But whatever we can do is still needed.
Indeed, It Is.
But whatever we can do is still needed.
But whatever we can do is still needed.
So much for rights for adults to make their own medical decisions.Β I guess it is fine for cis adults to have boob jobs and cis adult men can do what they want with their penises but not transitioning people.Β Well not women either.Β Seems only straight cis males can have control over their bodies and sex organs.
But what I think this is about is how trans people passing for the gender they are upsets fundamentalist men.Β It screws with their idea that god created men and women and that is just how it has to be, what you are assigned at birth.Β Right now people who do not suffer going through the wrong puberty don’t get the wrong secondary sex characteristics. Look at the changes in boys when puberty hit.Β Most boys facial features change and broaden, shoulders get wider, they develop deeper voices, and of course their bodies grow hair along with increasing the size of the sex organs.Β All things trans girls do not want their bodies to look like and will fight all their lives trying to change and make go away.Β It will be much harder for them to pass as the women they identify as.Β It will make them look much less of the idea most people have of how women should normally look.Β Β Much easier for them to be singled out.Β Some changes will never be able to mask or make go away.
Same with trans men.Β They will be forced to go through female puberty.Β They will grow boobs they hate, wider hips, along with other body changes including to their sexual organs.Β All things they hate.Β Some things will make it harder to transition, again making it harder for them to pass as the men they are.Β
And again that seems to be the plan.Β It seems to really upset the fundies that they get all hot about a woman that they then realize is a trans woman.Β I do know a straight man who had no interest in the male sex organ who started dating an attractive woman, she turns out to be trans who had not had bottom surgery.Β As they say, love conquers all and they are living very happily together.Β Β Β Hugs
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President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the economy during an event at the Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Updated 9:03 PM EST, January 28, 2025ΒPresidentΒ Donald TrumpΒ on Tuesday signed an executive order aimed at cutting federal support for gender transitions for people under age 19, his latest move to roll back protections forΒ transgenderΒ people across the country.
βIt is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called βtransitionβ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures,β the order says.
The order directs that federally-run insurance programs, including TRICARE for military families and Medicaid, exclude coverage for such care and calls on the Department of Justice to vigorously pursue litigation and legislation to oppose the practice.
Medicaid programs in some states cover gender-affirming care. The new order suggests that the practice could end, and targets hospitals and universities that receive federal money and provide the care.
The language in the executive order β using words such as βmaiming,β βsterilizingβ and βmutilationβ β contradicts what is typical forΒ gender-affirming careΒ in the United States. It also labels guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health as βjunk science.β
On his Truth Social platform, Trump called gender-affirming care βbarbaric medical procedures.β
Major medical groups such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics support access to care.
Young people who persistently identify as a gender that differs from their sex assigned at birth are first evaluated by a team of professionals. Some may try a social transition, involving changing a hairstyle or pronouns. Some may later also receive puberty blockers or hormones. Surgery is extremely rare for minors.
βIt is deeply unfair to play politics with peopleβs lives and strip transgender young people, their families and their providers of the freedom to make necessary health care decisions,β said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson.
The order encourages Congress to adopt a law allowing those who receive gender-affirming care and come to regret it, or their parents, to sue the providers.
It also directs the Justice Department to prioritize investigating states that protect access to gender-affirming care and βfacilitate stripping custody from parentsβ who oppose the treatments for their children. Some Democratic-controlled states have adopted laws that seek to protect doctors who provide gender-affirming care to patients who travel from states where itβs banned for minors.
Lambda Legal promised swift legal action.
Michel Lee Garrett, a trans woman whose teenage child only partially identifies as a girl and uses they/them pronouns, said such policies aim to erase trans people from public life but will never succeed. Her child has not elected to pursue a medical transition, but the mother from State College, Pennsylvania, said she wonβt stop fighting to preserve that option for her child and others.
βIβll always support my childβs needs, regardless of what policies may be in place or what may come … even if it meant trouble for me,β Lee Garrett said.
For Howl Hall, an 18-year-old freshman at Eastern Washington University, taking testosterone not only changed his body but dramatically improved his experience with depression. With that treatment now under threat, Hall said heβs concerned that getting off testosterone would hurt his mental health.
βI would be alive, but I wouldnβt be living,β Hall said. βI wouldnβt be living my life in a productive way at all. I can guarantee that I would be failing all of my classes if I was even showing up to them.β
The push is the latest by Trump to reverse Biden administration policies protecting transgender people and their care. On Monday,Β Trump directed the PentagonΒ to conduct a review that is likely to lead to them being barred from military service. A group ofΒ active-duty military personnel suedΒ over that on Tuesday.
