The Republican Party’s loathsome new war on trans kids

[homersapien 11,347]

Paul Waldman

Columnist

April 7, 2021 at 12:51 p.m. EDT

Sometimes Republican culture-war posturing is just silly, like when they pretend to be terribly outraged about some new faux-controversy involving Dr. Seuss or Mr. Potato Head. But at other times it becomes something truly loathsome, leaving real victims in its wake. That’s the case with the right’s latest crusade, against transgender young people.

On Tuesday, the Arkansas legislature overrode Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto of a bill that would outlaw gender-affirming medical treatment for transgender minors, including not just surgery but even hormone treatments. So if you’re a transgender kid in Arkansas getting such treatments now, they have to stop or your doctor could get thrown in jail.

And Arkansas is just the beginning.

Before you decide Hutchinson is a hero of compassion and equality, keep in mind that he’s an active participant in the GOP’s anti-trans crusade; he just thought this bill went a little far. He recently signed a bill meant to keep transgender girls from playing school sports, though there has literally not been a single known case of a trans girl in Arkansas joining a school sports team. But the specter was apparently so terrifying that Hutchinson and Republicans had to pass legislation to say to any such girl, “Don’t even think about it.”

And yes, Arkansas may rank 47th out of 50 states in child poverty, but this is what the Republican legislature is spending its time on, since tens of thousands of children living in deprivation and hunger are apparently far less of a problem to them than the fact that some trans kid, with the cooperation of their parents and their doctor, might be getting the treatment so many trans people describe as lifesaving.

In 27 states so far, Republican legislators have filed bills to restrict the rights of trans kids, either to play sports or to get medical treatment or both. Many are similar to the Arkansas bill.

But some go even further. A bill filed in North Carolina would require that any government agent — including teachers or any other public school officials — “immediately notify, in writing, each of the minor’s parents, guardians, or custodians” if a minor exhibited “gender nonconformity.”

Is that boy’s hair getting a little too long? How are that girl’s jeans cut? If that bill became law, the school would have to write a letter home warning that the child is not displaying the proper gender conformity.

This is a party that says it believes in “freedom.”

In the endless cycle of right-wing extremism, the legislators are being spurred on by conservative media, both encouraged to wage war on trans kids and punishing them if they don’t. On Fox News, where trans panic has been going full steam since President Biden took office, Tucker Carlson savaged Hutchinson on Tuesday evening with a spew of misinformation, including implying that trans kids’ emotional struggles are caused by the treatment some receive, such as puberty blockers.

If your memory stretches all the way back to 2004, this has a familiar ring. That year too it was “the family” Republicans said they were desperate to protect, as they put constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage on one state ballot after another. If gay people were allowed to marry, they warned, American society would soon collapse.

You may have noticed that despite the fact that the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states in 2015, our society is still standing; these days Republicans would rather not talk about their long, failed crusade against marriage equality. But they got the temporary political boost they wanted out of it, and now they’re drawing from the same playbook.

Just as then, there’s a constituency for their new war on trans kids. Social change is happening rapidly, and for many people it can be disorienting. They’re suddenly confronted with questions they never contemplated and demands that they use unfamiliar or confusing language. Their view of how the world works is being challenged as people who used to be silent enough for them to ignore are now asking for some basic consideration.

Then in the midst of that uncertainty they’re preyed upon by politicians looking for political advantage and media figures looking for ratings and advertising dollars. “You fear change, don’t you?” they’re told. “Doesn’t it seem like the world is passing you by? Now take that uncertainty and fear, and squeeze it between your fists until it turns into hate.”

Nobody knows better than a contemporary conservative how good that can feel to their audiences. It banishes all that uncertainty. It clarifies everything. Instead of being left behind by history, you’re cast as a hero, noble and principled and brave, fighting to save all that is good and right.

Most despicable of all, Republicans claim to be helping trans kids by targeting and stigmatizing and victimizing them. Kids who are so vulnerable, their lives made so difficult not just by their struggles with their own bodies but by the way the people and institutions around them can make everything worse.

