- Kurgarra Queen
- Jun 11, 2008
-
GIVE ME MORE
SUPER BOWL
WINS
|
Meanwhile, in Maryland....
quote:
Bills stall in the final days of the General Assembly session all the time and for all kinds of reasons. A committee chairperson’s drawer is a particularly dark hole in the legislative universe.
In this digital age, bills seldom vanish altogether, however. Yet one bill has become unusually difficult to track on the General Assembly’s website over the past few days.
A measure to extend Medicaid coverage in Maryland to individuals receiving gender-affirming surgery and treatment that’s now stalled in the House hasn’t quite vanished, but some of the developments in the bill’s legislative journey can no longer be found on the General Assembly’s website. And the chair of the House Health and Government Operations Committee, who supported the measure when her panel voted in favor of the bill last week, is not saying why she is bottling up the legislation now — though it appears likely that the bill did not have the votes to get through the House with a robust majority.
At issue is a bill sponsored by Del. Anne R. Kaiser (D-Montgomery) that would provide Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming treatment — any medically necessary treatment, including mental health services, prescribed by a licensed health care provider for the treatment of a condition related to the individual’s gender identity.
Many of these treatments are covered by private health insurers, and so the bill is designed to extend the same services to lower-income Marylanders who rely on Medicaid for their health coverage. According to state statistics, there are about 2,000 transgender Marylanders receiving Medicaid benefits, and about 100 a year seek the kind of gender-affirming treatments covered in the bill. Enacting the legislation would enable an additional 25 Medicaid residents a year to receive such services, legislative analysts estimate.
“The bill brings it up to date to what the commercial carriers are doing,” Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s), the Health and Government Operations vice chair said during a committee voting session on March 25.
Earlier that week, the Senate had passed an equivalent bill, sponsored by Sen. Mary L. Washington (D-Baltimore City), in a 31-15 party line vote. Dozens of witnesses testified in favor of the bill in the Senate Finance Committee, and the bill generated no controversy on the Senate floor.
After a 45-minute debate, the House committee on March 25 voted 14-8 to send both Kaiser’s and Washington’s bills along to the House floor. They were scheduled for debate on the House floor on March 29 and rescheduled for March 30. That day, the other bills that had originally been on the Health and Government Operations calendar for floor debate along with the transgender health equity legislation were passed.
Now, the measures aren’t just in limbo — a common enough fate for legislation this time of year. The General Assembly’s website no longer lists the committee votes of March 25 on the identical bills as having happened. There’s also no electronic record of the witnesses who testified in favor of the legislation during the House committee’s hearing of Kaiser’s bill on March 2, though the General Assembly website does list the witnesses who testified at the Senate hearing for Washington’s bill on Feb. 22.
Asked Friday why the committee vote on the health equity bills is no longer on the legislature’s website, Del. Shane E. Pendergrass (D-Howard), the Health and Government Operations chair, replied, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. That’s not something I have any knowledge of.”
And asked Friday why she had decided to hold the bill after her committee had passed it — an unusual move — Pendergrass refused to discuss the policy decision. She said a procedural vote that Health and Government Operations had taken early in the legislative session to address COVID-19 protocols gave her the discretion to hold on to a bill even if the committee had supported it.
But in the view of some advocates and Democratic lawmakers and strategists, debate over the bill had the potential to become heated on the House floor. Although the Senate version of the bill passed in the Finance Committee along party lines — just as it did on the Senate floor — two Black Democrats, Dels. Sheree Sample-Hughes of the Lower Shore and Cheryl S. Landis of Prince George’s County, voted against the measure in the Health and Government Operations Committee. A third Democrat on the committee, Del. Harry Bhandari of Baltimore County, had been present during the debate on the bill, but was absent during the virtual voting session.
The committee vote suggests that the legislation could be controversial with certain members of the Legislative Black Caucus, who have resisted some LGBTQ bills in the past, and with the half dozen or so House Democrats who, like Bhandari, represent purple districts. The House’s 42 Republicans could almost certainly be expected to oppose the measure in a floor vote.
What isn’t altogether clear is why a bill that got through the Senate fairly smoothly is now bogged down in the House.
Peña-Melnyk, who had been expected to defend the gender-affirming Medicaid legislation on the House floor, deferred questions about holding the bill to Pendergrass. But she held open the possibility that the bill could be revived in the last week of legislative session.
