U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert will probably try to spin her latest embarrassing incident as a culture-war victory against the “elitist” liberals.
The framing is easy: Those snobby stiffs in Denver don’t know how to cut loose and have a good time if they can’t tolerate someone having a little fun at a live performance described as a “lusty riot” in The Denver Post. Oh, and clearly Boebert was targeted for being a Republican by patrons who complained about her behavior, right?
But the true arc running through the many Boebert scandals — whether they are performative or genuine – is her astounding sense of entitlement. The tired trope of politicians throwing their titles around to excuse bad behavior is ironically true of Boebert, who took office claiming to be an outsider who was just an everyday Coloradan trying to raise her family in God’s Country.
Boebert didn’t care if she ruined the musical “Beetlejuice” playing at the Buell Theatre for anyone else, and she certainly didn’t care if the pregnant woman sitting behind her had to breathe her second-hand smoke from a vape pen. Boebert denies that she was vaping, although she did admit to taking photos of the live performance.
The woman sitting directly behind Boebert shared her story with The Post on the condition of anonymity out of fear that there would be backlash from the congresswoman and her supporters. She provided me with the receipt for her tickets and a photo from the event that shows Boebert seated in front of her.
The woman described the evening as surreal. She didn’t even recognize Boebert as Colorado’s congresswoman who represents the Western Slope and southern Colorado.
“These people in front of us were outrageous. I’ve never seen anyone act like that before,” the woman, who lives in Denver and is in her 30s, said. It wasn’t until later during the play that someone informed her that the misbehaving theatergoer was, in fact, Boebert, a member of Congress.
The woman says Boebert took multiple long videos during the first half of the performance. When she asked Boebert to stop vaping, the congresswoman simply said “no,” the woman said. Boebert was also kissing the man she was with, and singing along loudly with her hands in the air, the woman said.
“At intermission, I asked, ‘Are there any other seats available? Can we sit somewhere else?’” the woman said. “The usher said, ‘You’re not the first complaint we had.’ ”
When the woman returned with her husband to their seats, she said Boebert called her a “sad and miserable person.”
“The guy she was with offered to buy me and my husband cocktails. I’m pregnant!” she said.
But the behavior continued, with Boebert using her phone to record several segments of the second half of the show.
The rest of the story is captured on surveillance video showing Boebert and an unidentified man getting ushered out of the Buell as the performance is going on.
Boebert’s staff issued a tongue-in-cheek statement about the ordeal: “I can confirm the stunning and salacious rumors: in her personal time, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is indeed a supporter of the performing arts (gasp!) and, to the dismay of a select few, enthusiastically enjoyed a weekend performance of ‘Beetlejuice.’ ”
A report from the staff of Denver Arts & Venues says three people complained at intermission and included this tidbit about what Boebert said as she left the building: “stuff like ‘do you know who I am,’ ‘I am on the board’ (and) ‘I will be contacting the mayor.’ ”
Boebert is not on the board of Denver’s Center for the Performing Arts and if she were, I doubt she would support the DCPA’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. I’m more than a little skeptical that Denver’s new mayor would call in a favor for a family member acting so rudely at a play, let alone Boebert.
Boebert’s behavior is what voters would expect from a power-hungry politician, convinced that their own self-worth puts their needs and desires above others. It’s a caricature, but hardly anyone from Congress behaves that way — even though there’s ample evidence of some of vanity and conceit — because the public backlash is so great.
It’s a pattern of behavior from Boebert who doesn’t seem to think rules and laws apply to her.
Whether it’s health and safety rules in her now-closed restaurant in Rifle, refusing to show up to court dates, and other dramas unfolding with her family and friends in Garfield County, there is no question that Boebert, whose ex-husband made nearly a million dollars in two years as an oil and gas consultant before Boebert filed for divorce this year, considers herself beyond reproach.
The pattern is so familiar that perhaps the most shocking part of this story is that Boebert supports the performing arts.
As for the performance, our source tells me: “It was so wonderful. I wish I would have been able to enjoy the first half as much… ”
I thought I had posted this, but I can’t find it and I hurt so badly both emotionally and physically, I am just going to do it again. This guy is a complete scammer. His whole graft before he was hired to be a shield for DeathSantis was to hock ivermectin as a cure for covid via over the internet consultation, where he charged hundreds of dollars before giving the prescription. He was part of the “Front Line Doctors” group run by the woman that claimed that diseases were caused by demon seed, meaning demon sperm, being put in people. This guy was hired by DeathSantis to back up his anti-mask anti-vaccine screed but then DeathSantis insisted a major state run university also hire him making his yearly salary almost $600,000 a year. So it is no wonder he is willing to parrot and claim any political thing DeathSantis wants. And just to be clear, Florida had more deaths from Covid by far than states that did push masking and vaccines, but DeathSantis did not care how many people died, he wanted the state to have tourist revenue.
To be clear, this jerk is one that Tildeb used to claim that gender affirming care for youth is harmful. And others believe and follow Tildeb as if he is a sincere truth telling person. In fact, he is a lying anti-trans bigot that misinforms and spreads lies about trans people and gender affirming medical care. I have no tolerance for such people because they cause harm to both kids and adults that identify as a different gender / sex than assigned at birth. Such people deny advances in medical science and want the world to return to a past when this issue was not discussed or addressed medically. Hugs
While speaking at a Thursday news conference for Gov. Ron DeSantis in Jacksonville, Florida, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, that state’s surgeon general, advised people to steer clear of the updated booster vaccine for COVID-19. “There’s a new vaccine that’s coming around the corner, a new mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, and there’s essentially no evidence for it,” Ladapo said during the news conference, according to local news outlets.
“There’s been no clinical trial done in human beings showing that it benefits people” he said. “There’s been no clinical trial showing that it is a safe product for people — and not only that, but then there are a lot of red flags.” Ladapo warned that the updated vaccines “actually cause cardiac injury in many people.” He l urged Floridians to make their own decisions based on their particular “resonance of truth,” rather than on “very educated people telling you what you should think.”
