Right wing troll targets another hospital for helping transgender people

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/right-wing-troll-targets-another-hospital-helping-transgender-people/

Again the moral police anti-trans US Christian Taliban managed to shut down the web site of a hospital providing legal medical best practice trans affirming care. That is what all the major medical groups support. Here is some of the medical organizations that support trans affirming treatment.

Look over the list again. These anti-trans haters like Matt Walsh claim to know more than all these medical providers. Based on their religious beliefs I guess. These gang of thug maga right wing win bigots are doing the dirty work so that the red state governor can pretend there is a problem, but these haters are making the problem. It is like they flood a bathroom by stopping up the drains and then stage an investigation into the plumbers’ organizations claiming that they are why the bathroom flooded. How long is the US going to be ruled by a small minority of thugs, gangs using threats of violence, lies, and misinformation to force the rest of the public to follow their religious views of sexuality / gender. They want to erase all the social gains of the last 60 years. They want the women to return to being subservient to men and the LGBTQ+ to go away / not to exist. Hugs

The state’s anti-LGBTQ governor is threatening to launch an investigation based on a Twitter thread.

By Molly Sprayregen Thursday, September 22, 2022

Photo: Shutterstock

Conservative anti-LGBTQ commentator Matt Walsh has targeted Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) this week in a crusade against gender-affirming healthcare.

In a Twitter thread on Tuesday, Walsh claimed that based on the results of an investigation by him and his team, the staff at VUMC’s Transgender Health Clinic “now castrate, sterilize, and mutilate minors as well as adults, while apparently taking steps to hide this activity from the public view.”

Walsh criticized the clinic’s Trans Buddy program – which offers peer support to patients – and repeatedly accused the medical staff of “drugging and sterilizing” kids for financial gain.

And his accusations are fueling anti-LGBTQ politicians. In response to Walsh, anti-LGBTQ Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) released a statement expressing that Walsh’s claims warrant an investigation.

“The ‘pediatric transgender clinic’ at Vanderbilt University Medical Center raises serious moral, ethical and legal concerns,” Lee said. “We should not allow permanent, life-altering decisions that hurt children or policies that suppress religious liberties, all for the purpose of financial gain. We have to protect Tennessee children, and this warrants a thorough investigation.”

The office of the state’s Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti also reportedly confirmed an investigation is taking place.

VUMC has since shut down the website for the Transgender Health Clinic and has released a statement defending the work they do for the trans community. The statement opens by saying the video footage and social media posts Walsh used to accuse the hospital of using trans people to make money “misrepresent facts.”

“VUMC began its Transgender Health Clinic because transgender individuals are a high-risk population for mental and physical health issues and have been consistently underserved by the U.S. health system,” the statement says.

“We have been and will continue to be committed to providing family-centered care to all adolescents in compliance with state law and in line with professional practice standards and guidance established by medical specialty societies.”

The hospital emphasized that parental consent is required to treat all trans minors and that employees may decline to participate “in care they find morally objectionable.”

“The Trans Buddy program mentioned in the video has received national acclaim,” it continued. “Its purpose is to provide peer volunteers who support persons who are seeking highly personal care in an unfamiliar environment, and who may have been refused medical services in the past or avoided seeking them out of fear of being met with hostility.”

Anti-trans conservatives continue to put hospitals (and the children they treat) at risk by spreading lies about gender-affirming health care.

The Boston Children’s Hospital was recently forced to evacuate after an anonymous bomb threat was called in following a weeks-long harassment campaign from anti-LGBTQ groups.

After far-right Libs of TikTok founder Chaya Raichik falsely claimed the hospital was conducting gender-affirming surgery on children as young as two or three years old, physicians received so many death threats, harassing calls, and emails that the hospital had to hire extra security and give doctors new guidance on responding to threats.

Around the same time, Children’s National Hospital in Washington D.C. was targeted with bomb and death threats after the far-right anti-LGBTQ Twitter account Libs of TikTok falsely claimed that the hospital was performing hysterectomies (the removal of the uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes, and sometimes ovaries) on transgender children.

In reality, gender affirming surgery is almost never performed on minors.

Instead, puberty blockers are used in the treatment of transgender youth to hold off the permanent changes of puberty so that young people have more time to understand their gender identities better.