“Around here, anything can happen,” she said.
The likelier scenario, however, is that the bill is dead until at least next year.
Kaiser, the sponsor of the transgender equity legislation who was one of the first openly gay members of the General Assembly, said she accepted the bill’s fate.
“The advocates and I are certainly disappointed that the bill didn’t pass this year,” she said. “But we’re looking forward to next year and building a stronger majority for it.”
Kaiser said she and transgender activists were especially disappointed that the record of the committee’s vote in favor of the legislation has disappeared from the General Assembly’s website.
“It’s a shame that a community that feels erased now has to deal with this kind of erasure,” she said.
Unfortunately, even a massive Democratic majority is not always enough to shore up access to transition-related care, because there are plenty of Democrats who are either transphobic or are more concerned about the potential political costs of helping trans people than they are about pushing back against the GOP's culture war on us.
It's an unfortunate illustration of how dangerous this moment is for LGBTQ+ people: Republicans are very much out to get out us, but the Democrats are inconsistent allies, at best. Hawaii also has apparently some legislation in the works to prevent private insurers from discriminating against trans people seeking affirmative procedures like Facial Feminization Surgery(FFS), so hopefully they'll do better.
As for me, I identify as a trans woman and a lesbian. And I can tell you I barely qualified as living until 9 months ago, when I started HRT. I'm on Medicaid in CT(Husky D) and I literally haven't paid a dime so far(lots of states do this. Though, of course, Husky has its own pitfalls in terms of trans care, like only theoretically covering electrolysis, but I digress). I can't emphasize enough how freeing that's been and how accessible this makes literal life-saving care.
I posted about this because one of my trans Twitter follows was apparently involved in lobbying for this and is (understandably) very upset about this happening.
https://twitter.com/ErinInTheMorn/status/1513917275295948805
She was at the hearings, apparently, the video of which has been scrubbed from the Maryland House's website. Sounds like there was some really loving transphobic poo poo said.
K, I'll probably go back to lurking now.
|
#
¿
Apr 13, 2022 17:50
|
|
- Adbot
-
ADBOT LOVES YOU
|
|
|
#
¿
May 11, 2024 15:19
|
|
- Kurgarra Queen
- Jun 11, 2008
-
GIVE ME MORE
SUPER BOWL
WINS
|
god yeah I said some absolutely awful poo poo when I was first coming to terms with it as well, incredible how bad self-loathing can gently caress up your sense of basic human decency isn't it
While sitting next to my best friend (who is non-binary and had recently come out to me).
If I hadn't been apologetic and in a full blown anxiety attack over what I had said, they probably would have severed and I wouldn't have blamed them.
I do think it's important to make the point though: closeted trans people often hate themselves (I certainly did) and are jealous of other trans people and, in my case, of cis women. Transitioning has sheared most of that negative emotion away, for me.
I would just like to say as a "demisexual" (I fit the definition but don't really consider it my identity since I think it's not a marginalized attraction type) who watches porn, no not everyone watches porn because they are aroused by seeing random people naked. I don't feel any sort of arousal from seeing pictures of random naked people, but I do get arousal by inserting myself into the scenario. It's the action more than the visuals for me. I know many people are aroused by seeing naked people, but it's not the only thing that porn offers.
I think demisexual is a fine label to use if someone wants to call themselves that. It's a good shorthand to describe how they approach sexual relationships. I don't think it's a particularly oppressed demographic, but I'm not the queer police.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2022 16:27
|
|
- Kurgarra Queen
- Jun 11, 2008
-
GIVE ME MORE
SUPER BOWL
WINS
|
not even social pressure, i would have never in a million years realized i wasn't cis without my close friendships with trans folk online.
 person they came out to, even! They're a demi girl, which I'm sure we could have an entirely unproductive pages-long derail discussing the validity and definition of, and they just got bottom surgery and I'm so proud of them (they promised to share the cheat codes with me). They would have been the first person I came out to if they hadn't moved out to Oregon.
But I had always flirted with it. A random NYT magazine article about the murder of Calpurnia Adams' boyfriend, a fascination with a Kim Petras, wanting my grandmother to paint my nails, always feeling awkward and out of place hanging out with a group of dudes, etc. etc. (I always preferred mixed groups or one-on-ones). But I have been helped considerably by following some awesome trans ladies online.
