The goal here is to keep pushing the idea that there is no one born with a gender identity different from what the doctor might see when he holds you up after birth. No one, just as no one is born gay or lesbian. It is a lifestyle choice of course, kids rebelling after being groomed / recruited by those other horrible people that chose that lifestyle. That means keeping reinforcing it is child abuse to let your kids socially transition. It is child abuse to let boys grow long hair, to let girls cut their hair. It is child abuse to let a boy where a dress or skirt. The horror of it all. You know what might fix it, make those trans boys kids marry an older straight man when they first display the idea of being a boy. 8 maybe, 10, definitely by 12. Get them pregnant will show them they are not a boy.
If you are someone that believes any of the above you are wrong, you are a bigot, you are drastically misinformed / uninformed. You are holding on to ideas that were debunked decades ago. This is about reinforcing Christian church doctrines / ideas into laws, schools, and forcing everyone to live by them. This is about errasing the LGBTQIA from society and vilifying them by making them the horrible boogieman that kids should be terrified of. Remember the 1950s school films telling boys to beware the homosexual who was always out to snatch them, take them somewhere, then raping them making them homosexuals also, a future danger to other boys. Boys Beware: This 1955 educational film warns against “the dangers of homosexuality,” which is described as “a sickness of the mind.” The ten minute video was produced by the Unified School District and the Police Department of Inglewood, California. That is the world these people love, that they think is real and wants to force the country to return to. Often they cloak it in god says, but it really is about their own comfort, their own feelings, their own hates and bigotry. Hugs. Scottie
There is a video I tried every way I can think of to embed in the post. It won’t show up so I am going to take it out and just put up the link there in its spot. Hugs. Scottie
Gov. Greg Abbott said those who fail to report instances of minors receiving gender-affirming medical care could face “criminal penalties.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks during a press conference in the Permian Basin, in Midland, Texas, on Feb. 1, 2022.Eli Hartman / Odessa American via AP file
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is calling on “licensed professionals” and “members of the general public” to report the parents of transgender minors to state authorities if it appears the minors are receiving gender-affirming medical care.
The directive was part of a letter Abbott, a Republican, sent Tuesday to the Department of Family and Protective Services, calling on it to “conduct a prompt and thorough investigation” of any reported instances of minors undergoing “elective procedures for gender transitioning.”
Abbott’s letter follows an opinion released Monday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which stated that allowing minors to receive transition care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery is child abuse under state law.
Paxton issued the opinion after the Legislature failed last year to pass a bill that would have made it a felony alongside physical and sexual abuse to provide such care to minors. An opinion is an interpretation of existing law; it does not change the law itself but can affect how it is enforced.
In Tuesday’s letter, Abbott tasked licensed professionals who work with children — including teachers, nurses and doctors — and “members of the general public” with reporting such claims. He added that state law “provides criminal penalties for failure to report such child abuse.”
Advocates allege that both Paxton’s opinion and Abbott’s letter are politically motivated, noting that they were released just ahead of the March 1 Republican primary and that both men face a crowded field of contenders in their re-election bids.
Adri Pèrez, policy and advocacy strategist for LGBTQ equality at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said Paxton is trying to distract from the problems plaguing his campaign. He is awaiting trial for a 2015 indictment on charges of securities fraud, and he is under investigation by the FBI over allegations of bribery and abuse of office. Paxton’s office did not return a request for comment.
“There’s no court in Texas or the entire country that has ever found that gender-affirming care can constitute child abuse,” Pèrez said.
Brian Klosterboer, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement that neither the opinion nor the letter have a legal effect and “cannot change Texas law nor usurp the constitutional rights of Texas families.”
“But they spread fear and misinformation and could spur false reporting of child abuse at a time when DFPS is already facing a crisis in our state’s foster care system,” Klosterboer stated. “The law is clear that parents, guardians, and doctors can provide transgender youth with treatment in accordance with prevailing standards of care. Any parent or guardian who loves and supports their child and is taking them to a licensed health care provider is not engaging in child abuse.”
