The debate over how schools should accommodate students experiencing gender dysphoria has become so divisive in part because both sides speak different moral languages.

Activists on the Left insist that “gender affirmation” is “lifesaving” care. When conservative state legislators in Florida proposed the Parental Rights in Education Act, it was quickly, and spuriously, labeled the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics. Conservative activists, in response, labeled it the “Anti-Groomer” bill. Things didn’t get less vitriolic from there.