In terms of things actual news-worthy stuff happening: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/04/conservatives-declare-war-lgbtq-suicide-prevention-hotline-call-pedophilia/
The conservative Twittersphere, including Quilette and Moms for Liberty, are very hot and bothered over the Trevor Project, which among other things runs a LGBTQ+ suicide hotline, for helping kids hide from parental controls and monitoring.
quote:
Conservatives have spent the last couple months calling everyone who disagrees with them a pedophile, and now they’re setting their sights on the Trevor Project, an organization that runs a hotline and other resources to fight LGBTQ youth suicide.
Colin Wright, an editor of the anti-LGBTQ website Quillette, shared a comic from the Trevor Project that explained how teens could erase browser history so that they could get help even if they are worried about being outed to their parents.
Wright didn’t seem able to understand how something like this could help young people and instead said that the point of the feature is to “keep parents in the dark.”
Others on the right equated the Trevor Project with pedophilia, implying that an organization reaching out to LGBTQ teens in crisis is the same as a child sex abuser having sexually charged conversations with minors, as if any conversation involving LGBTQ identities is inherently pornographic.
“Why is the Trevor Project encouraging children to keep secrets from their parents?” the far-right organization Moms for Liberty responded.
“Leftwing activists are predatory groomers,” conservative pundit Lauren Chen tweeted. “If you sit around designing and promoting ways to get in touch with kids so you can discuss sexuality and keep it from their parents, you are a groomer.”
“They’re trying to break your children,” said conservative podcaster Jesse Kelly.
The anti-LGBTQ account Libs of TikTok called the Trevor Project a “grooming organization” in a now-deleted tweet.
James Lindsay, the professor who is possibly best known for getting a fake academic paper published in 2017, claimed that it’s “only a matter of time until solid evidence of serious wrongdoing emerges regarding the Trevor Project.”
He then said it’s the “Groomer Project posing as suicide prevention.”
As many people pointed out, having an “escape” feature is fairly standard for crisis hotlines and web services since people who turn to crisis hotlines often don’t have support from the people around them.
But gee, I wonder why LGBTQ+ kids would want to hide that from people like this? It must be because they're being groomed! 
|
|
#
¿
Apr 28, 2022 21:55
|
|
- Kurgarra Queen
- Jun 11, 2008
-
GIVE ME MORE
SUPER BOWL
WINS
|
I went for a period where I was in the mindset that if I could magically look like Kristen Stewart I would, but because I could never look like Kristen Stewart or deal with the maintenance of bottom surgery, I might as well just quietly live as a man. And my big regret with that is that while I've been proud of coming out and living as my true self, I did so after already being married, in the middle of a pandemic, and on the verge of having a child. I had so many amazing friends, and I just wish I could travel back in time and be my true self with them.
I do think the main thing I realized after transitioning is how exhausting it is trying to pass. You have no idea until you stop, how much effort you're putting into not being your true self. I just remember breaking into tears because I realized how much mental effort I was putting into pretending.
Plus, you, know, estrogen and progesterone gave me the ability to feel joy again. I had practically forgotten what that felt like during my 20+ years in my testosterone-soaked prison. Sure, bottom surgery and facial feminization surgery will be great if/when I can afford to get them, but they could never do as much for me as plain old HRT.
From what mainstream coverage I've seen of non-binary people, I'd also say that a lot of the mainstream perception, for lack of a better word, is driven by some pretty over-the-top people who say things like "I am too big and all-encompassing to be constrained by notions of gender, I am all things at once!" and it's like, well, cool, no self-esteem problems there, for sure! But I doubt that's how the average non-binary person understands their own identity and life, and mostly I'm guessing they aren't super vocal about it because it's still not hugely accepted in general. Depending on how they choose to present, and what pronouns they prefer to use, you might not even know a non-binary person is non-binary unless they choose to bring it up,
-My best friend (AMAB she/they) was trans before me, though they now identify as a demi-girl, I believe because they experience several different gender states discreetly but most of them are feminine.
-We have a mutual friend (AFAB they/them) who says the only problem they have with their body is that they don't have a penis. They collect knicknacks and clothing obsessively, and describe themselves as a "dapper dandy". They primarily wear loud men's dress clothes, though they also like to wear loud women's clothing and costume jewelry. Sometimes I think they're actually a trans man.