Hours after taking office last week, Trump signed another order thatΒ seeks to define sexΒ as only male or female, not recognizing transgender, nonbinary or intersex people or the idea that gender can be fluid. Already thatβs resulted in the State Department halting issuing passports with an βXβ gender marker, forcing transgender people to apply for travel documents with markers that donβt match their identities.
Trump said he would address these issues during his campaign last year, and his actions could prove widely divisive.
In the November election, voters were slightly more likely to oppose than support laws that ban gender-affirming medical treatment, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy, for minors under the age of 18 who identify as transgender, according to AP VoteCast. About half of voters, 52%, were opposed, but 47% said they were in favor.
Trumpβs voters were much more likely to support bans on transgender care: About 6 in 10 Trump voters favored such laws.
βItβs very clear that this order, in combination with the other orders that weβve seen over the past week, are meant to not protect anyone in this country, but rather to single-mindedly drive out transgender people of all ages from all walks of civic life,β said Harper Seldin, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Unionβs LGBTQ & HIV Project.
Seldin said the ACLU is reviewing the order βto understand what, if anything, has immediate effect versus what needs to go through continued agency action.β
Even as transgender people have gained visibility and acceptance on some fronts, theyβve become major targets for social conservatives. In recent years, at least 26 states have adopted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. Most of those states face lawsuits, including one over Tennesseeβs ban thatβs pending before theΒ U.S. Supreme Court.
Republican-controlled states have also moved to keep transgender women and girls from competing in womenβs or girlsβ sports and to dictate which bathrooms transgender people can use, particularly in schools.
βThese policies are not serving anyone,β said Shelby Chestnut, executive director of the Transgender Law Center. βTheyβre only creating confusion and fear for all people.β
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Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and Schoenbaum from Salt Lake City. Associated Press writers Carla K. Johnson and Hallie Golden in Seattle and Linley Sanders in Washington contributed reporting.
(Because I live in a later time zone than many readers here.)
Hopium PM – Court Blocks Trump’s Dangerous Power Grab, New Reuters Poll Shows Trump Taking A Hit, Keep Making Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! by Simon Rosenberg
Kennedy and Gabbard Hearings Tomorrow, Patel Thursday Read on Substack
Good evening peeps. A federal judge has blocked Trumpβs outrageous suspension/cancelling of Congressionally mandated funding for programs of all kinds across all 50 states. From the Washington Post:
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from imposing a sweeping pause on trillions of dollars in federal spending, capping a frenetic day of disruption to government programs that fund schools, provide housing and ensure low-income Americans have access to healthcare.
The order prevented the new restrictions from taking effect until at least Feb. 3, buying time for a coalition of public-health advocates, nonprofits and businesses β represented by the left-leaning group Democracy Forward β to proceed with a case that may test Trumpβs claims of expansive power over the nationβs fiscal trajectory.
The decision arrived amid a wave of chaos and confusion in Washington, where few appeared to understand the scope and intention of a White House memo that had directed agencies to βtemporarily pauseβ the disbursement of key federal funds. Even before it could officially take effect at 5 p.m., thousands of government services β many dedicated primarily to Americansβ health, safety and well-being β appeared to be at risk of interruption or shutdown, at least temporarily.
The NYTimes has a good backgrounder on βimpoundmentβ – Trumpβs attempt just to cancel government programs he doesnβt care for and βimpoundβ the money (gift article). I also found this article by Russell Berman in the Atlantic helpful in understanding where we are.
Yes, in the first few weeks of Trumpβs Presidency we are already facing one of the gravest Constitutional crises in America history as Trump is attempting to seize a level of control over our government no President has ever had.

If there was an upside to this dark day Democrats across the country at all levels of government loudly rose up against the latest acts of our Mad Orange Wannabe King. It appeared to have woken us from our collective slumber, as the threat Trump clearly represents became impossible to ignore. Can we compete with Trump, contest his out of control Administration, score some wins in the coming days?

First, a new Reuters poll suggests Trump has already overreached, as his approval rating has already taken a 9 point hit:
We will see if these results are replicated in other polls but this one sure shows that Trump is struggling out of the gate. Note below how unpopular many of his early actions/proposals are (but also note the broad public support for βdownsizing the federal governmentβ): (snip-MORE; go see it! It’s free and you don’t have to log in.)
