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There appears to be considerable activity in Texas where a group of people are persecuting transgender folk. Apparently a Federal Judge has gotten involved and I do not understand a thing about it. I'm blessed to not have any of that happen to me. Can someone explain?
Gwen
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In short, child protective services has been weaponized
The most recent thing coming out of Texas is instructions from the governor to Department of Family and Protective Services to treat all actions to support transgender children as child abuse. His office believes state law already makes all forms of gender affirming treatment for children illegal. As such, all teachers, doctors, and other caregivers are instructed to report any trans child they see so that their parents can be prosecuted as child abusers.
Just another day in Texas.
The measure has been halted
for the time being
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-60710227
Ken Paxton (AG) and Abbott (Governor) are going to try to get the ruling overturned. If it is against the state constitution then they'll have to change it before it can be implemented.
A lot of parents will be thinking of moving out of Texas ASAP.
This whole thing gives rise to a new and very chilling version of the saying, 'they are coming to take you away...'.
Samantha
Maybe It's Just the Cynic in Me
But . . . at a time when Governor Abbott needs people to be talking about ANYTHING. other than the failed power grid, trans kids seem awful opportunistic. He has been in a wheelchair for decades after a tree fell on him. He knows what it is to be a minority. How cynical can you get?
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Policies driven SOLELY by ignorance!
The CPS of Texas is going to enforce this horror!
AND
But on Friday, Houston-based Texas Children’s Hospital, the largest pediatric hospital in the country, announced it would stop prescribing gender-affirming hormone therapies.
The hospital said the policy was decided “after assessing the Attorney General’s and Governor’s actions,” which include a recent order from Gov. Greg Abbott (R) directing Texas’s child welfare agency to investigate reports of children receiving gender-affirming care as “child abuse.”
I have internet friends scrambling for snactuary for their families in other states. Meanwhile legislation is being proposed that would make it a crime for those parents to relocate to trans-affirming states - a cruel extension of this child abuse fallacy. This is not a debatable issue. It is entirely evil to withhold gender affirming care. There is NO 'both sides are equal.' That's a viewpoint that has also perpetuated racism and sexism.
Love, Andrea Lena
That might be illegal
as in against the rights defined in the constitution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_movement_under_Unit...
That said, it would probably have to be decided by the SCOTUS and given the makeup of the court, it might not be illegal for very much longer.
If I was a parent of a trans child then I'd get on a plane right now with them and get the hell out of dodge before the GOP dominated legislature in Texas rubber stamps a crooked law.
Samantha
The court may already be predisposed
But it IS already comptomised! https://www.glaad.org/gap/ginni-thomas
Ginni Thomas. Activist and WIFE of Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas—Promoted Sam Sorbo, an anti-trans activist who claims that trans-inclusive public school policies “bully” other students.
—Founding member of secretive far-right group Groundswell, which lobbies against LGBTQ rights.
—Worked as White House liaison for the anti-LGBTQ Heritage Foundation.
Love, Andrea Lena
I'm glad I live in the UK,
I'm glad I live in the UK, even with Boris and Brexit. No such restrictions other thank what the doctors make. Not politicians trying to virtue signal religion or biased opinion.
Treatment for children and young people
If your child is under 18 and may have gender dysphoria, they'll usually be referred to the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.
GIDS has 2 main clinics in London and Leeds.
Your child or teenager will be seen by a multidisciplinary team at GIDS including a:
clinical psychologist
child psychotherapist
child and adolescent psychiatrist
family therapist
social worker
The team will carry out a detailed assessment, usually over 3 to 6 appointments over a period of several months.
Depending on the results of the assessment, options for children and teenagers include:
family therapy
individual child psychotherapy
parental support or counselling
group work for young people and their parents
regular reviews to monitor gender identity development
referral to a local Children and Young People's Mental Health Service (CYPMHS) for more serious emotional issues
a referral to a specialist hormone (endocrine) clinic for hormone blockers for children who meet strict criteria (at puberty)
Most treatments offered at this stage are psychological rather than medical. This is because in many cases gender variant behaviour or feelings disappear as children reach puberty.
Hormone therapy in children and young people
Some young people with lasting signs of gender dysphoria who meet strict criteria may be referred to a hormone specialist (consultant endocrinologist) to see if they can take hormone blockers as they reach puberty. This is in addition to psychological support.
Puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones
Puberty blockers (gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogues) pause the physical changes of puberty, such as breast development or facial hair.
Little is known about the long-term side effects of hormone or puberty blockers in children with gender dysphoria.
Although GIDS advises this is a physically reversible treatment if stopped, it is not known what the psychological effects may be.
It's also not known whether hormone blockers affect the development of the teenage brain or children's bones. Side effects may also include hot flushes, fatigue and mood alterations.
