Republicans are frantically working to make it harder for young people to vote as Gen Z has turned out for Democrats in record numbers. Idaho Republicans are banning student IDs to vote while Texas Republicans proposed banning voting centers on campuses. https://t.co/SZ9piZkDPV
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) April 15, 2023
community values** are reflected in each school library catalog in the district
**Some exclusions apply
Gay, trans, Black, Muslim, non-Christian community member’s values will not be reflected – or even acknowledged.
Also, Missouri has out-uglied Texas.
In Missouri, the Republican-controlled House on Tuesday approved a budget that completely defunds public libraries. The move came in response to an ACLU lawsuit filed by the Missouri Association of School Librarians and the Missouri Library Association, challenging a recent law that bans certain books. The measure has led to the removal of over 300 books from school libraries — many with LGBTQ characters and social justice topics. Missouri Democrats have denounced GOP censorship
For adults. This is not about protecting children, it is about wiping out a group of people that the religious right doesn’t like. It doesn’t fit their view of the world created by their god. So the right doesn’t just live and let live, these religious right groups force everyone to live by their church doctrines. Hugs
Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced plans to restrict health care for transgender people weeks ago, when protesters rallied at the Capitol to urge lawmakers to pass a law banning puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for children. But the discussion was focused on minors, not adults.
Oh my god.
Missouri AG just essentially banned gender affirming care for most trans adults via emergency rule.
Requires 3 years of dysphoria, 18 months of therapy sessions, doesn't allow people with autism/depression.
Note how effortlessly the goalpost has shifted from saving harming minors to harming adults? Of course, as we here have always known, it was never about “protecting children.”
They’re testing the waters. Trans people are easy targets for the theofascists. I guarantee you that 80-90% of Americans know absolutely nothing about trans people, their lives and their challenges.
The theofascists’ ultimate target is the LGB community.
They see what other nations like Russia and Hungary are doing, and are envious.
This is exactly what happened in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. Creeping restrictions on civil rights and criminalizing the existence of ‘suspect’ groups of people. We have to fight back and beat this before it spreads to other states.
The federal government is going to have to intervene. They did it in the civil rights movement for black people and they are going to have to find their will and courage to do it again. These people mean us harm and will not stop
This has always been the goal – not “protecting children,” but eliminating trans people from society, with an eye toward eliminating gays, lesbians and bisexuals too. Trans people are just the easiest target, and going after them makes for an effective divide and conquer strategy if you can get homocons and TERFs on board.
Anyone with a working brain knew this was going to happen. Like other people have said, this whole “think of the children” BS was just a cover! Now they are coming after trans adults. After that they will come after gay rights! I guarantee it! I’m sure interracial marriage will be on the chopping block too. These fascists will stop at nothing to get the right wing theocracy they crave. We must fight these asshats tooth and nail!
DeathSantis has made the state of Florida racist bigoted white supremacist religious right conservative maga paradise. He has made minority rule of pushing hate and intolerance against anyone not following the maga Christian talking points. It is not enough for these people to publicly live their maga Christian right hateful lives they demand they get to use those Christian maga conservative views against others, they feel entitled to attack those they feel are not following their church doctrines and they attack those that allow or are tolerant of others. They feel that every one around them must act according to their regressive, backwards beliefs. Hugs
Many elected leaders like U.S. Sen. Rick Scott denounced the Nazi salutes, anti-Jewish slurs and Nazi regalia. On Monday, the governor did not condemn the demonstrators. Instead, he criticized Democrats.
Meanwhile, bomb threats forced the temporary closure of historically Black colleges and universities. Also, on the first day of Black History Month, DeSantis asked the Florida Supreme Court whether Black congressman Al Lawson’s district was unconstitutional. Lawson responded that the governor is race-baiting to build political points with his base.
Wow. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) is now requiring state board applicants to write 500 words about what they “admire” about her before they can be considered for a job. The same application only requires 250 words for other questions. https://t.co/uJpJLLRD2U
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) April 12, 2023
As I keep writing, this is not about protecting children, but instead it is forcing a religious lifestyle on everyone. Clearly in his mind it is a 12 year old girl marrying an older boy / adult man. He would be the first to be appalled if a 12 year old boy was allowed / forced to marry an older boy or adult male. That is because to some religious minded people, girls / women are property of men for the use of childbearing and providing men with pleasure as the man wishes. It is misogyny at its worse. This is about allowing religious parents and church leaders to set the rules for all other parents and those parents kids. It is the attempt to return to a Christian religion dominated society that these religious people are desperate to have as a way to please their god. I wish people would see how blatant this has become. Hugs
During debate Tuesday on a bill banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors, Missouri State Senator Mike Moon suggested children as young as 12 should have the right to marry with parental permission.
“Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They’re still married,” Moon said in response to questioning by Democratic state Representative Peter Meredith.
In debate on the bill, Rep. Meredith cited Moon’s stance on child marriage as inconsistent with his aim of protecting children through his bill banning transgender care for minors.
Moon last appeared here in February when he introduced a K-12 “Don’t Say Gay” bill. He first appeared on JMG in June 2017 when he slaughtered a chicken on Facebook Live in an attempt to make a point about abortion. Yes, really. Moon was a primary sponsor of Missouri’s successful resolution calling for a convention of the states, at which right wingers hope to approve constitutional amendments to ban abortion and same-sex marriage nationwide.
@aaroncrossley beautifully standing up to Sen Mike Moon (bigot/pervert), asking him if he believes that the parents in this room are child abusers. Rep Crossley emotionally & powerfully apologized to us, for how terrible it is to have to hear this hate from our legislators.
A southwest Missouri Republican from Ash Grove, Moon’s support of child marriage in some instances has been long documented. In 2018 Missouri passed a law raising the marriage age in the state from 15 to 16 and requiring parental permission for older teenagers to marry. Moon opposed the bill at the time — citing the same anecdote of a couple he met in college who had married one another at age 12.
Moon’s support of the practice resurfaced during a committee hearing on a bill introduced by Moon that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender children. If passed the bill would ban health care providers from performing gender-affirming surgeries on any minor or from prescribing or administering cross-sex hormones or puberty-blocking drugs to a minor for a gender transition, unless such minor was receiving such treatment prior to August 28, 2023.
In debate on the bill, Rep. Meredith cited Moon’s stance on child marriage as inconsistent with his aim of protecting children through his bill banning transgender care for minors.
“I’ve heard you talk about parents’ rights to raise their kids how they want. In fact, I just double checked. You voted no on making it illegal for kids to be married to adults at the age of 12. If their parents consented to it, you said actually, that should be the law because it’s the parents right and the kids right to decide what’s best for them. To be raped by an adult,” Meredith said.
If you want to get technical the Bible never specifies an age of consent (for marriage or sexual activity). So IF they want to be biblical they should allow child rape from birth. It’s one of the moral failings that the Bible got wrong. Just like slavery.
Hey, if he thinks 12 year-olds can do adult things like marry he should have no problem with 12 year olds having access to gender affirming healthcare.
This useful idiot accidentally made one of the best arguments concerning healthcare for Transkids.
Girls married off at 12 are not likely to have the knowledge or resources necessary to extricate themselves from that situation. OF COURSE they’re still married! They have absolutely nowhere else to go, as Humbert said about Lolita.
Thank you Ali for sending this link. I saved this author to my morning read file. The work below is not done by me I am only sharing it and all credit and support should go to the author at the link above. Hugs
Debunking one of the more bizarre anti-trans arguments making the rounds among pundits.
“Nobody in my life was particularly enthused that I turned out to be a man,” Liam told me. “My ex-girlfriend actually took my phone out of my hands when I was scheduling my first HRT consultation and hung up the phone. My mother cried. My father is still in a state of mourning.”
Liam (not his real name) is a trans man in his late teens who began transitioning a couple of years ago. He says he did not receive a lot of support from family, medical professionals, or peers.
An activist holds a sign calling for federal protection of transgender rights, in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on April 1, 2023. (Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
Contrary to what some anti-trans pundits would have you believe, Liam’s experience as a trans youth has been sadly typical. It’s far from the fictitious anti-trans narrative that we live in an affirming-to-a-fault society with an out-of-control left-wing medical establishment hellbent on “transing” cis lesbian and gay children.
For instance, on Twitter, Andrew Sullivan wrote, “A gay friend confided in me the other day: ‘If I’d been born twenty years later I would have been put on puberty blockers.’ Protect gay kids from the TQIA+ extremists.”
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Sullivan’s evidence here doesn’t even rise to the level of anecdote; his friend is making up a story, not reporting on anything that actually happened to him. And in fact, there is overwhelming evidence—from studies, from experts, from parents and children—that Sullivan’s friend is wrong. People are not pushed to be trans. Instead, trans people in our society face many social barriers to transition and little encouragement.
Not even anecdotes
Sullivan’s tweet is just a tweet. But full-length articles claiming a crisis of cis lesbian and gay “transing” aren’t much more rigorous.