-I came out to a coworker (AFAB she/they/he) because he turned to me one day and bitched about his new (male) coworkers treating them like a woman, adding, "Which I'm not!" while flexing their actually quite impressive bicep. I told them I understood, so I came out to them so they would know I actually did understand and wasn't just bullshitting. They're squirrel-like and considers theirself a warrior(which she defines as her "divine masculine energy"). And also a proud guinea pig mom(their exact description).
-I recently transferred to a new department and have come into contact with yet another enby (AFAB she/they). They want to change their name, as they consider it too feminine, and have considered Spencer (but they feel it's too generically enby). Also once said, "I hate when people ask me what I want for dinner. I can't even figure out my own gender or sexuality(they're bi. All of these people ID as bi or pan), what makes them think I can figure out dinner?"
Yes, the AMAB one is the femmest enby, but not as femme as my trans fem rear end.
Kurgarra Queen fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Apr 30, 2022
|
|
#
¿
Apr 30, 2022 03:46
|
|
- Kurgarra Queen
- Jun 11, 2008
-
GIVE ME MORE
SUPER BOWL
WINS
|
I’d push back against the idea that not physically/socially/medically transitioning means being trans has no material effect on your life. Just because other people can’t or don’t see it doesn’t mean there’s no effect.
In my experience trans people who have no plans to “officially” transition are not ubiquitous but fairly common at support groups, because it’s nice to be in a community of people who get you. I went to one for like, 2 years like that, no one batted an eye.
"Yes."
"Ok, great. You can be my client."
And I've since come to realize that being socialized wrong, that going through the wrong puberty, that merely existing in a viciously transphobic society are all inherently traumatic for trans people, regardless of what additional, more visible traumas get heaped on us (or don't get heaped on us). It doesn't matter if you're out or buried deep in the closet either.
One question that's started to bug me from cis people is, "When did you realize you were trans?" I used to give a long accounting, but now I just ask, "When did you realize you were cis?" Some (many?) don't even understand the question, because they've never had to think about it.
Kurgarra Queen fucked around with this message at 20:18 on May 2, 2022
|
|
#
¿
May 2, 2022 15:00
|
|
- Kurgarra Queen
- Jun 11, 2008
-
GIVE ME MORE
SUPER BOWL
WINS
|
I think it's a totally understandable perspective and it's very reasonable to say that the upsides of transitioning don't seem like they'd outweigh the burdens, especially if the potential results don't seem like they'd be good enough to satisfy you. I don't know you, I don't know your experiences, so how could I possibly say what's right for you?
But with that said, I guess I would encourage you to make sure that you're properly evaluating the costs and benefits. Even if you do consciously acknowledge what your situation is, I think it's pretty easy to slip into a surface level understanding of everything surrounding these issues because it's pretty uncomfortable to dig deeper. It's very easy to convince oneself that things aren't that bad, or to just miss the fact that there's a whole other level of positive life experience that's just completely inaccessible to you right now because you have nothing to compare your current life experiences to. And also, the existing technology is really quite impressive now, provided that you have access to it.
Meanwhile, I'm sitting here typing this smiling like a doofus because I just injected estrogen for the second time (I switched to injectable recently for reasons. It went about as well as my first unsupervised injection could be expected to). I didn't get it quite right, but whoo boy, you know when the estrogen's hit! No matter how you're taking it.
And I could never, ever have felt this good before.
|
|
#
¿
May 6, 2022 19:18
|
|
- Kurgarra Queen
- Jun 11, 2008
-
GIVE ME MORE
SUPER BOWL
WINS
|
My partner is planning on taking estrogen and at least partially transition and I'm very curious to know more about how it feels! I'd really like a better understanding of the process so I can be as supportive as I can. It breaks my heart how much their dysmorphia(?) impacts their life and I want to be there to help them as much as possible.
Pills you generally take twice a day sublingually and are either 1 or 2 MG. Patches secrete a small amount daily through your skin, and you put a new patch on (and remove the old one) twice a week. Injection is once a week and gives you the best estrogen bang for you buck, but also you have to stick a needle in yourself and dispose of the needles. This will be accompanied by Spironolactone in pill form(twice daily), to block testosterone (it also happens to be a fantastic diuretic), and eventually progesterone (once daily) for mood stability and fat redistribution.
