For those that are on the fence about trans kids, and for those that are arguing that this is pushed on trans kids, please watch this short video. The person recording did not plan to record the coming out of a trans kid, but it happened. This video debunks all the trans hater talking points in one short video. Just as kids know who they are attracted to at a very young age, just as kids understand gender at a very young age as soon as they understand the idea of gender such as men or women, boys or girls, these clothing for this group or this bathroom for that gender. Kids understand this very early on. The idea of “early on stage gender dysphoria” has been debunked. I have watched an entire video on where it came from. The biggest threat to kids that know they are trans or gay is from the bigots on the right who are trying to keep kids from information they need, such as don’t say gay and anti gender identification laws. Look these republican right wingers want to return to the 1950s when gays and trans people were not positively portrayed in any media, yet they all existed. I am gay, I never got to read a book about a gay person until I was an adult. In fact the first book about gay kids I read was a book describing how a gay boy got trapped in abuse because of a person threatening to publicly out him. Denying the LGBTQ+ kids the media they need won’t stop them from being LGBTQ+ but it might stop a lot of abuse, and a lot of kids thinking they are the only one that is that way and believing how others say they are so horrible that they kill themselves! Listen to this child, just as I knew even before I was in school that I was a boy and that I was a boy who liked boys, this child knows who they are. Hugs
I was at the Pride Parade trolling the anti-LGBTQ people, when this child adamantly informed me that I am interviewing her. After getting consent from both her and the mother I spoke to her. The mother was present the entire time and requested that I do not include her name.
Scottie's Playtime 
I know you will “lecture” me on this, but I really do wonder … what about all those kids that (supposedly) were trans before all the current hullabaloo? It would seem they did what they had to do without all the fanfare. IOW, the “public” didn’t even know about who or what they were … and most likely didn’t care because it wasn’t “in their face” like it is today.
Case in point … the interview on the video. “She” looked like a girl and most likely acted like one. So why should it be broadcast to the world that “she” was born as a boy???
And all this stuff about a person being a “They” or “Them”? Give me a break!
Yes, Scottie, I realize that the gays and lesbians went through a lot to get to the level of acceptance they have now (outside of the Church). But one big difference is you were still a “he” and you lived according to what most people accepted as a male person. Neither you nor Ron felt the need to change your gender “identification.”
Quick story. I don’t think I’ve shared this before, but forgive me if I have. MANY years ago, my other-half was close friends with two guys who were gay. They were “partners” in business and other things, if you get my drift. BUT … and that’s a very big BUT … no one but their close friends knew they were gay. Why? Because they didn’t see the need to flaunt their lifestyle. In fact, they looked down on those who seemed to feel they needed to play the male/female role in such relationships.
So my point being to all this … if the trans folk would just “BE,” maybe they wouldn’t have to face all the CRAP that’s going on. Bottom line … it’s no one’s business … and maybe if they kept it to themselves, who would be the wiser?
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No lecture-just saying that if only people would simply let them be, they would simply be. It’s getting to be a vicious circle these days, though.