David Moulton, writing in Tablet, claims, “The interests of legacy gay rights organizations have increasingly become divorced from their traditional constituents, gay men and lesbians” and as evidence points out that the Human Rights Campaign is using the word “transgender” more than lesbian and gay in its annual report. That probably has to do with an assault on trans rights. HRC’s report details and pushes back against attacks on LGBT people. When states are passing hundreds of anti-trans bills, you say “trans” a lot. (“When bigoted lawmakers took aim at transgender youth, our volunteer-based organization defended them with determined vigor.”) The use of the term is evidence of how much discrimination there is against trans people, not the opposite.
Similarly, Katie Herzog argues that the decrease in lesbian bars is a sign that the trans and nonbinary establishment has made lesbianism uncool or embarrassing. But couldn’t the issue just be that lesbians are more accepted now and, as a result, feel more comfortable going to mainstream venues?
Both Moulton and Herzog are trying to pit trans people against cis lesbian and gay people by framing support for trans people as inherently homophobic. It’s a tactic picked up with glee by straight transphobes like Graham Linehan, who has penned condescending odes to “our baby homosexuals.” It’s also embraced by active homophobes like the Family Research Council.
Trans youth face enormous stigma
Moulton and Herzog cobble together a bunch of anecdotes and vague accusations based on little more than their discomfort with an LGBT movement that includes trans people. But when you actually look at the extant evidence, the suggestion that cis lesbian and gay people are being oppressed by a trans establishment is ludicrous.
In the first place, there is a strong correlation between transphobia and homophobia; researchers found that “homophobia is likely to always be the ‘best’ predictor of transphobia and these two constructs probably share a common foundation.” Where transphobia and homophobia diverge, however, the evidence that trans people face serious stigma, and often worse stigma than cis gay or lesbian people, is extensive.
Most obviously, Republicans and conservatives across the country are pushing more than 400 draconian anti-trans bills through state legislatures. These bills criminalize trans health care, force trans youth to detransition, criminalize trans use of public bathrooms, force schools to out trans youth to their parents, and more. While these bills may harm gay and lesbian and gender nonconforming youth in some ways, they are particularly framed as an attack on trans people–hardly a sign that trans identities are seen as more acceptable and legitimate than gay or lesbian ones.
Young trans people demonstrate in the center of Rome for the rights of trans people, organized by the Gender x movement, on April 1, 2023, in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Simona Granati – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
Homeless statistics mirror the current public anti-trans panic. Homophobic parents often throw their children out of the house or make life so miserable for them that they leave home. As a result, according to the Trevor Project, 23% of cis queer youth report experiencing homelessness or housing instability at some point in their lives. Those figures are however even worse for trans youth; 38% of trans women, 39% of trans men, and 35% of nonbinary youth said they had experienced homelessness.
Similarly, thanks to widespread social stigma, queer youth often experience severe mental distress and mental illness. According to the Trevor Project, 1 in 3 cis queer youth contemplated suicide in the past year, and 1 in 10 cis queer youth attempted suicide in the same period. Those are horrible numbers. But statistics for trans youth, again, are even worse. More than half of trans and nonbinary youth contemplate suicide, and almost 1 in 5 reports making a suicide attempt.
It’s also worth noting that researchers have found that “many if not most trans people are LGBQ following transition.” Liam, for example, had thought of himself as a lesbian before transition, but after coming out as a trans man, he also realized he was bisexual.
“I just never entertained the idea of being with a man until after I was presenting as a man,” he told me. “Being a straight girl was the farthest thing from myself that I could imagine.” If there is a sweeping plot to turn gay people straight by forcing them to be trans, that plot failed spectacularly with Liam. Trans people do not transition because they want to be straight. They transition because they are trans.
“I have never in my entire career encountered a parent who pushed their child to identify as trans”
Daniel Summers, a Boston-area primary care pediatrician, confirmed that in his experience, parents are “notably more comfortable with their children being lesbian or gay than trans.” Even supportive parents of trans kids see it as a challenge, he said; that’s not the case for supportive parents of lesbian and gay children. “I have never in my entire career encountered a parent who pushed their child to identify as trans if they did not already identify that way themselves,” he concluded. “Not once, for any reason.”
Kelly Storck, a therapist who has provided gender-affirming care in St. Louis for 15 years, agreed. Acceptance of gay and lesbian identity has improved slowly over the years, but, “most of my clients, regardless of age, still hold a lot of fear around having a gender that’s different than their assigned sex,” Storck emphasized. She added that her clients often have an “overwhelming fear of rejection from their families and peers.” That’s not what you’d expect if there were a successful coordinated campaign to make cis gay and lesbian people adopt trans identities.
Clara Baker, a parent of four in Bar Harbor, Maine, told me her son transitioned when he was three, and is now 12. Baker’s mother was a feminist scholar, and Baker was very familiar with third-wave feminism and gay rights. But she was “really ignorant” of trans issues. “My first thought was, if I let him wear boy clothes, will I turn him into a boy?” she said.
