In 2018 Kobach lost his bid for Kansas governor after flaming out as the head of Trump’s so-called “voter fraud” commission. Kobach’s campaign was funded in part by prominent white supremacists and anti-immigrant hate groups. Last year he resigned from the board of Steve Bannon’s private border wall scam outfit and unlike others involved, he has somehow evaded prosecution. That same day he appeared on Bannon’s show to compare Biden to Hitler. Then he complained that Republicans are being “demonized.”
Kansas AG Kobach sues to stop trans people from changing their birth certificates
The move is timed to facilitate enforcement of a sweeping statewide anti-transgender law in Kansas that is due to go into effect next week.https://t.co/Qv8MxitIMe via @nbcnews
Hmmm, should my birth certificate have stated the names of my birth parents or, as it does, state the names of my adoptive parents? If that can be changed, why not the sex…not to mention intersex children where it’s ambiguous….or surgically altered? Birth certificates aren’t %100 accurate to begin with. This is just cruelty in action.
Rethugs have been winning elections (and getting them close enough to steal (aka Dubya)) for a long while now by using a variety of tools: Gerrymandering, voter suppression, etc.
Among those tools is racism, bigotry, and xenophobia, intended to energize their base and also to scare the low-information voters in the middle who can be readily fooled into thinking there is some kind of ‘crisis’ that must be stopped at all costs.
In the 1950s, it was communists, Black people, and gay people. In the 1960s, it was “radical militant” hippies and Black people. In the 1970s and 80s, it was “radical” feminists and again, Black and gay people. 1990s, immigrants and Black people. 2000s, Muslims and Black people, with LGBTQ folks making a strong reappearance.
Anyway, now Rethugs have combined them all together, but their main focus is on immigrants and LGBTQ people, along with Black folks.
Always it’s the “hatred and fear of other” they pound upon, election after election.
Rethugs have been winning elections (and getting them close enough to steal (aka Dubya)) for a long while now by using a variety of tools: Gerrymandering, voter suppression, etc.
Among those tools is racism, bigotry, and xenophobia, intended to energize their base and also to scare the low-information voters in the middle who can be readily fooled into thinking there is some kind of ‘crisis’ that must be stopped at all costs.
In the 1950s, it was communists, Black people, and gay people. In the 1960s, it was “radical militant” hippies and Black people. In the 1970s and 80s, it was “radical” feminists and again, Black and gay people. 1990s, immigrants and Black people. 2000s, Muslims and Black people, with LGBTQ folks making a strong reappearance.
Anyway, now Rethugs have combined them all together, but their main focus is on immigrants and LGBTQ people, along with Black folks.
Always it’s the “hatred and fear of other” they pound upon, election after election.
Jesus fucking Christ, why is this such a big fucking issue to you filthy pukes??
Why can’t you just mind your own fucking business? Trans people have absolutely nothing to do with you, why can’t you even try walking a mile in their shoes? You know, like your (false, dead) god told you to do?
Fascists always need a nearly powerless underclass to scapegoat, oppress, and persecute. For some of them, the anti-Semitism is a little too on-target, so now it’s LGBTQ people, with a sharp focus on all the trans folks.
So, I am going to ask the question that conservatives just LOVE to ask and use against us: What standing does he have? On what basis is HE legally affected or pained by the use of an ‘X’ or other marker other than ‘M,’ or ‘F’ on a birth certificate, or for people requesting changes to said indications? He isn’t. The state of Kansas isn’t. The citizens are not. It is a fucking letter as far as he or the bigots should be concerned.
I don’t see how this should even be considered — judicial bias notwithstanding.
Compare news coverage from around the world and across the political spectrum with Ground News: https://ground.news/feli ▸”Florida principal forced to resign after showing students Michelangelo’s ‘David’ statue” or “Parents Complain About ‘Pornographic’ David Statue” 👈 These types of headlines went around the world a couple months ago and left many people in Italy and other countries utterly confused. What’s wrong with the David Statue? How could anyone think this is p*rn? So let’s talk about how nudity is handled in everyday situations in the US compared to Germany, and why it seems to be such a big taboo topic in the US!
