Well, I Suppose They Made An Effort? + More In Republican Prejudice

Tell-It Report: Army Renames Fort Lee After a Black Soldier to Maintain Confederate Fiction by Michael Harriot

Barred from using the names of Confederate soldiers, the Trump administration “restores” the names of seven military bases that once honored the losers of the Civil War. Read on Substack

In Gullah Geechee communities, a “tell-it” was a designated lookout, community warning system and the most trusted source for news and information. The Tell-It Report is ContrabandCamp’s weekly roundup of the Black stories that deserve more attention — from politics to entertainment.

President Donald Trump has reinstated the names of Army bases that once honored Confederate leaders. But, contrary to what he announced, Fort Lee won’t be named after Robert E. Lee, but a Black soldier named Fitz Lee.

Trump’s recent travel ban is preventing Haitian children scheduled to undergo heart surgery from traveling to the United States for their life-changing procedures.

The Grammys are adding a “traditional country” category just months after Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” earned her Country Album of the Year.

Read the full stories below:

Trump renames Fort Lee after a Black soldier because he can’t use Robert E. Lee

Continuing President Trump’s efforts to remove diversity measures enacted by his predecessor, the Army announced it was reverting to the original names of seven bases whose names were changed in 2023 because they honored Confederate leaders. Despite his statement on Tuesday in which Trump said one base would be restored to Fort Robert E. Lee, it will not actually honor the Confederate general who led the fight to keep slavery legal.

Instead, Fort Lee in Prince George’s County will be named after a Black soldier, Pvt. Fitz Lee, the New York Times reports.

In 2023, the Biden administration renamed the bases honoring Confederate leaders. Fort Lee then became Fort Gregg-Adams to honor two Black leaders, Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams. By law, names of Confederate soldiers can’t be used on military bases, hence the bait and switch.

Lee was a Buffalo soldier who fought in the Spanish-American War. Born in Virginia, he received the Medal of Honor in 1899 for risking his life to save wounded comrades in Cuba. Shortly after the mission, he suffered from vision loss, swollen limbs and abdominal pain stemming from kidney disease. He died at age 33.

Though the bases’ original names are back, like Fort Lee, they will not honor Confederate leaders. Instead, they will be named after the soldiers “who served in conflicts ranging from the Civil War to the Battle of Mogadishu,” the Army announced in a statement on Tuesday. No women are honored in the rebrand.

Along with the newly dubbed Fort Lee, bases included in the change are Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Polk, Fort Rucker and Fort A.P. Hill. Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth changed the names of Fort Bragg and Fort Benning, now honoring World War I and II veterans, respectively, with the same last names instead of Confederate soldiers.

“We won a lot of battles out of those forts. It’s no time to change,” Trump said during the announcement, CBS News reports. “And I’m superstitious, you know? I like to keep it going, right? I’m very superstitious.”

The Department of Defense originally spent about $39 million to change the names of military installations named after Confederate figures, CBS 6 Richmond reports. Although the changes are expected to take effect immediately, no estimated cost for the revamp was announced, according to CBS News.

Trump’s travel ban is blocking Haitian children from getting stateside surgery

Lifesaving procedures for more than a dozen Haitian children and young adults with serious cardiac issues have been stalled or canceled due to Trump’s travel ban, NBC News reports

The ban, which went into effect on June 9, extends to 12 countries and bars foreigners seeking legal immigrant status as well as those seeking visas from entering the U.S., according to CBS News.

The International Cardiac Alliance is an aid organization that has sent more than 100 children from Haiti to the U.S. for heart surgery. Though a proclamation made some exemptions, including for U.S. citizens and those traveling for the World Cup and the Olympics, those undergoing medical procedures with the alliance’s help were not on that list, according to NBC. Its waitlist includes at least 316 Haitians in need of heart surgery, ranging from infants to young adults.

The organization’s executive director, Owen Robinson, told the New York Times that finding adequate medical help in other countries will be difficult.

Sixteen-year-old Fabienne Rene and her family were counting on travel to treat her rheumatic heart disease. Her father, Fignole Rene, told NBC that they don’t know what their alternative option would be.

“I was not waiting to hear something like that,” Rene told the outlet in Creole. “We know for sure that there is nowhere in Haiti we can have this possibility. The only option that we have was just waiting to have an open door from the Cardiac Alliance.”