In order to deal with her son’s dysphoria, she educated herself and got him the care he needed, but “there was a ton of resistance from health care providers, family members who were super educated…” Even logistically, there were major barriers, since she had to drive an hour to an endocrinologist to get monthly blood tests. “I was so without support,” she said.
Young trans people participate in a demonstration in the center of Rome for the rights of trans people organized by the Gender X movement, on April 1, 2023, in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Simona Granati – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
Sam (not his real name) an author and journalist, told me he had, himself, resisted when his son came out as trans at 15. Sam had close friends who were gender critical, and he read some feminist anti-trans books. “We had arguments about it,” he said, “where I’d say, ‘Do you think you’re erasing your female identity?’” Eventually, though, he said he realized that his concerns were “just because I was more comfortable with lesbian and gay people [than with trans people]. And so that was on me.”
Sikh freelance journalist Veerender Singh Jubbal was the one exception among those I interviewed; he said that his parents had more context for trans identity than for bisexual identity. In India, there is an established category of “Hijra” to refer to people who are trans or intersex and are viewed as a third gender, Jubbal said. As a result, he said, his parents, “definitely know more stuff in regards to transgender issues than queer issues.” That’s the “opposite” of North America, where people are more comfortable with queer identities that are not trans.
From the perspective of a culture that does, to some degree in some situations, treat trans identities as less stigmatized than some cis queer ones, Jubbal can say with some certainty that the US does not see things that way.
A pretext for discrimination
“With my mother assuming and my father asserting that I was in fact a lesbian (though I had told the both of them about my crushes on boys as a kid) it was incredibly hard to find myself until I moved out,” Liam told me. His experiences with the medical establishment were disheartening and discouraging as well. “I found a lot of the questions superficial,” he said. “If I hadn’t answered that I only own five shirts, would I have been rejected from medical transition? It left me wondering why it was necessary for me and other trans people to present in such a binary way to receive proper medical treatment.”
When you look at the research or speak to clinicians, parents, or young people themselves, it is clear that no one is being pushed to be trans. Instead, trans people face persistent discrimination and resistance from family, friends, doctors, and politicians when they try to be true to themselves.
The claim that trans people are somehow infecting cis gay and lesbian people is part of that discrimination. Framing trans people as a danger to themselves and others creates the pretext for anti-trans legislation, for parental rejection, for the denial of medical care. Building that foundation of bigotry empowers Christofascists, homophobes, and reactionaries. In the long run, and even in the short run, it will not help any LGBT youth, cis or trans.
___
Where indicated, some names have been changed to allow interviewees to speak freely.
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My family is not safe. My son has been taken on the gov's orders, and I've had to send my husband and daughter out of state for their safety.
THIS is the reality of living in DeSantis' Florida.
There is no freedom here. Only retaliatory rule by a fascist who wishes to be king
A week after we filed our lawsuit against the state, a kid claiming to be the cousin of one of my son's classmates joined their snapchat group. They recorded their conversations, and anonymously reported my son to police for sharing a popular internet meme.
They said they had to complete a threat assessment since they received an anon complaint, which both the local cops and the school signed off on as not being a threat. The kids were joking about cops and video games, which included this meme:
Two weeks later, bringing us to earlier today, an officer told me the state issued a warrant for my son's arrest for "digital threats of terrorism."
I asked on whose orders. The officer said it was the state.
They aren't letting him come home tonight. They kidnapped my son.
I had to get my husband and daughter out of here because CPS now interprets my home as dangerous because they've charged my 13 year old son with a felony for sharing a meme.
Less than a week after filing the first lawsuit in America against a state's Covid lies
I'm sorry for not getting back to everyone who is frantically calling and messaging me. I'm trying to keep it together and stay here and fight for my kid.
This state has already gotten away with pointing guns at my son during their raid. I will not let them hurt him again.
We all have seen drag. We all grew up with it. From Red Skeleton to Bob Hope, and so many more up to the 1970s Flip Wilson’s Geraldine who was amazingly popular. People love drag as it is simply dress up. It is Halloween at anytime. Drag is not a threat to society nor to anyone, not even children. What the right wants to make it is a boogieman they can use as a cudgel against others and something to rally up their base because their voting base works only on anger and rage. The right wants everyone to forget their fun drag memories and now think of any guy in a dress acting in drag as a “drag queen story hour reading to kids making them gay and trans” and also they want to make “all drag is trans people” so to spread the hate their base has for trans people to people playing dress up. Heck in their minds trans people are people playing dress up. Wow, how fucked up is that they will deny all medical science to keep their bigotry. Hugs
Knowing a trans or nonbinary person significantly reduced the chance that someone would say that they’re a threat.