From the age of 16, teenagers who've been on hormone blockers for at least 12 months may be given cross-sex hormones, also known as gender-affirming hormones.
These hormones cause some irreversible changes, such as:
breast development (caused by taking oestrogen)
breaking or deepening of the voice (caused by taking testosterone)
Long-term cross-sex hormone treatment may cause temporary or even permanent infertility.
However, as cross-sex hormones affect people differently, they should not be considered a reliable form of contraception.
There is some uncertainty about the risks of long-term cross-sex hormone treatment.
Leeanna
... but they wont be able to
... but they wont be able to give you an appointment this year, or possibly even next year
https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/blog-entry/93447/nhs-services...
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/mar/10/nhs-gender-i...
Yes and has probably got
Yes and has probably got worse since covid. Sometimes a busy life leaves you no time to think about wha or who you are. With people dying from lack of cancer treatment, I don't think they will p ut anymore money into what many see as a drain on the NHS.
Leeanna
Idaho is even worse
https://twitter.com/erininthemorn/status/1501314842992467975...
But Idaho is trying to pass a law that makes it a Felony with a Life Sentence to anyone that is helping Transgender youth receive treatment. Even if you leave the state to get it else where, you can still be convicted. Only way is to move out of the state.
I know a few people that are in the process of trying to move. I am so glad I live in a state that does not try to pull this stuff, instead is doing things to help.
Idaho is a big Mormon state.
Local churches have been accepting. My experience with Mormons was not good.
It is OK to have 14 year old wife...
...as your 10-th wife... But not OK to help a TG child.
And those people are trying to teach us what is good...
This was what I was saying
in my blog the other day that the forces of the extreme right are attacking minorities in several states.
First They Came
Pastor Martin Niemoller
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.
Angharad
Really sad, the last 20 years
Really sad, the last 20 years a lot of progress has been made. Now it seems to be going backwards
Leeanna
Core Republican Values
I have had a lot of close Republican friends. We didn't always agree on things but I respected their values. One of which was:
Limited government: The GOP traditionally has stood for limitations on what the government can and should do. They (and I) believed government should not try to do everything -- or replace individual initiative to do for ourselves. It should leave most decisions on personal matters to individuals without government interference.
What happened?
I remember a time when I could look at both parties' platforms and agree with most of what they stated.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Core values
That's easy, the party has been taken over by the haters and hypocrites who cry 'freedumb' when it suits their fancy and they perceive that supposedly their freedumbs are being infringed but now happily on the other hand willingly infringe on the rights of others.
It is a sad reflection of the reality that there is a large element of hate in this country that has been given oxygen by those who seek political power to get their votes, whether or not they truly believe in that position, to gain that power. In addition to the monied interests, the racists and the religious conservatives started their inroads in Reagan's time. Not being able to gain sufficient power on a more principled stance they have decided to cater to every nutjob to get their vote.
Social media, unchecked, has been the means by which this has come about, allowing credulous fools to be manipulated by the likes of Russia and their pets.
They don't want the
They don't want the government to interfere with their rights. Everyone else's can get screwed as far as they're concerned.
Debs xxxx
I read this poem to my children
Just a few days ago...
Push and Push Back
Gov. Abbott is tilting at windmills like so many other politicians. Democrats want to socialize the nation and Republicans want to prove they have a better plan. Surprise, surprise, surprise, who becomes the political ball between the two that has become a high profile class of people in the past ten years? No cheating now, three guesses and none count. Not Gays, not Lesbians, maybe those who are big in the news and have so few voting numbers using them as political fodder means no one is getting voted out of office after playing political ideological games.
Everyone is wrong to use us for their political gain but what the hell does it matter? I mean, we aren't human after all, we blur the boundaries between male, female. It's not like we had an easily identifiable birth defect. Well not one that easily seen or medically explained. (I've read dozens of supposedly scientific articles there is no difference between male and female brain. Transgender are not hardwired to be the sex they claim they are) Who is the majority of the sexes in politics? Males. What do they think with and value the most? Right, it's between their legs. What do MtF transgender wish they were never born with?
Is everyone finally seeing the light? Transgender scare the absolute shit out of most males and a hell of a lot of feminatzie women. Let's toss in the Holier than Thou Christians who parse the bible for their own religion and belief. God made man and woman and that's that! Interesting intersex doesn't come into play here. If the doctor didn't decide which sex at birth they may be allowed later in life to chose which sex they are. But only transgender rock the status quo.
Not sure how Texas is going to lay claim to parents and their trans children who move out of state to continue gender therapy as criminals? The state owns everyone who lives in that state? That's as socialist and controlling as it can get.
Write your congressmen, senators, governor and get involved. Whether you're for or against, this is your nation, your fight, your right. If you don't voice an opinion, don't complain when you lose your rights one by one until they are gone. Don't wait for your state to pull the same idiotic stunt Texas pulled. The best time pass along education is before someone forms an opinion. Then if they are still ignorant, that's up to them.