It’s unclear whether Abbott and Paxton can force the Department of Family and Protective Services and other state agencies to investigate claims of child abuse against the parents of trans kids without passing legislation that changes the law.
At least one county-level official has said he will not enforce Abbott’s directive. Christian Menefee, the elected attorney who represents Department of Family and Protective Services in civil child abuse cases in Harris County, where Houston is, said in a statement that Paxton and Abbott “are ignoring medical professionals and intentionally misrepresenting the law to the detriment of transgender children and their families.”
“My office will not participate in these bad faith political games,” he said. “As the lawyers handling these cases, we owe a duty of candor to the courts about what the law really says. We’ll continue to follow the laws on the books — not General Paxton’s politically motivated and legally incorrect ‘opinion.’”
Over the last year, nearly two dozen states considered legislation that would bar access to some or all gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. Some states, including Texas, considered bills that would’ve charged parents or doctors who provide transition care with a felony. Only two states — Arkansas and Tennessee — have enacted restrictions on such care for minors, and a federal judge blocked Arkansas’ law from taking effect in July.
“Conservative officials in Texas and other states across the country should stop inserting themselves into health care decisions that create needless tension between pediatricians and their patients,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the deputy principal press secretary for the White House, told the paper. “No parent should face the agony of a politician standing in the way of accessing life-saving care for their child.”
Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health and the first openly transgender Senate-confirmed federal official, added that the Department of Health and Human Services “stands with transgender youth and their medical providers.”
“Our nation’s leading pediatricians support evidence-based, gender affirming care for transgender young people,” she said.
Supporters of restrictions on gender-affirming care argue that minors cannot consent to care that includes permanent changes to their bodies. Advocates note that all relevant major medical organizations — including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association — say that gender-affirming care is medically necessary for transgender youth and is backed by decades of research.
The Endocrine Society, an international medical organization for the field of endocrinology, which includes the study of hormones, said in a statement Wednesday that Abbott’s directive “rejects evidence-based transgender medical care.”
“Medical evidence, not politics, should inform treatment decisions,” the group said in a statement. “The governor’s directive reflects widespread misinformation about gender-affirming care. When young children experience feelings that their gender identity does not match the sex recorded at birth, the first course of action is to support the child in exploring their gender identity and to provide mental health support, as needed.”
The Endocrine Society added that its clinical practice guideline recommends only reversible treatments for adolescents, such as puberty blockers, after they have entered puberty. Older adolescents “who demonstrate the ability to provide informed consent to partially irreversible treatment and experience persistent gender incongruence” can start hormone therapy. The guideline also recommends delaying surgery until the age of legal majority, which is 18 in most states.
If you do not recognize this it is from a Chick tract called The Last Generation. It was about what our side was supposedly going to do. It is always projection.
They are not going to stop because they know that there is no one to enforce the constitution. There is nothing the federal government can do and they know this and will act accordingly.
“Reports?” I assume /s? But seriously, circumcision is obviously elective surgery an infant can’t consent to. Gender affirming care (seldom surgery) is only done with consent and years of medical consultation.
So, if a 17 year old girl gets a boob job because it makes her feel better about her body, is that considered gender affirming care to Abbott and those like him? I’m betting he couldn’t articulate why that doesn’t count for him… not that he has to try with his base, of course.
In the past 10 years, we have relived a good chunk of the 20th century. We have experienced pre and post WW2. I have a much greater understanding of that time period now.
Thank you to Ten Bears for this very important video. This needs much more air time. Russia is an enemy of our country and a sizable part of the Republican Party is owned by Russia and the leader of that party is actively spouting Russian talking points while promoting Putin. Hugs. Scottie
This trash thinks he is both a Christian and worth to be a legislator. There is no Christian state! The US by the constitution can not have a state / national religion, and children who are not following their strict church doctrines are not filth. A 16 year old was beaten in a bathroom for being different! In the US. And this clown is proud of it. Is that what we want the US to be, to look like? I saw this and I was stunned at the absolute inhumanity of what he is saying. Hugs. Scottie
“We are a religious state and we are going to fight it to keep that filth out of the state of Oklahoma because we are a Christian state — we are a moral state. We want to lower taxes and let people be able to live and work and go to the faith they choose.