A new poll found that a majority of Democratic, independent, and even Republican likely voters believe that there is “too much legislation” aimed at reducing LGBTQ+ rights at the state level.
Theprogressive polling firm and think tank Data for Progressconducted a survey of 1220 participants and asked about the 429 bills presented at state legislatures attacking LGBTQ+ rights. Most of the bills are aimed at transgender youth, and 17 have already become law this year.
Here are all the anti-trans bills that have become law in 2023
Republican lawmakers have worked round the clock to pass oppressive bills targeting gender-affirming care, bathroom usage, drag shows, and trans students.
72% of Democratic voters agreed with the statement that there is “too much legislation. Politicians are playing political theater and using these bills as a wedge issue,” and only 20% agreed that it’s “the right amount of legislation. Politicians are dealing with a real danger that needs to be addressed.” 65% of independent voters agreed that there is too much anti-LGBTQ+ legislation this year.
The more surprising result – considering how the vast majority of lawmakers voting for these bills are Republicans – was that 55% of Republican voters agreed that there is too much anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. Only 33% said that there is the “right amount” of such bills.
The survey also asked if people believed that being transgender is a “natural phenomenon that has occurred throughout history” that’s “normal” or if they believed that being trans is a “new phenomenon created by our modern woke culture” that will “harm our children.” Most Democrats (78%) and most independents (58%) agreed that being trans is natural. Only 34% of Republicans agreed that being trans is natural, while a majority (55%) said that it’s a new phenomenon.
While Republicans lag on that issue, Data for Progress noted that a majority of all likely voters (57%) said that being trans is natural, which could indicate that attacks on trans youth might not be the potent electoral winner that many Republican strategists believe it is.
While state Republican lawmakers have been introducing anti-transgender legislation for over a decade, there was an explosion of such legislation in 2021, just several weeks after Donald Trump’s loss in the general election. Democrats accused Republicans – many of whom had never shown any concern for the state of girls’ and women’s sports – of using transgender kids to distract from the GOP’s less popular positions on the COVID-19 pandemic and the economy.
Part of the reason that such a strategy could work is that transgender people make up a small percentage of the population and many people don’t think they know anyone who is transgender. Only 36% of Democrats, 39% of independents, and 25% of Republicans said that they know someone who is trans or nonbinary, and a majority of each group said that they didn’t.
And knowing a trans or nonbinary person decreases the chance that someone will see them as a threat. Among likely voters who know someone trans or nonbinary, 78% said that trans people are not a threat to straight families and 66% said that they’re not a threat to children. Among people who don’t know anyone who is trans, though, those numbers dropped to 52% and 41%, respectively.
Most Democratic voters (54%) and independent voters (63%) believe that Democratic elected officials should be doing more to fight anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. The survey didn’t ask what they believe Democrats should be doing.
When it comes to drag bans, a majority of Democrats (68%) and independents (55%) said that they had seen a drag performance either live or on TV. 53% of Republicans, though, said that they have never seen a drag performance at all.
I just watched a break-down of this on the Sam Seder’s The Majority Report. The mother was anti-trans to begin with and did not want their child to transition. The article written by a report from an organization created by well known transphobic Bari Weiss, who is a right wing hack who first came to fame trying to get professors who supported Palestinians fired, is complete wrong and filled with anti-trans bias. When the teen the article was based on tried to correct the lies written, the writer Emily Yoffe told them they had no say in it and published the misinformation, including dead naming the teen. Lies, myths, and fringe unscientific conspiracy theories are what these anti-trans haters use to influence the public. The saddest part of this is they are hurting the very people they pretend to be helping, just like crisis pregnancy centers claim to be helping pregnant people while they are really just pushing a right wing ideology to deny others the right to live their lives as they wish, but instead force all others to live by their right wing ideology based in some idea of 1950s social myths of morality. Hugs
The Missouri teen says their mother misrepresented their story in an anti-trans piece published by Bari Weiss’s ‘Free Press.’
A Missouri teen has refuted their mother’s account of being “bullied” into allowing her child to go on puberty blockers.
On Monday, The Free Press, a conservative outlet founded by former New York Times columnist Bari Weiss, published a story based on Caroline Miller’s claims that she was pressured by doctors at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital to allow her then-14-year-old child to receive a pharmaceutical implant that would deliver the puberty blocker Supprelin for two years. According to the Free Press piece, Miller and the child’s father were both informed of potential side effects, and after some initial resistance on Miller’s part, both parents signed off on the implant.
Hormone therapy improves mental health for trans youth
Researchers tracked 315 trans and non-binary young people in what is reportedly the largest study in the U.S. to date.