I hope there’s an enormous class-action lawsuit against him and DeSantis sometime in the future, brought by the relatives of people who should have gotten the booster but didn’t, because this asshole said “Don’t listen to subject matter experts.”
He urged Floridians to make their own decisions based on their particular “resonance of truth,” rather than on “very educated people telling you what you should think.”
Or you could listen to the ravings of a complete lunatic liar
Advising the public to adopt harmful behaviour based on zero scientific evidence. In other words, a charlatan. Should be arrested and jailed for public endangerment.
They will not stop, they believe they are on a moral crusade for their god. Even though the bible they are said to worship supports abortion and clearly claims that a child doesn’t have a soul until it draws breath. But hey why read the book when you can listen to preachers and right wing politicians shout at you that it is murder to abort a fetus even if it will kill the person it is using as a host to grow. The march by the Christian nationalist minority is in full swing and rushing forward at double time to take over the country for their god. Making the US a theocracy where church doctrine is supported by morality police / vice squads. A Christian Taliban of gang thugs like the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and other white supremacist thugs. They intend to do to the rights of the LGBTQIA to exist publicly in society and get the medical treatment they need, as they are doing to the rights of pregnant people of their own medical decisions or control over their own bodies. These people see the fictional story / TV series The Handmaidens Tale as a guild, not a warning. Hugs
A new ordinance, passed in several jurisdictions and under consideration elsewhere, aims to stop people from using local roads to drive someone out of state for an abortion
A crowd spills into a hallway during a city council meeting in Llano, Tex., when members voted on whether to further limit abortion access. (Christopher Lee/for The Washington Post)
LLANO, Tex. — No one could remember the last time so many people packed into City Hall.
As the meeting began on a late August evening, residents spilled out into the hallway, the brim of one cowboy hat kissing the next, each person jostling for a look at the five city council members who would decide whether to make Llano the third city in Texas to outlaw what some antiabortion activists call “abortion trafficking.”
For well over an hour, the people of Llano — a town of about 3,400 deep in Texas Hill Country — approached the podium to speak out against abortion. While the procedure was now illegal across Texas, people were still driving women on Llano roads to reach abortion clinics in other states, the residents had been told. They said their city had a responsibility to “fight the murders.”
The cheers after each speech grew louder as the crowd readied for the vote. Then one woman on the council spoke up.
“I feel like there’s a lot more to discuss about this,” said Laura Almond, a staunch conservative who owns a consignment shop in the middle of town. “I have a ton of questions.”
Council member Laura Almond questions the proposed ordinance and recommends it be tabled due to the vague and potentially far-reaching language. (Christopher Lee for The Washington Post)
More than a year after Roe v. Wade was overturned, many conservatives have grown frustrated by the number of people able to circumvent antiabortion laws — with some advocates grasping for even stricter measures they hope will fully eradicate abortion nationwide.
That frustration is driving a new strategy in heavily conservative cities and counties across Texas. Designed by the architects of the state’s “heartbeat” ban that took effect months before Roe fell, ordinances like the one proposed in Llano — where some 80 percent of voters in the county backed President Donald Trump in 2020 — make it illegal to transport anyone to get an abortion on roads within the city or county limits. The laws allow any private citizen to sue a person or organization they suspect of violating the ordinance.
Antiabortion advocates behind the measure are targeting regions along interstates and in areas with airports,with the goal of blocking off the main arteries out of Texas and keeping pregnant women hemmed within the confines of their antiabortion state. These provisions have already passed in two counties and two cities, creating legal risk for those traveling on major highways including Interstate 20 and Route 84, which head toward New Mexico, where abortion remains legal and new clinics have opened to accommodate Texas women. Several more jurisdictions are expected to vote on the measure in the coming weeks.
“This really is building a wall to stop abortion trafficking,” said Mark Lee Dickson, the antiabortion activist behind the effort.
Texas counties and highways targeted by antiabortion ordinances
A new wave of proposals would make it illegal for anyone to use certain roads to drive someone out of state for an abortion.
Conservative lawmakers started exploring ways to block interstate abortion travel long before Roe was overturned. A Missouri legislator introduced a law in early 2022 that would have allowed any private citizen to sue anyone who helped a Missouri resident secure an abortion, regardless of where the abortion occurred — an approach later discussed at length by several national antiabortion groups. In April, Idaho became the first state to impose criminal penalties on anyone who helps a minor leave the state for an abortion without parental consent.
But even in the most conservative corners of Texas, efforts to crack down on abortion travel are meeting some resistance — with some local officials, even those deeply supportive of Texas’s strict abortion laws, expressing concern that the “trafficking” efforts go too far and could harm their communities.
The pushback reflects a new point of tension in the post-Roe debate among antiabortion advocates over how aggressively to restrict the procedure, with some Republicans in other states fearing a backlash from voters who support abortion rights. In small-town Texas, the concerns are more practical than political.
Two weeks before the Llano vote, lawmakers in Chandler, Tex., held off passing the ordinance, citing concerns about legal ramifications for the town and how the measure might conflict with existing Texas laws.
“I believe we’re making a mistake if we do this,” said Chandler council member Janeice Lunsford, minutes before she and her colleagues agreed to push the vote to another time. She later told The Washington Post that she felt the state’s abortion ban already did enough to stop abortions in Texas.
Then came the Llano City Council meeting on Aug. 21. Speaking to the crowd, Almond was careful to emphasize her antiabortion beliefs.
“I hate abortion,” she said. “I’m a Jesus lover like all of you in here.”
Still, she said, she couldn’t help thinking about the time in college when she picked up a friend from an abortion clinic — and how someone might have tried to punish her under this law.
“It’s overreaching,” she said. “We’re talking about people here.”
***
A Confederate statue sits in the middle of Llano, Tex., a town of about 3,400 deep in Texas Hill Country. (Christopher Lee for The Washington Post)
About a month earlier, Dickson had arrived in Llano with an urgent warning.
