Story Group was wondering if you could make Tepoh a trans character instead. And I thought about it for 10 seconds and like, ‘No, I can’t.’ It’s not like flipping a switch in this case. …  And then I was like, but you did ask for another Anakin scene. So what if I just gave you a trans character in addition to Tepoh. And Sister was an idea that I’d been floating around for a couple months at that point, and I knew that it was going to be a short scene. I knew that it was going to be very unsubtle. And I knew that I wanted it to be with Anakin because I wanted it to be one of his most like Jake Lloyd moments in the whole book. […] I really wanted that kind of innocence, that genuineness, that immediate acceptance to shine through in that scene.”

Star Wars: The Secrets of the Clone Troopers (2024), Titan Books

As initially reported by Jon Del Arroz at Fandom Pulse, BattleTech writer Bryan Young not only approved of the character, but the fact that the character was being marketed towards children.

Young responded to News 4 San Antonio’s coverage of the inclusion of the character writing, “Sister is a great character and the headline seems to imply maybe it’s not appropriate for all ages, but it totally is. I don’t understand the uproar here.”

Bryan Young on Facebook

Young attempted to justify his comment by claiming the Jedi nurtured the Clone Troopers’ individuality.

He wrote, “But like… you watched Clone Wars, right? And how the Jedi nurtured individuality in the Clones? It’s why the all had nicknames, different personalities, and wants and goals, even as clones. A harsh contrast to the faceless, numbered, conscripts of the Empire’s stormtroopers after Operation War Mantle where they took individuals and ground that out of them by the time of the original trilogy. You must not be that into Star Wars if you think this is an issue.”

Bryan Young on Facebook

In another comment he wrote, “Star Wars has been political allegory since George Lucas started writing in the midst of the Vietnam war and wrote the Rebellion as an allegory for the vietnamese and Vader/Palpatine as Richard Nixon… Like… What does “woke” have to do with anything…? Like… what does ‘woke’ even mean? Why is it problematic for sci-fi and fantasy to reflect better representation and explore allegory and more stories? why is that somehow a problem? Is it because you’re threatened somehow? By what? Being upset about this is deeply weird.”

Bryan Young on Facebook

Still in another he claimed that “Being trans isn’t a sickeness anymore than being blond is. Where did you pick up this nonsense?”

Bryan Young on Facebook

He also wrote, “Trans is an ideology like being Black is. Or American. I think country allegiance is way more offensive and DEFINITELY learned.”

He then declared, “Trans is inherent to a person and not something they can change. Not allowing kids to learn about it is only going to cause them problems. For kids who aren’t trans, it’s going to make them fear trans folks and make them bigots, for trans kids, it’s going to increase their suicide rates and make them more confused and frustrated struggling who they are. You are, quite frankly, espousing a monstrous ideology, lacking sense and compassion.”

Bryan Young on Facebook

He also wrote, “The suicide rate is because of bigots and suppressing the knowledge and acceptance of trans folks. Not their existence. Get a clue, dude. The suppression and the bigotry is the problem, not the acceptance. It’s always the problem. It’s sad how bigots never seem to learn that.”

Bryan Young on Facebook

Despite Young’s claim, transgenderism is indeed an ideology. Tom Nash explains on Catholic.com, “Those who espouse ‘transgenderism’ argue that a human person is assigned their gender at birth, based on their observed anatomy. Consequently, when a biological male identifies as female and then has related surgery, they speak of that medical practice as ‘gender confirmation’ vs. ‘gender reassignment,’ because they believe their anatomy now reflects their true identity as a human person.”

This is simply not true. Nash states, “The Church has a different take, one that is grounded in genuinely confirmed reality. One is born either or male or female, and this also applies to hermaphrodites who, though they manifest both male and female anatomical aspects at birth, are either biological boys or girls.”

(L-R): Clone Trooper Fireball and Clone Captain Rex in a scene from “STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH”, season 3 exclusively on Disney+. © 2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.

Jason Evert, the author of Male, Female, Other?, also specifically addressed Young’s claim about bigotry leading to suicide, “Well, the reason for that isn’t because all these transphobic bigots that hate your kid, it’s because 90% of people who commit suicide have a diagnosable mental health disorder but surgeries and hormones are not the way to treat psychological illnesses.”

“That’s why after they go through the surgery, within about 10 years, the suicide rate climbs 19 times higher than the general population,” he added. “If you isolate out the female to male transition-ers, the suicide rate is more than 40 times higher. I mean, when you put the girls on puberty blockers, they become more likely to self harm.”

What do you make of Young’s advocacy for transgenderism and defense of Star Wars, Lucasfilm, and The Walt Disney Company?