But Miller claims that within months of receiving the implant, her child’s mental health declined, their grades dropped from “all As and Bs to a report card dotted with Ds and Fs,” and they expressed “suicidal thoughts.” Blaming all of this on the puberty blocker, Miller revoked her consent and demanded that the implant be removed. Doctors declined, saying that they needed both parents to sign off on the removal.
In an April 4 tweet, Miller said she was contacted by The Free Press after reaching out to a lawyer. She gave the outlet permission to report on her child’s treatment. The resulting story, by writer Emily Yoffe, identified Miller’s child as “Casey” and misgendered them throughout.
On Tuesday, the now 16-year-old “Casey,” whose real name is Alex, took to Twitter to refute the Free Press story. In a long tweet thread, Alex, who uses they/she pronouns, said that their mother’s account is based on “false perceptions that my mom has about the doctors and clinic.”
Alex says that Miller informed them of the story only after speaking with Yoffe. “When I read the draft I was disgusted with what the reporter and my mom had made my experience out to be,” they wrote.
After speaking with Yoffe, Alex says they were told they had no say in whether the story was published.
Miller claimed that she felt pressured to agree to the puberty blocker implant after doctors implied that Alex was at high risk of suicide if they didn’t receive the treatment. Alex says that while doctors did quote statistics around suicide in transgender adolescents, they never said that Alex was at substantial risk.
They also say that Millers claims about their grades and mental health were exaggerated. “My grades were on a steady decline since 2020 due to unrelated mental health concerns,” they wrote. “The article claims that my mental health issues can be attributed to the Supprelin implant, however, my personal experience shows that this is not the case. Since Covid-19, my mental health has been declining, and it was already an issue.”
Alex also praised their counselor at Washington University Transgender Center, but says that they were denied access to counseling after Miller retroactively objected to the Supprelin implant.
In atweet responding to Alex’s thread, Miller identified herself as Alex’s mother (the Free Press story omitted her last name) and asked that users not “harass my child.” She also defended her decision to speak to The Free Press. “This is actually my story about how I was treated as a parent at this center,” she wrote. “Alex has a story too, but this article wasn’t it. Don’t confuse the two.”
Below I have unrolled the entire twitter thread. Hugs
I have reinstalled Twitter to respond to this story and make sure my voice is fully heard. I am Casey.
My real name is Alex but my mom decided it would be best to hide it for anonymity. But this is my story, not hers. This is not the free press’s story.
Caroline was told that a puberty blocker would relieve her child's psychological distress. That's not what happened.
About a week ago my mom contacted @EmilyYoffe without my knowledge and told her what was supposed to be our story. She expressed her frustration with the transgender clinic at Washington University, many of which are false perceptions that my mom has about the doctors and clinic.
I learned of this article through my mom over the phone when she asked if it was okay that @TheFP published the article. I said that I wanted to read it first. When I read the draft I was disgusted with what the reporter and my mom had made my experience out to be.
Upon interviewing Emily Yoffe myself I was told that I had no say in whether or not the article was published. I asked if my consent was required to publish the article and the reporter told me, “that’s not how these things work.”
After she had edited the article and published it (I had not found this out until 20 hours later) I was extremely frustrated. The article makes it out that my mother had no say in the implant of the Supprelin. This is completely false.
My mother claims that she was pressured into saying yes by the doctors. A big issue they point out is that the doctors quoted suicide statistics in transgender adolescents. I do not deny that these statistics were quoted, but I also sustain that the doctors didn’t say (continued)
(continued) that I was at substantial risk of this.
The article mentions that my grades dropped from A’s and B’s to D’s and F’s in a semester. This is a completely exaggerated statement. My grades were on a steady decline since 2020 due to unrelated mental health concerns.
Speaking of mental health, the article claims that my mental health issues can be attributed to the Supprelin implant, however, my personal experience shows that this is not the case. Since Covid-19, my mental health has been declining, and it was already an issue.
I was in counseling with the Washington University transgender care center in which I was treated amazingly by my counselor. She was a friend to me and offered a great amount of support. This was taken away when my mom revoked consent for the Supprelin.
After she revoked consent, my father and I, along with the university, attempted to set up a meeting with my mom. She did not attend this meeting, claiming that she was not contacted. Later, she admitted that she was.
Perhaps it was a poor choice. Some would certainly say so, while others, me included, found it a fantastic and hilarious romp into the absurd. Nonetheless, wisdom be damned, there he was. Dressed as a woman. He said he felt there was no choice. He said it didn’t change who he was, only allowed what made him distinctive and what he found to be imperative the opportunity to exist rather than be closeted and slowly dying in the darkness, the loneliness, the loss of all that was dear. The person he was, the identity that he felt in his heart wouldn’t change with the dress, it wasn’t the dress or the men’s clothing that made him who he was, it was only the outward appearance shown to a world that rarely gave a damn.
