March 27, 2023

Alabama Judge requires parents to turn over transgender children's medical records

Parents who are fighting to overturn Alabama’s ban on some types of gender-affirming care have been ordered by a federal judge to turn over their children’s medical records.

Boe v. Marshall was brought by five parents who argue a 2022 state law strips them of the right to make important decisions about their children’s healthcare. All of the children involved in the case are transgender, according to court documents, though not all have been formally diagnosed with gender dysphoria or chosen to take medication.

In their response to the defendant’s initial request for medical records, plaintiff’s stated that such records are protected and confidential medical information. They also argued that, under the new law, evidence that such treatments have been offered in the state could possibly lead to criminal charges.

Over 20 medical organizations have filed briefs in support of the plaintiffs claims that the treatments are essential medical care, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

https://www.al.com/educationlab/2023/03/judge-requires-parents-to-turn-over-transgender-childrens-medical-records.html

March 27, 2023

The Tennessee shooter and stochastic terrorism

Stochastic terrorism is typically defined as:

"the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted"

Note that it doesn't say who commits the act. Typically though, it's someone who is in some way vulnerable to the techniques used. They could have any of a number of severe mental illnesses, but they could also simply be someone susceptible to the effects of the messaging being broadcast. The whole point of stochastic terrorism is that by using rhetoric designed to evoke strong emotions, those using it as a tool know that eventually, someone somewhere will snap and act on it.

People often assume that only people aligned with the rhetoric are susceptible, but it can also be those they are relentlessly attacking. And in that case stochastic terrorism is even more effective, as it can be used to demonize the community again, as we've already seen Republicans do.

Please keep that in mind when reading and discussing what the tragedy in Tennessee today and as more information is released?

March 27, 2023

Content warning: transgender suicide

The intentional, relentless, open expression of hate and cruelty that's been building up weighs on every trans person I know or am aware of via social media, you tube, blogs, media outlets, and so on.

There are far too many of us dying. Nobody should have to live like this, every day waking up to a constant barrage of threatened and actual violence, of so many people around us telling us we should not exist - and certainly not openly in society - and of the ongoing message that we do not deserve to live.

I don't know what to feel anymore, or what I actually do feel anymore. I bounce between fear, anger, sadness and despair all day long, while working and doing the best I can as a parent, and spouse.

Our community is scared. We are hurting. And yet all that pain seems to do is empower anyone who selfishly promotes us as a "threat" to their way of life.

"Popular and Well Loved Transgender United Airlines Flight Attendant Tragically Dies By Suicide"

https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2023/03/22/popular-and-well-loved-transgender-united-airlines-flight-attendant-tragically-dies-by-suicide/


"Trans flight attendant famed for airline ad found dead
Transgender flight attendant Kayleigh Scott — who gained fame after appearing in a United Airlines commercial — has been found dead."

WARNING: THIS LINK CONTAINS MOST OF HER SUICIDE NOTE

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/mental-health/trans-flight-attendant-famed-for-airline-ad-found-dead/news-story/9ee934b75e6640bac7bfee74bfb04c4e

March 26, 2023

Missouri AG opens tip line to report transgender teen health care as 'child abuse'

In a step toward fascism:

"In an effort to protect children, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced today that his office has launched an online form where those who have experienced harm from gender transition interventions or witnessed troubling practices at transition clinics in Missouri can submit their concerns. This tip line stems from an investigation that Attorney General Bailey launched into a St. Louis pediatric transgender center that has been accused by a whistleblower of using experimental drugs on children, distributing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones without individualized assessment, and even giving children these life-altering drugs without parental consent."

That would be the "investigation" that stemmed from accusations strongly refuted by the actual patients & their parents:

"Families dispute whistleblower’s allegations against St. Louis transgender center"
https://missouriindependent.com/2023/03/01/transgender-st-louis-whistleblower/

“The idea that nobody got information, that everybody was pushed toward treatment, is just not true."
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/parents-push-back-on-allegations-against-st-louis-transgender-center-i-m-baffled/article_a94bc4d2-e68b-535f-b0c7-9fefb9e8e9f4.html




State of Missouri AG press release:
https://ago.mo.gov/home/news/2023/03/23/attorney-general-bailey-launches-tip-line-for-reports-of-questionable-gender-transition-interventions

March 22, 2023

Gay Sarasota school board member walks out of meeting after repeated homophobic remarks

The chairwoman of the school board let multiple members of the public directly attack a gay board member, calling him a "groomer" because he's openly gay.