According to the NYT, Trump’s decision to prevent Haitians from visiting is because they stayed in the states longer than their visas permitted 25% of the time. In addition to Haiti, the 12 countries on the travel ban list include Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, The Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Trump also issued partial suspensions for Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

Trump has restricted travel for these 19 Black and brown countries because he deemed them “high-risk.” However, just last month, he gave white South Africans asylum, claiming they were subject to “white genocide.”

His administration also rescinded Haitians’ temporary protected status, which prevented them from being deported, and revoked a program that allowed them to move to the U.S, according to the NYT.

Grammys to add ‘traditional country’ category after Beyoncé’s historic win

The Recording Academy announced that they would be breaking up the country album category, adding a “traditional” category and renaming the existing category to “contemporary.” And Beyoncé fans don’t think their decision’s timing — coming just months after “Cowboy Carter” won big — is coincidental.

“The community of people that are making country music in all different subgenres came to us with a proposal and said we would like to have more variety in how our music is honored,” the Academy CEO Harvey Mason told Billboard. “They said, we think we need more space for our music to be celebrated and honored.” According to the outlet, the new category was proposed in previous years.

Fans pointed to the not-so-subtle racist shade that they believe stemmed from “Cowboy Carter” winning both Best Country Album and Album of the Year, the first time Beyoncé has won in both categories.

An anonymous music executive told Phil Lewis that the academy’s intentions are clear. The executive pointed to the academy adding Best Dance Pop Recording category after Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” and “Break My Soul” won.

“Now, the same thing has happened again.” the executive explained for What I’m Reading.

“There are probably some country purists in power that aren’t happy with her winning Best Country Album — especially after she was snubbed completely from the CMAs — and suddenly the country album category is being divided into two categories.”

Beyoncé is currently on the Cowboy Carter World Tour. The show and album pay homage to country’s Black roots and call out the industry’s historic efforts to erase Black legacy and impact from the genre.

During her acceptance speech for Best Country Album, she expressed gratitude for those in the genre who accepted “Cowboy Carter.”

“We worked so hard on it,” she said. “I think sometimes genre is a code word to keep us in our place as artists, and I just wanna encourage people to do what they’re passionate about and to stay persistent.”

ICYMI

Former host of MTV’s “TRL” and BET’s “Teen Summit,” Ananda Lewis, has died at 52 on Wednesday after a long battle with breast cancer.

Sly Stone, the legendary frontman of Sly and the Family Stone, died on June 9 at age 82.

Silentó, the 27-year-old rapper who created a viral hit with “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty in the fatal shooting of his cousin.

A Milwaukee jury convicted Maxwell Anderson of killing 19-year-old Sade Robinson, whose body was found dismembered after she went on a first date with Anderson.

Misty Copeland announced that she is retiring after 25 years with the American Ballet Company.

Solange’s Eldorado Ballroom opens in Houston.

Included (and blamed!) In The Immigration Crackdown In Dem Cities: Trans People

Clay Jones

Homeless Geese by Clay Jones

And no, it’s not about Gary Read on Substack

This was drawn for the Fredericksburg Advance, which wrote with the cartoon:

The Advance prides itself on attracting superior talent to our pages, and Clay Jones may well be at the top of the totem pole if awards are the measure. In 2022 he won the Robert F. Kennedy Award, and he has been a finalist for the Herblock Prize. What makes a great political cartoonist? That’s tough to say, but certainly the ability to make connections that others miss, and that force us to both laugh and think about issues in ways we may not have previously imagined — even (perhaps especially) when it makes us uncomfortable. That’s precisely what Jones has accomplished today, building off this week’s seemingly unrelated stories about geese and the endless struggle in our community over the homeless.

Dawwwww. Thank you, guys. That’s super nice.

I was just being silly with this, but proofer Laura said it was “silly, but kinda accurate.” I was afraid my editor would hate it because it was so weird.

Creative note: I wrote this Thursday night, and drew at home Friday night at the end of a long day. I wanted it to be finished before Saturday so I could focus on all the DC stuff.

Music note: Dammit, I don’t remember because I drew it two nights ago.

Drawn in 30 seconds: (snip-go see!)

Birthday Fascist by Clay Jones

Not even on your birthday Read on Substack

I’m sorry I made you wait for today’s blog, but I thought it would be more interesting to write the blog about Trump’s birthday parade after I actually attended his birthday parade.

And let’s not make mistakes about this. This military parade was not for the Army, but for Donald Trump.

