I know I\u2019ve written about this a lot \u2013 but the cynical cruelty of Republican governments in Texas and Alabama and Arkansas \u2013 why it\u2019s literally breathtaking. With the stroke of a pen, those three states (and more to come I\u2019m sure) are attacking some of the most vulnerable kids in our society. They are attacking the incredibly small percentage who, through no fault of their own, are transgendered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Governor Ivey of Alabama made it plain: the transgendered do not fit in with her religious ideals. They should be \u201cwhat God made them\u201d she said. So let\u2019s start with the First Amendment. It says Congress (and through the 14th Amendment, the state legislatures) shall make no law establishing religion. But Governor Ivey in Alabama, and the other Governors and State Legislatures, are placing their version of conservative Christian doctrine into law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Think of a transgendered teenager. In their brain, in their heart, in their whole being, they know they are not their \u201cbirth gender designation\u201d. It\u2019s not a \u201cmental disorder\u201d, science demonstrates that gender is based on a whole series of genetic variables. Only a few of those relate to what visibly are called \u201csex characteristics\u201d: ovaries, testicles and such. That\u2019s what the hospital puts on the birth certificate, but we now know that there is so much more to gender than the obvious. The rest relates to brain function, the gender of the \u201cbrain\u201d .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So that brain, heart, and being, are trapped in the wrong body. And as puberty hits, that body betrays that brain, heart and being, with every development. Is it any wonder that 80% of transgendered folks have considered suicide, and 40% actually attempted it. So these few kids, so trapped, turn to parents and other adults for help. And there is help: doctors can prescribe drugs to stop secondary development, visibly breasts and hips in one case, beards, hair and muscles in the other. It\u2019s not surgery, it\u2019s delaying the onset of what we all know occurs. Surgery isn\u2019t an option for children; in almost every case, gender altering surgery is only available to adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s such a small number of children. And it\u2019s not a \u201cfad\u201d, something that kids will somehow outgrow. We all went to school, we all remember how much we wanted to fit in, to be \u201cnormal\u201d. But those kids aren\u2019t \u201cnormal\u201d, they are physiologically different. And the laws or regulations of those states are sentencing them to their worst nightmare: being trapped in an opposite gendered body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What are those laws and regulations doing? In Texas, it\u2019s currently considered child abuse to prescribe drugs to halt puberty, a felony crime. The Alabama law will do the same. With the whole weight of the authority of the State, doctors are ordered to stop treating these adolescents. The \u201cchildren\u2019s services\u201d departments have been turned to seek out those \u201cbreaking\u201d the new rule, and charge them for \u201cchild abuse\u201d, doctors and parents alike. Teachers are ordered to report possibly transgendered students to parents and the \u201cauthorities\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not only have they cut away the medical supports from those kids, they are cutting away their other support systems as well. The politicians are \u201cenforcing\u201d a singular religious view \u2013 and they are using that \u201cenforcement\u201d to benefit politically. It\u2019s the same political force that demanded that Covid vaccination and mask wearing were matters of personal choice. Personal choice: but only when it\u2019s applied to them and their supporters, not when it\u2019s applied to the children and parents who are dealing with one of the most difficult conditions a family can face. Calling them out as hypocrites hardly has the depth to describe those taking this political position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In our incredibly polarized political climate, it feeding \u201cred meat\u201d to the base. The right has discovered \u201csex\u201d as their new talking point \u2013 whether it\u2019s the transgendered, or their ridiculous efforts to discredit a Supreme Court nominee as \u201cpro-child porn\u201d. They are appealing to \u201cjack up\u201d their base, heighten their excitement, and drive them to the polls in a state of righteous indignation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These efforts to attack the transgendered only work because the government \u201cknows\u201d. A transgendered person is invisible, except that the schools have records, or the driver\u2019s license bureau demands birth certificates. These children and families are quietly working through a most difficult crisis, but the \u201cstate\u201d uses the power of bureaucracy to drive them out into the public, and then demand they, \u201c\u2026be what God made them\u201d. It\u2019s the height of authoritarianism, a jack-booted principal standing at the restroom door demanding, \u201cShow me your papers\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you believe in God, those children are, \u201c\u2026what God made them\u201d. And any merciful God would want these few children to be happy, not trapped. And certainly not bullied by politicians, supposedly acting \u201cin their welfare\u201d, but really only seeking a few more votes on election day. It\u2019s subjugation, it\u2019s disgusting, and it\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"