A “baby murdering cartel” was coming for the pregnant women of Central Texas, he recalled telling a group of about 25 Llano citizens in the town library, wearing his signature black blazer and backward baseball cap.
“By trains, planes and automobiles, I say we end abortion trafficking in the state of Texas,” he said.
Dickson brought along a laminated map of his state, black and red Sharpie marking each of the 51 jurisdictions across Texas that had passed ordinances to become what he calls a “sanctuary city for the unborn.”
He hoped Llano would be next.
A director of Right to Life of East Texas, Dickson joined forces with former Texas solicitor general Jonathan Mitchell in 2019, when abortion was still legal in Texas until 22 weeks of pregnancy. Together, the men set out to ban abortion city by city, focusing on conservative strongholds. The Texas ordinances relied on the novel enforcement mechanism that empowers private citizens to sue, creating the model for the statewide “heartbeat ban” that took effect exactly two years ago, on Sept. 1, 2021.
Since Roe fell, triggering a new ban that outlawed almost all abortions in Texas, Dickson and Mitchell have changed their strategy. Along with passing ordinances in conservative border towns in Democrat-led states, where abortion providers may look to open new clinics, the team has zeroed in on those helping women leave Texas for abortions — a practice they call “abortion trafficking.”
Mark Lee Dickson hosts a luncheon with local activists and pastors in Llano, Tex. (Christopher Lee for The Washington Post)
Mark Lee Dickson displays a map of locations that have adopted the ordinance that he proposed, which makes it illegal to transport anyone to get an abortion on any road within the city or county limits. (Christopher Lee for The Washington Post)
By Dickson’s definition, “abortion trafficking” is the act of helping any pregnant woman cross state lines to end her pregnancy, lending her a ride, funding, or another form of support. While the term “trafficking” typically refers to people who are forced, tricked or coerced, Dickson’s definition applies to all people seeking abortions — because, he argues, “the unborn child is always taken against their will.”
The law — which has the public backing of 20 Texas state legislators — is designed to go after abortion funds, organizations that give financial assistance to people seeking abortions, as well as individuals. For example, Dickson said, a husband who doesn’t want his wife to get an abortion could threaten to sue the friend who offers to drive her. Under the ordinance, the woman seeking the abortion would be exempt from any punishment.
Abortion rights advocates say the ordinance effort is merely a ploy to scare people out of seeking the procedure. To date, no one has been sued under the existing “abortion trafficking” laws.
“The purpose of these laws is not to meaningfully enforce them,” said Neesha Davé, executive director of the Lilith Fund, an abortion fund based in Texas. “It’s the fear that’s the point. It’s the confusion that’s the point.”
While these restrictions appear to violate the U.S. Constitution — which protects a person’s right to travel — they are extremely difficult to challenge in court, said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California at Davis who focuses on abortion. Because the laws can be enforced by any private citizen, abortion rights groups have no clear government official to sue in a case seeking to block the law.
“Mitchell and Dickson are not necessarily conceding that what they’re doing is unconstitutional, but they’re making it very hard for anyone to do anything about it,” Ziegler said.
Mitchell declined to comment for this story.
Bonnie Wallace prays at a luncheon hosted by Mark Lee Dickson. (Christopher Lee for The Washington Post)
Local activists and pastors attend the luncheon in Llano, Tex. (Christopher Lee for The Washington Post)
Asked about the constitutionality of his ordinances, Dickson cites the Mann Act, a federal law from 1910 that makes it illegal to transport “any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.” If the Mann Act is constitutional, he says, so is this.
Llano was a particularly attractive target, Dickson said, because the town sits at the crossroads of several highways. Travelers driving west toward New Mexico from Austin, for example, would likely take Highway 29 or 71 — both of which pass through Llano.
Key roads out of Llano
A proposed ordinance would make it illegal for anyone to use certain roads to drive someone out of state for an abortion.
When Dickson first came to town to drum up interest for his ordinance, Councilwoman Almond was well aware of his endeavors. She’d seen his flier, advertising “the effort to protect Llano residents from abortion across state lines.” Then a friend reached out to ask if Almond and her husband would sit down with Dickson for a meeting.
“I’ve got a lot going on in my life,” Almond said she told her friend. “And right now, that’s just not where my energy is.”
Almond says she was thankful when Roe was overturned. A 57-year-old former elementary school teacher, she voted twice for Trump, and says she plans to vote for him again. Her friends call her a “pistol-packing mama.” Every time she gets a text message, her phone spits out the sound of two gunshots.
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But Almond — who wears flower earrings and glittery orange nail polish — is also known as a bit of a city council wild card. At her consignment store, “Possibilities,” she employs an eclectic staffwhose beliefs span the political spectrum. Her store manager is one of the only married, openly gay men in town — and if anyone has a problem with him, Almond says, they’d better hope she doesn’t hear about it.
Almond had Llano’s community of “cowboys and hippies” in mind when she chose her store’s slogan: “Where you meet awesome people and the possibilities are endless.”
Llano — just beyond the radius of Hill Country most trodden by Austin weekenders — is known as a deer and dove hunting destination, peppered with taxidermy studios and wild game processors. Every April, residents come together to cook roughly 25,000 pounds of crawfish for a festival that draws people from all across Texas.
For antiabortion activist Mark Lee Dickson, Llano was a particularly attractive target for his proposed ordinance because the town sits at the crossroads of several highways. (Christopher Lee for The Washington Post)
The town recently made national news as ground zero for another cultural flash point when its library removed several books from its shelves, including some that focused on sex, race and LGBTQ+ issues.
“People get along pretty well here until we have dividing issues like the library — and now this,” Almond said.
Since she heard about the proposed ordinance, Almond said, she’d been wondering whether Llano really needed to further restrict abortion. She worried the term “abortion trafficking” was confusing, creating the impression that many women were being forced to get abortions across state lines against their will.