Here’s the funny thing: I didn’t make it to the parade. Yes, I got a hotel room, and I planned to attend the parade, but three things happened. There were fences. Long long long fences. There was not a huge crowd, but it was tough to get through the snake of fences. Then, there were lines. But didn’t I just say the crowds were not huge? They weren’t, but the Trump organization likes to make people wait because it gives the impression that the crowds are large when they’re not.

And they must have expected much larger crowds because there were MAGA merchants everywhere. Yet, it didn’t seem like they were having a lot of customers. The street vendors selling ice cream had longer lines. I bought a cone.

If you want a huge crowd, go back to President Barack Obama’s inauguration. That was a huge crowd. Go back to Kamala Harris’ speech last November. That was a huge crowd. Or, go back to the last time I went to a Washington Capitals game. It was incredible if you could find a seat on the metro because the crowds were so large. But today, I took a metro at 5 p.m. and it was easy to find a seat. It wasn’t packed. And it wasn’t packed after the event either.

The parade started early because they wanted to beat the rain that never came. There were sprinkles, but nothing that should be able to stop a tank.

I said there was a thing that kept me from making it to Constitution Avenue, where the parade was held. The first were the fences, the second were the lines, and the third were the protests. The protests distracted me.

The official No Kings protests did not happen in Washington, DC. They didn’t want to start a fight. But, that didn’t stop independent protesters who did outnumber the MAGAts in my opinion. And readers, I feel bad because I wasn’t very nice to the MAGAts. You’ll see.

The closest thing I saw to violence was when a woman took a wild swing at a man holding a sign. They crossed paths, and she took a swing as they passed each other, which I don’t think she intended to connect. But he turned around and said, “Did you just take a swing at me?” She did not turn around, so he yelled, “Fuck Trump.” Yes, she was a MAGAt. And no, the man didn’t try to do anything violent. He kept on his way after yelling, “Fuck Trump.”

I had to know what was on his sign that made her want to take a swing, and here it is.

He hit a nerve. Here are some other scenes.

And then things got weird.

First, I saw this. (snip-yeah, go see it!!)

Ear Diaper Hater Club by Clay Jones

Read on Substack

In a telephone interview this morning with ABC’s Rachel Scott, Donald Trump said he “may” call Minnesota Governor Tim Walz about the targeted attack in Minneapolis that killed Melissa Hortman, a state legislator, and her husband.

In a moment that needs bipartisanship, empathy, and for a president to actually act presidential, Donald Trump said, “Well, it’s a terrible thing. I think he’s a terrible governor. I think he’s a grossly incompetent person. But I may, I may call him, I may call other people too.”

He just can’t do it. He gave it a shot yesterday, issuing a statement someone else obviously wrote, “I have been briefed on the terrible shooting that took place in Minnesota, which appears to be a targeted attack against state lawmakers. Our Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and the FBI, are investigating the situation, and they will be prosecuting anyone involved to the fullest extent of the law. Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America. God Bless the great people of Minnesota, a truly great place.”

Forgive me if I don’t put a lot of faith into the investigative skills of Pam Bondi and FBI Director (sic) Kash Patel.

Trump blamed “hateful rhetoric” from the left when an assassin took aim at his ear. You’re not going to hear the term “hateful rhetoric” from Trump over the assassination of a state legislator in Minnesota.

We’re going to hear a lot of hypocrisy this week coming from MAGA Land.

For Trump, it was “hateful rhetoric” that got his ear shot, but the “targeted attack” on the left is a mystery.

I wanted to give you a long and in-depth blog on this, but I totally forgot while waiting at the airport. The worst part is, my flight was delayed for over two hours, so I had time to write it. Now, my flight is boarding and I’m still typing.

The next time you hear from me, I’ll be in California.

The view from my room:

I’m staying at the Sheraton by the Pentagon. Here’s the view I took yesterday afternoon. (snip-MORE)

IOKIYAR, & More, In Peace & Justice History for 6/16

June 16, 1961
Following a meeting between South Vietnamese envoy Nguyen Dinh Thuan and President John F. Kennedy, the United States agreed to increase the presence of American military advisors in Vietnam from 340 to 805, and to provide direct training and combat supervision to South Vietnamese troops.
The number of U.S. personnel rose to 3,200 by the end of 1962.

