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Banned Trans Affirming Care Affects Families

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Banned Trans Affirming Care Affects Families

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this article gives a case-specific example of a family with a trans child, growing up in the south.

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An example/dissection as to how trans hate spreads and what it means for our society.

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The ACLU is tracking 452 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S. this legislative session. Of those 452, 118 are anti-trans health care bills, and there's a slew of trans athlete bans, public accommodations bans, drag bans, and education gag orders about gender identity, sexuality, and expression. We're experiencing an unprecedented surge in attacks on trans people in particular, and trans kids most specifically.

In Missouri, the attorney general announced new restrictions on trans healthcare that are the first of their kind, limiting care for both kids AND adults. The rule is currently scheduled to take effect Monday and while the ACLU of Missouri and their partners have filed a petition to seek a temporary restraining order to block implementation of the rule, we haven't heard back yet. It's still pending in court. So many attacks are being levied at once against trans people all across the country. It's hard to keep up.

The speed and viciousness are at a level beyond what we've witnessed in our history. So today, we're getting an update from Chase Strangio, the ACLU's Deputy Director for Trans Justice with the ACLU LGBTQ & HIV Project, because losing track of what's happening or losing energy in the fight against these attacks is not an option.

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Why and How Trans Hate is Spreading | American Civil Liberties Union

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The ACLU is tracking 452 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S. this legislative session. Of those 452, 118 are anti-trans health care bills, and there's a slew of trans athlete bans, public accommodations bans, drag bans, and education gag orders about gender identity, sexuality, and expression.

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Perspective 1: Education should implement policies that make life easier for trans kids

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Perspective 1: Education should implement policies that make life easier for trans kids

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Perspective 2: While trans kids are valid, they are endangering others because of potential corruption in education. 

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Perspective 2: While trans kids are valid, they are endangering others because of potential corruption in education. 

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Opinion piece that highlights conservative beliefs

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Opinion piece that highlights conservative beliefs

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"For example, proponents of Idaho’s anti-trans sports law argued in court that the law actually benefited transgender people by discouraging them from being trans because “those who persist in living in a transgender identity into adulthood suffer severely poor mental and physical health throughout their lifetimes.” This is inextricable from the underpinning of the health care bans, which likewise seek to control the bodies of transgender youth in ways that limit their self-expression and their reclamation of their noncisgender identities."

this article is NOT anti-trans, but they provide the context of their disposition by contrasting it with conservatives' beliefs. I will not be citing, but instead will use it as a guide to help figure out how to effectively give counter-arguments.

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We are not yet three weeks into 2021, President-elect Joe Biden has yet to be inaugurated and already powerful forces on the right have made clear what will be the next front in their so-called culture war - which is to say, their effort to maintain political power by demonizing the bodies, private lives and personal decisions of Americans they've deemed unworthy of such autonomy.

This time, they've chosen transgender youth as their target, seeking to capitalize on insidious stereotypes about trans people, preposterous pseudoscience and a divisive cadre of supposed women's rights campaigners who believe the only way to achieve gender equality is to oppress other people.

These efforts to attack trans young people are driven by the same fundamental goals as previous attempts to restrict all transgender people from using public restrooms: to exclude transgender youth from participating in public and educational life alongside their peers and to perpetuate the myth that transness is itself harmful and should be eradicated. Despite all the high-minded rhetoric about "protecting children" and "saving women's sports" behind these legislative efforts, these bills will actively harm young people, not help them, and will compromise women's sports, not save them.

In at least 12 states right now, efforts are afoot that include actually criminalizing health care for transgender youth (as in, send doctors to prison for following medical treatment protocols to help trans youth) as well as banning all transgender young people from participating in age-appropriate athletic programs.

These bills are just another opportunity to repeat (and, they hope, enact into law) myths about trans women and girls.

Last year, Idaho, in fact, passed a wholesale ban on transgender women and girls participating in women's sports. Though the law has since been blocked in court, it represents the most extreme restriction on trans athletic participation at any level of competition anywhere in the world. This year, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Kentucky have already introduced similar bans.

While lawmakers and proponents of these bills claim they are necessary to "save women's sports," most supporters of the legislation can't point to a single trans youth athlete in their state, let alone one who has ever displaced a nontransgender athlete, and no one can explain how they save women's sports. Not one of these lawmakers has introduced legislation to actually invest in women's sports. These bills are just another opportunity to repeat (and, they hope, enact into law) myths about trans women and girls dominating in women's athletics and posing a threat to cisgender women and girls.

