Noem signed the bill prohibiting gender-affirming treatment for trans children

Why do right-wing activists look like L.G.B.T.Q.? Their silence implies complicity in stochastic terrorism

The language used by right-wing media is where gay and trans people are demonized. Tucker Carlson, a Fox News host who rails against transgender people and the medical facilities that serve them, has the highest-rated prime-time cable news program in the country. Twitter personalities with millions of followers flag drag events and spread anti-trans rhetoric that can result in in-person demonstrations or threats. Activist groups can use Facebook to organize demonstrations.

Marco Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida, released a TV ad recently in which he said: “The radical left will destroy America if we don’t stop them. They try to turn boys into girls. A conservative activist group recently ran ads in several states, including one that said, “Transgenderism is killing kids.” A spokeswoman for the governor of Florida commented on the anti-grooming bill as it was debated in the state legislature. Silence is related to something else.

The campaign isn’t happening in a vacuum. Levels of political violence are on the rise across the country, and while some of it comes from the left, a majority comes from the right, where violent rhetoric that spurs actual violence is routine and escalating. At anti-L.G.B.T.Q. events, sign-waving protesters are increasingly joined by members of the street-fighting Proud Boys and other right-wing paramilitary groups. Their presence increases the risk of such encounters turning violent.

One way to do that is to call out and reject the dehumanizing language that has become so pervasive in online discussions, and in real life, about particular groups of people. Calling L.G.B.T.Q. people pedophiles is an old tactic, and it makes it easier to ignore or excuse any violence that may come their way. It isn’t uncommon for Republican politicians to make direct calls for violence, even though specific violent acts are not easily traced, and it’s also not uncommon for them to use the word “groomers” when referring to trans people.

The silence from a great majority of Republicans on the demonization of, and lies about, trans people has indeed meant complicity — complicity in what experts call stochastic terrorism, in which vicious rhetoric increases the likelihood of random violence against the people who are the subject of the abusive language and threats.

A bill was signed on Monday by Gov. Noem that will ban both surgical and non-surgical gender-affirming treatments for trans people in South Dakota.

HB 1080 outlaws the prescription and administration of puberty-blocking medication in patients under the age of 18, as well as sex hormones and surgery related to gender transition. Health care providers who violate the new law, which takes effect on July 1, risk civil suits and losing their professional or occupational licenses.

Republicans have expressed concern over long-term outcomes and question whether minors are capable of making such consequential decisions. LGBTQ advocates and many physicians, however, regard the treatment as medically necessary, evidence-based care that uses a multidisciplinary approach to help a person transition from their assigned gender – the one the person was designated at birth – to their affirmed gender, the gender by which one wants to be known.

“We care deeply about children who are struggling with their identities and want to provide them with true meaningful help, not permanent physical damage,” the Republican said.

The Phenomenology of Gender: A New State Legislature Means a Big Break for South Dakota’s Children’s Mental Health

Though the care is highly individualized, some children may decide to use reversible puberty suppression therapy. This part of the process may also include hormone therapy that can lead to gender-affirming physical change. A majority of health care providers don’t offer to Minors surgical interventions on children.

“Surgeries-gone-wrong are simply not happening in South Dakota,” Democratic state Sen. Liz Larson said during debate prior to the bill’s passage. I don’t need the state legislature when I’m in the doctor’s office.

“Even in the face of professional guidance from every major medical and mental health association in the country that supports this type of care, politicians are intruding into the private medical decisions best left to transgender young people and their families,” said Casey Pick, director of law and policy for the non-profit advocating for the mental health of LGBTQ youth.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of South Dakota also issued a statement Monday condemning the new law, calling the signing a “heartbreaking and tragic day for thousands of South Dakotans and their families.”

The new rules haven’t taken effect yet, but providers and advocates say they’ve already had a chilling impact. There are several gender clinics that have closed in Florida.

She decided to use they/them pronouns after being assigned a male at birth. Now a seventh-grader in Gainesville, Fla., with a passion for manga and anime video games, and a bedroom filled with stuffed animals, Liz identifies as female and transgender.

Liz started receiving puberty blockers in August of 2016 after having counseling and a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. She takes Lupron every 3 months, which causes the “pause” button to be pushed on male puberty.

“It’s been amazing,” says her mother, Virginia Hamner, who says she’s seen her daughter “light up” with gender-affirming care. She says it’s fun to be able to be who she wants to be.