President Ngo Dinh Diem and President Eisenhower in DC, five years earlier
June 16, 1965
A planned civil disobedience turned into a five-hour teach-in on the steps and inside the Pentagon about the escalating war in Vietnam.
In two days, more than 50,000 leaflets were distributed without interference at the building that houses the U.S. Department of Defense. A World War II artillery officer, Gordon Christiansen, turned in his honorable discharge certificate in protest.
June 16, 1976

South African police opened fire on black students peacefully protesting the requirement to learn Afrikaans, the language of the small white minority that enforced the racially separatist regime known in Afrikaans as apartheid.
Neither black nor colored (other non-white or mixed race) South Africans could vote or live where they chose.

Over 150 South African children were killed and hundreds more were injured in the shooting—what became known as the Soweto Massacre.
fact: Soweto stands for: SOuth WEst TOwnships

The History of Apartheid in South Africa 
Read more on Soweto 
June 16, 1992
Former Reagan Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger was indicted for his participation in the Iran-Contra affair, charged with four counts of lying to Congress and prosecutors.
He had concealed the secret arrangement to provide funds to the Nicaraguan insurgent contra rebels with profits from selling arms to Iran, which in turn were to encourage the release of hostages held by groups allied with Iran.


President Ronald Reagan with Caspar Weinberger, George Shultz, Ed Meese, and Don Regan, discussing the President’s remarks on the Iran-Contra affair.
The Reagan administration (1981-1989) had been circumventing the legal ban on material support for the terrorist activities of the contras. Iran had needed the weapons for its war with Iraq, and it was hoped that Iran would respond by encouraging the release of hostages being held by Islamist groups in Lebanon.
President Reagan had publicly and repeatedly promised never to negotiate with terrorists, and had maintained the break in diplomatic relations with the Iranian revolutionary government.
Weinberger and the five others charged were all pardoned by President George H.W. Bush six months later, days before the trial was to start, and shortly before President Bush would be leaving office.

More on Iran-Contra pardons 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjune.htm#june16

Some Meme’s

Hello All. Life has been very busy lately, but here are some meme’s that I hope you can enjoy and use.

Comics

The Autocrat’s Parade by Ann Telnaes

Your tax dollars at work Read on Substack

Brain Quack by Clay Jones

Never mind the new quack hole Read on Substack

On Monday, Secretary of Health (sick) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed all 17 members of the vaccine advisory committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

RFK Jr. said in a statement, “A clean sweep is necessary to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science. ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) new members will prioritize public health and evidence-based medicine. The Committee will no longer function as a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas.”

RFK Jr. is a rubber stamp for conspiracy theories.

The American Medical Association said Kennedy’s decision undermines “trust and upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives.”

In 2019, RFK Jr. engaged in spreading conspiracy theories and misinformation that helped spread a measles outbreak in Samoa that killed at least 83 people, mostly babies, in that nation.

RFK Jr is an agent of bullshit and only an insane person would listen to him, less enough, put him in charge of the nation’s health. (snip-MORE, and it’s really good!)

The Education President

Screaming, Indeed!

Somebody Is Shooting — Strike That — *Killing* Minnesota’s Democratic Lawmakers, Dressed As A Cop by Rebecca Schoenkopf

Well, here is some fucking news. Read on Substack

Melissa Hortman has died. John Hoffman and his wife have survived surgery.

Here is a fast post before I take a breath, make my signs, and go outside to scream my head off.

Someone or someones dressed as law enforcement — or law enforcement! with ICE covering their faces, there’s really no way to know anymore who is who! — has gone and shot Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota. The Minnesota House is split 67-67, and the Minnesota Senate has a plus-one majority for Democratic-Farm-Labor. These are targeted assassinations.

Sen. John Hoffman (DFL-Champlin) and Minnesota House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman of Brooklyn Park are reportedly in grave condition. Reportedly, both of their spouses were shot too. Update 10:50 eastern: KSTP is reporting that Hortman and her husband Mark have died.

Update 11:00 eastern: Per an officer at the press conference above, officers responding to the shooting at Hoffman’s house asked Brooklyn Park officers to go check Hortman’s house — out of a vague foreboding. Those officers found the fake cop coming out of her house, when he immediately shot at them and went back inside.

Update 11:30 eastern: NOWHERE in this CNN story on the “politically motivated assassination” does it tell its readers that the victims were Democrats. Why do you suppose that is?

Everything is escalating. Nothing is all right.

The last time someone tried to kill Democrats, it was a lunatic who bashed Nancy Pelosi’s octogenarian husband in the head with a hammer. This was considered very hilarious by our president, Donald Trump.