“It sounds like more of a slave situation,” she said.
It was not clear if some of the proposed ordinance’s most ardent proponents in Llano understood what it would do, with several mischaracterizing the measure during interviews with The Post.
While the language of the draft ordinance explicitly states that it would apply to people transporting “any individual for the purpose of providing or obtaining an elective abortion,” the mayor, Marion Bishop, said the term “abortion trafficking” did not apply to women who were choosing to get abortions “on their own free volition.”
“It would be people who were either coerced or undecided, who found themselves loaded onto a van and headed somewhere,” Bishop said in an interview at the vodka distillery he owns downtown.
Pressed on the contradiction between his statement and the language of the proposal, Bishop acknowledged that what he originally said “may not be totally accurate.”
Still, he said, he continues to support the ordinance, which he views as largely symbolic.
“Is it absolutely necessary? No,” Bishop said. “Does it make a statement? Yes it does.”
The morning of the council meeting, Almond decided to cancel her plans so she could fully consider the implications of the ordinance that would outlaw “abortion trafficking” in her town.
She stillwasn’t totally surehow she would vote.
With seven hours to go before the meeting, she pulled out a printed copy of the 16-page proposal. Then she sat down at her kitchen table, pen in hand, and began to read.
***
Many Llano residents approached the podium at the city council meeting to speak out against abortion. (Christopher Lee for The Washington Post)
The meeting was packed, with people spilling into the hallway or taking a seat on the floor. (Christopher Lee for The Washington Post)
The whispers in the back of city hall grew louder as the crowd realized that Almond would not be voting as they had expected.
“Laura can’t do this by herself,” said an advocate for the ordinance, leaning over to the other people in her row. “She needs someone to second. There’s still a chance.”
Then the other woman on the council, Kara Gilliland, chimed in with her own hesitations.
“I’m not for abortions and that’s my personal belief,” Gilliland said. “But I cannot sit up here knowing that there are 3,400 other citizens in this town who don’t have the same belief necessarily as I do.”
Four of the five members of the Llano City Council voted to table the ordinance for another time.
“You can be mad at me if you want to,” Almond said to her town. “But I’ve got to sleep with myself at night.”
Mark Lee Dickson watches as a Llano resident who objects to the proposed ordinance speaks ahead of the vote. (Christopher Lee for The Washington Post)
Llano residents attend the city council meeting. (Christopher Lee for The Washington Post)
Combing through the ordinance that morning, Almond said in an interview, she scribbled furious notes in the margins, trying to identify every potential issue. She feared the law’s civil enforcement mechanism would turn members of the Llano community against each other. While she’d supported the implementation of the Texas “heartbeat ban,” which relied on the same provision, she said she hadn’t given much thought to how that could pit neighbor against neighbor.
Now it was her job to “peel the layers” — and she didn’t like where the law could lead.
As the city council moved on to other matters, Dickson ushered the angry crowd out to the porch.
The ordinance was tabled, he reminded his audience — not dead. The city would have another opportunity to consider the proposal as soon as early September.
“Is this the city council of Austin or is this the city council of conservative Llano?” Dickson said. “This is far from over. … Show up at their businesses with some signs.”
“I know where Laura works,” offered the wife of a local pastor.
Dickson recalled what happened in Odessa, a far larger city in West Texas that failed to advance an earlier version of a “sanctuary city” ordinance several years earlier. With help from antiabortion residents, he said to the group, some of the council members who opposed the measure were ultimately voted out of office.
“Now Odessa has a 6-1 majority that is in favor of this,” Dickson said.
Odessa passed the ordinance in December.
***
Mark Lee Dickson speaks with Llano residents after the city council meeting. (Christopher Lee for The Washington Post)
The next night, Dickson drove 40 minutes to Mason, Tex. to try to convince another small, conservative community to pass the same law.
More than 20 people gathered around plates of pizza and pasta at a restaurant that doubles as a gun store. In the window, next to a sign for “fresh oysters,” someone had painted the message, “Let’s go, Brandon,” an insult aimed at President Biden. On one wall of the restaurant is a confederate flag taller than Dickson; above the bar, a flag for “Trump 2020.”
Dickson chose this location for his next meeting, inviting local pastors and other antiabortion advocates in the area to hear a version of the same speech he delivered a month earlier in Llano.
“Guys, I don’t care if there’s only one person on your city council who wants to pass this,” Dickson said. “If you have a personal relationship with a council member, reach out.”
Mason residents smiled and nodded, digging through their purses for pens to write down Dickson’s email.
Less than 24 hours later, the “abortion trafficking” ordinance was added to the official agenda for the Mason board of county commissioners.
They would take up the matter at their next meeting.
Highway 71 passes through Llano and connects travelers driving west toward New Mexico. (Christopher Lee for The Washington Post)
Just to make sure everyone understands how the anti-trans hater bigots work, here is another debunking of Jamie Reed. Hugs
Missouri Independent | By Annelise Hanshaw
Published March 2, 2023 at 9:48 AM CST
Annelise Hanshaw
Missouri Independent
Casey Pick, Director of Law and Policy at The Trevor Project, speaks at a rally on the steps of the Missouri Capitol on Feb. 2, after testifying in two hearings. —————————————————————————————— The picture painted by whistleblower Jamie Reed of how patients were treated at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital doesn’t match Jess Jones’ experience.
Jones worked alongside Reed for two years as the center’s educational coordinator before resigning in 2020. The allegations of misconduct laid out by Reed — both on a national news website called The Free Press and in an affidavit with the Missouri attorney general’s office — simply don’t match the reality during the time they worked together, Jones said.
“I feel like I could go line by line to her affidavit,” Jones said, “and debunk it all.”
And Jones is not alone.
The Independent spoke with numerous former patients of the Transgender Center, as well as parents of former patients. Some were eager to share their story, inspired by the onslaught of attention the center has received since Reed’s affidavit caused three state agencies to launch an investigation into its practices.