I do understand how tired people-who tend to let people be-get of it all. Great sentence; I know…
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Hello Ali. I agree. The problem is not that gay and trans people exist and want to live normal lives openly as who they are, the problem is those fighting to keep the US / world straight and cis. The problem is those people who don’t think gays and trans people should even exist or be allowed to live openly. Again it is people who want to return to the 1950s society where they felt comfortable because everything was straight cis normal. Nan seems to feel it is OK now for gays to be open while she admits once it was something we had to keep hidden. Hell when I was in the military we gay people had to be careful as we could be kicked out if we were identified as gay by the wrong people in authority. While my last unit was OK with me and my boyfriend, the last few months of my tour was under a new commander who was anti-gay. I had gotten excellent reviews until he got there, but I seen the writing on the wall and got out before I got thrown out. So no gays are only able to live openly because we fought for that and made it happen by being out and in the public. We put or lives and all aspects of it on the line at the time. Kids today feel comfortable coming out and living as gay or trans, or at least they did. They still do in blue states. But in red states that ability to live openly as who they are has been removed, again to force every child to be straight and cis. But not every child is straight or cis. Gay kids exist, and so do trans kids. The reason there seem to be more of them was because they were not afraid to say who they were. The right wants to make those kids afraid again. Hugs
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Hello Nan. No lecture, just repeating facts and common sense. Nan you say Ron and I did not have to change our gender, but make no mistake we were not accepted as a couple. In fact gay people faced the same thing you just said about trans people, why do they have to push it in our faces. Hey they can be gay we just don’t want to see it or have to admit they exist. Let them pretend to be close friends, business partners, or the “confirmed bachelor”. Ron fought to open the second gay bar in the town of Brattleboro Vermont. We were harassed by police and the straights who did not think we should have a bar just for our kind, it was too much pushing our lifestyle on the good straight people of the town. Let’s start with your husband’s friends who were together but did not let anyone know. Did they know your husband was married? If this was before you were married, did they know he liked women? Why should they have to hide who they are? Straight people don’t. Gay people exist and are as normal as straight people, and the same with trans, so why do straight people think they get to force their lifestyle on us? What about every movie that had men and women romantic story plots? You see, what you miss is that some straight people want to pretend that only gays and trans are pushing themselves / their life on everyone else, but what they miss is that heterosexuality is everywhere and pushed on everyone. The don’t say gay bill in Florida says it is illegal to mention or talk about gender identity or sexual orientation in schools, yet that doesn’t include the straight cisgender identities. They mean only in the context of gays and trans people. Why can straight teachers talk about their families and have their spouses / families pictures in the classrooms, but gay teachers are not allowed to. That is straight people pushing their sexual orientation. Hey boys bathroom / girl bathroom is gender identity. Mr, Miss, Mrs are all gendered words. In Florida you can not call Sally a boy even if asked to but you can call Jack a boy. But hey calling Sally a girl is gender identity, as a girl! This is straight cis people pushing their identities, their lifestyles, on everyone else. Think about this, in Tennessee the new bill that an appeals court just let proceed makes puberty blockers and hormone therapy illegal for trans kids but it is OK for cis kids to be prescribed them. Bigotry much? But two republican judges said no discrimination because being cis was normal and being trans was evil. Is that pushing a gender lifestyle?
As to trans topic I think Ali said it best. Trans kids, trans people, and parents are not pushing this fight. Just as we gay people simply wanted the same rights as straight people to live as ourselves and enjoy the same rights that straights enjoy, trans people want the same. The Christian nationalist right wing and right wing media are the ones making this a big deal. Plus while this trans person as a child blended those who were forced to go through the wrong puberty often don’t. Those trans people are getting attack and assaulted, just like gays once were. Right wing media and republican legislatures are the ones pushing the fight and making it public. Those are the people making the hullabaloo and fanfare. Those people are reaching into trans peoples lives and denying them the right to exist. The republican legislators and governors are denying the accepted medical science promoted by the major medical organizations. I watched the governor of Utah argue with the host of a major Sunday news program that you couldn’t get creditable medical information in the US on trans issues. When the host mentioned the AMA and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)both support gender-affirming care and have the data / studies to back it up, he dismissed it. I assume because his religion did not agree with it. He said he was going to look overseas to get the information because he did not trust the medical organizations in the US. How is that any different from the anti-vaccine people who refuse to accept credible science data? Hugs
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The guy couple I mentioned were not hiding. They just didn’t think it was necessary to broadcast their relationship. This all was long before M and I met. And yes,, they knew he liked women. Their friends and business associates were all aware that they were a couple.
There’s no argument that things have changed. But sometimes I wonder if the trans crowd hasn’t created some of the problems themselves. But that’s a topic for another day.
As you already know, I have reservations about this whole situation and all your long comments defending your personal stance on the topic do not and will not change my thinking. Let’s just leave it at that.
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Hello Nan. Sorry, but I won’t leave it at that. Your stance on trans people is bigoted and uninformed. As mentioned gay and trans people just want to live openly as who they are but there are groups driven sadly by fundamentalist Christian sects who can not allow or tolerate that. And they run the Republican Party now.