“We are a Republican state and I’m going to vote my district, and I’m going to vote my values, and we don’t want that in the state of Oklahoma.” GOP Oklahoma state Sen. Tom Woods, when asked about the death of nonbinary teen student Nex Benedict.
Listen to the applause below.
After a non-binary teen’s death, GOP lawmakers were asked why they obsessed over the lives of LGBTQ people.
State Sen. Tom Woods gave the worst possible answer: he wanted to “keep that filth out of the state of Oklahoma because we are a Christian state.”https://t.co/HrIOkhRVXA
There’s a lot to be disgusted by here, but do not overlook the fact that Christian nationalist language is being used to justify the death of a non-binary student — with absolute authority & confidence. ———
That “filth” was A CHILD !! To use one of their own parlances, “That was one of God’s children” of whose demise this cruel, evil, self-righteous & souless creature glories in.
White Nationalists absolutely believe that. I remember having a step dad who was a licensed Pastor who was one of them. Blacks and Jews were also singled out as Satan’s spawn and therefore hating and even killing them was seen as righteous.
Dehumanizing people makes it easy to be cruel to them.
So my take away here is in your/Oklahoma’s definition of”filth “ is non binary children . The sooner they commit suicide or die off the better Oklahoma will be. It’s so damming Christian of you . You heartless cold bigoted snot . How the fuck can you even look at yourself in a mirror. No I guess you type cast no image
Well, they already passed a law here in Oklahoma to take away the option for non binary people to change their birth certificate and they proposed a bill this legislative session to do the same for the rest of us.
Please understand I read this article, but I can not go back through and colorize it. I have nothing to say I have not screamed already. Please do notice this is being driven by Christian hate and bigotry. The groups pushing this are proud of it, that they are Christians. Are they? Read about Vinny Langworthy, a trans boy followed into bathrooms with people trying to take pictures of him under the bathroom stall doors. Tell me again who are the real sex perverts? I thought Christians leaders were for keeping families together, but here they have broken up families as one parent needs to take a trans child out of state leaving the other parent behind. Sorry people there is a lot in this article, and I have reached over load. I am trying desperately not to cry, I have been up all night not able to sleep and I seriously I just want all the hate to stop. Please, just for a few hours at least. Maybe I will watch more of the Picard series Ron got me, but then … See I had almost cleared two weeks of old tabs tonight, I rushed through others blogs I saved, I answered comments, I was going good. But the last few stories of hate and bigotry have finally broken me. Hugs. Scottie
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Nex Benedict died on February 8, one day after a fight in a Owasso High School bathroom in which they were beaten. (COURTESY OF THE BENEDICT FAMILY)
LGBTQ+ community members in the state are vowing resilience with a message that “we’re not going anywhere” after the 16-year-old nonbinary student’s death.
As news broke this week about the death of 16-year-old nonbinary student Nex Benedict, who died after a fight in a school bathroom, crisis calls to an Oklahoma LGBTQ+ support organization more than quadrupled — with 69 percent of callers referencing Benedict.
As parents, youth and the larger community grapple with the news, Lance Preston, the executive director of the Rainbow Youth Project, said he wants queer youth to know they are well-supported in the state.
“We have an entire army that is standing beside them,” Preston said. “People are not going to ignore them.”
Benedict died on February 8, one day after a fight in a Owasso High School bathroom in which they were beaten. It is unclear if the incident was hate motivated due to Benedict’s gender, but the youth had reported increasing anti-transgender bullying throughout the school year after Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed into law a bill requiring students to use a bathroom that aligned with their sex assigned at birth.
Owasso Public Schools said in a statement that school officials responded appropriately to the fight and have cooperated with the Owasso Police Department’s investigation into Benedict’s death. The district said that all of the students involved walked on their own to the assistant principal’s office and were medically evaluated, per school policy, by a nurse.