Though decades of experience show that trans women and girls do not, in fact, dominate women's or girls' athletics when they do participate, what is true is that trans young people participate in athletics for the same reason their cisgender peers do: to manage anxiety and stress, build connections with their peers and find joy. What these bills would succeed at, if they passed, would be taking those critical tools away from an already vulnerable population of young people to score political points in a distant culture war and ultimately to open the door for the state to police the bodies of all female athletes based on how they look.

Meanwhile, Alabama, Missouri, Texas, Mississippi, Montana, Indiana, New Hampshire and Utah - so far - have also introduced bills that would criminalize or otherwise ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Several of these bills classify any gender affirmation of trans young people as a form of "child abuse," a provision which, if enacted, threatens to imprison medical providers as well as parents and guardians who affirm their children.

These bills are motivated by some adults' need to police young people's bodies and to make them align with those adults' expectations of how young male and female bodies should look.

These bills, though, run counter to every prevailing norm of medical science in the United States and have been condemned by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the Endocrine Society, among others, because they would cut off young transgender people from treatment known to save their lives.

And the impacts of these bills, if passed, would be immediate, forcing young people already receiving treatment off of it and removing them from care that has allowed them to manage distress and embrace their own, individual processes of learning about and celebrating their bodies and identities.

Proponents of these criminal bans claim they are necessary to "protect" youth who cannot consent to care that may alter their bodies for life - even though the puberty-suppression treatments that would be banned by the bills have no permanent long-term physical effects. At the same time, though, these bills actually permit nonconsensual surgical intervention on infants with intersex traits to "normalize" their bodies, even though such care is often performed in infancy with lifelong physical consequences and is considered to be a form of torture by the United Nations.

Given this, these anti-science bills cannot be understood as motivated by concerns about children or their ability to consent to medical treatment. Rather, they're motivated by some adults' need to police young people's bodies and to make them align with those adults' expectations of how young male and female bodies should look.

Together, all of these legislative efforts - like other anti-trans legislative efforts before them - attempt to weaponize the current distorted, pseudoscientific public discourse about transgender people, both for larger political aims of right-wing lawmakers and as part of a larger project to stop people from being transgender at all.

For example, proponents of Idaho's anti-trans sports law argued in court that the law actually benefited transgender people by discouraging them from being trans because "those who persist in living in a transgender identity into adulthood suffer severely poor mental and physical health throughout their lifetimes." This is inextricable from the underpinning of the health care bans, which likewise seek to control the bodies of transgender youth in ways that limit their self-expression and their reclamation of their noncisgender identities.

But the reality that these lawmakers and other anti-trans forces will eventually have to face is that when transgender young people are able to access health care, play sports, go to the restroom without fear and use pronouns that affirm who they are, nothing bad happens to anyone. Trans children are more able to live full, self-actualized lives. Cisgender people are not excluded from athletics or the restroom or anywhere else (and maybe they learn about the beauty and complexity of their fellow human beings even if it has escaped some of their parents). Trans children are not forced to undergo surgical interventions and, in fact, through pubertal suppression, may in adulthood have the option to have fewer and less invasive surgical interventions than may have otherwise been necessary for some individuals.

Ultimately, all that happens when we allow transgender people to live their lives freely and fully is that we get to celebrate more transgender people doing incredible things in the world, we expose the pseudoscience and stereotypes animating these bills for what they are and the people who are pushing these efforts are forced to contend with the limited vision they have for the world.

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Opinion | Trans kids' lives shouldn't be the new battlefield in conservatives' culture war

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At least 12 states are considering bills to ban trans kids from appropriate sports programs and totally criminalize transgender health care for young people.

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The current gender affirmative policies for schools in New Jersey.

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Should schools inform parents if their kid is trans?

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Should schools inform parents if their kid is trans?

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This is an interesting "What if" scenario that I have a strong opinion on. The Wall Street Journal published this article, and they're usually pretty conservative. I'll put this as an in-between for now.

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When the school board in Chino, Calif., proposed a policy this summer requiring parents to be notified if a child changes gender identities at school, state officials resisted quickly.

Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

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Should Schools Tell Parents When Kids Say They're Transgender?

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California is waging a legal battle against districts that require parental notification when children change gender identities.

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This gives some great perspective as well. It does dive into gender-affirming care, which is not my main subject, but it makes me wonder: how will gender-affirming care bans affect education? One kid lives in Arkansas and their parents own a local business. Do they have to move? These are interesting factors that must be taken into account.