As far as feel: I started on pills and basically felt non-descriptly better pretty much immediately. Like, you know, my brain was always meant to operate in a female hormonal balance. Injecting is way more visceral though, because rather than having a steady level of estrogen, you have a big spike on injection day and taper down over the week. I basically felt high yesterday lol: I was really giggly and really wanted to be cuddled (so far as I know, that’s common). The lady I’m seeing likened it to how she feels when she’s ovulating.
|
|
#
¿
May 7, 2022 23:07
|
|
- Kurgarra Queen
- Jun 11, 2008
-
GIVE ME MORE
SUPER BOWL
WINS
|
Vice was able to get in touch with Wynn.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/88gyev/cops-trans-girl-twitch-stream
quote:Police officers entered the bedroom of a 16-year-old trans girl in Tennessee while she played Minecraft live on Twitch in late April—and the confrontation was caught live on stream.
The streamer, a girl named Wynn who goes by VioWynn on Twitch, in an email to Motherboard said she was pressured to do online school rather than attend in person, and that she has refused to go to the online school and thus has been considered “truant.”
In a recording of the stream, Wynn says, "This will probably be the last stream ever because they're trying to get me to either kill myself or go into foster care or something. Instead of just giving me an education. Honestly, I just want to go to school. But they don't want me to go to school because I'm trans. I'm just really stressed out."
She goes on to say that authorities are trying to place her into foster care. “I was already adopted once, I don't need to be adopted again,” she says on the stream. “I just need to be able to go to school. I'm just worried I'll get abused.” Wynn told Motherboard she believes they were doing a wellness check on her, but that she is being pressured by authorities to enter foster care.
According to Wynn, on the morning of April 27, she had a court date where she’d learn whether she had to go into foster care; she was being denied an education, she claimed, as her school pressured her to attend classes online with fewer resources than in-person students received. “I consider it being denied an education, though it legally isn't considered as such, so that's why the judge considered me truant,” she said. Other students also took an online school option, but she was the only one she knew of who was pressured heavily to stay home, she said.
"I don't understand why the state of Tennessee would rather ruin a child's life than just let her go to school, but it really shows where their priorities are,” Wynn says on the stream, before the police enter the room. A tweet about the situation went viral this weekend:
Wynn told Motherboard that she expected the police were coming that day because she overheard her parents talking about it. “I was insanely stressed out so I decided to stream, as it's one of the only things that reliably makes me happy and calms me down,” she said. She got about 17 minutes into the stream session playing Minecraft when a police officer opens the door behind her and several more walk in. They see her streaming live, and her reaction is extremely casual: “OK, well, now there’s an officer in here just trying to join the stream,” she remarks while they mill around behind her, in full view of the camera. She continues playing Minecraft. “I’m just gonna act like they’re not here because that’s easier,” she says to her viewers.
At that point, the police told her dad to cut the power, she told Motherboard, which is when the stream stopped.
“The police forced me to turn around in my chair and then acted very angry with me, with an officer even saying that he ‘didn't see any tears’ and got mad at me for crying as I had tears running down my face,” she said. “They made me leave my room and had an officer search it. After that, they told me I shouldn't have put the chair against my door and then took my door off of its hinges. They asked if I was suicidal, I said no, and then they left.” They came back later that day, she said, to watch her get into her caseworker's car to be taken to foster care.
“The treatment overall was unempathetic and very cold and angry on their part,” she said. She was allowed to come back home for the weekend because they were unable to place her in a foster home on a Friday, but is in foster care now, she told Motherboard.
Tennessee is one of the most hostile states toward transgender youth. Last year, Gov. Bill Lee signed off on legislation that would make it illegal for doctors to provide gender-confirming hormone treatment to prepubescent minors, and became the first state to require public restrooms to have signs saying whether they allow trans people to use bathrooms in accordance with their gender. And last month, Lee signed H.B. 1895 / S.B. 1861, legislation that would remove funding from school districts that allow trans students to play sports.
Organizations and child welfare groups including the Human Rights Campaign, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association have condemned trans-affirming care bans and spoken in support of gender-affirming care for trans kids. Children’s health advocates have called the attack on trans rights in Tennessee a mental health crisis.
Wynn told Motherboard that although she’s in foster care currently, she’s doing better now. “I feel less stressed since I now understand more of the ins and outs of foster care,” she said. She was able to have “two amazing streams” at home since then. “The plan now is to try getting a new court date for the foster care people to tell a judge that I don't need to be in foster care in hopes that I can be officially released from DCS custody,” she said, and the school has agreed to let her attend summer school to catch up in time for the second semester of 11th grade next year.