Said chairwoman by the way is also the co-founder of the conservative nonprofit Moms For Liberty.

https://www.wfla.com/news/sarasota-county/gay-sarasota-school-board-member-walks-out-of-meeting-after-homophobic-remarks/

March 22, 2023

The reason behind the Amazon layoffs - leaked internal document

"Amazon Web Services posted 24,988 job openings in 2022, but the department was only approved to recruit for 7,798 positions."

AWS is just one division. Apparently the entire company is a chaotic mess internally. Kinda makes me wonder if decision makers at several big companies saw the pandemic as such a big profit opportunity they threw caution to the wind. Especially since they'd likely still have a job after the inevitable corrections.

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-flawed-job-listing-process-over-hiring-layoffs-2023-3

March 22, 2023

Thanks to the Roberts Court, "A boom for concealed carry classes across California"

Prior to January, it was very rare for someone to have a concealed carry permit in the Golden State. Now class instructors are swamped. This will soon translate to vastly larger numbers of people carrying concealed guns in my home state and along with that, increased gun violence.

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/a-boom-for-concealed-carry-classes-across-california-but-long-waits-for-pe/

"There is supportive evidence that shall-issue concealed-carry laws may increase total and firearm homicides."

https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis/concealed-carry/violent-crime.html#:~:text=Summary%3A%20There%20is%20supportive%20evidence,increase%20violent%20crime%20is%20limited.

March 21, 2023

Critics say US bishops' new statement on transgender health care lacks science

The U.S. Catholic bishops are one of the powerhouses behind the Republican drive to block transgender healthcare across the nation. Yesterday they issued a document yesterday rejecting all gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender individuals and reasserting that such procedures must not be performed by Catholic providers.

"Any technological intervention that does not accord with the fundamental order of the human person as a unity of body and soul, including the sexual difference inscribed in the body, ultimately does not help but, rather, harms the human person," wrote members of the bishops' Committee on Doctrine in a March 20 doctrinal note titled "On the Moral Limits to Technological Manipulation of the Human Body."

Since 2019, when the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education published "Male and Female He Created Them," which addresses "gender theory" and Catholic education, many anticipated an authoritative text from the U.S. bishops on gender identity. Yet the new doctrinal note is circumscribed; it principally covers medical interventions for people with "gender dysphoria" and emphasizes "particular care should be taken to protect children and adolescents."

Blocking LGBTQ healthcare and abortions are the primary reasons the Catholic church now controls doctors' decisions in 1 out of 6 hospitals in the USA.

This goes way beyond the "religous liberty" of a business or nonprofit. Even here in California, all major hospitals in the top third of the state are Catholic owned or affiliated, and prohibit such care. Across the nation for the last 20 years, they focused on buying or buying into isolated hospitals and regional trauma centers for the stated purpose of being able to control the healthcare provided based on the Church's religious dogma. They have monopolies in many regions around the country.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/critics-say-us-bishops-new-statement-transgender-health-care-lacks-sound-science-and-trans

March 21, 2023

Betcha didn't know the Missouri AG can prohibit health care practices in use for 40 years!

Apparently all he has to do is declare it an "emergency" and back it up with nothing more than horribly inaccurate right-wing talking points. It gets weirder - he put out the press release but as of end of day to day hadn't actually filed his order.

https://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/health/missouri-ag-announces-rule-aimed-as-ending-transgender-care-for-minors/article_8b24ff24-dba3-5b1a-b5a1-594c1359f970.html

...and then there's the press release itself, which I have to warn you is chock full of lies, inaccuracies and things he's presenting as fact, some of which he seems to have made up on the spot.

https://ago.mo.gov/home/news/2023/03/20/missouri-attorney-general-andrew-bailey-announces-emergency-regulation-on-gender-transition-interventions-for-minors

First, there is no emergency. The time frame he mentions for the order however, conveniently begins now and covers until the end of the Legislative session.