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What Trans Youth Want You to Know | ACLU

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Three kids discuss their lives, experiences, and perspectives on life in the trans community.

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California passes bill punishing parents who don't 'affirm' trans kids in custody battles: 'Utter madness!'

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California passes bill punishing parents who don't 'affirm' trans kids in custody battles: 'Utter madness!'

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This article is a great case study of how conservative media deface minority political movements. The use of air quotes just feels condescending. I wanna look more into this and see how much of it is actually true or has a sort of loophole.

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The California State Assembly passed a bill on Friday that would require judges in child custody cases to consider whether a parent has affirmed a child's belief that they are transgender.

AB 957 originally proposed that courts deciding custody cases must consider whether each parent was gender-affirming of the child in question. An amendment in June added to the state's standard of what constitutes parental responsibility for child welfare, requiring that parents must be affirming of a child's gender identity if they are to be judged fit for providing for "the health, safety, and welfare of the child" in a court of law.

Commentators across X, formerly known as Twitter, scorched the bill for jeopardizing a parent's custody of their child if they do not acknowledge their transgender identity.
MINNESOTA LEGISLATURE PASSES 'TRANS REFUGE' BILL OPPONENTS SAY WOULD STRIP CUSTODY FROM NON-CONSENTING PARENTS

"This bill is a wolf in sheep's clothing. What it actually means is that if you disagree with the other parent about sterilizing your child, you lose custody," tech entrepreneur and Tesla founder Elon Musk wrote. "Utter madness!"

Gender de-transitioner Chloe Cole, who first received gender-altering treatment at 13-years-old, and has since testified about the dangers of such procedures for minors before the House Judiciary, slammed the bill.

"This issue is wildly unpopular yet the Cali Gov pushes forward with more and more radical policies," she wrote. "@ProtectKidsCA is trying to introduce ballot measures that will stop the sterilization of kids in California."

State Freedom Caucus Network communications director Greg Price shared a meme juxtaposing Democrats' anger at the idea of children being separated from parents when their parents are arrested at the border, with Democrats' approval for "Separating kids from their parents if they don't 'affirm' their gender."

"Time for families to get out of California," Daily Signal senior reporter Mary Margaret Olohan wrote.

CALIFORNIA BILL THAT COULD PUNISH PARENTS WHO DON'T 'AFFIRM' CHILDREN'S GENDER IS 'RECKLESS'
Another Daily Signal employee, Tony Kinnett, wrote, "'Affirm your child's mental illness or we'll rip them from your home,' is a horrifically evil threat... ...and it's about to become the law in California."

"Leftists will take your children," commentator James Lindsay wrote.

The Libs of TikTok account, known for exposing left-wing radicalism professed by teachers on their social media accounts, scorched the bill.

"Insanity of the highest levels," she wrote. "They're after your kids and will use all the powers possible to get them. Pure evil."

"This is legislated evil. California is determined to discover rock bottom," Public Square CEO Michael Seifert wrote in a social media post. "I'm so glad we left that state, I don't even recognize my former home anymore."

Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon suggested, if anything, the bill should be reversed.

"Gender affirmation should be taken into account, but the other way around - parents who affirm a child's mistaken identity should risk losing custody," he proposed.

"LIBERATE CALIFORNIA," radio host and conservative commentator Jorge Bonilla wrote.

Democrat California state Rep. Lori Wilson, who introduced the bill along with California state Sen. Scott Wiener, stated on the assembly floor, "Parents affirm their children, they have since the dawn of time. Typically it happens when their gender identity matches their biological gender." She went on to say, "But what happens is, when it doesn't, that's when the affirmation starts to wane," later emphasizing the bill's focus on affirming a child's choice of gender "whatever it is," and proclaiming, "our duty as parents is to affirm our children."

In a statement on the bill's passage, Wilson said, "The California Family Code is intended to center the best interest of the child in all decisions about visitation and custody. However, the Family Code currently fails to take into account this very vulnerable population of TGI [Transgender, Gender-Diverse and Intersex] children who are at increased risk of family rejection. LGBTQ+ youth learn to value and care about themselves when they are valued by their parents and family1 . The TGI Youth Empowerment Act will provide affirming parents the support they need from family court to continue to love and affirm their diverse TGI children."

The bill will now head to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk.
For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion, and channel coverage, visit FOX News' Gabriel Hays contributed to this report. foxnews.com/media

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California passes bill punishing parents who don't 'affirm' trans kids in custody battles: 'Utter madness!'