She seems to be in good spirits, at least, and shares more details about her situation. She was really terrified though, and it's disgusting that she was terrorized like this and has to deal with so much loving bullshit.
Thank you both for the input! I really appreciate it. I think it's a little bit mysterious for the both of us so this stuff helps a lot.
This is the first time such a law has actually made it into effect. This is going to be as bad as the Bell v Tavistock injunction was. Hopefully it doesn't last as long. The longer it remains in effect, the worse the effects will be on this kids who have been forcibly taken off their medicine.
|
|
#
¿
May 10, 2022 16:36
|
|
- Kurgarra Queen
- Jun 11, 2008
-
GIVE ME MORE
SUPER BOWL
WINS
|
I feel like it’s a sort of heteronormative focus on penis and vagina sex that otherizes non-hetero sex as a whole other thing.
The reality is for the population that has sex we’re all kind of doing similar stuff regardless of gender, gentials, and sexuality.
Maybe it *was* a dumb troll, but our society - by which I mean basically all human societies that exist or have existed - have or do essentialize gender. That men and women are just fundamentally different physically and mentally (pretty much still the dominant view in society, especially on the right) and, in that framework? The idea that someone who is AMAB could be a woman or vice versa is ridiculous, and must be a sign of delusion.
Of course, the true delusion is the idea that men and women are really actually much different at all. We're actually really similar, and basically every difference that does exist is a predictable and manipulable product of different sex hormone balances.
Really, "TERFs", "gender criticals", or whatever loving else they call themselves buy into traditional patriarchal gender norms 100%.
That was pleasantly surprising, yes, but, ultimately, the Courts will not save us. That much should be clear. I wouldn't even be willing to bet this decision survives very long.
Kurgarra Queen fucked around with this message at 01:42 on May 15, 2022
|
|
#
¿
May 15, 2022 01:37
|
|
- Kurgarra Queen
- Jun 11, 2008
-
GIVE ME MORE
SUPER BOWL
WINS
|
Yep, heard that line before.
Weirdly coupled with being hit on after telling someone I was in a relationship because they assumed bi meant 'incapable of sticking to a single partner'.
But then, I guess people are weird about things outside of their own experience in general. Sometimes even when they're themselves oppressed, unfortunately.
Definitely. At least for me, if the local abortion clinic shut down, I wouldn't have access to my hormones. And I've seen it happen in other places. There's often only one doctor in town who's willing to do either, and without being able to provide abortions, trans people just aren't a big enough patient base to keep the clinic running.
In the US, I'd have to imagine this would lead directly to closings of planned parenthood locations, which would have a huge impact on a large number of trans people plus all the queer people who need reproductive healthcare and safe sex resources.
And, beyond the triggered abortion bans, Roe is about the extent of medical privacy, and that will lead to more erosion of access to medical care for queer people.
And overturning Roe is probably an attack on privacy in general, not just medical privacy.
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2022 05:18
|
|
- Kurgarra Queen
- Jun 11, 2008
-
GIVE ME MORE
SUPER BOWL
WINS
|
Thank you very much, Mrenda and Timeless Appeal. These are very thoughtful replies I will think on for a while.
E: One point Timeless mentions that I've felt a lot recently is about how much more thought gender requires than sexual identity. I used to be pretty open about a lot of stuff on my mind in one of my friend groups, and recently I decided to dial it down a bit when a friend said something jokingly like "I just love thinking about Gender" when I was posting something making fun of Blizzard's weird diversity charts. I don't really know if she meant anything in particular by it, but it's been floating around in my head a ton because.... actually, yeah, I do like thinking about gender now way, way more than I did when I thought I was cis, and now I can't help but overanalyze and wonder if I'm being overbearing to cis friends when I talk about it.
So, when we come at them with our well-developed sense of these concepts, a lot of them just reject us out of hand, because many cis people seem existentially uncomfortable with scrutinizing the nuts-and-bolts of our internal experiences of gender and how society mucks that all up.
