Category: Courts / Laws / legal

New Hampshire bill would ban gender-affirming care for minors & many adults

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/12/new-hampshire-bill-ban-gender-affirming-care-minors-many-adults/

This bill is the 3rd one in a week in the state.  This one wont pass, but by constantly pushing them the republicans are making it much more likely they will get bans past.   This is about eliminating trans people.  Stop kids from transitioning then restrict medical access for adults until the ability to live openly as the gender you really are is impossible.   It is a short article but it shows the true goal is the same as the don’t say gay laws in Florida, to eliminate gay or trans kids from schools and promote hatred against the LGBTQI+.  The right and the Christian nationalist are making it clear what they want, all advances in society rolled back.  The improvements in social understanding they want undone, gone.   Hugs

“We have been saying a slow moving genocide targeted at eliminating transgender people through eliminating gender affirming care is happening.”
 
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A doctor writing with a teen patient and another patient. Maybe the dishy doctor is writing a prescription for puberty blockers, as described in the article? It's a mystery... well, less a mystery and more like it's a stock photo
Photo: Shutterstock

New Hampshire Republicans have proposed a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for both minors and young adults.

Activist Erin Reed pointed out on Twitter that the bill, LSR0071,  is the third proposed in a week that targets trans adults along with youth.

“They will continue to raise the age until states ban transition entirely,” Reed wrote.

“We have been saying a slow moving genocide targeted at eliminating transgender people through eliminating gender affirming care is happening,” she added. “It continues.”

Some commenters noted their belief that the bill is unlikely to pass, but that it is nonetheless horrific it was even proposed.

The bill’s title seems to define gender-affirming care as a type of conversion therapy, which is banned in New Hampshire. It states that the bill seeks to prohibit “gender transition procedures for minors and young adults, relative to sex and gender in public schools, and relative to the definition of conversion therapy.”

The harmful and widely condemned practice of conversion therapy – in which so-called therapists try to force LGBTQ+ people into being straight and cisgender – is the exact opposite of gender-affirming care, which affirms people’s identities.

This week, South Carolina also introduced two bills targeting gender-affirming care for trans youth and young adults.

The bills seek to ban gender-affirming care for anyone under age 21 and make it more challenging to obtain for those over 21.

“South Carolina’s anti-trans legislation goes extremely far,” wrote Reed on her blog, “and South Carolina is now high on my list of states that could join the ‘worst of the worst’ deep red states on my transgender legislative risk map.”

 

Judge orders “The Church at Planned Parenthood” to pay $110,000 in damages

https://onlysky.media/hemant-mehta/judge-orders-the-church-at-planned-parenthood-to-pay-110000-in-damages/

I like How Hemant Mehta put it.  This was always about people using Christianity as an excuse to prevent others from receiving health care. It’s religious cruelty.   Hugs

The anti-abortion church spent years interfering with the health and safety of Planned Parenthood’s clients
Avatar photoby HEMANT MEHTA
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Judge orders "The Church at Planned Parenthood" to pay $110,000 in damages | The Planned Parenthood in Spokane, Washington
The Planned Parenthood in Spokane, Washington (screenshot via YouTube)
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Ajudge in Spokane County, Washington ruled on Friday that “The Church at Planned Parenthood” (TCAPP) violated the law when it blocked patient care outside a clinic, and the Christian group will now have to pay $110,000 in damages to the abortion providers.

So that plan backfired on the right-wing extremists.

For years now, members of Covenant Church in Spokane protested outside Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho. While protests are legal, this one was intended to block people from using the clinic’s services through intimidation. They used speakers to loudly denounce abortion even though state law prohibits excessive noise and intrusion at health care facilities. They got right up outside the doors of the clinic.

This wasn’t a constitutionally protected form of debating ideological differences; this was harassment, plain and simple.

In September of 2020, Spokane Superior Court Judge Raymond Clary put a temporary stop to it. His preliminary injunction required TCAPP to stand at least 35 feet from the building and begin their “gatherings” at least an hour after 6:00 p.m. when the clinic stopped accepting new patients for the day. Clary added that TCAPP couldn’t block the entrance, trespass on the clinic’s property, or “unreasonably [disturb] the peace” with their noise.

One problem with that injunction? It only applied to the people named in the lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood: the leaders of TCAPP. That meant members of the “church” were allowed to continue their harassment as before, since cops “were hesitant to enforce the injunction against anybody not named in the lawsuit.”

A year later, thankfully, that preliminary injunction was made permanent—and broadened. Superior Court Judge Timothy B. Fennessy permanently banned TCAPP from harassing patients and included TCAPP members as well as its leaders. Fennessy plugged up those loopholes.

Not surprisingly, not being allowed to invade a health care facility infuriated TCAPP leaders like founder and director Ken Peters, who described the ruling—and the judge—as “leftist”, “typical” of the state, and “unconstitutional.” (He didn’t bother explaining what in the ruling was illegal). In fact, Peters responded to the ban by resorting to threats:

“That’s going to stir up Christians, patriots, constitutionalists, Trump supporters. We’re already getting super-backed into a corner and ticked off,” Peters said. “It’s only going to stir us up more, and it’s only going to make us more aggressive and make us grow our movement.”

Nothing screams “We’re true patriots” like hearing people who violate the Constitution insisting that it won’t stop them from getting even worse…

At the time, Peters said he’d “get some more legal advice” and “pray about it” before pursuing a course of action. He also said he didn’t plan on defying the order. But the question remained: How much would the Christian extremists have to pay for violating the law all those times they protested outside the facility?

Now we have an answer: The Church at Planned Parenthood will have to pay $110,000 in damages for interfering with patient care.

The judge said TCAPP’s actions created an increased risk of hypertension, increased pain, and a variety of psychiatric symptoms for Planned Parenthood patients.

TCAPP repeatedly violated Washington state law by “willfully or recklessly disrupt[ing] the normal functioning of a health care facility” by, among other things, “making noise that unreasonably disturbs the peace within the facility.”

Ken Peters admitted the loss but acted like his group hadn’t done anything wrong:

They didn’t obey the law. This wasn’t peaceful assembly. And he clearly has no remorse because he says he’d “do it again.” All I’m taking away from his reaction is that the penalty wasn’t substantial enough.

You can bet the group will just resort to the typical “persecution” playbook. But this was never about their faith. This was always about people using Christianity as an excuse to prevent others from receiving health care. It’s religious cruelty. The group deserves every bit of that fine and then some.