This is a great article if you want the truth and statements of facts that debunk the lies and myths of the right. This is a wonderful article. Easy to read and the words of the judge are included. Hugs
Over 311 statements of fact were established in the Arkansas gender affirming care ban case. Not a single fact was found in the state’s favor, and several major talking points were debunked.
The crux of Judge Moody’s ruling lies in the substantial 311 individual statements of fact, many of which decisively dismantle arguments made against gender affirming care. These facts apply to issues from the rarity of detransition to the vital medical benefits that gender affirming care offers transgender youth. The statements also rule on the credibility of the state’s experts as well as the plaintiff’s experts. The court found the plaintiff’s experts to be extraordinarily credible, while the state’s experts were deemed to be considerably lacking in credibility and motivated more by religious beliefs than sound policy. Even religious organizations lobbying for anti-transgender laws, such as the Alliance Defending Freedom, are probed within these factual statements.
Legislative and media discussions surrounding bans on care for trans youth have primarily concentrated on the health risks and benefits of gender-affirming care. After considering numerous witnesses, hundreds of pages of expert testimonies, and briefs filed by medical organizations, the judge definitively concluded that banning gender-affirming care would inflict severe, irreparable harm on transgender youth. One particularly striking fact, Fact 258, was evidenced by Dr. Dan Karasic, a psychiatrist with over three decades of experience treating gender dysphoria. He alerted the court that “not all adolescents with gender dysphoria will survive to 18 if they are denied gender-affirming medical treatment.”
A frequent assertion put forth by advocates for anti-trans care bans is the presumption that transgender youth will eventually regret their transition and detransition. Facts 219-224 determined conclusively that this is not the case. For example, Dr. Karasic pointed out that out of the thousands of patients he has treated, not a single one chose to detransition. While a handful did stop taking their medication, it was primarily due to a lack of family support or their insurance discontinuing coverage, not a change in their self-identified gender.
Judge Moody later dissected the notion that levels of “desistance and regret” warrant prohibitions like Arkansas’s ban on gender-affirming care. He stated:
To the contrary, the evidence proved that there is broad consensus in the field that once adolescents reach the early stages of puberty and experience gender dysphoria, it is very unlikely they will subsequently identify as cisgender or desist.
And the one I love and will keep posting.
3) The Witnesses Are Not Credible
stating their opinions were “more rooted in ideology than in science.”
A federal court blocked Florida’s new drag show law, ruling the state’s effort to bar children from attending “adult live performances,” is overly vague and likely unconstitutional. The decision Friday by U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell comes only a day after another federal court overturned another Gov. Ron DeSantis-backed law prohibiting gender-affirming care treatment in Florida from being covered by Medicaid. “This concern rings hollow, however, when accompanied by the knowledge that Florida state law presently and independently… permits any minor to attend an R-rated film at a movie theater if accompanied by a parent or guardian,” Presnell ruled. “This statute is specifically designed to suppress the speech of drag queen performers,” Presnell wrote in his 24-page decision. “In the words of the bill’s sponsor in the House, State Representative Randy Fine: (the legislation) will protect our children by ending the gateway propaganda to this evil – ‘Drag Queen Story Time.’”
Courts are putting a stop on the anti-#LGBTQ laws pushed by @GovRonDeSantis and @TheFLGOP. This is what happens when fascist authoritarians believe they can ignore the U.S. Constitution. Thankfully, some checks and balances still exist. https://t.co/Eaf9yBzapy
“This concern rings hollow, however, when accompanied by the knowledge that Florida state law presently and independently… permits any minor to attend an R-rated film at a movie theater if accompanied by a parent or guardian,” Presnell ruled.
