A federal judge says that DeSantis was spreading lies when he called gender-affirming care “mutilation.”
This year has been all downhill for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. His presidential aspirations are going up in smoke thanks to his complete lack of charisma and general campaign incompetence. His losing war against Disney is costing Florida taxpayers millions of dollars. Now a federal court all but called DeSantis a liar for the way he justified his ban on medical care for trans youth.
DeSantis repeatedly claimed that the law was necessary to prevent youth from being “mutilated.” In just one example, he went after one reporter who questioned him about it when he signed the bill last May.
“And when you talk to people and I know, like people in your industry will dress it up with a euphemism, and they’ll say it’s health care to cut off the private parts of a 14 or 15 year old,” DeSantis said. “That is not health care. That is mutilation.”
Tell that to U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle.
I think it’s wrong and bizarre that we cut the private parts of babies just because of a social trend started by a bunch of weirdos. That’s why medically unnecessary circumcision before the age of 18 should be regulated.
This is consistent with the tiny minority who view the practice as a covenant with God because you’re not allowed to enter into a contract as a minor in the US.
Tbh, I think that irreversible sex change surgeries shouldn’t be allowed until the age of 18 (circumcision included). There’s a reason that we don’t let children do a lot of things, and that’s because their brain isn’t developed enough to make informed decisions.
There are a lot of things that I personally thought were a good idea in my teens that I definitely wouldn’t in my mid 30s, and I’m sure that’s true for most people.
I’d like to know the stats for how many people under 18 are having actual sex change procedures.
I always assumed the care what we’re receiving at that age was things like hormone therapy, or something that could easily be reversed later.
You are correct, it is only reversible care. Nobody gets a sex change under 18 in the US due to minor status consent and permanent procedures like that. Unfortunately you will find it hard to prove something that doesn’t happen, happened. That’s why they choose this route so they can claim that they are making sure kids aren’t getting sex changes by getting the medical/therapy records for anyone Trans.
The problem is that it’s just so they get their info to persecute them, which even if this gets stopped in court it keeps Trans people from seeking professional care due to completely legitimate fears of future breaches. They win whether they get the records or not.
Republicans love to go after things that don’t actually happen.
Just like allowing abortion bans to prevent 8 month abortions which never actually happened unless medically necessary.
The only non-reversible surgery that a very small number trans teens get is something that their cis peers also get: gynecomastia surgery. People aren’t worried about whether cis boys are satisfied with it, though. 🤷♂️
It happens, but it’s limited to mastectomies.
There is also the argument that messing with hormones during puberty is probably not a great idea.
This is the lie that is being told. No reputable doctor is doing this. You are right, a teenager can’t reliably make those sorts of decisions.
The optimal treatment is a combination. They give drugs that delay puberty, combined with intensive mental health care.
The drugs are because reversing the effects of puberty is hard and invasive. By delaying puberty, they can sidestep a lot of these issues. If the patient decides they were wrong, they can stop the drugs, and puberty will kick in normally.
The mental health care is to help them get a handle on what is actually wrong. It filters out those with other mental health issues, that could be helped better in other ways. It also allows those who want to go through with it to firm up their understanding of what it will entail, and what they need to do prior.
If, after all this, they still want to transition, they can start the process. They are at least now aware of what it will entail, and don’t have the baggage of their body lurching in the opposite direction to their mind.
Yeah, for sure. I’m definitely not against hormones and mental health treatment. It’s just weird that “children shouldn’t be able to just get permanent, life altering surgery,” is a bad take around here.
It’s an uninformed take because these bans are preventing teens and young adults from accessing blockers and hormones.
I never said I supported the laws blocking access to blockers and hormones. You’re the one who read more into my comment than what was there.
You need to clarify your point then, keeping in mind that you are in a thread about the state of Florida blocking access to puberty blockers and hormones.
No, you need to not make assumptions. The comment I was responding to was discussing circumcision, and had nothing to do with blockers or hormones. I intentionally only brought up surgery.