So with a popular Democratic president signing popular legislation, Republicans look to reinforce their position by going back to their bottomless well of cruelty. It isn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/04/07/republican-partys-loathsome-new-war-trans-kids/

[AU9377 4,910]

I believe that everyone deserves respect and that nobody should be judged because of who they love or are sexually attracted to in life.  That said, I do believe that someone that is not yet an adult is too young to surgically alter their body or take hormones that are prescribed for the sole purpose of changing how the body develops during puberty.  I don't see this as a problem in need of legislation and I do agree that the far right has taken on the topic for the value of soundbites and to generate fear on the part of many people across the country.

[DKW 86 7,410]

An Adult trans-person is absolutely fine, no issue with them. While I may not "celebrate" them, I do understand that they made a decision and support their decision to live their lives 100%. I ask them to do the same with me as well. Having said all that. 

1) We need to support the trans community, but say only after age 12, and no surgeries until after 18, maybe 16, IDK. They have to start living as they profess for a year or more before they can have surgery, etc as part of the Transition Therapy. I think this would be an apropos time to start living as they choose and incorporate that into the therapy and social adjustment periods. We are not denying them anything, we are actually making the transition public and supported. I would even suggest that once they move toward being sexually active that steps such as hormone replacements, augmentations such as breast implants, etc then commence. 

From Informational Website: https://www.drvitenas.com/blog/whats-perfect-age-breast-implants

Type of Implant Matters

If there is one concrete thing that influences the best age for breast implants, it’s the material the implants are made out of. There are minimum ages for each type of implant. For example, saline implants are FDA approved for use in women over the age of 18. But the FDA has limited the use of silicone implants, which tend to have a more natural feel, to women over the age of 22.

Although silicone implants are approved for women over age 22, it is not against the law or illegal for a surgeon to place them in a younger woman. It’s more that the FDA has determined that being over age 22 is preferable for women who are considering getting silicone implants.

2) I am sorry but in sports, we must end the insanity. Scientifically speaking, the male body is superior to a female body in structure and muscle mass FOR MOST SPORTS. To have a born-male competing with and against born-females is just asking for the obliteration of female records and the increase in injuries in sports. Think about a born-male athlete hitting a born-female in Soccer, Lacrosse, Rugby, maybe even Wrestling/ The born-female is going to get injured badly. We cannot throw the nations daughters under the bus here. We must use a little thought and reality and protect their ATHLETIC PROWESS AND THEIR SCHOLARSHIP NUMBERS. These 'trans people" must compete with others trans people or with their native-born soma-types. Otherwise, we will soon wipe out all women's sports and all Title 9 victories, in short order.

I could post up a dozen articles here and prove my point but facts do not matter when Woke Liberalism is your RELIGION. 

[creed 1,628]

I definitely no expert on the trans topic and I hope any political organization thinks the same. My thoughts on this tend to lean toward the scientific and medical realm of this subject. Specifically, the treatments used to alter a person's born chemistry doesn't seem (to me) safe and if medical issues arise experts may not have the tools to help a person who has post treatment physical problems. I know my thoughts do not align with a person who wants live their identity, and I understand the power of choice, but I can't seem to get past the scientific and medical aspects. 

Note: My comments are specific to a transgender person who wants sexual reassignment.

[homersapien 11,347]

2 hours ago, creed said:

I definitely no expert on the trans topic and I hope any political organization thinks the same. My thoughts on this tend to lean toward the scientific and medical realm of this subject. Specifically, the treatments used to alter a person's born chemistry doesn't seem (to me) safe and if medical issues arise experts may not have the tools to help a person who has post treatment physical problems. I know my thoughts do not align with a person who wants live their identity, and I understand the power of choice, but I can't seem to get past the scientific and medical aspects. 

Note: My comments are specific to a transgender person who wants sexual reassignment.

I think the whole point is this an issue that resides in the scientific/medical realm.  It's not one for the state government to involve itself in.

[creed 1,628]

1 hour ago, homersapien said:

I think the whole point is this an issue that resides in the scientific/medical realm.  It's not one for the state government to involve itself in.

I agree, unless regulation gets a foothold.