From the opening paragraph, US District Judge Gregory Presnell, an 80-year-old Clinton appointee, calls out the state of Florida's action for what they are: an attempt "to suppress the speech of drag queen performers." pic.twitter.com/BhxHUqZGg6
Paddycakes2001 Melissiaan hour ago From the transcript of the court hearing: THE COURT: The plaintiffs accuse you of invidious discrimination in violation of the 14th Amendment. How do you answer? STATE’S LAWYER: That’s the point, Your Honor.
mkbear684 hours ago Well, this was expected and they knew it, but it plays to the base and gets donations, but it puts real people at risk.
Moms for Liberty is an American conservative organization that advocates against school curriculums that mention LGBT rights, race, critical race theory, and discrimination, while multiple chapters have also campaigned to ban from school libraries books that address gender and sexuality issues. The group began by protesting COVID-19 protections in schools, including mask and vaccine mandates.
Moms for Liberty has been criticized for harassment, for deepening divisions among parents, for making students’ education more difficult, and for having close ties to the Republican Party rather than being a genuine grassroots effort.
The group was labeled an “anti-government extremist” organization in 2023 by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Formation January 1, 2021 Founders Tina Descovich, Tiffany Justice, Bridget Ziegler Headquarters Melbourne, Florida, U.S. Area served United States Membership 70,000
It was very obviously discrimination, and it’s obvious from the arguments they put before the court that this has nothing to do with any form of concern for anything other than brazen politics and just flat out hatred of a minority group.
Bingo. This is performative art for their target voting bloc (evangelicals) who vote solid Red in every election like clockwork. Dems don’t have the equivalent. There’s literally nothing on the Left that’s anything like the consistency of the Right when it comes to voter outreach.
Good. I hope that all these hateful and cruel laws are struck down. The slave states want to make laws that health care workers don’t have to give LGBT people medical assistance at ALL if they have “deeply held” religious beliefs against us. It’s time we are considered to be human beings, not just another theocratic political football. If you prick us, do we not bleed?
Historically, (like 2 years ago, not 20), law in the US doesn’t let you single out a group, especially a disfavored group, and pass laws against them. Nice to see some vestiges of that core idea are still here.
And note that THOMAS is the #1 cheerleader for getting rid of ‘equal protection’.
So you encourage book banning, demonize LGBTQ people and your tactics are compared to the historical actions of Nazis all while being designated as a hate group by the SPLC and then you try and refute that by quoting Hitler?! M4L keeps showing us who they are. Believe them. https://t.co/0WABae4f3A
— Jim Stewartson, Anti-disinfo activist 🇺🇸🇺🇦💙 (@jimstewartson) June 22, 2023
this Hitler quote that Moms For Liberty used is the same Hitler quote that Republican Rep. Mary Miller recited at a Moms For America event two years ago!
And yet republicans never debate about the cost, while claiming $300 for the poorest people with children a month is obscene and we can not afford it. The Pentagon fails every audit, and I just watched where they are overcharging thousands of dollars a piece for a trash can that they use to charge $300 for. Yet Manchin says we need to cut social security. Hugs
Tucker Carlson's former head writer has resurfaced as Charlie Kirk’s radio producer; he had resigned after @oliverdarcy reported that he had posted racist, misogynistic, homophobic, and other awful content on an online forum. https://t.co/K9GLB0wjlSpic.twitter.com/tqAJsBkzs4
Brooklyn Albert18 hours ago I see the handiwork of the likes of Scott Lively and his ilk, spreading the gospel of hate and their twisted comprehension of history to African, Caribbean, and Latin American countries.
Authoritarian advocates, whatever their form, need some “other” to be dehumanized and oppressed. When everybody more or less has the same race and culture in a country, they then cast about for some other way of differentiating for the purposes of fomenting hate. Sometimes it’s by religion, sometimes by ethnicity, but if those are relatively homogeneous, they’ll go for LGBTQ status or political identity.