“While it was determined that ambulance service was not required, out of an abundance of caution, it was recommended to one parent that their student visit a medical facility for further examination,” the district said in its statement.
Owasso Police said Wednesday that a preliminary autopsy indicates Benedict didn’t die of trauma and that officials are waiting for the results of a toxicology report, which could take months.
The district declined to provide details about the disciplinary measures taken against students involved in the fight due to federal privacy laws. Benedict’s mother told The Independent that Owasso High School officials told her that her child would be suspended for two weeks for the physical altercation. She added that Benedict explained that the fight now linked to their death involved them and a transgender classmate against three girls, all older.
Preston said he has seen a shift in the parents of trans kids.
“It’s kind of been an awakening moment for them,” he said. “Whether they were supportive before, now they’ve kind of gone into that hyper-supportive mode to make sure that they’re doing everything right.”
One mom called Preston on Tuesday crying.
“She had misused a pronoun [with her transgender child] and corrected it immediately but was worried to death that that was going to be enough to harm her child.”
We send our children out into this world every day in fear of something like this happening.
Chelsea Richardson
Chelsea Richardson, whose transgender son Vinny Langworthy survived his own bathroom harassment in high school, made the decision to stay in Oklahoma and provide safe places for kids like her son by opening a bookstore.
Richardson was at her store, getting ready for her grand opening, when the alert about Benedict hit her phone. She felt her heart hit her stomach.
“We send our children out into this world every day in fear of something like this happening,” she said.
Langworthy was out as transgender for his entire time at Harding Charter Preparatory, about two hours southwest of Owasso. He socially and medically transitioned as he got older, and other students started to read him as male. One day, another student took a photo of his feet and legs from under a bathroom stall and posted it to Snapchat, he said. The photo was captioned with an anti-trans slur.
“It was definitely just a hard situation to navigate or always feel like you’re being watched,” Langworthy said.
No longer safe to use student bathrooms, Langworthy used the teachers’ bathrooms, a change that made him late for class or prevented him from using a bathroom at all. He started coming home with urinary tract infections.
Queer kids here are not safe in schools.
Vinny Langworthy
He graduated without a solution. Now 18, he said the news of Benedict and the alleged bullying they faced infuriated him.
“Students should be protected and taken care of no matter their gender identity,” he said. “Queer kids here are not safe in schools.”
Eridian Dempsey of Stand with Trans, which supports transgender youth and their families, said that bullied LGBTQ+ are often disciplined by schools rather than supported by them.
“That happens all the time,” said Dempsey, who is an intern with Stand with Trans, part of the organization’s Youth Advisory Board and its Therapy Assistance Program coordinator. “It’s essentially scapegoating the trans child even though they didn’t necessarily do anything and they were defending themselves if they even fought back. If they didn’t, why are they being blamed in the first place?”
It’s not clear if Benedict and their transgender classmate were in the bathroom together to offer protection to each other, but Dempsey recommends that trans students and their supporters take part in an effort called I’ll Go With You in which allies accompany trans youth into restrooms and other spaces where they may be concerned about their safety.
“They have buttons that people will wear to show that they’re willing to go to the bathroom to help keep trans individuals safe,” Dempsey said.
Although these efforts help, they don’t address why trans youth are targets of bullying and abuse in the first place. Dempsey said that state and local policies contribute to the problem.
“One hundred percent there’s no doubt about it that when the state says we are not OK with trans people living as who they are, then that tells the kids in the schools, ‘If you don’t feel OK with trans people, good for you,’” Dempsey said.
Benedict’s mother learned about the bullying the teen reportedly endured in early 2023, months after the governor signed a bill that mandated students to use only school bathrooms that correspond with their sex assigned at birth.
The bullying Benedict endured reportedly started in early 2023, shortly after Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill that mandated students to use only school bathrooms that correspond with their sex assigned at birth. (COURTESY OF THE BENEDICT FAMILY)
Rachel Laser, CEO and president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said in a statement that Stitt and Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters have contributed to the hostile climate against LGBTQ+ youth in the state through their efforts to integrate anti-trans laws and fundamentalist Christianity into public schools.