These are not good values to impart to our young people. And it’s especially rich that Florida Republicans are also spending significant time obsessing over the biology of kids who are trans or nonbinary – proposing legislation that requires, for example, that teachers refer to students only by the pronouns that match their birth sex, and that would ban gender-affirming care for teens – while being apparently so fearful of female biology that they pass legislation banning young girls from discussing it.

The language of the new rules is vague, and for patients such as Liz who may want to go on to cross-sex hormones, it’s not clear.

Getting a Girl Before You Get A Girl: A Governor Who Banned Gender-Affirming Care Trans-Kids

It doesn’t feel like it’s over, and living in Florida is challenging because you’re being told that your child shouldn’t be who they are, if they don’t exist.

If it gets too bad, she’s thinking about attending a boarding school that’s not in Florida, which would make life a lot easier.

Gov. DeSantis has targeted LGBTQ rights, and has made “parental rights,” especially in education, a running theme as he eyes a potential White House bid.

“It’s a gut punch,” she says. Parental rights are used to say that kids don’t have access to treatment because they need to be kids. When it’s like, you’re right. And guess what? That’s all I want for my kid.”

The treatment has been described as an example of woke ideology infecting medical practice by the governor. The state’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who was appointed by DeSantis, called the treatments “highly experimental,” “risky and unproven.” Board of Medicine member Dr. Hector Vila said that by banning gender-affirming care, the board was acting to protect children from “irreversible harm.”

The Tampa Bay Times has reported that many of the members of the Board of Medicine who were appointed by Gov. DeSantis have contributed to his campaigns or political committee.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/20/1157493433/florida-bans-gender-affirming-care-trans-kids

Is Gender Affirming Care Safe for Trans Kids? A Conversation-Start During a Recent Florida Girls’ Night at the Tevatron

Dr.Kristin Dayton, who runs the YouthGender Program at the University of Florida in Gainesville, does not dispute that gender affirming care is risky or experimental.

There is more than enough evidence to support my belief that this is safe and healthy for children. “It’s pretty offensive to me, because I pride myself in being someone who always follows the evidence, does the right thing for my patients.”

Many of her patients who haven’t yet started puberty blocker or hormones won’t be able to because they haven’t started yet. People are so sad that they are coming to the office and want to know what to do with their lives when this passes. We don’t have the answers.

Dayton’s colleague, clinical psychologist Jennifer Evans, says she is “extremely concerned” about what the ban will mean for her patients’ mental health. She cites research showing that medical transition has clear benefits. Depression rates will go down. Along with that, suicidal ideation and attempts go down,” she says. “Anxiety goes down.” Eating disorders rates start to go down. Substance abuse rates start to go down.”

The doctor of a trans boy told the mother that he will not prescribe anything other than puberty blockers for the boy. “One thing he has said several times is ‘I don’t want to go to jail,'” she recounts.

“We would love to be shouting at the top of our lungs all the time about all of these issues,” she says. “But there’s just fear of not knowing what’s coming in the future and how transgender families will be retaliated against.” Just look at Texas, she says, where the state investigated parents of trans kids for child abuse.

When NPR visited her at home, she was wearing a tee-shirt that says “Believe Trans Kids.” I have a shirt for every day of the week. she says with a laugh. It is a great conversation-starter.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/20/1157493433/florida-bans-gender-affirming-care-trans-kids

River’s Story: “I have a solid force inside me, and I’ve never seen that happen,” Sandi says of her son, River, as a boy who was on puberty blockers

Sandi’s son River (we’re using his middle name, as he’s not out yet to all of their extended family) started saying he was a boy, and presenting as a boy, when he was about 3 years old.

Since he started on puberty blockers, his mother says her son has flourished. “I have this glorious picture right after he got his first puberty blocker shot where he is literally, like, ear to ear smiling,” she says. He’s glowing. I felt like he could finally put his shoulders down, like, relax.”

Sandi says River “has always been this solid force within himself. And so the visualization I have is, whenever there’s more of this anti-trans rhetoric, it’s just chipping away at that solid block of who he is.”

She is demoralized by the constant focus on trans kids. “There are some days that you look at everything going on and you are just paralyzed by fear of what’s coming at your kid next,” she says. “But you can’t show that to your wonderful trans kid.” It’s tiring. It’s so exhausting.