The bible, along with medical research can be exactly whatever one wants it to be. One just has to trim out the few facts and small details they don't agree with. Sounds like politics doesn't it?
Hugs people
Barb
Life is a gift. What you have belongs to you. Live it the best way you know how.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
How???
How are Democrats using us as fodder?
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Depends upon your POV
AFAIK, what the current POTUS wants is hardly socialist when compared to most European Countries. A few of the things proposed are far lighter than the norm in Europe. From a US right of centre POV even this is socialist (in US terms) even if it is more social democtratic than socialist from our European POV.
The problem I see with the vocal right in the USA (MTG, LB and friends) is that they have no idea what actually is a socialist policy. Instead, they just denounce everything as socialist or communist. Ignorance is Bliss in their tiny world. The rest of the 'America First' caucus just latch one and repeat it all at every opportunity.
Most Americans have very little direct exposure to what life is really like for normal people in social democratic or socialist countries.
That is IMHO an almost insurmountable problem.
Samantha
I had a row with someone on
I had a row with someone on youtube who quoted the bible to slag off a youtube poster who had a channel about warships. Most of the response was good luck and positive. This guy quoted bits of the bible at her and told her god hates her.
I asked him if he ate prowns crab or lobster. Then quoted the bit about not eating stuff without scales. I told him god probably hated him too. I asked if god is love , why would he hate her? What right di he have to talk for god?
I'm CofE , religion lite. but it feels good to fight bible quote with bible.quote.
Leeanna
Republic or Democracy
How many know the U.S. is a Republic not a Democracy? How many understand the difference? How many know the difference between Socialism and Communism? How many understand Texas and Idaho went from a Republic and a Democracy to a Socialist state with their law concerning transgender children and parents of same?
Like it or not that slippery slope began in the U.S. when a well meaning but a totally wrong bill was passed called Equal Rights. It was in the Constitution already but some idiots thought they would improve upon it. I'm positive most won't understand as everyone has their own equal rights agenda. Obama, Trump, Biden should have never touched anything having to do with transgender rights, especially the bathroom bill which states jumped onboard for and against. If MtF want to compete in women's sports let them compete in beauty contests and stay out of the rest of women's sports. Oh that should light a fire storm on this channel. Gov never should have got involved in dictating how people live but that slippery slope thingy just keep getting bigger.
God gave us ten laws to live by and those in gov think they can do better with hundreds of thousands of laws?
Hugs People
Barb
Life is a gift, don't waste it.
PS:
I'll share equal rights for all you who want to help. I've been without water for the past four days as the pump went down. Murphy has been working with me as I pulled the pump and dropped a new one down (160 ft) A simple job should have took no more than a couple hours. Guess what? I also should have checked the name brand on the pump before I purchased it. Chinese, I'm sure. I'm having to ohm out all the wiring as their color coding and elec plugs aren't U.S. to make sure the wiring is right.
Thanks Murphy! Note to self, check brand name before purchase.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
You talk about socialism
But in reality you mean communism. Most of the European countries are considered to be social capitalism but none of us Europeans would neither like a money centered nation like the USA where powerful lobbies dominate politics and decisions, nor would ever think about turning to the hated communism that split Europe in two in the last century. Obviously the USA system is not a democracy as it happens quite often that the president elected gets less votes than the loser. I call this an aberration of democracy.
"Often Gets Less Votes"?
Let's see: there was 1824 (multiple credible candidates and not every state reported its popular vote), 1876 (long story), 1888, 2000 and 2016. Considering the system, five in 200 years isn't too bad.
Thing is, the electoral college system makes candidates campaign differently than they would if the majority ruled -- it doesn't help them to try to get more votes in states they're assured of winning, since with two small-state exceptions a state always votes as a bloc. If the system were different, the popular vote probably would be as well.
Whether that's a bug or a feature depends, I guess, on whether it helps or hurts your candidate. While I'm certainly on the popular vote side myself, there's something to be said for electing a candidate who has support from more states, even if that idea dates back to the time, before the Civil War, when much of America really did consider itself as much a union of sovereign states as a nation.
But yes, I remember the slogan as far back as 1964, generally from the extreme right: "America is a republic, not a democracy." Face it: the Founding Fathers didn't trust the people to make responsible decisions, though this wasn't the presidential election system they were aiming for.
Eric
I beg to differ, Eric
"Face it: the Founding Fathers didn't trust the people to make responsible decisions, though this wasn't the presidential election system they were aiming for."
I have to disagree with you on this. You have to consider the times and conditions then vs now. In the 1700s the country was largely composed of small, isolated farms and communities. There was no mass communications, news of happenings in the larger eastern seaboard cities often took weeks if not months to filter down to the average citizen. Thus they would have little or no knowledge of those running for president.