That's not to say that cis people are incapable to understand, it's that we have to reject accepted gender roles and norms and redefine our own roles and norms just to survive, so it comes naturally for most of us. Cis people have to get really introspective and think in unfamiliar ways just because to cover that ground and a lot of people just aren't willing to do that no matter the subject.
|
|
#
¿
May 28, 2022 05:33
|
|
- Kurgarra Queen
- Jun 11, 2008
-
GIVE ME MORE
SUPER BOWL
WINS
|
https://apnews.com/article/gender-transition-treatment-guidelines-9dbe54f670a3a0f5f2831c2bf14f9bbb
quote:
A leading transgender health association has lowered its recommended minimum age for starting gender transition treatment, including sex hormones and surgeries.
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health said hormones could be started at age 14, two years earlier than the group’s previous advice, and some surgeries done at age 15 or 17, a year or so earlier than previous guidance. The group acknowledged potential risks but said it is unethical and harmful to withhold early treatment.
The association provided The Associated Press with an advance copy of its update ahead of publication in a medical journal, expected later this year. The international group promotes evidence-based standards of care and includes more than 3,000 doctors, social scientists and others involved in transgender health issues.
Starting treatment earlier allows transgender teens to experience physical puberty changes around the same time as other teens, said Dr. Eli Coleman, chair of the group’s standards of care and director of the University of Minnesota Medical School’s human sexuality program.
But he stressed that age is just one factor to be weighed. Emotional maturity, parents’ consent, longstanding gender discomfort and a careful psychological evaluation are among the others.
“Certainly there are adolescents that do not have the emotional or cognitive maturity to make an informed decision,” he said. “That is why we recommend a careful multidisciplinary assessment.”
The updated guidelines include recommendations for treatment in adults, but the teen guidance is bound to get more attention. It comes amid a surge in kids referred to clinics offering transgender medical treatment, along with new efforts to prevent or restrict the treatment.
Many experts say more kids are seeking such treatment because gender-questioning children are more aware of their medical options and facing less stigma.
Critics, including some from within the transgender treatment community, say some clinics are too quick to offer irreversible treatment to kids who would otherwise outgrow their gender-questioning.
Psychologist Erica Anderson resigned her post as a board member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health last year after voicing concerns about “sloppy” treatment given to kids without adequate counseling.
She is still a group member and supports the updated guidelines, which emphasize comprehensive assessments before treatment. But she says dozens of families have told her that doesn’t always happen.
“They tell me horror stories. They tell me, ‘Our child had 20 minutes with the doctor’” before being offered hormones, she said. “The parents leave with their hair on fire.”
Estimates on the number of transgender youth and adults worldwide vary, partly because of different definitions. The association’s new guidelines say data from mostly Western countries suggest a range of between a fraction of a percent in adults to up to 8% in kids.
Anderson said she’s heard recent estimates suggesting the rate in kids is as high as 1 in 5 — which she strongly disputes. That number likely reflects gender-questioning kids who aren’t good candidates for lifelong medical treatment or permanent physical changes, she said.
Still, Anderson said she condemns politicians who want to punish parents for allowing their kids to receive transgender treatment and those who say treatment should be banned for those under age 18.
“That’s just absolutely cruel,” she said.
Dr. Marci Bowers, the transgender health group’s president-elect, also has raised concerns about hasty treatment, but she acknowledged the frustration of people who have been “forced to jump through arbitrary hoops and barriers to treatment by gatekeepers ... and subjected to scrutiny that is not applied to another medical diagnosis.”
Gabe Poulos, 22, had breast removal surgery at age 16 and has been on sex hormones for seven years. The Asheville, North Carolina, resident struggled miserably with gender discomfort before his treatment.
Poulos said he’s glad he was able to get treatment at a young age.
“Transitioning under the roof with your parents so they can go through it with you, that’s really beneficial,” he said. “I’m so much happier now.’’
In South Carolina, where a proposed law would ban transgender treatments for kids under age 18, Eli Bundy has been waiting to get breast removal surgery since age 15. Now 18, Bundy just graduated from high school and is planning to have surgery before college.
Bundy, who identifies as nonbinary, supports easing limits on transgender medical care for kids.
“Those decisions are best made by patients and patient families and medical professionals,” they said. “It definitely makes sense for there to be fewer restrictions, because then kids and physicians can figure it out together.’’
Dr. Julia Mason, an Oregon pediatrician who has raised concerns about the increasing numbers of youngsters who are getting transgender treatment, said too many in the field are jumping the gun. She argues there isn’t strong evidence in favor of transgender medical treatment for kids.
“In medicine ... the treatment has to be proven safe and effective before we can start recommending it,” Mason said.