The reversible medications have been shown to significantly reduce lifelong suicide risk among transgender people. The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, and other major medical/mental health organizations all support gender-affirming care for pubescent youth when appropriate.

Republicans push anti-LGBTQ+ bill in Pennsylvania that ‘goes further’ than ‘Don’t Say Gay’

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/09/21/pennsylvania-anti-lgbtq-bill-dont-say-gay/

“The intent of these bills seems to be to wipe out any discussion and pretend that [LGBTQ people] don’t exist,” Ward said. And after they get the gays out of view in society who will be the next scapegoats. Remember this pandering by red state governors are to their base, which is a small minority of vocal and thuggish people. The majority of the public doesn’t want these enforced bigotry bills. The vast majority of the public wants acceptance and tolerance of diversity. Also don’t be fooled when the bills say notify the parents of any healthcare treatment they are talking of social transitioning such as name changes and use of pronouns. Basically outing kids to their parents. Hugs

Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania have introduced a new bill, “patterned” on Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, that would ban discussions on LGBTQ+ topics in classrooms. (Getty)

Republican state lawmakers are rallying behind newly introduced anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that would ‘go further’ than Florida’s reviled ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law.

GOP politicians held a rally at the Pennsylvania state capitol Tuesday (20 September) to introduce House Bill 2813. The bill shares similarities with Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, which bans discussions of LGBTQ+ topics in classrooms between kindergarten and third grade.

Pennsylvania state representative Stephanie Borowicz, the bill’s primary sponsor, said HB 2813 is “patterned” on the Florida legislation but actually “goes further” than the other measure, according to PennLive.

The bill states that any public or charter school “may not offer instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity to a student in kindergarten through fifth grade”.

It would also require schools to notify parents of “health care services offered by the school entity” to students. The legislation would also allow parents to bring civil action against schools that they believe are violating the measure.

Borowicz added she believed the bill could be extended further in the future and wanted to ban classroom discussions on LGBTQ+ topics through high school.

“It really needs to be protected up through 12th grade, we need to go all the way,” she said.

However, the bill is unlikely to pass into law as Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf has already promised to veto HB 2813 and other ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills if they land on his desk.

Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf has promised to veto HB 2813 as he says it “denies humanity by reinforcing homophobic ideologies”. (Getty)

Wolf wanted lawmakers in the state to focus on the real issues facing Pennsylvanians rather than “engaging in discrimination and bullying”, WHTM reported.

“HB 2813 is an effort to scorch individuality and normalise unacceptance,” Wolf said. “This legislation denies humanity by reinforcing homophobic ideologies.”

Sharon Ward, senior policy advisor for the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, warned this bill – like other ‘Don’t Say Gay’ measures – could “really add to the existing targeting and bullying of LGBTQ kids in schools”.

“The intent of these bills seems to be to wipe out any discussion and pretend that [LGBTQ people] don’t exist,” Ward said.

Pennsylvania lawmakers in the state Senate passed a similar bill, Senate Bill 1278, in June and currently awaits consideration in the House.

SB 1278 would also ban classroom discussions of LGBTQ+ topics for pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students. Instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity would also be prohibited between sixth and twelfth grade unless it is done in an “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate” manner.

Campaigners have denounced the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills as they attempt to “wipe out any discussion and pretend that [LGBTQ people] don’t exist”. (Getty)

The Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs described SB 1278 as a “copy-paste version of Florida’s discriminatory ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill that would harm students and set back human rights” in the state.

Rafael Álvarez Febo, executive director of the LGBTQ Affairs Commission, said the bill is a “cruel attempt to politicise” queer people and “deny their humanity” to “score cheap political points”.

“We at the Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs know that the guise of calling LGBTQ people and topics ‘age inappropriate’ is really just fearmongering,” Febo said.

Febo continued: “Bills like these will cause LGBTQ teachers to have to conceal their identities and strip any resources available for LGBTQ youth out of schools.

“Even more alarming, these bills have emboldened far-right hate groups to mobilise to commit violence against LGBTQ people.”

Wolf has promised to veto both HB 2318 and SB 1278, but the bills await an uncertain future as Pennsylvania will have a new governor next year.

The Republican running for office, state senator Doug Mastriano, voted in favour of SB 1278. He described the anti-LGBTQ+ measure as a way to “empower parents” to ensure children aren’t exposed to so-called “sexually explicit materials and bizarre discussions about gender identity”.

Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro, the state’s attorney general, has openly opposed the measure. Shapiro’s campaign spokesperson said the state legislature needed to stop “wasting time and taxpayer dollars on these attempts to bully LGBTQ Pennsylvanians”.

SLATE: How Letitia James Beat Trump at His Own Game

How Letitia James Beat Trump at His Own Game
The attorney general has the goods to back her up her showmanship.

Read in Slate: https://apple.news/AgbnpfwFEQwGz5I_YWD1STQ

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A new bed in the Miller home

An exciting day at the Miller household. After 32 years together with both Ron and I never having a new bed except for the king mattress in the RV, we finally bought a new bed. All our lives Ron and I have had hand me downs and unlike other people we knew we did not think having new furniture such as living room sets every 5 years was important. But we put up with our old bed frame mattress / box spring that we got from the park model we had when we sold it for far too long. Hey it was better than ours and we gave our old one to James. But it was already in rough shape then. After a decade or more it just gave up any resemblance to a mattress. Ron was sliding out of bed at night and I got unpleasant wake ups from the springs that sprung. It was so bad I finally put my foot down and made Ron throw it out. He put the queen air mattress we have on the box spring frame. But an air mattress that high from the floor was dangerous so I made him get rid of the box springs. Now it was not that we did not have the money for a bed. Ron was going through another anxiety event and wouldn’t spend any large amounts of money from savings. Spending for groceries and the electric bill sent him into a panic. (Side note I have finally talked in him to see a counselor and seeing his doctor to get back on his prior anxiety meds or start new ones. He is OK with me seeing a person to deal with my nightmares / issues when my abuse memories get too bad but he fights doing it himself.) Anyway after the first air mattress started not holding air and the act of getting down to it and up from it being so hard for both of us, and the fact that every time one of us rolled over it was like being on a ship at sea or an unbaffled waterbed. Ron went out and bought a new queen air mattress like he solved the problem.

I had had enough! My back and hips wouldn’t tolerate this situation. Ron also was in pain. I insisted we buy a new king bed storage bed with a bookcase headboard. And a new mattress. Well Ron spent nearly a month looking at mattresses and then James helped him. The one Ron like best was the Purple Hybrid Premier® 3 that was going to cost us about 3,500 or a bit more with sales tax. He went back and forth until I finally just ordered the damn thing. Yes it is expensive but it has a 10 year warranty and a bunch of other things and it is the first mattress I have bought in 58 years. Now we needed a bed frame to put it on. We looked at frames and decided we wanted a storage bed with a headboard. First we looked at IKEA storage frames with no headboard because they are cheaper. But we couldn’t get it and we had already ordered the Purple mattress so we had to get the frame ordered. I went on Amazon and after we looked at what must have been millions of beds for 100s of years we bought an ACME Furniture Ireland Storage Bed, Eastern King, Gray Oak. That had the storage drawers we wanted and had a large bookcase headboard. Yes it was another $1600 dollars out of savings but again the first new bed we ever bought. We are worth it. We bought these on the first of September and Ron has freaked out about the cost every day since. Yesterday they were to deliver the mattress but it was delayed until tomorrow which works out much better for us.

Today they delivered the bed. Two really nice looked Hispanic guys with arms the size of tree trunks and shoulders wider than the 36 inch doors in our house drove from Miami to deliver the boxes of bed parts. Nice guys. But two of the boxes were over 100 pounds and the guys picked them up and carried them like it was a small cat. I did not know they made humans that size. My dogs that love gravy!!!!! They had spent 4 or more hours to get here, they had deliveries from here all the way back to Jupiter Florida on the other coast then to go home. A super long day but they were all smiles jokes and happy. I adored them. Those kinds of people I love.

James and Ron are putting the bed together now. I am staying in my office. The bedroom is large but two guys who each think they know best how to do things don’t need me in the mix. By tonight I will have a new king bed with a queen air mattress on it. Then tomorrow they bring the Purple mattress that I am sure must have gold inserted in it. Then finally I will be able to sleep in comfort and maybe get a full nights sleep instead of waking at 2 am, getting up at 3 or 4 AM, going back to bed at 10 am, getting up and then going to bed at 6 or 7 PM. I am excited. Hugs