For example, in America in the 1950s, they did both of those latter, along with racist bigotry: People perceived to be not-straight and those who were accused of being socialist or communist. All three were targeted for systematic oppression.
It stuns me that these leaders are so focused on sexuality and making gay people pay for their sexuality with severe punishments and even death. Why is this even on their minds? Is being gay causing some sort of great turmoil in their countries? Are they trying to undermine their governments? Are they just living their lives like everyone else? So much angst over gay people. He contradicts his own statements in just one paragraph. “Gay Africans don’t exist.” – “kick LGBT people out of Kenya completely,” Well, which is it? Who gets kicked out if they don’t exist in the first place? Screwy like the radical Christians that foment this hatred.
Some of them genuinely seem to think that the existence of LGBTQ people threatens the continued existence of the human race, because not enough people are breeding.
Kenya has 53 million people in an area the size of Texas. Underpopulation is not a serious issue there.
JoeMyGodMod3 days ago You may recall Eric Metaxas for the time he sucker-punched a passing kid on a bicycle on his way into the White House for a Trump event and then lied about it even after video surfaced. It’s what Jesus would want.
Read the full article. Andersen, who lost a lawsuit to get on the ballot, has not so far been accused of wrongdoing. As you can see in his campaign clip below, he ran on a promise to end pandemic mandates.
Earlier this week Kennedy claimed that chemicals in drinking water are turning children transgender and that WiFi radiation causes brain cancer.
Unearthed: RFK Jr. pushed HIV/AIDS denialism, attributing AIDS not to HIV, but to a “gay lifestyle” and recreational drugs:
“There were people that were part of a gay lifestyle, they were burning the candle at both ends, …there were poppers on sale everywhere at the gay bars.” pic.twitter.com/BK2WXxjyg8
Hank: NO MORE WoW!!!4 days ago “The magnitude of the value of the Bible as a literary work outweighs any violence or profanity which may be contained in the book,” So, will they do the same for ALL books??? or just the ones, they deem fit???
“Public spaces are public spaces,” U.S. District Court Judge David Nuffer wrote. “Public spaces are not private spaces. Public spaces are not majority spaces. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution ensures that all citizens, popular or not, majority or minority, conventional or unconventional, have access to public spaces for public expression.”
In his 80-page ruling, Judge James M. Moody Jr. of Federal District Court in Little Rock said the law both discriminated against transgender people and violated constitutional rights for doctors. He also said that the state of Arkansas had failed to substantially prove a number of its claims, including that the care was experimental or carelessly prescribed to teenagers.
“Rather than protecting children or safeguarding medical ethics…the prohibited medical care improves the mental health and well-being of patients and that by prohibiting it, the state undermined the interests it claims to be advancing.” https://t.co/Y8yImyNZoq
Republicans know these hateful laws will never survive court scrutiny. The point was to drum up paranoia and grievance among voters. And with the help of the media, it was working. But there are hopeful signs that a backlash is forming.
— Matthew, June Goomba (@TeachAllAmerica) June 20, 2023
The law is extremely broad, which actually creates a host of other complications. A group of lawyers previously told The Dallas Morning News that the measure could restrict performances by artists such as Madonna and Miley Cyrus, which often feature sexual dancing. The text could even affect bachelorette parties, if they involved sex toys or other paraphernalia. The new changes could even impact cheerleading and criminalize sexual conduct between consenting 17-year-olds (17 is the age of consent in Texas). Movie screenings and art history classes could similarly come under fire. And of course, the law will affect its original target: drag performers, Pride parades, and transgender people just trying to live their lives. Lawsuits against similar bans are planned or already underway in other states. In Florida, the Orlando outpost of Hamburger Mary’s sued the DeSantis administration last month.
