299 Comments

And insurance companies

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Until we ratify the ERA, we will have second class citizens. Second class citizens are easy to demonize.

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ALEC writes the laws for them

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At this rate, bets on how long it will take for them to simply come out and pass a bill similar to Uganda's recent "homosexuality is punishable by death" bill, just more "inclusive" to include trans people as well.

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Which it won't because they are people in power (usually with money as well).

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My thoughts on this atrocity...

"...it may ban contraception for minors, although Fine said he didn't think it would."

Narrator: he knew it would, which is why he wrote it that way. No birth control for you, you nasty little underage slut (unless you're banging a Republican politician, of course).

"(ban)...any other surgical procedures that alter primary or secondary sexual characteristics."

Soooo...no breast augmentation. No treatment for undescended or torsioned testicles. No circumcisions. Enjoy that lawsuit from the Jewish community.

"You will kill them. I am telling you right now — look me in the eyes — you will kill them if you pass this bill and you don’t pass this amendment.

I'm so sorry, sweetheart, but that's the idea.

What a fucking travesty.

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Politicians have NO business intervening in ANY medical treatment. Once upon a time that would have been a solidly conservative opinion

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Still trying to rationalize how hatred and discrimination is the moral high ground.

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I know it's a deliberate strategy. They're also enjoying themselves, of course.

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Decisions on recognized and approved medical treatment should involve only you and the provider. Parents or legal guardians may be involved if you are underage or deemed mentally deficient or incompetent

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As I've been saying for years, "gender-affirming" care is a dumb phrase: the same exact procedures and medicine given to trans people are also given to cis people at a much higher frequency. When given to a cis person, it's called "endocrine care," or "ontology care" or sometimes some other kind of care. When given to a trans person, it's called "gender-affirming."

In 2021, Washington State passed a law that insurance companies must cover "gender-affirming" care if they would also cover the same treatment for a cis person in the same situation. They included a long list of treatments that insurance companies commonly deny to trans people, which included things like "therapy to help quit smoking." If there was some hypothetical drug that was only given to trans people, it would still be legal in Washington State for an insurance company to refuse to cover it. But no such drug exists.

Other red states have passed bans on "gender-affirming" care that say "oh, but it's totally okay to give it to cis kids," which exposes the obvious lie behind their claims it's "experimental" or "dangerous." But ALEC and some other Republicans know that following their rhetoric to it's natural conclusion would hurt people they like, so they pass bills that don't match their rhetoric and expose their true motivation.

They do a similar thing with abortion: if conservatives really believed abortion was murder, no one would support an exception for rape and incest. But Republicans actually just want to punish women for having extramarital sex, so some of them (but not all) add in exceptions.

And just like the bills that ban all abortion even in cases of rape or incest, Florida's new bill is at least a little bit consistent with the rhetoric: if endocrine care is actually dangerous to children (it isn't, but Republicans say it is), then it would make sense to ban if for all kids.

I wonder if this bill will finally be the wakeup call that "moderates" need to realize transphobia hurts them too?

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Are "trans" and "cis" actually defined medical terms or just means of self identification? I'm not really sure

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And if you got breast cancer there's a reasonable chance your doctor also gave you an antiestrogen, or what politicians call "puberty blockers."

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Absolutely. Non medical people have NO business in legislating about healthcare, unless advised to do so by actual medical experts. For instance, a lot of jurisdictions in Australia are banning conversion "therapy" for minors, because health experts came to them and said, "Hey, this shit is dangerous and bad and no one should do it". So the legislators said "OK" and banned it. No religious exemptions either, because fuck that.

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I am utterly furious at these hateful assholes trying to turn the country into their white Christian ethno state. I have a ten year old trans child and although I live in a blue state, I realize that bullshit like this doesn't know any boundaries and tends to creep. 😥

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