Others asked not to be named out of fear of retribution and concern about laws pending in the Missouri legislature that would criminalize gender-affirming care for minors.
Each person interviewed described a far different experience than Reed about how the Transgender Center operates and how minors seeking care are treated. And they want the state’s investigation to hear their experiences.
Reed, who lives in St. Louis County, has alleged minors were rushed into medical procedures without taking into account mental health, and that side effects of treatments were hidden from parents.
Those who received treatment from the center say that’s not the case, and any treatments were only undertaken after long consultations with doctors and mental health professionals. Often, patients were told they needed to wait for years.
Several of those interviewed by The Independent also recounted their experiences with Reed — both good and bad.
“There were parents of trans kids who also raised some red flags around Jamie. So I really wish the center had listened to trans people,” Jones said. “We said: ‘This is a person who isn’t safe for us.’”
Reed’s attorney, Vernadette Broyles, said Wednesday that it is not surprising that the only patients speaking up are those who have had good experiences.
Broyles said those unhappy with their transition often feel pressure to stay quiet. She said she’s heard from many former patients nationwide who have come to regret their treatment.
“It does not surprise me that you would find someone in that honeymoon phase,” she said.
Jamie Reed
Chris Hyman, who has a transgender son, remembered Reed’s magnetic energy at the center. She felt like an ally.
After Reed’s story became public, Hyman tuned into The Free Press webinar and saw a change in Reed and was stunned at some of the answers she gave to a Free Press editor.
“When [lawmakers] do their job, what happens to the transgender center you used to work at?” Free Press journalist Emily Yoffe asked.
“I do not believe it can continue to function,” said Reed, who is married to a transgender man.
“You want it closed down,” Yoffe inquired.
“I believe it’s the only way to stop hurting more kids,” Reed said.
Susan Halla, who is the mother of a transgender young adult, also thought of Reed as an advocate. Halla is the president of TransParent, a group that supports the caregivers of transgender people. Hyman is the organization’s at-large chapter chair.
“We were just apoplectic where this all came from,” Halla said.
Broyles, who serves as president of public interest law firm Child & Parental Rights Campaign, said during the webinar that Reed had tried to institute change at the Transgender Center.
“After trying to make changes happen internally, [the center directors] were just not going to honor her concerns. She appropriately made a complaint to the right governing official, and under Missouri law that’s the attorney general,” Broyles said.
She said Reed sought sanctuary under the state’s Whistleblower’s Protection Act, which states workplaces can’t fire an employee that reports an “unlawful act” committed by the employer.
Another one of Broyles’ cases was a key anecdote as Florida considered a law that bans the discussion of gender identity or sexual identity in grades K-3. Broyles is representing a family that alleges their child’s school helped the student socially transition without the parents’ knowledge.
Reed’s other attorney is Ernie Trakas, a Republican member of the St. Louis County Council who is involved with the Child & Parental Rights Campaign.
Currently, the Missouri Attorney General’s office, the Department of Social Services and the Division of Professional Registration are investigating Reed’s allegations. U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley has requested records from the center. Some state lawmakers expressed interest in launching an investigation, but no substantial action has been taken on their proposal.
Speed of treatment
Annelise Hanshaw
Missouri Independent
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey speaks to the Missouri chapter of the Federalist Society on the Missouri House of Representatives floor on Jan. 20. He is currently overseeing an investigation into the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital ——————————————————————————– Reed’s affidavit to Attorney General Andrew Bailey alleges the Transgender Center quickly gave children hormones. The center “gave children puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones after just two one-hour visits (one with a therapist and one with a doctor at the Center),” she wrote in the affidavit.
Parents and former patients told The Independent it took months and multiple appointments before their transgender children received a puberty blocker or hormone treatment.
Rene and Kyle Freels called the Transgender Center in June of 2021 for their daughter. Reed answered the phone.
“What do you want from us?” Kyle Freels recalls Reed asking.
“I thought she had some sort of an agenda. Like the first time we called, she answered the phone. She was the opposite of helpful,” he said.
They didn’t know what treatment was recommended, and they were expecting more help on the other end of the line.
“For us, she was the ultimate gatekeeper. She was the ultimate person that kept our kid from getting an appointment and kept other kids from getting appointments at the center,” Rene Freels said.
They hung up confused and irritated but nonetheless determined to get medical care for their daughter. By August of 2021, their daughter had her first visit with a pediatric endocrinologist, a doctor specializing in hormones, at the center.
The doctor did not prescribe any hormones or puberty blockers and said he wanted their daughter to transition socially, meaning take on her new name and pronouns, prior to taking estrogen, the Freels said.
Their daughter did not have mental health conditions, like anxiety or depression, but attended therapy sessions and received a recommendation to receive hormone treatment.
The Freels returned for a second appointment with the endocrinologist a year later, and their daughter opted to get a puberty-blocking implant in November of 2022 — 17 months after coming out to her pediatrician.
Kyle Freels described the appointment as “so thorough.”
“There’s a lot of information,” Kyle Freels said. “He tells you the pros and cons of this method or that method.”
Lisa is the mother of a trans child who asked that her last name be withheld. She waited longer than the Freels family for her pre-teen son to receive a puberty blocker.
Her son had his first appointment at the Transgender Center in August 2019 but was too young for a puberty blocker. He had to wait three years.
He has had 21 visits with a psychologist and nine visits with an endocrinologist since the summer of 2019.
Joey, who also asked that his last name be withheld, started taking testosterone days before his seventeenth birthday and after nearly a year of therapy.
“Everything took a really really long time to get going,” he said.
The Transgender Center’s endocrinologist didn’t think he was ready for hormones after his first appointment because he wasn’t “out” yet at school, he said.
“Everything was so slow,” he said, later adding:. “Everything is so restricted and difficult for any kind of trans health care, particularly if you’re a minor.”