Rep. Lauren Boebert claims that she is forcing a House vote on impeaching President Biden because she is "directed and led" by "the spirit of God" in everything she does: "We are doing what is right, what is righteous. History will prove that." pic.twitter.com/EBoKqYEFif
In the fall of 2022, the FBI got a report that Marian Hudak had used his Dodge 1500 truck to try to run off the road two black people who were also driving. He allegedly yelled racial epithets at them. pic.twitter.com/ZZ9jIRGXbM
Hudak eventually followed them home, where a confrontation happened. Here’s hudak’s truck, which was well known in the area because it was decked out in American, Confederate, and Trump flags. pic.twitter.com/I5x3HG3lgJ
“Kentucky law prohibits the Attorney General from using or attempting to use ‘his official position to secure or create privileges, exemptions, advantages, or treatment for himself or others in derogation of the public interest at large,’” the letter, which was sent out Friday afternoon and obtained by The Daily Beast, said.
Woah. Daniel Cameron, the Kentucky Attorney General and GOP candidate for Governor, was being bankrolled by an addiction recovery company that his office was supposed to be investigating. He only recused himself after people started looking into it. https://t.co/2FlYsqgdzj
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) June 23, 2023
Yikes. 😬
Daniel Cameron tried — and failed — to force TV stations to hide the truth about him hiring the Bevin cronies who helped pardon politically-connected killers and rapists.
Walters, who was appointed state secretary of education by Christianist Gov. Kevin Stitt in 2020, faced calls to resign in 2022 after it was revealed that a Koch-funded group that advocates for privatizing public schools was paying him $120,000/year. Stitt rejected calls for Walters’ resignation and attempted to reappoint him again earlier this year, but the state Senate refused to allow him to hold the elected superintendent and appointed secretary of education posts at the same time.
Oklahoma superintendent Ryan Walters says separation of church and state is a "false narrative" and that the 1962 school prayer case was one of the Warren court's "unAmerican and hateful court decisions." In a jaw-dropping speech, he says he'll enforce a minute of daily silence. pic.twitter.com/tQvOYVCe1m
Walters is also considering ordering each school to post a copy of the 10 Commandments and to teach a "Western civilization course" as a way "to foster gratitude and informed citizenship." These recommendations came from a panel he picked to return religion to schools.
Yves R. Mektin3 days ago edited Well, Oklahoma does have the second lowest high school SAT scores in the whole country*, so maybe tots and pears will help. * West Virginia is the only state that did worse
All those states compete to see who can lead the fastest race to the bottom. Apparently, Louisiana has the lowest life expectancy in the country (Hawaii has the highest).
So he doesn’t like the 1961 decision…toots, the SC ruled on this a bunch of times. And don’t throw that ‘found fathers’ shit around, they did NOT. Under gawd my ass. ;(
Thomas Jefferson penned the wall metaphor in a letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802. He celebrated the First Amendment for “building a wall of separation between Church & State.” The Supreme Court has endorsed this view many times. First in 1878. And then again “in 1947, 1948, 1961 (three times), 1962, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1977, 1982, and again and again in countless concurrences, dissents, and lower court opinions,” according to a recent law review article. The wall metaphor nicely sums up the relationship.
I thought Article 11 of the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli did a handy job of summarizing what The Founding Fathers™ thought of Christianity in America, since it passed in the US Senate unanimously while being signed by many of the actual founders –
Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen (Muslims); and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan (Mohammedan) nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.
Not to forget the Treaty of Tripoli – the first treaty entered into by the United States – and having constitutional power — which states that the United States has no national religion.
After Roe was overturned, the Notre Dame Religious Liberty Institute, which has filed numerous briefs before the court, paid for a trip to Rome for Alito. https://t.co/Kvun6nQidG
Per Florida Politics, the “groomers” slur was first popularized by viciously anti-LGBTQ former DeSantis administration spox Christina Pushaw, a registered foreign agent for the nation of Georgia and his current “rapid response” campaign director. Pushaw began pushing the term early last year during the start of the “Don’t Say Gay” campaign.
sfbob Jack3 days ago “Groomer.” Noun. Definition (per DeSantis): 1. A person who does something you disapprove of or who says something you disagree with. 2. A person who believes in providing factual, age-appropriate information to children on topics pertaining to sexuality, sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity.