What he is calling "experimental" treatments have been in use for 40 years. They are the standard of care and endorsed by all major health care professional organizations. They have been proven and documented to be safe and effective. Their success rate is 97%-99%.

His repeated mentions of a so-called "social contagion" phenomenon are just as bad. The idea was formed by an anti-trans activist academic; she had to retract the paper she published due to the debunking as none of it was backed by any proof or facts. Essentially, it is that trans people choose to be trans and kids who suddenly come out as trans or non-binary and start hanging out with others like them do so because they were convinced by those other kids. It's a weird cart before the horse and has been resoundingly debunked as bad science.

He also mentions that the Endocrine Society published a study that says 80% of trans teens desist after puberty. That's simply a lie. The ES is a proponent of trans teen care when needed. They are the ones typically providing the care. But also, that 80% figure comes from Kenneth Zucker, a right wing researcher who was causing so much harm to the trans teens in his care, CAMH shut down his clinic and gave him the boot.

Finally, the AG mandates that “any existing mental health comorbidities of the patient” must be “treated and resolved” before they can receive trans health care. This is his and Republicans way of claiming that trans & nonbinary kids don't follow gender expectations *because* they are depressed, or anxious. The reality is that they often have other mental health needs specifically because of all the hate being lobbed at them day in and day out. Oh, and his declaration would prohibit autistic or ADHD teens from receiving care because in his mind, they can't discern accurately what their gender is. Ignoring that being trans and being autistic are both intrinsic to the person; there is nothing to cure. They are simply non-standard neurologies, and they happen to highly overlap.

Not allowing trans teens to access the medical care they need, and openly showing such hatred toward them results in dead trans teens. This is not hyperbole.

Thank you, for letting me rant, and I apologize for the long post. It's getting scary out here.

Addendum: Another example of a Republican AG declaring an "emergency", this time to stop trans students from joining sports teams in West Virginia, which has suddenly become unacceptable & thus qualifies as an emergency in the AG's eyes. So much so that he wants the US Supreme Court to rule on it.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/mar/20/trans-student-urges-supreme-court-keep-block-west-/

Correction: the 85% desistance statistic was from a 2013 study, one that Zucker often cites: Steensma TD , Kreukels BP , de Vries AL , Cohen-Kettenis PT . Gender identity development in adolescence. Horm Behav. 2013;64(2):288–297. The problem with that one and the other oft-cited study of that era is that often teens who were simply gender non-conforming were lumped in with trans teens. It's the difference between someone assigned female at birth saying, "I like boy activites/clothes/etc" and, "I am a boy"

March 19, 2023

High drama, ugly deeds, politics and moments of kindness swirl amid a re-emerging Tulare Lake

"The drama was high on the Tulare Lake bed Saturday as flood waters pushed some landowners to resort to heavy handed and, in one instance, illegal tactics, to try and keep their farm ground dry — even at the expense of other farmers and some small communities.

Someone illegally cut the banks of Deer Creek in the middle of the night causing water to rush toward the tiny town of Allensworth. At the south end of the old lake bed, the J.G. Boswell Company had workers drag a piece of heavy equipment onto the banks of its Homeland Canal to prevent any cuts that would drain Poso Creek water onto Boswell land.

And a tense political battle ended Saturday afternoon with the Kings County Board of Supervisors voting to cut a levee on Boswell’s land to relieve building pressure from the Tule River. A call to a Boswell representative on Saturday wasn’t returned in time for this story. And this is only the beginning.

“This is just a baby flood compared to what we’ll see later this spring,” predicted Jack Mitchell, head of the Deer Creek Flood Control District."

https://sjvwater.org/high-drama-ugly-deeds-politics-and-moments-of-kindness-swirl-amid-the-waters-of-a-re-emerging-tulare-lake/


Tulare Lake was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River. Connected to that fact, it's the lowest lying area in the San Joaquin Valley. And it's only "dry" or not a lake anymore because farmers over the last 100 years have overpumped the groundwater in the entire region. Meanwhile, they transformed the entire lake bed into crop fields and small towns.

And now the state - especially that region - is experiencing record breaking rainfall and snowpack in the mountains that drain into the lake.

It's a precarious situation, and there is much at stake for anyone or any corporation that owns land or lives in the region.