As I have written and posted I love Ethel’s videos.Β She presents the facts with an easy to listen to rhythm and tone.Β She uses facts to present the medical studies and medical science for trans people not emotion, feelings, or guess work.Β Β She presents the sources she uses and gives the details of how the conclusions were reached and the validity of the studies.Β Such as to if it is peer reviewed, how large the sample size, and the conclusions of the data match what the person pushing the information is claiming it does. Often Ethel catches bigots simply lying by claiming a study shows negative results when in fact the studies and data present a positive or are completely opposite from what the haters claim.Β
Plus for those who would rather read than listen she provides a transcript of the videos she does and again as I mentioned she supplies her sources so others can look up the studies / data themselves to show she is telling the truth.Β That is why you never see videos by trans haters such as the TERFs trying to claim she lied.Β If you care about the facts and wish to have the information to combat the lies of bigots please check out her other videos supporting trans people and debunking anti-trans lies.Β Hugs
Watch all our videos debunking gender ‘critical’ fascism here! – Β Β
Β β’Β DebunkingΒ GenderΒ ‘Critical’Β FascismΒ Β
Todayβs video debunks the myth that between 61-98% of all trans youth desist if we take a ‘wait and see’ approach, exposing the linguistic sleight of hand used by those set on undermining gender affirming care as the only ethical approach. #ProtectTransKids
Hi, welcome to Essence of Thought with me, Ethel Thurston, as your host.
I’m sure I’m not the only one. Still, I found a couple of items that help with that. And I’m on the lookout for more! We still have the power, even thought it doesn’t feel like it. We the people still have the power, if we stay constructively informed.
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I don’t even recall now what I was reading this morning that linked Transvitae, but here are its resources pages. I am not trans, so I only hope there isn’t anything there are the site that is, let’s say inappropriate. I read around and it seems like a decent place, but I am no expert. Resources are resources, though. We need to know about resources.
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Plus, I’m going to try to draw Number Nine Eight One, and anyone else who has such an urge should do so, also! π π§βπ¨
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(There’s a video there, if it’s something you want to see. The still shows a person doing what she appears to be doing, if I am clear.)
A supervisor of a town in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, resigned after a video in which she appeared to mimic Elon Muskβs alleged Nazi salute went viral.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, owner of the social media platform X, and Administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency, sparked outrage when he made a gesture that resembled a Nazi salute while addressing a crowd at an inauguration event for President Donald Trump.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) later posted a statement on X saying it seemed like Musk βmade an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute.β
This is a delicate moment. Itβs a new day and yet so many are on edge. Our politics are inflamed, and social media only adds to the anxiety.
It seems that @elonmusk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute, but again, we appreciate that people are onβ¦β ADL (@ADL) January 20, 2025
Despite the ADLβs statement, many have still accused Musk of performing the salute. In response, Musk posted a series of Nazi-related puns on X which led to more backlash.
He also sparked more controversy while appearing to reference Germanyβs Nazi history while making a virtual appearance at a campaign event for Germanyβs far-right Alternative fΓΌr Deutschland (AfD) party on Saturday.
Amid the controversy surrounding Musk, Laura Smith, a Republican and the Vice Chair of the Towamencin Township Board of Supervisors, posted a video of herself on the social media platform TikTok in which she appeared to mimic Muskβs gesture.Β (snip)
that have made me laugh while I’m trying to get a good BP after reading headlines.
https://www.gocomics.com/closetohome/2025/01/28
(This one was a happy accident as I thought I’d clicked on a different one.)
https://www.gocomics.com/cattitude-doggonit/2025/01/27
https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2025/01/28
The Quakers are suing Trumpβs Department of Homeland Security for allowing ICE raids in places of worship.
The lawsuit, filed in Maryland on Monday by multiple different Quaker groups from across the country, states that βthe very threat of [immigration] enforcement deters congregants from attending services, especially members of immigrant communities,β and notes that the raids infringe on religious freedom.
βA week ago today, President Trump swore an oath to defend the Constitution and yet today religious institutions that have existed since the 1600s in our country are having to go to court to challenge what is a violation of every individualβs constitutional right to worship and associate freely,β said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which is representing the Quaker groups in court. βThe troubling nature of the policy goes beyond just houses of worship with sanctuary programsβit is that ICE could enter religious and sacred spaces whenever it wants.β (snip-MORE)
https://newrepublic.com/post/190756/trump-ice-lawsuit-quakers
I think we need a category for “Resources.” Anyway, our friend and fellow blogger Annie Asks You gave a couple of resources for us to pass along and use to help our neighbors, earlier in a comment on another blog. I put together a Substack about it, so here it is. It’s short.
Some Useful Resources by Alison Redford
We all can do all we can, and these can help. Read on Substack
These sites have information people need so they are prepared in case authorities believe they have reason to question or detain you. The sites are run by experts, with clear advice for preparation and dealing with authorities. -A.
ICE and CBP might not respect our rights, but they cannot take away our POWER. Use these resources to learn about your rights and express them in case you have an encounter with an immigration official. (snip)
The National Immigration Law Center
Know Your Rights
Jan 15, 2025 This Know Your Rights resource provides general information on what to do if you are stopped, arrested, or detained by immigration or other law enforcement. Originally published in December 2015. (snip)
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Thanks for doing whatever you can do!