Anything else was your assumption.
It’s a dog whistle, from the right wing.
They need to rile up their base. They used to do this with abortion, but they accidentally caught that particular car. They’ve apparently decided trans people will be their new whipping boy.
They are using the same playbook as with abortion, namely false equivalences. They say they are against genital mutilated of children. When it comes to laws however, they go after the very existence of trans people.
This is why people are reacting so strongly.
Do consider this doesn’t actually happen - but this hypothetical point is often repeated and signal-boosted above the bad things that actually do happen to trans kids, and people who simply don’t want us to exist fully believe it’s real, discuss it as our agenda, and even threaten institutions and doctors who may or may not actually provide gender affirming care.
It’s a bad take, because it’s not what is being argued, and it is heavily insinuated that the only reason such an insane thing is being argued against is because someone is arguing for it.
Okay, can we just take a minute to acknowledge that the ONLY gender affirming surgery legally on the table before you are 16 is for breasts?
It also requires the sign off of a legal guardian and there are a bunch of recommendations in place from therapists about how to make good long term decisions so it’s not like minors are making uninformed decisions on their own.
But your brain is so developed it can decide what’s good for others. Kindly shut up.
I guess you also support letting 14 year olds get tattoos?
Fourteen year olds can already get tattoos with parental permission in most places.
That doesn’t answer my question.
Okay, then yes, I think when a team of doctors agrees that a patient needs medical tattooing to deal with an issue, they should be able to get it.
I guess your brain isn’t that developed after all. It’s making up relations that are not there in reality.
This, but for religiously motivated circumcision.
Ron.
You picked the correct description of the portions of the body underground surgery.
They are indeed private parts, and therefore none of your god-damned business.
I hope they strike down every one of these bigoted garbage laws.
Get rekt you insecure bitch
LOL, the hits keep coming. Remember how ronnie was supposed to be the new Great White Hope for the cons?
He still is. They want him to run in 2028.
What a small tiny man, with a disproportionately tiny heart.
He always looks like he just realized he got stung by a bee, and he’s allergic.
His losing war against Disney is costing Florida taxpayers millions of dollars.
How is this “conservative”?
You have fallen for the grift… “conservative” doesn’t refer to money conservation or a cautious disposition towards taking measures. Oftentimes Conservative ideology and politics is neither of those things beong actually more wasteful and sporadic than other political parties …
At it’s core Conservatism believes in a heirachy that requires effort to conserve from the forces which scatter power horizontally. Social welfare programs, debt relief, market protections, union power and democratic elections are all things which upset the “naturally” forming heirachy like one might conserve a nature preserve. That the heirachy they are fighting is actually fairly artificially enforced isn’t something you are supposed to think about. Originally they were post revolution pacts conserving the power of the old powers… rich land owners , the lords, monarchists, the industrialists, the capitalists, colonization and imperialist powers… And they still kind of are.
In this instance Disney essentially has power it was granted outside the Conservative veiw of “efficient” heirachy. Disney was fine until they started doing things that conflicted with party directives and exercising their power autonomously. It’s not doing what the officers who veiw themselves as rightful weilders of power want them to do so it must be busted to conserve the food chain.
Should Disney have that level of sovereignty? Probably not, but watching snakes try and swallow each other starting at the tail is fun.
You have fallen for the grift
Actually I haven’t; just pointing out how full of shit they are.
I find it helpful to leave no muddy water or room for misinterpretation. Conservatives understand hypocrisy well and they prime every one of their folk to not consider or think of it.
“Conservative” being a reference or implicationto a policy that is expected to be either frugal or tempered by moderation and due concern is basically branding gold. Conservatives LIVE for that shit. It’s why socially progressive people still hold onto “but I am still a little conservative” seed. Because everyone thinks they are moderate and the belief that the Conservatives are cutting services to save money seems to make sense to them. The minute you try and get them on why they cut or outsource social programs they plead money saving and the second you throw a budget in front of the public proving they are still overspending you get whataboutisms, red herrings or logical fallacies because that’s how they train people to think… Or not think rather. They are already trained to let an argument about spending just slide over them and never sink in.