What amazes me is, while they’re howling about grooming, they manage to completely ignore the ones actively doing it and getting busted for it weekly, the churches.
The GOP friction stems from a push by Rep Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) who publicly revived the discussion by trying to prevent funding in an energy and water development bill from being used to rename Army Corps civil works projects that are named after the Confederacy or an individual who served in the Confederate military.
“One of the things that is irritating a few of us: a certain member from Georgia is wanting to re-bring up the Confederate base names,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told POLITICO.
Bacon said he told the Georgia Republican that he would “would fight him” on trying to prevent funding from going toward renaming. (Clyde’s amendment doesn’t mention military bases.)
Bacon led that effort in the House to create the process for renaming the military assets.
He noted on Friday that he recounted to Clyde about how African-Americans have thanked him for his work on renaming the Confederate assets. In a separate statement, Bacon added that the issue was settled in 2020 and that he didn’t think it was “wise to re-litigate” it.
“Confederate generals fought for a cause that we know was wrong and violated their oaths to Constitution. Most of the 10 that bases were named for were also terrible generals. … Finally, some were affiliated with racist actions after the war. Most of these bases were named around WW1 and done to placate the Jim Crow elected leaders at the time,” he added in the statement.
Didn't know a Confederate flag presentation in the Capitol riot on January 6th, was a part of a "normal tourist visit," as Congressman Andrew Clyde claimed. pic.twitter.com/UNYqswCV0g
— Rick Ocean 🇺🇲🇳🇴 Support Ukraine, Save Europe (@RickOceanMusic) November 8, 2022
Pollos Hermanos ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈa day ago GOP: “Democrats were the party of The Confederacy.” Also GOP: “Don’t you dare take away honors to The Confederacy!”
I don’t know the “official thinking” of American historians on point, but I believe much of what we’re seeing today with respect to the Republican Party is 160 years of simmering resentment by the South regarding its loss in the 1860s Civil War now coming to the surface.
Trump “tapped” into it. “Build the wall” was metaphor for “keep the coloreds out.” His embrace of rabid racists, including neo-Nazis, is a “message received” by the Republican base.
They miss the old plantation days, the good old days. When the coloreds and the women knew their place and there was no “deviance” like drag queens and trans people.
In Germany, Nazi paraphernalia like swastika flags, et all, as well as neo-Nazi political parties are officially banned by law. (Germany doesn’t have a First Amendment).This is the reason that German Nazis fly Confederate flags. You are known by the company you keep.
RealityBass2 days ago Remember when we were expected to believe that Trump was so rich that he would use his own funds to campaign, didn’t need to raise money, therefore he was incorruptible? Good times.
What a liar. He said he would use his own money. Just like everything else about him, – a lie, a scam, a con, a fraud …..from getting someone to sit his exams to his 2016 campaign to his subversion of a democratic election.
His whole life has been devoted to scamming. He has never earned an honest buck. It’s all been about the underhand deal, the stiffing people and companies what they are owed. Now there is no way around not paying his lawyers. they won’t act for him without being paid up-front. But Giuliani can fuck off, he’s gonna be hung out to flap in the wind.
