Wes Streeting Apologises for Deadly Puberty Blocker Ban (Does Nothing to Fix It)

Trump order aims to end federal support for gender transitions for those under 19

https://apnews.com/article/trump-transgender-transition-executive-order-301e4130233b411311978f66f455f1c4

So much for rights for adults to make their own medical decisions.  I guess it is fine for cis adults to have boob jobs and cis adult men can do what they want with their penises but not transitioning people.  Well not women either.  Seems only straight cis males can have control over their bodies and sex organs.

But what I think this is about is how trans people passing for the gender they are upsets fundamentalist men.  It screws with their idea that god created men and women and that is just how it has to be, what you are assigned at birth.  Right now people who do not suffer going through the wrong puberty don’t get the wrong secondary sex characteristics. Look at the changes in boys when puberty hit.  Most boys facial features change and broaden, shoulders get wider, they develop deeper voices, and of course their bodies grow hair along with increasing the size of the sex organs.  All things trans girls do not want their bodies to look like and will fight all their lives trying to change and make go away.  It will be much harder for them to pass as the women they identify as.  It will make them look much less of the idea most people have of how women should normally look.   Much easier for them to be singled out.  Some changes will never be able to mask or make go away.

Same with trans men.  They will be forced to go through female puberty.  They will grow boobs they hate, wider hips, along with other body changes including to their sexual organs.  All things they hate.  Some things will make it harder to transition, again making it harder for them to pass as the men they are. 

And again that seems to be the plan.  It seems to really upset the fundies that they get all hot about a woman that they then realize is a trans woman.  I do know a straight man who had no interest in the male sex organ who started dating an attractive woman, she turns out to be trans who had not had bottom surgery.  As they say, love conquers all and they are living very happily together.      Hugs

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President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the economy during an event at the Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the economy during an event at the Circa Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Updated 9:03 PM EST, January 28, 2025
 

President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order aimed at cutting federal support for gender transitions for people under age 19, his latest move to roll back protections for transgender people across the country.

“It is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures,” the order says.

The order directs that federally-run insurance programs, including TRICARE for military families and Medicaid, exclude coverage for such care and calls on the Department of Justice to vigorously pursue litigation and legislation to oppose the practice.

Medicaid programs in some states cover gender-affirming care. The new order suggests that the practice could end, and targets hospitals and universities that receive federal money and provide the care.

The language in the executive order — using words such as “maiming,” “sterilizing” and “mutilation” — contradicts what is typical for gender-affirming care in the United States. It also labels guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health as “junk science.”

On his Truth Social platform, Trump called gender-affirming care “barbaric medical procedures.”

Major medical groups such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics support access to care.

Young people who persistently identify as a gender that differs from their sex assigned at birth are first evaluated by a team of professionals. Some may try a social transition, involving changing a hairstyle or pronouns. Some may later also receive puberty blockers or hormones. Surgery is extremely rare for minors.

“It is deeply unfair to play politics with people’s lives and strip transgender young people, their families and their providers of the freedom to make necessary health care decisions,” said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson.

The order encourages Congress to adopt a law allowing those who receive gender-affirming care and come to regret it, or their parents, to sue the providers.

It also directs the Justice Department to prioritize investigating states that protect access to gender-affirming care and “facilitate stripping custody from parents” who oppose the treatments for their children. Some Democratic-controlled states have adopted laws that seek to protect doctors who provide gender-affirming care to patients who travel from states where it’s banned for minors.

Lambda Legal promised swift legal action.

Michel Lee Garrett, a trans woman whose teenage child only partially identifies as a girl and uses they/them pronouns, said such policies aim to erase trans people from public life but will never succeed. Her child has not elected to pursue a medical transition, but the mother from State College, Pennsylvania, said she won’t stop fighting to preserve that option for her child and others.

“I’ll always support my child’s needs, regardless of what policies may be in place or what may come … even if it meant trouble for me,” Lee Garrett said.

For Howl Hall, an 18-year-old freshman at Eastern Washington University, taking testosterone not only changed his body but dramatically improved his experience with depression. With that treatment now under threat, Hall said he’s concerned that getting off testosterone would hurt his mental health.

“I would be alive, but I wouldn’t be living,” Hall said. “I wouldn’t be living my life in a productive way at all. I can guarantee that I would be failing all of my classes if I was even showing up to them.”

