Trans children greatly affected in Arkansas since the medical ban was enacted

Four transgender children have attempted suicide since Arkansas enacted a law to take away their gender-affirming healthcare, rip apart their families, and imprison their parents.

Arkansas lawmakers were warned that this would happen but they didn’t listen. They chose to ignore every major US medical association, parents’ pleas, pediatrician’s warning, children’s cries for help and voted to override Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto.

Since the bill was approved, four transgender youth in Arkansas have attempted suicide said Dr. Michele Hutchison who runs a clinic at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Other patients have called the clinic to ask if they’ll be able to get their medications on the black market if the ban takes effect.

“My fear is that’s going to happen,” she said. “They’re going to find a way to get them, and it’s going to be dangerous because they won’t be monitored for side effects.”

Arkansas has the distinction of being the only state that has a law explicitly written to kill transgender children.

“My families are in a state of panic, asking what state should they move to, saying their child is threatening to kill themselves,” said Dr. Michele Hutchison who runs a clinic at Arkansas Children’s Hospital that has served about 200 families and has a waiting list of several dozen more. “They want to know what they should do next and we don’t have a clear answer for them.”

Hutchison’s clinic is by far the biggest provider of hormone therapy and other medical support for transgender young people in the state. Gender confirming surgery is not performed on minors in Arkansas.

Texas Reels under a Record Number of Transgender Youth Suicide Attempts

Cook Children’s Medical Center admitted 43 children and youth after attempting suicide in March 2021, a single-month record.

Last year the Tarrant county Hospital recorded the most admissions for this reason making suicide for the first time the leading cause of trauma death for children and youth, more than child abuse and vehicular death combined.

But it’s not just the medical bill, it’s all of the laws in 21 other states targeting children during the pandemic. People around the world see the GOP as monsters who kill transgender children out of spite, and they are right. They are monsters and they must be stopped or more innocent children will die.

Texas which I am sad to say is my state. It has strived for years to be the Southern Baptist’s chief executioner of transgender children.

Texas Republicans tried the last session with a bathroom bill. They failed because good people from around the state, doctors, politicians, mayors, police chiefs all rallied to stop them. They learned their lesson. Republicans are now chopping babies apart piecemeal with bills designed as not to rile large numbers of professionals or citizens at a time.  Education and Social Data Equality are things that are needed to offset these atrocities.

Tuesday the House will hear public testimony on HB 4042 the counterpart of the Senate’s student transgender sports ban. This will be the last time we have to speak against it before it is signed into law.

It is still in committee but that doesn’t matter. This isn’t a democracy, it is a one-party state, and the executioners from Trumps’ Amerika First party smell blood.

They are monsters. They know what they are doing. They are killing our children.

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DOJ: Denying Trans people Healthcare is cruel and unusual punishment

The Department of Justice announced today that denying a transgender person gender-affirming care or appropriate housing in prison is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th Amendment.

This powerful affirmation of people’s right to healthcare is based on the eighth amendment a necessary check today in cases of lawmakers who seek to end a generation of transgender people through oppression and deprivation of heathcare.

“Patrick Henry asserted….that the lack of a prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments meant that Congress could use punishment as a tool of oppression: “Congress . . . . may introduce the practice of France, Spain, and Germany of torturing, to extort a confession of the crime. They . . . will tell you that there is such a necessity of strengthening the arm of government, that they must . . . extort confession by torture, in order to punish with still more relentless severity. We are then lost and undone.” Largely as a result of these objections, the Constitution was amended to prohibit cruel and unusual punishments.”

The same can be said for the argument the state legislatures who deprive a minority of life-saving drugs while allowing the majority to access them for the same reason without penalty.

Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Agonist Treatment of Central Precocious Puberty is safe.

Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Agonist Treatment to delay puberty in the cases of gender disphoria is also safe.

This is exactly what Arkansas did. They did this knowing that children would die. Four were admitted to a hospital after attempting suicide the week following the signing of that law.

This is what Texas Republicans trying to do today.

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Pixar Casting Call: Looking for a trans girl – Voice for 14-year-old Jess

Pixar is seeking a young actor to voice a new transgender character reports Yahoo entertainment.

One year ago, Pixar introduced its first LGBTQ+ character — voiced by openly gay writer and actor Lena Waithe — in the Oscar-nominated feature Onward. Now, the animation studio is looking to break another barrier. A casting notice first posted by the official Twitter account for the annual San Francisco Trans March earlier this week reveals that Pixar is seeking a transgender performer to provide the voice of a transgender girl in an upcoming animated project.

In a follow-up tweet, SF Trans March said that they had confirmed the authenticity of the casting notice with the project’s casting director. “We talked to the casting director and they sent us this flyer,” the group’s statement reads. “They’re reaching out to other orgs as well, but we got the sense we’re the first to post about it.”