Sandi is on regular calls with other families who have trans kids, many of whom are planning what she calls “escape routes.” They may move out of Florida to friendlier states.

She and her husband are considering relocating to Oregon to be near their family. But it’s hard to imagine uprooting their entire support system.

You have to consider re-location of your family if you want to be able to get health care in the U.S. in 2023. “I just want my kid to be happy and healthy. And I just don’t think that’s a lot to ask.”

Nikole Parker, director of transgender equality for the LGBTQ civil rights group Equality Florida, has talked with a number of families who are actively planning to leave the state.

They are like, ‘Listen.’ My number one priority is my child’s health care. There are states that will allow it to happen. And I’m not going to sit here and just wait in limbo to see what happens.’ “

“As a born and raised Floridian,” Parker says, “I truly feel Florida is a place for everybody, and we need to make sure that we stand firm in that. It makes me sad to see that we aren’t in Florida where I was born.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/20/1157493433/florida-bans-gender-affirming-care-trans-kids

Comment on Missouri’s Attorney General’s Rule against Preforming Experiments Without Specific Guardrails, and the Effects of “It’s Hard to Feel Like We’re Losing”

“It’s hard not to feel like we’re losing on a daily basis, which can be very demoralizing. She says it really does take a toll. “All we can do is keep fighting.”

Missouri’s Attorney General said in a release on Monday that state law already prohibits preforming experimental procedures without specific guardrails.

The rule will go into effect 10 days after it is filed with Missouri’s secretary of state office, which said it had not yet been filed as of late Tuesday morning.

Bailey said on Monday that his efforts are intended at protecting children and that the care is a part of a woke, leftist agenda that results inirreversible consequences.

But Dr. Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region & Southwest Missouri, called Bailey’s claims “medically false and harmful” in a series of tweets on Monday.

The author ofOK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation got left behind is a journalist based in New York. She can follow her on the social networking site. Her opinions are her own in this commentary. View more opinion on CNN.

Getting Women’s Attention: The Role of Precocious Puberty in the Development of Sex, Reproduction and Sexuality in School

Sex, reproduction and sexuality are not taught in 6th grade in Florida. The Republican who sponsored the legislation was asked by a democrat if the bill would prevent girls from discussing menstruation in school.

“So if little girls experience their menstrual cycle in fifth grade or fourth grade,” she asked, “will that prohibit conversations from them since they are in the grade lower than sixth grade?”

And while he clarified that barring such discussions wasn’t the bill’s intent, and that he would be open to amending it, the bill passed as-is with universal Republican support. The proposed prohibitions of this bill, however, are not in the Senate version, said a spokesperson of state Senate president Kathleen Passidomo, explaining that the bill still has one more committee hearing before it goes to the full senate.

While the average American girl is 12 when she first gets her period, the age of menarche is decreasing, making precocious puberty a new normal. Half of American girls get their first period before their 12th birthday. And girls who menstruate early are also more likely to be sexually active at a younger age.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/21/opinions/florida-menstruation-ban-schools-filipovic/index.html

Children Aren’t Born Innocent: The Role of Shame in Developing Sexual and Sexuality Relationships in the Florida Era

Shame can be a powerful tool. It demands silence and complicity; it creates the circumstances of abuse and ignorance to thrive. This is happening in Florida. A girl who cannot discuss her body may be less likely to care for it, and a girl who is ashamed of her body may be less willing to take care of it. And when that shame is around sexuality and reproduction, it means girls and boys and women and men who experience less of the pleasure, deep connection and novelty our bodies can provide – instead may find their relationship with sex and sexuality tied more closely to hurt, fear and disgust.

States that have historically mandated abstinence-only curriculum have seen a higher rate of teen births than those that have taught comprehensive, in part because of the information that youths can access about their own bodies.

Young people are not less curious because of the discussion in schools about maturing bodies. It sends a message that normal curiosity is dangerous, that women are less valuable and deserve less dignity than other people, and that honesty about one’s body is not okay.

These efforts aren’t happening in a vacuum, and they aren’t doing much at all to protect children. Children, like all of us, do not benefit from an ethos of stigma and shame. They do not grow in darkness. They are not safer in silence; they simply lack the language to describe what they’re experiencing, thinking and wondering. That may allow for abuse. Children who don’t have the words or concept to describe their bodies and are ashamed of their bodies are also children who can be exploited by adults.