You leave your opinion here on issues and that is fine. But when those opinions are wrong and if I see them, I will push back. You comment and as my health improves I will reply. You say your opinion won’t change, that is sad to hear but closing your mind won’t stop the march of progress and civil rights. Not only that, but you can not go back to a nice white straight suburban world of the fantasy 1950s past. A place where these issues were hidden and not bothersome to the “normal” people. Sorry these issues make you uncomfortable, but you seem to miss that these laws restricting trans people from living as their gender make them more than uncomfortable. They make living their lives as who they are impossible. The US still has second class citizens that are being denied the same rights as the dwindling majority of white straight people.
People in the US don’t realize other cultures accepted gay and trans people until they got conquered or a religious sect achieved the power to make such people socially and legally unacceptable. Even the Native People here accepted and acknowledged the LGBTQ+ among them, Christian white people soon put an end to that.
The point is being gay and trans is normal and yes kids know if they are gay or trans. As a recent judge said in Florida, those are simply facts. The LGBTQ+ simply want a place at the table that straight cis people have claimed as all their own. Every day of my life straight sexual orientation has been on display and pushed in my face while I and other gay people had to fight like hell to be able to also display our families and relationships. I remember when it was unthinkable for gay men to hold hands in public even while straight people around them were. So many aspects of daily life were denied to gay couples that straight people freely enjoy. Now trans people want to live their lives openly also. But that is being stopped by unreasonable fears push by people who ignore the verified data. Trans people are not attacking women in bathrooms, they are the ones getting attacked. The crime data clearly shows this.
How can gay or trans people live normal happy lives when at every turn straight people want to restrict the way they can live, what jobs they can have, what services they can receive from business that serve the public as open accommodations, and when even going to the bathroom is being made illegal for trans people. Also why are those on the right only worried about trans women and not trans men in bathrooms? Think of the misogyny in that, the patronizing of all women, that straight men must make laws to protect them from something not happening.
Sorry your mind is closed and you can not accept the data, science, and progress of society along with the civil rights of minority people. But time and the young people are on the side of the LGBTQ+, which is why the right is trying hard to demonize all non-straight non-cis kids in schools. The right is desperate to stop the acceptance in society and the public living of their lives of the LGBTQ+ people. Hugs
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OK, Scottie. I read your first few sentences and stopped because you have FAR over-stepped our friendship. I will continue to consider you my friend, but I will not be castigated for my personal beliefs related to this issue simply because they are different from yours. The fact that you continue to claim support for your stance via “evidence” that you have cherry-picked is no different than what is done by the religious crowd.
I recognize that this issue is very personal for you. And I accept that. But again, when your remarks to me border on disrespect and insults simply because I don’t see things through the same lens as you, it’s time to discontinue any further discussion on the subject.
Quite frankly, I truly regret that I ever left a comment on this topic. I probably should have known better but I never expected the torrent of disdain and disparagement that I received.
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Hello Nan. I feel you have imposed on me! I feel you have disrespected me!
You promote your opinion while saying I shouldn’t respond because you mind is closed on the subject. After I have repeatedly addressed those very concerns. It leaves me feeling you don’t bother to read and consider my replies. You force me to constantly repeat myself. Yes it is personal to me and should be to everyone, I don’t tolerate discrimination easily. No one should. Now you admit you did not even read the reply that laid out clearly why your suggestion was so wrong.
I have not cherry-picked evidence and have always quoted sources. Again all major medical organizations support gender-affirming care including social and medical transition under comprehensive medical care. Fact puberty blockers are reversible by simply stopping them. There is some bone density for males that is compensated for with supplements. Fact medical sexual reassignment surgeries are not done on minors. No one’s penis is being cut off as a minor.
I deal with the facts of a situation. Your original concern was bathroom usage by trans people. I showed you the data that trans people were not attacking females in bathrooms but both trans women and cis women were being attacked by other cis people. Now you are blaming the victims of abuse by saying if they would just hide and stay quiet not living openly there would be no problem. But that is the same as saying they shouldn’t share in the same living experience straight cis people get to. All of your statements about trans people have been used in the past against black people and then gay men. It is discrimination and should be called out.
Best wishes. Hugs
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