Although the casting notice doesn’t provide any details about the plot of the project, or whether it will be a full-length feature or a short film, it does offer a compelling sketch of this pioneering Pixar character. Jess is described as a 14-year-old transgender girl who is “compassionate, funny and always has your back.” The notice goes on to say that Pixar is looking for an actress between 12 and 17 years old who is “enthusiastic, outgoing, funny and energetic” and “can authentically portray a 14-year-old transgender girl.”

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Judge dismisses Lawsuit against Connecticut Transgender Runners

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed against two transgender athletes after the cisgender complainants graduated and couldn’t name another transgender runner. They shouldn’t feel too bad, neither could any of the 20 legislators who filed bills seeking to ban transgender athletes.

AP reports – The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, which oversees scholastic sports in the state, allows high school athletes to compete in sports according to their gender identity. The lawsuit was filed a year ago by cisgender runners who argued they were deprived of wins, state titles and athletic opportunities by being forced to compete against two transgender sprinters.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Chatigny dismissed the lawsuit on procedural grounds, saying in the ruling released Sunday that there was no dispute to resolve because the two transgender athletes have graduated and the plaintiffs could not identify other female transgender athletes.

Conservative lawmakers in more than 20 states have introduced legislation to ban or limit transgender athletes from competing on teams or sports that align with their gender identity. Laws banning transgender women and girls from participating in organized sports have been signed in Idaho, Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas.

Arguments in the Connecticut lawsuit centered around Title IX, the federal law that requires equal opportunities for women and girls in education, including sports.

Defense attorney Joshua Block argued the CIAC policy doesn’t deny any girl a meaningful opportunity to participate in sports, but that overturning it would violate the Title IX rights of transgender girls.

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NCAA Releases In Depth Video on Transgender Athletes Policy

NCAA leaders felt a need to discuss collegiate transgender policies given the current climate of ignorance and fear.

NCAA Board of Governors Statement on Transgender Participation
April 12, 2021 2:20pm

The NCAA Board of Governors firmly and unequivocally supports the opportunity for transgender student-athletes to compete in college sports. This commitment is grounded in our values of inclusion and fair competition.

The NCAA has a long-standing policy that provides a more inclusive path for transgender participation in college sports. Our approach — which requires testosterone suppression treatment for transgender women to compete in women’s sports — embraces the evolving science on this issue and is anchored in participation policies of both the International Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Inclusion and fairness can coexist for all student-athletes, including transgender athletes, at all levels of sport. Our clear expectation as the Association’s top governing body is that all student-athletes will be treated with dignity and respect. We are committed to ensuring that NCAA championships are open for all who earn the right to compete in them.

When determining where championships are held, NCAA policy directs that only locations where hosts can commit to providing an environment that is safe, healthy and free of discrimination should be selected. We will continue to closely monitor these situations to determine whether NCAA championships can be conducted in ways that are welcoming and respectful of all participants.

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Texas anti-trans Sports Ban *Bathroom Bill 2.0* dies in committee

The Texas anti-trans sports ban will likely die in the committee said Representative Harold Dutton, the Public Education Committee Chair on Wednesday.

Tuesday was a grueling night with the haters dissing trans youth as expected speaking first at the invitation of the bill’s sponsors. You can recognize the young ones by their britches hiked up to their armpits and the elders by their thousand-dollar suits. These aren’t your everyday Texans.

Rep. Dutton a Houston Democrat commented with a smile early on how he was pleased that the committee of six Democrats and seven Republicans was non-partisan. The bill’s sponsor left the room soon after.

“The bill is probably not going to make it out of committee,” Rep. Dutton told Hurst Newspaper Wednesday, in an article behind a paywall.  “We just don’t have the votes for it…But I promised the author we would have a hearing, and we did.”

How did we get to this point again?

Lt. Gov Dan Patrick illegally strong-armed the University Interscholastic League into changing the rules after his anti-transgender bills failed in 2017. The UIL rules he emplaced closely resemble that of the sports ban. Previous to that the UIL followed the NCAA in conditionally allowing trans athletes to participate.

The bill’s sponsor wanted to codify those rules as they “can be easily changed”. What he meant was Texas was soon to be in court defending themselves as something so blatantly discriminatory is a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Of the 80 people registered to speak 70 spoke against it. These were a diverse cross-section of Texas, from Highschool students to battle-scarred seniors.

One exception was Log cabin Republican Michael Austin who spoke in support of the ban. Prior to that, he spent his time glaring angrily at me in the hallway as if to dare me to say something. This gay man, small of stature, wore a large firearm on his hip to testify at the Texas legislature, a fact not lost on all committee members.