Here is Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz a day ago.

https://embed.bsky.app/embed/did:plc:kkowgxq2se4x5lo4zyipch6a/app.bsky.feed.post/3lriop3puf22w?id=18887764160362552

Jesus Fucking Christ.

Clay Jones

Handcuffing Padilla by Clay Jones

This is a bunch of bullshit Read on Substack

Right before Senator Alex Padilla of California was frog-marched out of the room and handcuffed, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said she was going to “liberate” Los Angeles “from the socialists and the burdensome leadership this governor and mayor have placed on this country and this city.”

What happened to the National Guard and the Marines being deployed to Los Angeles to stop non-existent riots? Now it’s “liberate” the city from socialist and “burdensome” leadership? Does that mean Noem plans to overthrow Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom with the military?

On one hand, the regime is trying to portray what’s going on in LA as a rebellion or insurrection, and on the other hand, they’re talking about staging their own rebellion and insurrection.

Noem, the lying pig she is (I want to use another word that many wouldn’t like), claims Senator Padilla “lunged” toward the stage, and after hearing her plans to “liberate” Los Angeles, who could blame him? Except he didn’t “lunge” toward her.

If you’re in the right in a situation, then why are you lying? Kristi Noem is lying about what happened yesterday with Senator Alex Padilla.

Was Padilla “lunging” here? You don’t see it. You don’t see it from this angle, either. But you do hear him identify himself. So when Noem and other Republicans say he didn’t, you know they’re lying. If they’re lying to cover their actions, then you know they’re wrong. They know they’re wrong.

Noem also claims the senator “barged” into the building. That’s a lie. He was escorted into the building and into the room where Noem was having her press conference. He was escorted into the room by an FBI agent and a member of the California National Guard. It was a federal building, which means nobody is getting in there without going through security first. There’s no way she could think Padilla was an angry “illegal” there to steal her purse.

Padilla, who has a reputation in Washington of being extremely nice and kinda nerdy, was no threat to Noem in this federal building. She didn’t seem concerned at all about a guy “lunging” toward her, as she barely paused her yammering while he was being dragged away by her goons.

Noem and her security detail claim they didn’t recognize Padilla, but I call bullshit on this one. It seems before going to California, Noem would familiarize herself with some of the players, like the mayor of Los Angeles, the governor of California, House reps of the area, and the state’s two senators. I’m sure she would have recognized Adam Schiff and Gavin Newsom, so why didn’t she recognize Senior Senator Alex Padilla? Why didn’t her security? If nothing else, he was identifying himself and wearing a shirt with the Senate logo.

She’s also the director of Homeland Security, which deals with immigration. So, shouldn’t be somewhat familiar with the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety.

The only somewhat acceptable reason that Kristi Noem didn’t recognize Senator Alex Padilla is that she’s fucking stupid. I can believe that she’s a moron, but I don’t buy that she nor her security could recognize United States Senator Alex Padilla. Plus, you can’t trust the word of anyone who would shoot a puppy.

And because Republicans are vile evil scum, Speaker Mike Johnson, even without looking this, wants to censure Padilla for his actions. What actions? Being brown? Being a child of Mexican immigrants? This is like the cop who pulls people over for being Black.

Padilla’s crime here is that he cares about the people ICE is going after, that he does his job, he’s a Democrat, and he’s non-White. I would love to see that in the empty censure Johnson is dreaming up.

Padilla’s biggest crime might be that he dared to question Kristi Noem.

The goons are using the military to shut down protests. They don’t want to be questioned. For the love of god, they literally handcuffed a United States Senator for challenging them.

Noem admitted it. The military is in Los Angeles to replace its elected leadership.

Republicans want to punish Padilla, but for what? Interrupting? After saying she was there to use the military to replace elected leadership, she should be interrupted. She needs to be questioned after proposing replacing California’s leadership with a military junta.

Every American needs to question Noem about this. Every Republican should question her. And for the love of god, every journalist needs to question, so long as the LAPD doesn’t shoot them in the process.

Alex Padilla stood up and questioned her, just like he should have. Alex Padilla didn’t just do his job, but did his duty as a patriotic American, which is more than can be said for every Republican who has folded to Donald Trump.

Every single one of us needs to be more like Alex Padilla. Today, Alex Padilla is my hero.