For a while, as he navigated this new life as a woman, he felt mostly complete. The children loved him as he watched over them, cared for them.
The stuffed bra was something to get used to, something he had to learn to reach around. The make-up was daunting, but convincing. The wigs, the garters and hose, and the dresses. They were new, different, and they allowed his genuine being to be there. In the mirror held his alter-ego, staring at him soul to soul, questioning his motives, his beliefs, his methods to obtain that which he realized was his greatest calling. We all have those moments; I do as I look into the mirror in the mornings as I prepare for my day. What will today bring? Who will I be when incidents and consequence calls? Do I even believe what I say I believe? Do I live what I believe?
Perhaps you have already seen through my deception as I bring my most favorite and troubled actor’s great film into this debate. Robin Williams was the great storyteller, the comedian who made the world laugh. Who knew his pain?
Who knew, despite how he was loved, that he felt so alone and lost. Behind the makeup, behind the laughter, behind the scenes of all that drama he brought to us beat the heart of a man who would leave us all too soon. It became all too obvious that we never knew him at all. We never knew what worried him, what he feared, what demons chased his dreams. We laughed at his characters as he made it all right with the world and brought about a happy ending in just a couple hours. If only it would.
To all those struggling to be free, I pray you may be one day. Never give up. Never surrender.
I would like everyone to notice Joe’s tweet at the end. Pro-life pretenders in Florida legislators passed this b ill along with the anti-trans, don’t say gay bills, anti-woke bills, anti books with LGBTQ+ or race history all in the name of protecting the children, but they approve open carry with no training. The amount of gun violence is already high here in Florida and will now go up. How is this pro-life? I don’t get it. Hugs
Senate preps anti-drag show bill by @Clay_Yarborough for passage despite apparent conflict with existing law
🚨 JUST IN: Florida Republicans introduced a late-filed amendment to expand their bill censoring drag shows to include those at city pride parades.
They're now using intimidation and threats of misdemeanor charges to scare LGBTQ-friendly cities out of hosting drag altogether. pic.twitter.com/if60MwYUvO
— Carlos Guillermo Smith (@CarlosGSmith) April 4, 2023
To be clear, the bill doesn’t ban drag. It censors drag in front of minors w/vague, subjective language and threatens misdemeanors, $10,000 fines, and license revocation for violations. That means businesses, and now cities, will be scared to welcome drag for fear of punishment.
— Carlos Guillermo Smith (@CarlosGSmith) April 5, 2023
Florida is currently debating SB 1438, a bill banning drag shows. Senator Yarborough, the chief sponsor of the bill admits that the bill would apply to live performances of Rocky Horror Picture Show. pic.twitter.com/klRKy0dFp8
Op-ed: #Florida's attacks on drag shows puts Shakespeare theatrical productions at risk, because he often featured characters who cross-dressed. https://t.co/dSA0jaModg
Florida Replicans have introduced a late amendment to implement a criminal ban on pride events throughout the state of Florida if anyone present is dressed in drag. pic.twitter.com/RVHnpf0yww
The backstory is that I was on Metoprolol to control my heart rate. However that drug interferes with the function of the epinephrine which is a form of adrenaline, as it keeps the heart rate low. I need allergy shots for my allergies. I am a person who really shouldn’t stop them after the maintenance dose is reached. I don’t retain the sensitivity or what ever they call not having bad allergic reactions. So as I was going to be getting my shots again, I needed to be removed from the medication.
When I was removed from the Metoprolol my heart rate soared uncontrolled. The first two weeks I was running in the high 130s to lower 140s. I also had huge shortness of breath and my Apple Watch EKG function showed my rhythm was not even, giving pauses and double beats. Ron worked open heart ICU and he was freaking out. I contacted my primary care doctor, who referred me to my old heart group. The doctor who treated me there was no longer with them, and they simply ignored the referral. Almost a month went by with first me then the primary care office trying to contact their appointment desk and they never answered us. So I got referred to a different group at my request.
In the wealthiest country in the world the next appointment I could get was three months away at the end of May. My heart rate settled down to running in the 100s to the lower 120s. However the shortness of breath remained bad. Here is where the current trouble begins. I used the patient portal to ask my allergist office if they treated asthma and included the details. And the nurse replied that yes they did but due to the heart rate she referred the information to the doctor. Danged if yesterday afternoon I got a call from the doctor himself. He was very concerned. He asked questions and said he felt that the heart rate even at the lower rates it is now down to from the upper rates it was still too high and the shortness of breath which he thought was not asthma but heart related. The allergist really pushed hard for me to go back on the Metoprolol until I have seen the cardiologist. When I reminded him I have an upcoming testing for the level of my current allergies so they can correctly prepare the serum, he told me with my heart rates so high he wouldn’t give me the test nor the injections anyway.