The push is the latest by Trump to reverse Biden administration policies protecting transgender people and their care. On Monday, Trump directed the Pentagon to conduct a review that is likely to lead to them being barred from military service. A group of active-duty military personnel sued over that on Tuesday.

Hours after taking office last week, Trump signed another order that seeks to define sex as only male or female, not recognizing transgender, nonbinary or intersex people or the idea that gender can be fluid. Already that’s resulted in the State Department halting issuing passports with an “X” gender marker, forcing transgender people to apply for travel documents with markers that don’t match their identities.

Trump said he would address these issues during his campaign last year, and his actions could prove widely divisive.

In the November election, voters were slightly more likely to oppose than support laws that ban gender-affirming medical treatment, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy, for minors under the age of 18 who identify as transgender, according to AP VoteCast. About half of voters, 52%, were opposed, but 47% said they were in favor.

Trump’s voters were much more likely to support bans on transgender care: About 6 in 10 Trump voters favored such laws.

“It’s very clear that this order, in combination with the other orders that we’ve seen over the past week, are meant to not protect anyone in this country, but rather to single-mindedly drive out transgender people of all ages from all walks of civic life,” said Harper Seldin, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBTQ & HIV Project.

Seldin said the ACLU is reviewing the order “to understand what, if anything, has immediate effect versus what needs to go through continued agency action.”

Even as transgender people have gained visibility and acceptance on some fronts, they’ve become major targets for social conservatives. In recent years, at least 26 states have adopted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. Most of those states face lawsuits, including one over Tennessee’s ban that’s pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Republican-controlled states have also moved to keep transgender women and girls from competing in women’s or girls’ sports and to dictate which bathrooms transgender people can use, particularly in schools.

“These policies are not serving anyone,” said Shelby Chestnut, executive director of the Transgender Law Center. “They’re only creating confusion and fear for all people.”

_________________________________________________

Mulvihill reported from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and Schoenbaum from Salt Lake City. Associated Press writers Carla K. Johnson and Hallie Golden in Seattle and Linley Sanders in Washington contributed reporting.

ZEKE MILLER
Zeke is AP’s chief White House correspondent
GEOFF MULVIHILL
Mulvihill covers topics on the agendas of state governments across the country. He has focused on abortion, gender issues and opioid litigation.
HANNAH SCHOENBAUM
Schoenbaum is a government and politics reporter based in Salt Lake City, Utah. She also covers general news in the Rockies and LGBTQ+ rights policies in U.S. statehouses.

Debunked: 61-98% of Trans Youth Desist During Puberty

As I have written and posted I love Ethel’s videos.  She presents the facts with an easy to listen to rhythm and tone.  She uses facts to present the medical studies and medical science for trans people not emotion, feelings, or guess work.   She presents the sources she uses and gives the details of how the conclusions were reached and the validity of the studies.  Such as to if it is peer reviewed, how large the sample size, and the conclusions of the data match what the person pushing the information is claiming it does. Often Ethel catches bigots simply lying by claiming a study shows negative results when in fact the studies and data present a positive or are completely opposite from what the haters claim. 

Plus for those who would rather read than listen she provides a transcript of the videos she does and again as I mentioned she supplies her sources so others can look up the studies / data themselves to show she is telling the truth.  That is why you never see videos by trans haters such as the TERFs trying to claim she lied.  If you care about the facts and wish to have the information to combat the lies of bigots please check out her other videos supporting trans people and debunking anti-trans lies.  Hugs

Watch all our videos debunking gender ‘critical’ fascism here! –    • Debunking Gender ‘Critical’ Fascism  

Today’s video debunks the myth that between 61-98% of all trans youth desist if we take a ‘wait and see’ approach, exposing the linguistic sleight of hand used by those set on undermining gender affirming care as the only ethical approach. #ProtectTransKids

Hi, welcome to Essence of Thought with me, Ethel Thurston, as your host.

Bill Maher Admits Trans Rights Are Civil Rights

‘Trans Panic’ Was ALWAYS A Right-Wing Culture War Distraction

Trans Kids Are On The Chopping Block

The thing I like about the video is that she points out how the state claims it must do this to protect kids from the dangerous drugs yet allows their use for straight cis children just not for trans children.  The law states it is about making kids accept their birth assigned gender and keeping them from transitioning.   