He opted to get “top surgery,” which removes breast tissue, a few weeks after he turned 18.
Reed alleges in her affidavit that the Transgender Center gives referrals for surgery to minors, but Jones said the center only provided patients with the names of surgeons that could provide the procedure.
“We did give out the information of surgeons,” Jones said, “but we never referred for surgery.”
Hyman’s son wanted top surgery but was immediately told “put that out of your mind until you’re 18,” she said.
Alison Maclean’s son was five or six months into his transition when she called the Transgender Center. Maclean was met with questions about her son’s social transition, like if his peers called him his name.
“I think they really gauge like where I think the clinic attempts to gauge where you’re at, kind of in your, in your journey with your child,” Maclean said.
Her son, now 12, does not receive any puberty blockers or hormones. He discusses with his Transgender Center doctor what may happen if he eventually takes testosterone, but Maclean said she and her son don’t feel pushed toward hormones.
The doctor told him he wouldn’t be old enough “for many years,” she said.
Mental Health
Jones said the center had one in-house psychiatrist but referred patients to other providers in the area and within St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
“It is true that many patients came in anxious and depressed, whether that was a diagnosis or just symptoms, but from my experience, that was alleviated with the start of gender affirming hormones,” Jones said.
Jones said Reed had a particular concern with patients’ ability to consent, alleging Reed wanted to make patients take an IQ test prior to accessing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.
Reed, speaking through her attorney to The Independent, didn’t directly address the IQ test accusation.
“She was always in favor of a full assessment being done and that full assessments should be done on every patient in accordance with the WPATH guidelines. So whatever was needed for any given patient, that was what she favored, as a general proposition,” Broyles said. “And that’s really as much as she feels comfortable saying at this point.”
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health sets standards of care for gender transition. In her affidavit, Reed said WPATH is considered an “activist organization.”
Danielle, who did not wish to share her last name, said her son walked into the center with depression at first. But that evaporated when he was able to be a boy.
“When [my child] came out as transgender, it was immediate, just the social transition results. Like he was not depressed anymore,” she said.
Maclean noticed her son becoming less like himself as the family moved and COVID-19 interrupted routines — and he also began puberty.
“He kind of withdrew and, like the light left him. He wasn’t depressed or suicidal or anything; he just was not himself,” she said.
The families noticed a positive difference after their child received gender-affirming care.
“We thought our kid was happy before, but after she came out and is living her true self, she’s so much happier,” Kyle Freels said. “You could tell the weight of the world was off her shoulders.”
“I would say I’ve only gotten benefits [from gender-affirming care],” Joey said. “It’s been awesome. And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Side effects
Parents said they felt like they had the Transgender Center’s doctors’ full attention to ask questions and review possible side effects of treatments. When they left, they had multiple handouts — some provided to The Independent that had been emailed from Reed herself.
“Not only do they give you a paper handout, they give you a whole slew of materials to look at,” Lisa said.
Maclean has been given handouts with testosterone side effects listed and warnings about things Reed alleges goes unaddressed by the Transgender Center, like vaginal atrophy.
“I think these little bits have been cherry picked from people who maybe didn’t pay attention,” Maclean said.
“We were not rushed into it,” Danielle said. “We were not uninformed. Everything that I’ve read in the affidavit, the opposite is true for us.”
A Transgender Center handout sent to The Independent by a parent and a former employee discloses possible side effects of testosterone. ———————————————————————————- Parents, patients and Jones told The Independent the center would send children on hormone or puberty-blocking medication to get lab work before every visit.
At first, patients review their hormone levels and look for side effects, like cholesterol levels, every three months. Then, they reduce frequency to every six months.
Lisa’s son gets regular labs run to test his hormone levels and check his health, and doctors check his bone scans to check his calcium and bone density.
All the families interviewed said they were advised to consider fertility options, like storing eggs or sperm, if treatment would inhibit future plans to have children.
An April 2020 study by the Mayo Clinic notes that there is little research on fertility outcomes for transgender people but that fertility preservation is an option even after beginning hormones.
Parental consent
Reed alleges the center bullied parents into agreeing to their kids’ medical treatment.
“A common tactic was for doctors to tell the parent of a child assigned female at birth, ‘You can either have a living son or a dead daughter,’” she wrote in her affidavit.
The evening the affidavit became public, she told The Free Press subscribers it was only one doctor that said that, a doctor that no longer works at the center.
Jones said the center did not coerce consent.
“We were very adamant in my time working there that all guardians had to consent, and they needed to be present and receive informed consent around treatment,” Jones said.
Jones said physicians presented research that showed a lower rate of suicide with gender-affirming care as they explained the benefits and side-effects of hormones.
Divorced parents told The Independent the center contacted both parents prior to proceeding with treatment, including meeting via video chat for an out-of-state ex-husband.
“They made it very clear that until, until the other parent was in full agreement, they could not move forward if and when one of the parents wanted to move forward,” Lisa said.
Families addressed other sections of the affidavit, sharing concern for the investigation ahead of state agencies.
“If you go to a cardiologist and they give you bad drugs or whatever and you have a heart attack, you don’t shut down the office; there’s a medical malpractice suit,” Kyle Freels said. “These politicians are like, ‘Hey, one, two or three clients had adverse effects, just like any other doctor would have,’ but they want to shut down the transgender unit immediately without even an investigation.”
The attention the center has gotten since Reed’s allegations surfaced has given momentum to a spate of bills seeking to criminalize gender-affirming care.
Families of transgender children say fear of what’s to come has them looking at leaving the state.
“[My family is] from all over. We don’t have to stay here,” said Maclean. “We thought we were here for the long haul, but we don’t have to be.”
Her family is not the only one thinking about leaving the state.
“There’s already one family that’s moved, and there’s another family that’s about to move,” Halla said. “But not every family can do that.”
The Transgender Center did not comment on the allegations; its phone number dedicated to the media has given a busy signal during numerous attempts.