“Oklahoma approved the nation’s first religious public school, which will discriminate against LGBTQ+ students, and Walters appointed Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok, unqualified internet bully, to ban books and oversee school safety,” Laser said. “The hostile, Christian Nationalist environment Walters and Stitt have nurtured in Oklahoma public schools has created a permission structure for anti-LGBTQ+ persecution, and it’s no surprise that teens noticed.”
Cait Smith, director of LGBTQI+ policy at liberal think tank the Center for American Progress, said that when young trans people hear that lawmakers are debating their very existence in state governments, it is extremely harmful. They pointed out that last year more than 60 percent of anti-LBGTQ+ bills introduced into states nationwide specifically targeted youth.
“When we have anti-LGBT bills talking about what schools should and shouldn’t do, it takes away the ability of school staff and families to make those decisions among themselves, among the experts and folks that are closest to the schools and students,” Smith said. “Really, this should be up to families. It should be up to students in schools to be able to foster and find the right policies to foster safe and affirming environments at school.”
Nicole Pointdexter and her son said they were not in a position to stay and fight. The two fled the state for Colorado after Stitt signed a gender-affirming care ban for youth last May.
“They broke up my family,” she said. “I have two boys that still live in Oklahoma.”
Pointdexter and her ex-husband amicably co-parent their three children. In Oklahoma, Poindexter and her ex lived a five-minute walk from each other, and the kids traveled between houses. All of the adults, including the parents’ new partners, enjoyed family meals together. But the gender-affirming care ban made it impossible for Pointdexter’s trans son to stay in Oklahoma. Her ex-husband couldn’t leave his job. Her twin boys didn’t want to give up their spots on their baseball team.
“It was incredibly difficult to make that decision,” she said.
According to research from The Trevor Project, which works to prevent suicide among LGBTQ+ youth, 90 percent of LGBTQ+ youth in Oklahoma say that recent politics have negatively impacted their well-being sometimes or frequently. Forty-seven percent reported that they’ve been physically threatened or harmed because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Only 31 percent agreed that their school was an LGBTQ+-affirming space.
“Young people deserve to go to school without fearing for their safety, regardless of their identity,” said Janson Wu, senior director of state advocacy and government affairs at The Trevor Project. “We hope that leaders in Oklahoma and across the U.S. wake up to the reality that targeting trans and nonbinary youth has real and dire consequences.”
When trans youth and their families hear about tragedies like Benedict’s death, it escalates their anxiety by reinforcing the message that it’s not OK to be trans, Dempsey said. Parents worry that they can’t keep their trans children safe in hostile schools with a hostile political climate to match. Parents with bullied trans children need to document each incident carefully, including which school personnel they asked to intervene and the outcomes of their meetings with those officials, Dempsey recommended.
I want those people who are going to school today who might be scared to know that there are people fighting for them.
Chelsea Richardson
They also said that parents should try to openly communicate with their children on an ongoing basis because children may not bring up that they’re being bullied in a conversation unprompted.
Smith wants trans students who feel scared in the wake of Benedict’s death to know that they’re not alone.
“It is scary to see this happen to a member of your community,” they said. “We are going to keep fighting. We’re going to keep pushing back against harmful policies. In the meantime, I want those people who are going to school today who might be scared to know that there are people fighting for them.”
Richardson wants them to know that, too. She has already received threats because she plans on opening a welcoming book store. She isn’t scared.
“I’ve never liked a bully, and I’ve never backed down from a bully,” she said. “So I’m kind of like … let’s do this. We’re not going anywhere. You’re not gonna bully us out of this state.”
Texas is building a new military base for National Guard members deployed to the southern border in Eagle Pass, Texas — where state and federal authorities have been in a tense conflict over dealing with immigration — Gov. Greg Abbott said.
At a news conference on Friday, Abbott announced the construction of what he said would a new “base camp” that could house up to 2,300 soldiers.