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If a controversial bill becomes law, judges will consider parents' beliefs on transgender ideology when determining the custody of their children.

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Children's hospital director claims 'infinite' genders, trans kids can identify as 'Tootsie Roll pops'

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Children's hospital director claims 'infinite' genders, trans kids can identify as 'Tootsie Roll pops'

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Framing devices. Maybe how conservatives can distract from the actual issue at hand? It gets at the idea of gender nonconformity becoming absurd and self-indulgent.

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A California director of a gender clinic and medical school professor claimed there are "infinite" gender identities, including one called a "gender Tootsie Roll pop."

For decades, Dr. Diane Ehrensaft has been one of the most prominent voices pushing gender ideology in the medical and psychology field. She is the director of mental health and chief psychologist at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) Benioff Children's Hospital gender development center. She is also a professor at UCSF School of Medicine.

Ehrensaft discussed in a slide deck on gender ideology - reviewed by Fox News - a "gender Tootsie Roll pop" identity. The self-identified feminist referred to this agenda as "The New Gender Wars," while previously she has said it was a "Gender Revolution."

The chief psychologist at Benioff pushes for social transitions to begin in early childhood. "Gender comes in an infinite variety, and children should get to live in their affirmed gender at such time they know it," Ehrensaft said.
HOSPITAL INSIDER WARNS TRANS KIDS ON HORMONES FREQUENTING ER FOR HARMING THEMSELVES IN CRY FOR HELP

Genders listed by Ehrensaft included, "Pangender Youth," "Protogay Children," "Prototransgender Youth," "Gender Teslas," "Gender Ambidextrous Children," and "Gender Smoothies."

It wasn't the first time Ehrensaft made what some may consider fringe claims about gender ideology. Fox News Digital first reported that the clinician believes kids can be "gender hybrids," which include a mythology-inspired creature called a "gender Minotaur," and that kids can change their genders by season and can have different identities depending on their location.

Fundamentally, the children's hospital director believes that society as a whole has a diagnosis of gender identity disorder, not transgender youth. "Gender pathology lies more in the culture than in the child," she said.

"We need to wait and see, how about until adolescence, and not jump to premature conclusions about a child['s] [gender identity]."

She also claimed that if a child is simultaneously struggling with his or her gender in addition to other psychiatric issues, those issues are caused by society.

"If present, individual psychological/psychiatric problems are often secondary to negative interpersonal and cultural reactions to a child," she said. "It is not for us to say, but for the children to tell [what their genders are]."

Ehrensaft was contacted for comment but did not immediately respond.

Proponents of the affirming model argue that it is "life-saving." However, European countries such as Sweden, Norway and Finland have distanced themselves from its use in minors, citing limited research. Fox News Digital recently reported that children being treated with hormones for gender issues were presenting in the emergency room with psychiatric emergencies in Maine.

A military family medicine doctor, David Klein, found in a study reviewing Department of Defense pharmacy and billing records that children taking psychotropic medication had their prescriptions increased after "gender-affirming care" was initiated. It also found that transgender kids treated on the "affirming" pipeline had co-morbid psychiatric diagnoses, such as bipolar disorder, and some were taking anti-psychotic drugs as treatment.

After the study was published, the family medicine doctor appeared to distance himself from its findings, saying that when treatments were "optimized" - with surgeries and more hormones - diagnoses such as schizophrenia could "melt away" over time.
PENTAGON DOCTOR CLAIMS PRESCRIBING TRANSGENDER DRUGS TO MINORS CAN CAUSE PSYCHOTIC ILLNESS TO 'MELT AWAY'

Parents shouldn't assume that " Biology is destiny," according to Ehrensaft. "Always keep in mind that penis does not necessarily = male and vagina does not necessarily = female."

"Stop measuring gender dysphoria [as a] measure of pathology or psychological distress. Start measuring gender identity [as a] measure of developmental status and cognitive/emotional awareness," she said.

For more Culture, Media, Education, Opinion, and channel coverage, visit foxnews.com/media.

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Children's hospital director claims 'infinite' genders, trans kids can identify as 'Tootsie Roll pops'

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Diane Ehrensaft, a director at the UCSF Benioff Children's hospital, claims kid can identify as a transgender "Tootsie Roll pop" and there are "infinite" identities.

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How should schools implement gender-affirming policies in the classroom?

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How should schools implement gender-affirming policies in the classroom?