I think I agree with a Republican!

[CWSmith]

I see you've backed-off, a bit, from your previous stance - recognizing that what Al, and a few others had posted - simply wasn't true. Still taking swipes at me, though - and, I get it.
I imagine you're a bit embarrassed. You let your preconceived notions, your biases, direct your comments. And under other circumstances, I would have let it ride, as CRoss, and a few others
seem inclined. But.... you tend to have a combative tone with me - this isn't the first time. And after this:

- your attempt at impuning my reputation - I've been a bit less inclined.

Nice begets nice. Al, and many of our trolls, don't do that, and the responses they engender, are earned. Quite honestly, though - we expect more, of everyone else.

And.... it is good to see you recognize the science. Thanks.

George, I notice that you interpret my disagreeing with you as impugning your reputation. When I try to find analogous situations, you duck the questions.

Your condescension and insults are somehow a defence in your mind.

Seriously, keep me on ignore. I won't learn anything from you.

[CWSmith]

Oklahoma talks about it, but Idaho does it. The Idaho House passed a bill that makes giving medical treatment to underage transexuals a crime. it now goes to the Idaho Senate.

https://idahocapitalsun.com/2023/02/...cal-care-bill/

This issue and others are going to spread to more moderate states and if the Democrats don't understand how to respond to it clearly and reasonably, they will be allowing the GOP to define the debate. That is when the Democrats lose on issues they should win.

[CWSmith]

South Dakota has now signed a similar bill.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...d268caaafaa72f

I'm telling you that if the Democrats don't come up with a sensible response to these bills, we will lose national elections on issues that are so mind-numbingly stupid that we will have only ourselves to blame.

[Gill]

You do understand that not only is this kind of treatment 100% voluntary, but somebody has to really really really want it and try very hard to get it, and it affects only a vanishingly tiny minority of the population, right?

That is the way it should be. However, it appears that is not always the case. Here is an interesting article from a woman who was a case worker at the Washington University Transgender Center in St. Louis. She is convinced that they are doing more harm than good.

https://www.thefp.com/p/i-thought-i-...ing-trans-kids


I am a 42-year-old St. Louis native, a queer woman, and politically to the left of Bernie Sanders. My worldview has deeply shaped my career. I have spent my professional life providing counseling to vulnerable populations: children in foster care, sexual minorities, the poor.
For almost four years, I worked at The Washington University School of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases with teens and young adults who were HIV positive. Many of them were trans or otherwise gender nonconforming, and I could relate: Through childhood and adolescence, I did a lot of gender questioning myself. I’m now married to a transman, and together we are raising my two biological children from a previous marriage and three foster children we hope to adopt.
All that led me to a job in 2018 as a case manager at The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital, which had been established a year earlier.
The center’s working assumption was that the earlier you treat kids with gender dysphoria, the more anguish you can prevent later on. This premise was shared by the center’s doctors and therapists. Given their expertise, I assumed that abundant evidence backed this consensus.
During the four years I worked at the clinic as a case manager—I was responsible for patient intake and oversight—around a thousand distressed young people came through our doors. The majority of them received hormone prescriptions that can have life-altering consequences—including sterility.
I left the clinic in November of last year because I could no longer participate in what was happening there. By the time I departed, I was certain that the way the American medical system is treating these patients is the opposite of the promise we make to “do no harm.” Instead, we are permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care.

[CWSmith]

Okay, I am still more than a little uncomfortable with allowing minors to undergo gender reassignment treatment.

That said, what kind of hell is it when the state will require transgender youths to reverse their treatment?

Tennessee's legislature gives trans youth 1 year to detransition

The Tennessee House of Representatives passed two bills today attacking LGBTQ+ rights, including a bill banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors and requiring transgender youth to detransition by March 2024.

The other bill bans drag performances in any place where minors might be present.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/te...dd04aab8c5abeb