The founders rightly (IMHO) feared that in a direct democracy the elections would be dominated by the larger cities. Their solution was the Electoral College. Under this system the people would vote for local people that they knew, often the local gentry. Those people would be trusted to represent the will of those that selected them. Nominally these electors would be better educated and better informed about national events, so would be better able to reflect the will of the people they represented.
That was considered a workable solution 200 years ago. It also reflected the idealism of the authors of the Constitution, that those selected would rise above their own desires to vote for the betterment of the people they were chosen by. (A topic for a different discussion.)
Then there is what we have today. In this era of mass communications we often hear of the utterings of the candidates within moments of their being said, often interpreted by the sources doing the reporting. By the same token the electors are largely unknown by the voters, a list of names on a ballot. Those names were mostly chosen as a reward for their service to the party. Basically a total reverse of the situation that existed at the time the Constitution was written.
It's time for a change. But I am wary of any changes to the Constitution in the political climate that exists today. Again another topic for another time.
But it wasn't a case of the "founding fathers", aka the authors of the Constitution, not trusting the masses, it was an attempt to insure that the chosen president truly represented the "people".
They know they can survive
"God gave us ten laws to live by"
There is your problem right there. To start off with, five of those commandments (not laws) are procedures for worshipping. Not valid or applicable to governing a community, a country, or the world.
The remaining commandments are more ideals. What we should aim for, perhaps. At the time, the "Chosen" were small, nomadic tribes. We've grown a bit beyond that. What worked then won't work now.
Now, the meat of the argument. The United States is not a Christian country, nor was it founded as one. The founders went to great lengths to ensure that we were a religion-free country. Even going so far as to prohibit the government from having any say-so in religion. At the time, having cast off the shackles of a big country and it's all encompassing laws, they were resistant to any attempt by a government to control the people. One of those was an attempt by the government to impose a state religion.
They failed to consider the people attempting to impose religion on the government. One of many places where, in their attempt to control and limit government, they failed to recognize the possibility of the people attempting to control others. In a pure-quill democracy the majority doesn't have to be right, or even a real majority, they just have to be a majority of those voting.
They know they can survive
We are approaching midterm elections
Politicians are trying to create issues they can run on. IMO, our governor and state attorney general are the worst kind of bottom feeders there are. Since I live in Texas, guess who I won't be voting for next election?
most of it leads back to this...
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/03/14/jeff-younger-transge...
This case is what lit the fire under the right in Texas to go after trans-kids, after the failed bathroom bill a few years ago....
"Cortana is watching you!"
Some interesting stuff in
Some interesting stuff in that article
“A lot of regular people don’t have the information they need and don’t know how to get the information they need about transgender issues,” she said. “The average person on the street knows nothing about it. And so they hear all this crud in the talk shows and they get a mistaken impression.”
Republicans have always been good at using LGBTQ issues as wedges to splinter the left, but since gay marriage was recognized in 2015, “gays and lesbians aren’t scary anymore,” said Maria Gonzalez of the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Scholars, a research and advocacy group in Houston. A new target was needed, she said, so they began to focus on transgender people.
Leeanna
Abbott's knee jerk exec order isn't going well
65 Businesses Call Texas Out for Anti-Trans Measures
Some of the big Law advocacy groups have got into the fray also.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
I'm not sure...
I'm not sure any knees were involved.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Many Live in an Echo Chamber
Idaho transgender bill died in the senate. ACLU and other major law corporations have geared up to fight the "can't treat transgender kids, and the one that makes it a crime to transport out of state for treatment. The Texas Exec Order by Abbott is on hold by a judge but it seems Child Protective Custody is still digging into parents lives. What is there about a court order they can ignore? I have a lot of relatives in Texas, always admired them as being intelligent. Don't guess intelligence is required to be governor? I can't throw stones, Oklahoma Gov is just as bad.
They listen to their own opinion. When others join in with the same mantra they begin to believe in their own voice. Be it Nazi, skin head, bikers bar, church, democrats, republicans, kids in school congregating to the club that most echos back what they believe. The list is endless, Gov Stitt, Gov Abbott, Gov Brad Little..., heard or read some mixed up story about protecting kids from being infected with transgender disease. Too many trashy tabloids with stories of vampire trans? They figured that would be their ticket to win the next election? Block kids from the infection and put in prison the parents?.Could it get any more screwed up that that? Common sense not only jumped the rails but went off the bridge into the abyss. The Covid was a lot worse than anyone thought. It rotted everyone's mind.
Hugs Erin, love you hon, this too shall pass in time.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
Remember that everyone lives in their own bubble
these days and probably think the same about you and me being loopy or out of touch with reality. In my case it's probably true as I believe nature should have a place in our lives and planning other than for its exploitation. Sadly, I seem to be in a minority of one at times.
Angharad