Experts say the most rigorous research — studies comparing treated kids with outcomes in untreated kids — would be unethical and psychologically harmful to the untreated group.
The new guidelines include starting medication called puberty blockers in the early stages of puberty, which for girls is around ages 8 to 13 and typically two years later for boys. That’s no change from the group’s previous guidance. The drugs delay puberty and give kids time to decide about additional treatment; their effects end when the medication is stopped.
The blockers can weaken bones, and starting them too young in children assigned males at birth might impair sexual function in adulthood, although long-term evidence is lacking.
The update also recommends:
—Sex hormones — estrogen or testosterone — starting at age 14. This is often lifelong treatment. Long-term risks may include infertility and weight gain, along with strokes in trans women and high blood pressure in trans men, the guidelines say.
—Breast removal for trans boys at age 15. Previous guidance suggested this could be done at least a year after hormones, around age 17, although a specific minimum ag wasn’t listed.
—Most genital surgeries starting at age 17, including womb and testicle removal, a year earlier than previous guidance.
The Endocrine Society, another group that offers guidance on transgender treatment, generally recommends starting a year or two later, although it recently moved to start updating its own guidelines. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association support allowing kids to seek transgender medical treatment, but they don’t offer age-specific guidance.
Dr. Joel Frader, a Northwestern University a pediatrician and medical ethicist who advises a gender treatment program at Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital, said guidelines should rely on psychological readiness, not age.
Frader said brain science shows that kids are able to make logical decisions by around age 14, but they’re prone to risk-taking and they take into account long-term consequences of their actions only when they’re much older.
Coleen Williams, a psychologist at Boston Children’s Hospital’s Gender Multispecialty Service, said treatment decisions there are collaborative and individualized.
“Medical intervention in any realm is not a one-size-fits-all option,” Williams said.
Of course the AP couldn't help but include some transphobic concern trolling, but at least WPATH is moving in the right direction and recommending care for trans kids begin earlier, in spite of the wave of anti-trans hysteria and violence engulfing much of the Western world. Not that I particularly love WPATH, because it's mostly gatekeeping bullshit that means Husky won't cover my badly-needed laser treatment for my face until I've been taking hormones for a year (June 29th, so almost done waiting), among other things, but at least they're moving in the right direction.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 15, 2022 16:15
|
|
- Kurgarra Queen
- Jun 11, 2008
-
GIVE ME MORE
SUPER BOWL
WINS
|
I think what we’re shifting towards a lot of moderate people taking the position of “Hey adults can do what they want, and trans people shouldn’t be harassed, but affirmation of their gender can only go so far.” Which seems like a reasonable opinion if you know nothing, and is also Ben Shapiro’s stated opinion on trans people.
Not to poo poo on straight and cis people, but I also think there is an issue where queer and specifically trans people think a lot about these issues, debate and discuss them, and then cis people swoop on and it’s time for the real discourse.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 21, 2022 15:34
|
|
- Adbot
-
ADBOT LOVES YOU
|
|
|
#
¿
May 11, 2024 15:19
|
|
- Kurgarra Queen
- Jun 11, 2008
-
GIVE ME MORE
SUPER BOWL
WINS
|
Anyone, at any age, should be able to choose their own hormone profile. The medical control should be informed consent. This is not something that is appropriately controlled by having a set of particular disorders with particular prescriptive therapies, though that is the current (bad; failing) standard of care.
This is literally a procedure that impacts my ability to exist in my birth sex less than HRT itself does/has! I was (luckily) referred to *specific* Psych Doctors by my trans-focused clinic: some random Psych D probably has only a cursory understanding of trans people, and some are transphobic monsters. One woman who got bottom surgery said in her video about that if you want bottom surgery, you should probably lie to your psychs that you're a woman even if you're non-binary, because a lot of Psych Ds will apparently be like, "Well, if you're not a woman, you obviously don't need this surgery."
Like, this is all an artifact of the pathologization of being trans and treating it as a mental disorder. I'm incredibly fortunate in that I have the time and ability to drive myself all across this state to consult with Psychs: a lot of trans women would just be poo poo out of luck.
And, of course, Husky doesn't *really* cover electrolysis, which is both more effective than laser and necessary for lighter hair, because you can count the number of in-network providers on one hand. No reimbursements, because gently caress you.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 19, 2022 21:17
|
|
#
¿
Apr 13, 2022 17:50