“As opposed to being scattered around many different places across this region, they will be operating out of one place. It will amass a large army in a very strategic area. It will increase the speed and flexibility of the Texas National Guard to be able to respond to crossings,” Abbott said.
Officials expect that by mid-April they’ll have a 300-bed capacity and will add another 300 each month until completion, Texas Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer, Abbott’s top military adviser, said at the Friday press conference. The camp will include several features like large dining halls, individual rooms for soldiers and medical care facilities.
The move may also deepen the tension between the state and federal governments as Abbott continues to implement his own strategies to deter migrants from crossing in between ports of entry at the southern border.
Members of Texas National Guard sit inside the fence at Shelby Park on February 3, 2024 in Eagle Pass, Texas.
It has been the epicenter of state and federal government showdown as Abbott continues to restrict Border Patrol’s access to the area, preventing them from apprehending migrants crossing in one of the region’s major hotspots.
The Biden administration has sued the state of Texas over a law that would give new authority to local police to crack down on those suspected of entering the country illegally.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court intervened in the state-federal dispute and issued an order allowing federal authorities to cut down the razor wire installed by Texas in areas where it was otherwise difficult to help migrants in distress.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has been critical of the Texas governor, calling Abbott’s unilateral actions on the border “unconscionable.”
Greg Abbott, governor of Texas, during a news conference at Shelby Park along the Rio Grande River i…Show more
Sergio Flores/Bloomberg via Getty Images
“It is unconscionable for a public official, to deliberately refuse to communicate, coordinate, collaborate with other public officials in the service of our nation’s interests, and to refuse to do so with the hope of creating disorder for others,” Mayorkas said in a recent interview with the Associated Press.
At the Friday press conference, Texas Maj. Gen. Suelzer said that in the coming weeks the Texas National Guard will be expanding operations and installing new barriers north and south of Eagle Pass, an indication that the state continues to build barriers despite the Supreme Court ruling last month that Border Patrol agents are allowed to remove or destroy razor wire fencing to apprehend migrants attempting to enter the United States. Suelzer did not specify if the expansion of those efforts means they will also restrict access to federal agents in those areas.
Without providing any evidence, Abbott claimed his efforts at Shelby Park and in other parts of the border are responsible for the number of crossings in the area dropping in recent weeks and increasing in Arizona and other parts of the border. The state’s operations at Shelby Park cover roughly 1% of the entire southern border. But the governor did acknowledge that the number of migrant encounters in the region might once again climb in the coming months.
“As we all know, come springtime, there’s going to be additional caravans that are making their way through the southern and central part of Mexico deciding where they are going to be going,” Abbott said. “We want to make sure that when they come to the crossroad about, ‘Are they going to go to Texas? Are they going to go elsewhere?’ They will know the wrong place to go is the state of Texas.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) floats building a wall between Texas and Oklahoma because of the "radical woke left agenda … crisscrossing the United States." pic.twitter.com/i9vbjiZ55B
First thought from the headline: The American Nazi Party is already testing the waters with interstate travel restrictions for women and LGBT+ people, going so far as to legislate the presumption of guilt on the part of those making travel arrangements… The Federalist Society Inquisition has so far been somewhere between ignoring it and nodding their approval. So it only makes sense they’d try and enforce a ban on interstate travel with physical barriers and goon squads.
However, per the text of the article: Putting all his private army thugs in one place right next to where he wants to start a fight with the federal government… I can only say fucking go for it! The US air force will no doubt program the coordinates into their missiles in order to knock it all off the moment shots are fired.
A 16-year-old non-binary student in Oklahoma named Nex Benedict died following a physical altercation they had in a school bathroom with three students that bullied them since 2023. Libs of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik is now being accused of sharing indirect responsibility for the hate crime for the fact that she helped cultivate a toxic climate of anti-LGBTQ+ hate at the school by targeting one of the school’s pro-LGBTQ+ teachers that lead to a “scandal” that rocked the small town. We’ll break down the details in this video.
Scottie's Playtime 