Tag Archives: gender affirming care

State news

Heartlessness = GOP

Heartless attitudes about people’s emotional distress seems to have become part of the formula for success in today’s Republican Party.

Consider the policies enacted by Texas Republicans regarding the young people struggling with what we call “gender identity.” Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken “Under Felony Indictment” Paxton believe parents who seek treatment for their children’s gender ID issues are committing “child abuse.”

It baffles me that grown men and women, who do not have such issues with which to contend, can make judgments on others who do have them, or who have children they are seeking to help guide along on their life’s journey.

Abbott and Paxton — the latter of whom is awaiting trial on an allegation of securities fraud — believe that parents who seek “gender-affirming care” are guilty of abusing their children. My goodness! How in the name of humane treatment can these people pursue their constituents in this manner?

I am one American who cannot possibly relate intimately with the struggles of others who have these issues. Thus, I cannot in good conscience pretend to understand this complicated emotional behavior. How, then, do politicians who are supposed to represent me justify imposing their will on others?

It is a heartlessness I find terribly unbecoming.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

State news

‘Walking hate crime’

Michigan’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, is a Democrat; Texas’s AG, Ken Paxton, is a Republican.

Nessel, though, also believes Paxton is something quite weird. She calls Texas’s top legal eagle a “walking hate crime” because Paxton decided to refer to Rachel Levine as a “man.” And why did the indicted Texas AG make that scurrilous reference? Because Levine is a transgender individual who now is a woman; Levine also happens to serve as an assistant secretary of Health and Human Services in the Biden administration and was named one of USA Today’s women of the year.

Therein lies what I believe is an essential problem with too many Republican politicians of Paxton’s ilk. He hurls insults at individuals gratuitously.

“When people ask me why I don’t attend National Association of Attorneys General events anymore, it’s this. Paxton is a walking hate crime,” Nessel said.

Michigan AG: ‘Paxton is a walking hate crime’ | TheHill

Yes, Mme. Attorney General. Ken Paxton most certainly is a walking hate crime.

He and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have decided, for instance, that parents who seek to pursue “gender-affirming care” for their transgender children are committing “child abuse,” which is utter nonsense on its face. It’s also cruel and inhumane.

For what it’s worth, I consider Ken Paxton to be an embarrassment to this state, even though he has been elected twice as AG — for reasons that escape me.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

State news

It ain’t child abuse

Greg Abbott never struck me in the years I covered him while working in daily journalism as a man with a mean streak; that was before he became Texas governor and now his meanness is on display.

Abbott wants to prosecute parents of transgender children for child abuse. Why? Because they want their children to undergo what is called “gender-affirming care.” He has the endorsement of the state’s indicted attorney general, Ken Paxton, who is another piece of 
 work.

What is gender-affirming care? The Texas Tribune reported:

Areana Quiñones, executive director for the Texas nonprofit organization Doctors For Change, defined gender-affirming care as judgment-free, individualized care oriented toward understanding and appreciating a person’s gender. Providers often work with counselors and family members to ensure they have everything they need to navigate the health care system.

Under the gender-affirming model of care, more time is spent allowing kids to socially transition instead of focusing on medical treatment. A social transition consists of the steps a child takes to affirm their identity. An example could include allowing a child assigned male at birth to grow their hair or use a different name and wear clothing that better fits their identity.

Is that the stuff of child abuse? I think not.

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/04/gender-affirming-care-transgender-texas/

What’s happening is that Gov. Abbott, who just breezed to the Republican nomination for a third term as governor after being challenged from the right wing of his party, is trying to assuage concerns among the nut jobs in his party that he isn’t conservative enough. Yeah 
 he is.

This ridiculous attack on children who express legitimate concerns about their sexuality suggests a level of radical conservative thought that shouldn’t have a place in setting state policy.

Child abuse is clearly defined as physical or emotional damage inflicted on children. How gender-affirming care — as stated earlier in this blog post — falls into that category simply boggles my noodle.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com