What would Alex Padilla do? He would do the right thing, and he did. (snip-MORE)

Utah study on trans youth care extremely inconvenient for politicians who ordered it

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/05/utah-study-on-trans-youth-care-extremely-inconvenient-for-politicians-who-ordered-it/

Madison PaulyMay 27, 2025, 3:00 pm EDT
Spencer Cox of Utah answers a question during a discussion about how our society can learn to disagree in a way that allows us to find solutions on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023.Spencer Cox of Utah answers a question during a discussion about how our society can learn to disagree in a way that allows us to find solutions on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. | Logan Newell/The Coloradoan / USA TODAY NETWORK

This article first appeared on Mother Jones. It has been republished with the publication’s permission.

In 2022, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox was the rare Republican governor who seemed to truly care about the well-being of transgender kids. “I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live,” he wrote in a letter that year, explaining why he was vetoing a bill that would have banned four trans middle- and high schoolers in Utah from playing on sports teams with classmates who shared their gender identity. “All the research shows that even a little acceptance and connection can reduce suicidality significantly.”

Meanwhile, nationally, Republican politicians were making opposition to trans rights a core tenet of their platforms, filing hundreds of bills attacking trans kids at the doctor’s officeat school, and on the field. Early in the 2023 legislative session, Cox capitulated, signing a bill that placed an indefinite “moratorium” on doctors providing puberty blockers and hormone therapy to trans kids with gender dysphoria. The bill ordered the Utah health department to commission a systematic review of medical evidence around the treatments, with the goal of producing recommendations for the legislature on whether to lift the moratorium. “We sincerely hope that we can treat our transgender families with more love and respect as we work to better understand the science and consequences behind these procedures,” Cox said at the time.

Now, more than two years later, that review is here, and its conclusions unambiguously support gender-affirming medical care for trans youth. “The conventional wisdom among non-experts has long been that there are limited data” on gender-affirming pediatric care, the authors wrote. “However, results from our exhaustive literature searches have lead us to the opposite conclusion.”

The medical evidence review, published on Wednesday, was compiled over a two-year period by the Drug Regimen Review Center at the University of Utah. Unlike the federal government’s recent report on the same subject, which was produced in three months and criticized gender-affirming pediatric treatments, the names of the Utah report’s contributors are actually disclosed on the more than thousand-page document.

The authors write:

The consensus of the evidence supports that the treatments are effective in terms of mental health, psychosocial outcomes, and the induction of body
changes consistent with the affirmed gender in pediatric [gender dysphoria] patients. The evidence also supports that the treatments are safe in terms of changes to bone density, cardiovascular risk factors, metabolic changes, and cancer…

It is our expert opinion that policies to prevent access to and use of [gender-affirming hormone therapy] for treatment of [gender dysphoria] in pediatric patients cannot be justified based on the quantity or quality of medical science findings or concerns about potential regret in the future, and that high-quality guidelines are available to guide qualified providers in treating pediatric patients who meet diagnostic criteria.

In a second part of their review, the authors looked specifically at long-term outcomes of patients who started treatment for gender dysphoria as minors:

Overall, there were positive mental health and psychosocial functioning outcomes. While gender affirming treatment showed a possibly protective effect in prostate cancer in transgender men and breast cancer in transgender women, there was an increase in some specific types of benign brain tumors. There were increased mortality risks in both transgender men and women treated with hormonal therapy, but more so in transgender women. Increase risk of mortality was consistently due to increase in suicide, non-natural causes, and HIV/AIDS. Patients that were seen at the gender clinic before the age of 18 had a lower risk of suicide compared to those referred as an adult.

Submitted with the review was a set of recommendations—compiled by advisers from the state’s medical and professional licensing boards, the University of Utah, and a Utah non-profit hospital system—on steps the state legislature could take to ensure proper training among gender-affirming care providers, in the event it decides to lift the moratorium.

But according to the Salt Lake Tribune, legislators behind the ban are already dismissing the findings they asked for. In response to questions from the Tribune, Rep. Katy Hall, who co-sponsored the 2023 ban, issued a joint statement with fellow Republican state Rep. Bridger Bolinder, the chair of the legislature’s Health and Human Services Interim Committee, that dismissed the study’s findings. “We intend to keep the moratorium in place,” they told the Tribune. “Young kids and teenagers should not be making life-altering medical decisions based on weak evidence.”

Why ignore their own review? Polling, the legislators’ statement suggests. “Utah was right to lead on this issue, and the public agrees—polls show clear majority support both statewide and nationally,” Hall and Bolinder added in their statement. “Simply put, the science isn’t there, the risks are real, and the public is with us.”

 

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