So as of yesterday afternoon I am back on the heart rate medication, my heart rate has already fallen into the high 80s, low 90s after exertion. The allergy stuff is on hold. Hopefully I will be back to normal me soon. I was already feeling much better as the heart rate settled in to the 100s, but when it gets back into the 70s I will feel even better. This is not the result I wanted, and the allergist was not sure if I would ever be able to get my shots because metoprolol is the only drug doctors use to slow the heart that he knew of. Hugs
Many thanks to Ali for the links she sent me in the comments. These are really worth posting. Hugs
Transgender FSU student spoke in front of Florida legislature to protest HB1521, which would prohibit trans people from using bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.
Florida State University senior Kaleb Hobson-Garcia addressed the Florida legislature to speak out against HB 1521, which would prevent transgender people from using bathrooms that match their gender identity.
Dressed in a suit and sporting a full beard, Hobson-Garcia challenged lawmakers, asking whether they would like him to use the women’s restroom if the bill passed. He argued the bill is “rooted in trans misogyny” and “a hatred of trans women” and non-passing trans people.
According to Hobson-Garcia, the passing of the bill would endanger his safety and potentially lead to hostile confrontations both inside and outside of restrooms.
You can hear what he said in the video below.
Florida is trying to pass HB1521 which would criminalize trans people using the bathroom consistent with their gender identity. Trans men like this being would be forced to use the women's restroom and face a risk of violence for following the law.pic.twitter.com/l6eMJ4pK3h
“I have just one question for you: To the sponsor of this bill, do you want me in the women’s restroom with you? Because if this bill passes, you’ll be requiring trans men like me to use the women’s restroom or face criminal punishment.”
“This is rooted in trans misogyny, which is a hatred of trans women. It’s rooted in your hatred of non-passing trans people because being faced with trans people makes you uncomfortable.”
“You haven’t even stopped to consider the trans people who look like me who have passing privilege, which means I’m perceived as cisgender, most of the time. You haven’t even considered what me following the law would look like.”
He then pointed out what would likely happen should the bill become law, emphasizing how it would endanger his safety and the safety of others in the transgender community:
“It looks like me in the stall next to the females with my low voice and my facial hair. It looks like me with characteristics that terrify people when they’re seen on trans women. It looks like me bringing discomfort and potentially traumatic experiences to women if I follow the law.”
“When this bathroom ban passes, it also puts my safety at risk. What happens when husbands see me following their wives into restrooms?” …
“If you pass this bill today, know that you’re forcing me to use the bathroom with your daughters, wives, mothers, and sisters.”
Many praised Hobson-Garcia for speaking out and condemned the Florida legislature for proposing the bill.
— 💛🏳️⚧️ Tala, MINI Enthusiast. 🏳️⚧️💛 (@Gwylithen) March 29, 2023
So, this guy isn't supposed to use the men's room, and then someone will start screaming when he walks into the women's room…hmmm. Yeah, seems like trying to ban trans people. 🤷♀️
Hobson-Garcia also addressed HB 1421, which would prohibit minors from accessing gender-affirming care, such as hormone therapy and surgery. Lawmakers heard public comments on HB 1421 and HB 1521 back to back.
The proposed law includes severe penalties for doctors and healthcare providers, including arrest and suspension of their licenses, for performing or attempting to provide such interventions to minors, as well as “conspiring” to do so.
Hobson-Garcia’s testimony emphasizes the obstacles faced by the transgender community and underscores the importance of creating an inclusive and supportive environment that respects individuals’ gender identity.
Perhaps it was a poor choice. Some would certainly say so, while others, me included, found it a fantastic and hilarious romp into the absurd. Nonetheless, wisdom be damned, there he was. Dressed as a woman. He said he felt there was no choice. He said it didn’t change who he was, only allowed what made him distinctive and what he found to be imperative the opportunity to exist rather than be closeted and slowly dying in the darkness, the loneliness, the loss of all that was dear. The person he was, the identity that he felt in his heart wouldn’t change with the dress, it wasn’t the dress or the men’s clothing that made him who he was, it was only the outward appearance shown to a world that rarely gave a damn.
For a while, as he navigated this new life as a woman, he felt mostly complete. The children loved him as he watched over them, cared for them.
Perhaps you have already seen through my deception as I bring my most favorite and troubled actor’s great film into this debate. Robin Williams was the great storyteller, the comedian who made the world laugh. Who knew his pain?
Scottie's Playtime 