248,000 children were legally married in US in last 10 years. 77% were girls as young as 12, married to much older men. Which would account for human trafficking and rape in most part of the world, but in USA it's just old-fashioned "marriage." Hint: it's rape contract. pic.twitter.com/76Yv6zBbtY
— GRRLunderground 🏳️🌈🇺🇸⛑️🟧 (@grrls_sxy_shoes) June 25, 2023
The one’s fighting to keep this is fundamentalist religious republicans. Each state that has tried to raise the age has had it fought by religious groups and voted down by republicans. Ask why if their aim to remove LGBTQ+ books / media to protect the children and claiming pride flags sexualizes kids, yet they fight to keep preteen girls being legally raped by older men! The truth is these people just want to remove any non-heterosexual thinking from society and push straight heterosexual thinking on everyone, especially the kids. Hugs
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) this week took aim at Republican governors who want to ban gender transitioning for minors during a Fox News interview.
On Thursday, Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade asked Christie, a 2024 GOP presidential candidate, “Your thoughts about the push in Florida and Arkansas to make it illegal to do it for kids under 18?”
“Brian, you know, I just don’t want to see our government getting more and more intrusive in everybody’s life, getting bigger,” Christie replied, adding:
I don’t think anything can replace parents when you’re talking about major decisions that are needs to be made by our children. And I will tell you this. I want all parents out there to think about something. How many other decisions do you want the government making for you in your home regarding your kids? I don’t want any of those decisions made by the government. Parents are the ones who love their children the most, who care about their children the most, who understand their children the most. And parents should be the ones making these decisions.
“So if a 14-year-old comes home and says, I really want to start switching genders, that’s the parent’s decision?” Kilmeade asked.
“I’ll tell you, it’s more of a parent’s decision than it’s a governor’s decision, for goodness sakes, Brian, you really think that Sarah Huckabee Sanders should be making this decision for children in Arkansas?” Christie insisted.
“I love Sarah. I think she’s a great person and a really good governor. But I don’t think she would ever allow the government to substitute her judgment as a mother for their judgment. And that’s what I’m saying. I would want any government official coming in and telling me what decisions I could help my child through and how I should do it. And I want those decisions to be made by parents, not by the government,” Christie concluded.
A person holds up a flag during rally to protest the Trump administration’s reported transgender proposal to narrow the definition of gender to male or female at birth, at City Hall in New York City, U.S., October 24, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File photo
June 21 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Wednesday struck down a Florida rule and a statute that banned state Medicaid payments for transgender healthcare, marking the second defeat in two weeks for anti-transgender legislation in the state.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle declared the state’s practices invalid, saying they violated the constitutional right to equal protection under the 14th amendment in addition to violating the federal Medicaid statue and the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition of sex discrimination.
The injunction was expected after Hinkle on June 6 partially blocked Florida from enforcing its recent ban on people under 18 receiving gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
U.S. district court judges elsewhere have blocked state laws banning gender-affirming care in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana and Oklahoma.
Republican lawmakers introduced more than 500 bills restricting LGBTQ rights this past legislative year, passing more than 70, according to Human Rights Campaign. Twenty states have passed laws banning gender-affirming care for minors.
Sponsors of the laws say they want to protect children who are being misled by parents and doctors and might regret their gender transition.
Hinkle in his 54-page ruling said “many people with this view tend to disapprove all things transgender and so oppose medical care that supports a person’s transgender existence.”
“The elephant in the room should be noted at the outset. Gender identity is real. The record makes this clear,” the judge wrote after a two-week trial.
The plaintiffs were two transgender adults, August Dekker and Brit Rothstein, and two transgender minors who filed under pseudonyms.
The defendants were the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and its secretary, Jason Weida, who did not respond to an after-hours request for comment.
The AHCA had approved Medicaid payments for the plaintiffs, but in 2022 the executive office of Governor Ron DeSantis ordered the AHCA to conduct a new analysis and reversed course. The AHCA “retained only consultants known in advance for their staunch opposition to gender-affirming care,” the judge found.
“The new … process was, from the outset, a biased effort to justify a predetermined outcome, not a fair analysis of the evidence,” the judge said.
DeSantis is running for the Republican nomination for president and has promoted his record of aggressively fighting progressive policies, including LGBTQ rights.
Scottie's Playtime 