My testimony began with recalling a young black female who joined my Army Platoon soon after the DOD opened my combat mos to women. I learned some important lessons from her. Gender doesn’t matter, size either. it was her heart that drove this soldier to succeed. As a half marathon runner, I spoke directly with Chairman Dutton. I never placed first in a chip-timed race. Instead I took home validation and strength of soul which is more important than a piece of gold.

When it was said and done we had disassembled every reason the bills sponsor had to offer. It clearly wasn’t about fairness or girls’ sports.  It was about segregation, hate, and regression.

Last year, thousands of people from around the world virtually came together and ran a 5k to show LGBTQ+ young people that they are seen, that they belong, and that they have visible allies everywhere who love and accept them ???

And this year… we’re going to do it again! Registration opens up May 1, 2021.

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Texas Legislature and Transgender Care

The mother of a transgender boy testified before the Texas legislature in tears as Republicans try to pass a bill to criminalize parents who support their transgender children.

“I’m terrified to be here today,” said Amber Briggle told the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs at a hearing earlier this week. “I’m afraid that by speaking here today that my words will be used against me should S.B. 1646 or S.B. 1311 pass, and my sweet son whom I love more than life itself will be taken from me.”

Related: 4th grader shames GOP Texas senators who have been “attacking me since Pre-K”

Texas’s S.B. 1646 would redefine child abuse to include “consenting to or assisting in the administering or supplying of, a puberty suppression prescription drug or cross-sex hormone to a child,” as well as other gender-affirming health care procedures, even though puberty blockers are reversible and have been found to significantly reduce suicidal thoughts for trans people.

And Briggle knows that first-hand.

“When my son was four-years-old, he asked me if scientists could turn him into a boy,” Briggle said, adding that she didn’t understand that he was trans. “I only knew that he wasn’t like most girls his age and that something inside him was hurting.”

She said that she learned about trans youth and found that surgery is not performed on minors, despite how much Republican lawmakers talk about surgery in the context of bills to ban gender-affirming care for minors.

“Today, my son is 13-years-old, the most popular boy in seventh grade, and loved by our friends, family, our church, and our community,” Briggle said. “This is possible because he has parents who affirm him and provide him with the support he needs.”

“Taking that support away from him, or worse, taking him away from his family because we broke the law to provide that support – will have devastating and heartbreaking consequences,” she said, fighting through tears.

“If this bill becomes law, that, senators, is child abuse,” she concluded. “And I promise I will call every single one of you every time a transgender child dies from suicide to remind you that their lives could have been saved, but you chose not to.”

The group Doctors For Change released an open letter to the sponsors of the legislation pointing out that the bill flies in the face of medical research and standards of care.

“The care provided to children and youth with gender dysphoria is tailored to their specific needs by a team of highly trained providers, including pediatricians, mental health specialists, endocrinologists, surgeons, and allies and supporters including parents and guardians,” they wrote. “Each provider plays a role in ensuring the health of the child based on established standards of care and the peer-reviewed medical literature.”

“In our experience, affirmation and acceptance from parents, guardians, physicians, and all other important adults in a child’s life is extremely beneficial to the child’s health outcomes and happiness. These benefits are also supported overwhelmingly by the medical literature and highly respected pediatric organizations including the Texas Pediatric SocietyAmerican Academy of Pediatrics, and Pediatric Endocrine Society.”

Briggle also mentioned S.B. 1311, a bill that targets the liability insurance of doctors who provide gender-affirming care for trans people.

The Texas House held hearings this week for two more anti-LGBTQ bills, including one to expand religious exemptions for health care professionals that could result in doctors being able to turn away LGBTQ patients if they cite their “ethical, oral, or religious beliefs.”

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Tennessee Bathroom Bills reaches Governor Bill Lee’s Desk

The Tennessee legislature sent their latest Bathroom bill to Gov. Lee for his consideration.

The bill would allow students and teachers to sue public school systems if they encounter people of the opposite sex or transgender people in a multi-stall restroom. It is unclear if he will sign it.

The Tennessee House passed HB 1233 (SB 1367), a discriminatory bill that would deny transgender students access to the correct bathroom and locker rooms consistent with the gender identity. The bill further discriminates against transgender students and opens up schools to legal consequences if a student believes they have shared a sex-segregated space –bathrooms, locker rooms or other changing facilities — with a transgender student.

HRC reports that HB 1233 (SB 1367) is part of the 2021 “Slate of Hate” bills rippling through the Tennessee state legislature, along with the anti-transgender sports and business bathroom bills. These anti-equality pieces of legislation are being pushed by national extremist groups and peddled by lawmakers in Tennessee in an effort to sow fear and division.

TN Bathroom Sign
SB1224: Public Buildings – As introduced, requires a public or private entity or business that operates a building or facility open to the general public to post a notice at the entrance of each public restroom and at each entrance of the building of the entity’s or business’s policy of allowing a member of either biological sex to use any public restroom within the building or facility, if the entity or business maintains such a policy.