This story was originally published by the Missouri Independent, part of States Newsroom, a network of news outlets supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence.
I have already posted on how false the allegations by Jamie Reed were debunked and shown to be made up lies to slander the necessary medical treatments promoted as the best medical practices. However Tildeb, who is a virulently anti-trans bigot, spread more lies in the comments again. So for those who don’t know that the often quoted Jamie Reed made up the allegations, here is just one of the investigations showing she was lying. To give you her mind set, here is a quote from the article. Plus her lawyers are well known in the anti-trans movement doing all the can to milian and stop trans gender care calling it “… an “artificial social construct” as well as a “dangerous” and “radical new ideology” that is “overtaking families and threatening the well-being of children.” Wow they must belong to the same anti-medical science and loving misinformation as Tildeb. Hugs
Jones recounted Reed telling them that “misgendering,” or using the wrong gender or pronouns to describe a person, was “exposure therapy” that would keep trans children from being coddled and encourage them to develop a thick skin. Jones complained about Reed to the center’s directors and human resources and was not the only one to do so, they said. Reed acknowledged in the Free Press narrative that she received a negative performance review in 2021. Jones quit the educational liaison position the year before that.
A pair of new reports from the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the Missouri Independent have called into question key claims that a self-proclaimed whistleblower recently made about the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. A former employee at the center, Jamie Reed, alleged in a first-person Free Press essay last month that went viral that she had witnessed “morally and medically appalling” treatment of transgender children and their parents during her four years working at the center. Reed, who has called for the center to be shut down, also detailed her allegations in a sworn affidavit to Missouri’s attorney general, who launched one of three investigations into the center now underway in the GOP-controlled state.
At least 20 people, including parents of patients and patients themselves, have given accounts that directly challenge the key claims made by Reed in the Free Press: that minors seeking care at the center were given little to no psychological examination before they were treated, that they were rushed into being prescribed puberty blockers or hormones (and were not given adequate information about the side effects), that consent for treatment was not always sought from both parents, and that the center had referred children for gender-affirming surgery.
“Almost two dozen parents of children seen at the clinic, which opened in 2017, say their experiences sharply contradict the examples supplied by” Reed, the Post-Dispatch reports. The Independent said it “spoke with numerous former patients of the Transgender Center, as well as parents of former patients,” and “each person interviewed described a far different experience than Reed about how the Transgender Center operates and how minors seeking care are treated.”
“The idea that nobody got information, that everybody was pushed toward treatment, is just not true,” parent Kim Hutton told the Post-Dispatch. “It’s devastating. I’m baffled by it.”
One parent who was skeptical of the need for transgender centers to begin with told the Post-Dispatch that though they did feel pressured by the center to proceed with unspecified treatment, “they have not forced us to do anything.” The parent was vague about any treatment that the center recommended or that the teenager was receiving, saying only they believed more therapy may resolve the teenager’s issues. Even so, the parent “does not want the Transgender Center shut down but said the approach should be broader, with extended psychotherapy for patients,” according to the Post-Dispatch.
When it comes to Reed’s claim about a lack of warnings about the side effects of prescribed hormones, sometimes to block the onset of puberty, the Independent reports:
Parents said they felt like they had the Transgender Center’s doctors’ full attention to ask questions and review possible side effects of treatments. When they left, they had multiple handouts — some provided to The Independent that had been emailed from Reed herself.
Contrary to Reed’s claim that the center prescribed hormones sometimes after just one visit, parents and patients said it took multiple appointments over a period of months or longer to reach that point in treatment, describing a deliberate and methodical process.
Reed also highlighted what she said was an example of how the center would push surgery on minors, a teenager who “was put on hormones at the center when she was around 16. When she was 18, she went in for a double mastectomy, what’s known as ‘top surgery.’” Three months later, Reed said, the surgeon’s office contacted the center and reported the teenager said “I want my breasts back.”
The Post-Dispatch and Independent quoted members of the center saying they do not refer people under 18 for surgery, and the Post-Dispatch recounted the experience of a teenager who was denied a referral:
Surgery is what Christine Hyman’s 17-year-old son wanted from his very first appointment at the Transgender Center, when he was just 12. He brought a blue Post-it with him, with three questions written: When can I start testosterone? When can I have top surgery? How can I get my dad on board quicker? The answer he received for all three, said Hyman, was to give it time.
“Put it out of your mind. We don’t do that here,” Hyman, of St. Charles, recalled the nurse telling her son about surgery. “You don’t walk in Tuesday morning as a girl and walk out Tuesday afternoon as a boy. That’s not a thing.”
How Reed would have known what was going on between doctors and patients and their families was also called into question, according to the Post-Dispatch:
Parents interviewed by the Post-Dispatch cast doubt on Reed’s ability to know what happened inside exam rooms as an employee who did not have a medical or managerial role, and whom they rarely saw. The case manager’s job duties, as described in a Washington U. posting, comprise patient intake, scheduling appointments and providing information about community resources to families. Reed emailed parents with reminders, asking them to contact her with questions.
The printouts that were attached detailed medical protocols, including side effects, risks and reversibility. They listed contact information for dozens of local wraparound services, LGBTQ advocacy organizations and licensed mental health professionals. Patients recounted that the staff explained procedures using both medical and everyday vocabulary.
The mother of a patient treated at the center, who had considered Reed a friend, said she was stunned by the allegations. She said she had texted Reed last year to let her know her son would begin taking hormones and wondered why, if Reed had concerns, she didn’t share them. “The worst thing about it,” the mother told the Post-Dispatch, “is people start getting paranoid, and they start doing terrible things to trans people. My kids are scared.”
The Independent also noted that though Reed said in her affidavit that “a common tactic was for doctors to tell the parent of a child assigned female at birth, ‘You can either have a living son or a dead daughter,’” but she later seemed to dial back her claim during a Free Press webinar, explaining that only one doctor, who no longer works at the center, had said that.
