It's not quite that simple, in that it's not a nonsensical statement that there's no difference between the biological sexes as the zealots on the opposing side

It's not quite that simple, in that it's not a nonsensical statement that there's no difference between the biological sexes as the zealots on the opposing side perceive it to be. It's more that the cultural perceptions and behaviors are socially constructed. The foundations of all of this are in Judith Butler (not coincidentally at Stanford) and Michel Foucault (not coincidentally French). In terms of race these two intersect (pun intended) with Kimberle Crenshaw. You're on to the crux of the issue with the word "forces" though, because the abstract consideration of all of these things is a question of power and coercion. So people who find themselves at odds with the proposed new norms would be wise to read these foundational texts to understand where their adversaries are coming from. In terms of race, this crosses paths with gender theory in the ideas of a professor named Kimberle Crenshaw, whose ideas were used to make the "preferential treatment" case back in a round of General Motors layoffs specifically, in which it was argued that by virtue of belonging to multiple disadvantaged groups, black women who were to be laid off from factory jobs were being unfairly persecuted (because the layoffs were done by seniority due to the union contract, and due to segregation and gender discrimination it was impossible for women or black people to have seniority at the time). Which of course is true, on the surface. It was impossible for women, and black women in particular, to have seniority as GM factory workers. But it is all a very overt exercise in intentionally disregarding the root cause of the factory layoffs, and in any case was predictably rejected by the US courts who refused to oppress one group instead of another in court rather than in commerce. Similar court cases have failed for similar reasons in the EU. The fact that she was challenging a union contract in court is why she works at any Ivy League school which is funded by corporations who very much do not like union contracts. Similarly, tech companies sending out transgender employees to do their most publicly distasteful deeds (like Microsoft recently did with the .NET foundation) is not coincidental to Judith Butler being at Stanford. If Judith Butler's ideas were not amenable to the goals of west coast corporations Judith Butler wouldn't be at Stanford. The root cause of the factory layoffs in the intersectionality case is the US empire post-WW2 had devalued its own currency to finance misguided and short-sighted wars like Korea and Vietnam. And the ruling class of the US was not going to pay for its own failed policies, it wanted its employees to pay and that's precisely what Jimmy Carter gave said ruling class, in the form of Paul Volcker. All of this is worth looking at in considering how these cultural theories have managed to position themselves so favorably in the eyes of corporations and 3 letter government security/surveillance agencies. Culture wars are a grand misdirection, employed by corporations and governments to turn people to any sort of conflict that minimizes the class conflict which they truly fear.