They tried these laws with kids who were gay decades ago and some still fight for it.  Force gay kids to accept a heterosexual orientation through conversion methods and then outlaw being homosexual along with erasing anything homosexual from society.  It did not work.   The courts vigorously defended and backed up gay people’s rights to exist as themselves and have full equality of societies benefits as straight people do.  

Sadly we have much different courts now stacked with bigots and racists by bigots and racist who will push and promote the bigotry.  But in the law itself they wrote the bigotry out loud, clear, and easy to see.  The republican lawmakers are making it plain this is about erasing trans kids and that will make erasing trans adults much easier.   I wonder if they will succeed, but I am worried.   The video is well worth the watch.  If you do not wish to watch the video but prefer to read the transcript she provides a link to it in the description box.  Many of the podcasters now do.  Hugs

Some Bluesky posts. I recommend reading the links to the anti-trans stories.

Yesterday, 37 Democratic Senators voted to pass the anti-trans NDAA.Those same Dems refused to allow Senator Baldwin to advance an amendment to remove anti-trans provisions from the bill.EITM has released an easy to read list of Senators who voted for it.Subscribe to support our journalism.

Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) 2024-12-19T15:34:29.396Z

This follows the Queensland and French reviews into care that found care to be safe and effective. The Cass Review was a political hatchet job. Guarantee the NYT and US media doesn't cover this.

Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-19T13:18:58.565Z

In 2024, several New Hampshire Democrats, afraid that anti-trans attacks would work, voted in favor of a trans surgery ban and bathroom bill.They lost more seats than most other states. Now the R majority is ramping up targeting us.Capitulation didn't work.National Dems, take note.

Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) 2024-12-19T05:05:53.670Z

There is no joy in taking health insurance coverage away from any of our constituents, including trans children of active duty service members here in Virginia.You can’t support our troops by making it harder for families to afford medically necessary health care prescribed by their doctors.

Sen. Danica Roem (@pwcdanica.bsky.social) 2024-12-18T19:09:58.939Z

This is the trans athletic scare that has half the nation in a tizzy. It’s manufactured fear, playing off of ignorance and bigotry.

George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) 2024-12-19T17:38:11.087Z

The result of puberty blocker bans means trans youth are just skipping to grey market hormones, not managed by a healthcare provider. So the result of bans is care that is not managed and worse for everyone involved. This is why gatekeeping doesn't work. People will get access anyways.

Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-19T16:47:29.073Z

The only thing you do is make it less safe for trans people. Trans teens taking grey market hormones has been a thing for decades and had been declining until bans started kicking in. You'd think these idiots would learn that prohibitions never actually stops anything, you just make it less visible.

Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-19T16:47:29.074Z

Rand Paul becomes the first to call for Elon Musk to replace Mike Johnson as Speaker. Which, if you listened to my podcast Uncovered yesterday, you already knew was going to happen before it just happened.

Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2024-12-19T13:06:10.248Z

Mitch McConnell ran a playbook of total opposition after the 2008 election and it resulted in Republicans flipping 6 senate seats and 63 house seats two years after the biggest Dem victory since LBJwhat the fuck are you people doing

Micah (@rincewind.run) 2024-12-18T16:16:00.341Z

The government is going to get shut down because this oligarch dipshit believes blatant lies from the dumbest person on Twitter.

Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-19T04:16:58.141Z

I don't think we're prepared for just how stupid things are about to get. The dumbest people on earth high on conspiracy theories will be making policy decisions like pandemic response based on disinformation from twitter.

Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-19T04:21:54.369Z

We’re all going to have to continue to push back on this lie from Trump that he won a “mandate” of historic proportions.

George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) 2024-12-19T18:30:01.228Z

"2025 Will Be the Year of Trump's Crackdown on Islam"What Trump’s hawkish anti-Muslim appointees mean for the Middle East – and beyond, writes @attackerman.bsky.social for @zeteo.com

Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) 2024-12-19T18:16:23.849Z

Jeffries: That bipartisan agreement has now been detonated because House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt the very working-class Americans that many of them pretend to want to help

Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) 2024-12-19T16:53:20.945Z

The police exist to protect property, not people.

Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-19T16:06:02.492Z

This is why police unions are not real unions and no one should view them as such. They exist to protect power and property. That's it. There's no solidarity to be found there.

Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-19T16:14:35.755Z