Also speaking out is Jess Jones, a transgender former co-worker of Reed’s, whom the Post-Dispatch reported “bristled at the way they said Reed sometimes spoke about patients.” They said that Reed had wanted patients to take an IQ test before being given access to puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones in order to confirm their ability to consent. In addition:
Jones recounted Reed telling them that “misgendering,” or using the wrong gender or pronouns to describe a person, was “exposure therapy” that would keep trans children from being coddled and encourage them to develop a thick skin. Jones complained about Reed to the center’s directors and human resources and was not the only one to do so, they said. Reed acknowledged in the Free Press narrative that she received a negative performance review in 2021. Jones quit the educational liaison position the year before that.
There is also scrutiny of Reed’s two attorneys. Vernadette Broyles is the founder of the Child and Parental Rights Campaign, which, as thePost-Dispatch has previously reported, fights against transgender policies in schools and says the concept of gender identity is an “artificial social construct” as well as a “dangerous” and “radical new ideology” that is “overtaking families and threatening the well-being of children.” Reed’s other attorney, the conservative St. Louis city councilmember Ernie Trakas, has also litigated on behalf of the organization. (Neither would tell the paper how they came to represent Reed, who wrote in the Free Press she is a liberal queer woman who is married to a trans man.) Reed declined to speak to the two publications, but Broyles dismissed the people speaking out, telling the Independent that they are only the ones who’ve had good experiences. “It does not surprise me that you would find someone in that honeymoon phase,” she said.
This is a clip from Boston Legal. Obviously I do not own any of the rights to Boston Legal, I simply own the DVD set to season 3. However, I believe it is both a tribute to the show and a good sales pitch towards purchasing a copy of this show to introduce herein a clip that demolishes the absurd religious views on homosexuality. In this clip, Alan Shore presents his case as to why the man he represents has been scammed out of $40k by a religious organization that intended to “cure” his SSAD (“same sex attraction disorder”, aka homosexuality). Brilliant and appropriate for this moment in time.
Thanks to Ali for the link. This cartoon really says it all. Please go to the link above and read the two few paragraphs that fill in the cartoon’s backstory. It is important. I am going to post the cartoon so you get a taste of it, but the two short stories of how the same care is approached when a young person is cis vs when they are trans. Hugs
Thank you, Ali, for the link, just sorry it took me so long to post it. Hugs
I am waiting for the screaming comments about kids getting life changing surgeries, about kids / minors having body parts chopped off when they are too young to understand it. So before you get stupid and write that comment, read the entire story. Then think about the fact that kids as young as 13 and 14 years old get charged as adults in the US. Kids / minors as young as 12 get married in many states in the US, a very life changing even they are too young to understand. Kids / minors are being forced to carry pregnancies to term no matter how young (one was only ten), giving birth to children while they are children if they survive the ordeal which is a life-changing event / surgery that they are way too young to begin to understand or consent to. Plus breast surgery is common for young females in the US with girls 16 or younger getting reductions or enlargements as gifts from parents, and a popular surgery for minors is rhinoplasty. Yes kids / minors getting nose trims. The point is that many surgeries happen for kids, especially wealthy and or white kids. Look up the stats before you start screaming about kids being mutilated. Even more important is the saving of lives that transitioning does for trans kids, those studies are real, well documented, and are available for the haters to see anytime they could put their hate aside long enough to read them. Hugs
Top surgery, otherwise known as chest feminization or chest masculinization, is a gender-affirming procedure that changes the looks of a trans person’s chest. For female-to-male top surgery, breast tissue is removed to give a more masculine appearance for transgender males and non-binary people who are assigned female at birth.
This procedure, along with all forms of gender-affirming care, is surrounded by stigma and misinformation, especially when it comes to minors. Many parents fear that a teen could make a severe, irreversible decision regarding their gender presentation, given that adolescence is a time when the whole subject of identity is in flux.
It’s partially fears like this that have resulted in gender-affirming care receiving a wave of backlash in America, even being labeled as a form of child abuse.
However, a mom by the name of Janna, who recently helped her 17-year-old son receive top surgery, sees it as a form of love.
“Why would I ever allow my 17-year-old to have top surgery? Why would I do that? That’s insane. That’s crazy. It’s child abuse,” says Janna in a clip posted to TikTok.
Her reasoning is really quite simple—and something that almost every parent can relate to in one way or another.
“You look at the really, really happy kid who walked out of the doctor’s office today, feeling really great about himself for the first time in I don’t even know how long.”
Janna then put the spotlight on her son Cody and asked what it felt like when he saw his chest for the first time.
Getting instantly teary, Cody replied, “Normal…It finally feels right for the first time.”
Janna’s video is captioned “Cody’s heart is so full right now.”
Janna, who regularly advocates for trans rights, has previously explained in another TikTok that Cody didn’t undergo any surgery until just before his 18th birthday, and that was only after “a lot of meetings” with doctors, therapists and both of his parents since coming out at the age of 15.
And prior to his procedure, Janna encouraged Cody to explore through a “social transition,” rather than a medical one. This basically means experimenting with other forms of gender presentation—changing their name, pronouns, wardrobe, etc.—that feel more fitting to their authentic identity before undergoing any surgeries.
Bottom line: “We are not just sending these kids to surgeons to have body parts removed. That doesn’t happen,” Janna stated.
When parents support their kids throughout their journey, “one of two things is going to happen,” she added. “They’re going to come out as trans when they’re old enough to really make that decision, or they’re going to say, ‘Yeah, I’m not really a boy.'”
“Either way,” she continued, “their relationship with you will not be tarnished because they know that my mom loved me no matter what my decisions were.”
Like every other turbulent and confusing chapter of teenage-hood, the waters are so much easier to navigate (for both the parent and the child) when there is compassion. Sometimes allowing kids to be who they really are is the best gift a parent can provide.
Annelise HanshawMissouri Independent
Annelise HanshawMissouri Independent
Scottie's Playtime 