___
Removed by mod
I hope you are not being obtuse. No children are having such surgeries. This is a lie that is presented as fact to justify these hateful pieces of legislation. Children typically only socially transition, as in new name, hairstyle, clothes, etc. There is absolutely no mutilation or irreversible changes being made to these kids.
I think this bears repeating: No children are having any sort of gender affirming surgeries. These are lies that are used by hateful people to attack people like me. Please do not believe these lies. Rather, talk to a trans person. Hear their story. We just want to live our lives in peace.
First off, that doesn’t happen. Ever. (Surgeries do happen at that age, especially mastectomies, but not for cosmetic reasons)
Second of all, where is your outrage for all the boob jobs and other cosmetic surgeries that children under 18 get every year? There are more of those surgeries for teens under 18 than there are for trans people over the age of 18.
That just doesn’t happen.
You’re fantasizing about a strawman. You’ve never actually spoken to a trans person.
theyre exaggerating in order to take control of everyone, like the assholes always do.
no bottom surgery or full on hrt is happening to youth, what is meant by affirming care is puberty blockers (completely reversible), and therapy to help youth sort out this in their head. i would kill to not have to go through the wrong puberty, and i wish to protect trans children from having to meet the same fate as me.
and repeating yet again from the other commenter, no, children are not getting bottom surgery. stop falling for their propaganda and listen to the trans people preaching our life experiences on deaf ears
Stop listening to sycophants to get your information, because it’s almost always going to be wrong.
I’m not a fan of people throwing hurtful incendiary statements into conversations around healthcare, whether it be you or DeSantis.
No one is cutting kids’ dicks off. Those are a fantasy made up to get people to hate trans people.
Your problem is that you start from the presumption that anyone is “cutting dicks off” at that age.
Psychologists have ways to tell if a child is faking their body dysmorphia (ie just sees it “as the cool trend”) - and, news flash; almost literally no one wants to change their body for “trendy” reasons.
So, if they do meet the criteria, they go on hormone blockers. This just delays puberty, and as soon as they stop taking them, puberty picks up where it left off.
So if they later decide this was all a mistake, they have until they’re an adult to make their decision.
Again: no one is mutilating any children. It is a strawman argument dreamed up by culture-war pedaling fascists who want to be able to point at the fake victories they won “for you” so they can get your vote and remain in power and accomplish their real goals like eventually outlawing all trans people, rounding up all immigrants, atheists, etc in their march to turn America into a theocratic white Christian ethnostate.
I mean they’re already quoting Hitler, bro. Wake the fuck up.
This UK study says otherwise:
https://wng.org/roundups/study-effects-of-puberty-blockers-can-last-a-lifetime-1617220389
The point is that wasn’t actually happening to children, they made it up out of thin air as a pretext to attack all healthcare for trans children, and now nationwide are moving on to making healthcare for trans adults (the adult care can include surgery) illegal as well. These laws including Florida’s are opposed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, and many other medical organizations. These laws are causing great harm to both children and adults across the country, all based on lies and half truths as an excuse to prevent doctors and patients from making their own healthcare decisions, which seems to be the Republican MO.
I wish people weren’t down voting you for asking a simple question.
It’s definitely mutilation if that happened, but doctors aren’t allowed to perform those surgeries on minors. So the premise is false, and DeSantis is just trying to stir the pot.
Knee jerk reactions are something I’ve come to expect from the Internet these days. I’m not bothered by it, and Internet points don’t have value so nothing is lost by it either.
DeSantis seems like a fairly horrible person, but that also doesn’t mean everyone should blindly dismiss anything he says, which is why I ask.
I wish I was all knowing, but I keep letting myself down on that front.