The Tennessee House recently passed HB 1182 (SB 1224), a bathroom signage bill drastically stigmatizing transgender people and making access to public accommodations problematic and hazardous throughout Tennessee.

The Senate Judiciary Committee forwarded SB 1224 to the Senate Calendar Committee with a do pass recommendation. A Senate floor vote has not yet been set. The Tennessee legislature remains in session until April 30, 2021.

The legislature is also considering HB 578 (SB 657), an anti-trans medical care ban, HB 800 (SB 1216), a bill that would prevent schools from providing an LGBTQ-inclusive education, and HB 372 (SB 193), a bill to prohibit all government employees, including teachers, first responders, and public officials from attending diversity training.

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Ezra Furman comes out as a transparent “I’m trans and a mom.”

Coming out while insurrectionists are trying everything to annihilate a generation of transgender youth is traumatic enough. But to do so and reveal that you are a mother, well that takes a special kind of person.

Ezra Furman the musician of “Sex Education” fame did just that. She said on Instagram “I wanted to share with everyone that I am a trans woman, and also that I am a mom and have been for a while now (like 2+ years).”

“About being a trans woman,” wrote Ezra, “for my own reasons I have been hesitant to use these words, especially the “woman” word. I have often described myself as non-binary, which maybe is still true (I’m just gonna sit with that question for the moment). But I’ve come to terms with the fact that I am a woman, and yes for me it’s complex, but it’s complex to be any sort of woman. I am very proud to be a trans woman and to have come to know it and be able to say it. This has not been an easy journey.”

Erza Furman
Erza Furman / Restless Year 2015

About being a mom: there’s enough said in public about the magic of parenthood. It is beautiful and holy and I love it—that’s all on that subject. I have not yet mentioned in public that I’m a parent because I have been afraid of being judged and grilled about it as if it’s anyone’s business other than mine and my family’s.

But. I’m telling you I’m a mom now for a specific reason. Because one problem with being trans is that we have so few visions of what it can look like to have an adult life, to grow up and be happy and not die young. When our baby was born I had approximately zero examples that I had seen of trans women raising children. So here’s one for anyone who wants to see one. I’m a trans woman and a mom. This is possible. I never dreamed it was possible to be happy and self-realized and trans and uncloseted, and also become a parent. But it is and I am doing it. Because trans people deserve to pursue the lives we want, on our terms,” wrote Ezra.

That’s all for now. More music to come before long.

So happy for you Ezra! we wish the very best for you and your family. Love your laundromat too.

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States to kick out Corporations, NCAA and forgo federal funding to keep anti trans laws

The states who have passed laws that are in violation of the Civil rights act of 1964 have told The NCAA71 major corporations, and the Department of Justice that they don’t care what they think, targeting children with discrmination will remain their priority.

In Arkansas, the state passed a bill denying minority children healthcare despite being warned of the harm it would cause. A week later 4 children were admitted to the hospital in Little Rock for attempted suicide. The condition of those minors has not been revealed.

Despite this, Arkansas lawmakers are pushing more bills through the legislature that will require the state attorney general to prosecute parents, school staff, and doctors who don’t out gender diverse children to the state authorities.

The same thing is happening in Texas, Tennessee, Missippii, Montana, and Florida.

Under proposed Florida legislationanyone could file a complaint if they suspect a competitor in a female sporting event was not born with a Vagina. That child would then have to prove she was born a “biological” girl. They could “prove their birth gender via a genetic test, a test of their testosterone levels, or an examination to see if they have a pussy or a dick.

We are talking about leading a first grader by the hand behind a curtain and demand to see their private parts. Are you fucking kidding me? If you did that to my kid you would see the business end of my Glock, I kid you not.

The Florida High School Athletic Association and the National Collegiate Athletic Association both have policies allowing transgender athletes to compete in sports, and the NCAA said last week that it will pull championships from states that limit transgender participation. “Florida is set to host more than 40 regional or national NCAA championship events between the next academic year and May of 2026,” the Tampa Bay Times notes.

Florida’s nazis took the cue from POS45 who told them at the white nationalist convention to focus their hate on transgender kids.

This is a warning to parents across the nation. These laws vary in wording from state to state and don’t apply SPECIFICALLY to anyone’s kid.

Oh no, that would be discriminatory and the nazis don’t want that. However, they apply equally to any student who crosses into Florida, Missippi, South Dakota, Tennesse, Texas, or Montana.

Your kid included.

From the picture above Amber Briggle was horrified to learn a friend of the family Texas State Representative Lynn Stucky — who has met her family, knows her son by name, and crosses the room to shake max’s hand when we see him — SIGNED ON TO HB68 which labels my husband and I as child abusers if we provide our child the support he needs.

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Easysoftonic