Edit: Regulation may not be the right word in this case.

 

[TitanTiger 20,464]

I'm sort of with DKW on this.  What adults wish to do to their bodies, identify as, names they want to use, clothes they want to wear is their own business.  I have a problem with dosing minors with hormones or puberty blockers when their body is functioning correctly for their biological sex.  

And I also agree that it's ludicrous to try and make sports participation based on gender identity rather than biological sex.  We didn't create men and women's sports because one group liked to wear dresses and makeup and the other didn't.  We did so because their bodies are different.  It's not fair (or even safe in some cases) to pit women against men in sports.  The fastest woman in the world right now is Allyson Felix, winner of more gold medals than Usain Bolt.  Looking at 2018 track stats, there are about 300 high school boys who have beaten her best 400-meter time of 49.26 seconds.  Allowing trans girls to compete against biological girls in sports is basically sanctioning the eventual erasing of biological girls and women from competition and the record books.  My solution for this would be that all girls/women's sports would be restricted to biological females only.  Men/boys sports would be "open" - anyone can try out and compete if they've got the ability whether their biologically male or female, trans or other gender identity under the sun.

I think the Arkansas bill probably is too broad.  I think it provided some kind of provision for conscience protections for doctors which I think is reasonable, but even that part was too vague.  It should have been better targeted.

[creed 1,628]

7 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

I'm sort of with DKW on this.  What adults wish to do to their bodies, identify as, names they want to use, clothes they want to wear is their own business.  I have a problem with dosing minors with hormones or puberty blockers when their body is functioning correctly for their biological sex.  

And I also agree that it's ludicrous to try and make sports participation based on gender identity rather than biological sex.  We didn't create men and women's sports because one group liked to wear dresses and makeup and the other didn't.  We did so because their bodies are different.  It's not fair (or even safe in some cases) to pit women against men in sports.  The fastest woman in the world right now is Allyson Felix, winner of more gold medals than Usain Bolt.  Looking at 2018 track stats, there are about 300 high school boys who have beaten her best 400-meter time of 49.26 seconds.  Allowing trans girls to compete against biological girls in sports is basically sanctioning the eventual erasing of biological girls and women from competition and the record books.  My solution for this would be that all girls/women's sports would be restricted to biological females only.  Men/boys sports would be "open" - anyone can try out and compete if they've got the ability whether their biologically male or female, trans or other gender identity under the sun.

I think the Arkansas bill probably is too broad.  I think it provided some kind of provision for conscience protections for doctors which I think is reasonable, but even that part was too vague.  It should have been better targeted.

Good points, but one can't stop at just sports. I could see a transgender entrant winning the Miss America pageant, or federal hiring requirements incorrectly measured, and etc. Both of these plus the sports example I feel would ring negatively with mothers and natural women and eventually spell doom for the political party or candidate endorsing such a position. 

 

 

[TitanTiger 20,464]

Here's something I don't understand, and the link below is just one thing that's illustrative of the cognitive dissonance in all of this.

You have a Dutch transgender woman who wants to be a nun and be admitted to an order and live in the convent.  The Catholic church won't allow it as these things are determined by sex, not gender identity.

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=nl&u=https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2021/04/08/transvrouw-eefje-wil-non-worden-maar-kloosters-weigeren-als-he/&prev=search&pto=aue

For decades now we've had this new understanding of sex and gender that these two words are related, but not synonyms.  Sex is a physical determination based on your reproductive organs.  It's also why when people have reproductive organs where both types present (ovaries and testes for instance), we call it "intersex."  It's a physical thing.  Gender on the other hand is not a physical characteristic at all.  It is a person’s internal perception or how they experience themselves and how they relate to typical roles in society.  It's very much a subjective inner sense of who they are and how they wish to present themselves.

So when there are situations where groups of people are segmented or organized based on sex, where do you get the idea that your gender identity should be a factor in their determinations?  If they choose to organize on the basis of sex, be it male or female, your inner sense of self is not important or relevant to whether you should be admitted to the group.  As has been inculcated in us, sex and gender are not the same thing.  Why attempt to treat it as such when you don't get your way?