The way these bills attacking trans children are circulating around the country, one would think there is a plot to make it a 2020 election issue. That remains to be seen, but Alabama just did something really harmful to our kids:
The Alabama Senate today passed a bill that would make it a crime for doctors to prescribe opposite sex hormones or drugs that block puberty from people under age 19 who identify as transgender. The bill by Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, was approved by a committee last week after a public hearing that included testimony from doctors and people with first-hand experiences who took positions both for and against the bill.
Shelnutt said today most children with gender dysphoria eventually adjust and that giving them medications that could have permanent effects amounts to child abuse. Shelnutt’s bill is called the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act. The Senate passed the bill today by a vote of 22-3. It moves to the House of Representatives. “I just don’t think and others don’t think that kids should be given experimental drugs or surgeries that could have irreversible consequences for the rest of their life,” Shelnutt said. “Kids are not fully developed until later in life. I think we can all agree that kids aren’t capable of making certain decisions until certain ages. And so, we want to just stop these procedures from happening in Alabama.”
To my knowledge, Shelnut is not a medical professional. Speaking of which:
The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement in 2018 saying that transgender identity is not a mental disorder and that medications to suppress puberty and cross-sex hormones can be part of an broad-based “gender-affirmative care model.”
The news site Vox said what happened in Alabama is happening in several other states and is spurred by - what else - deliberate right-wing misinformation:
The recent conservative push for an outright ban on transition care for minors grew directly from the social media disinformation campaign surrounding Luna Younger, a 7-year-old trans girl from Dallas caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between parents who disagree over her gender identity. A Texas judge overruled a jury decision to award full custody of Luna to her mother, Anne Georgulas, in late September. That means Luna’s father, Jeffrey Younger, who insists on dressing his child as a boy and forced her to cut her hair, has an equal say in future medical decisions for Luna.
Driving the conversation about the case were primarily conservative media outlets. In the week following the initial jury decision, 23 conservative news sites published 55 stories about Younger, and all opposed the child’s transition. According to data from Media Matters, those 55 stories earned 3.5 million Facebook interactions.
People were so riled up online that some sent threats to Georgulas; she was “viciously attacked and threatened by complete strangers,” her attorneys told the Daily Caller. Several prominent Texas officials even added to the fray: Republican Gov. Greg Abbott promised to order the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate Georgulas. State Rep. Steve Toth said he would propose legislation to “add ‘transitioning of a minor’ as child abuse.” A version of the bill is expected on the Texas docket when the legislature reconvenes next year.
It didn’t take but a few months for this groundswell of conservative opposition to spur the introduction of legislation seeking to ban the medical transitioning of minors altogether.
And according to Media Matters, this misinformation is also being pushed by right-wing propaganda publications. Sites such as The Daily Wire and Lifesite dominated coverage on issues regarding trans youth and deliberately push false narratives. They attacked the custody battle situation mentioned above with disgusting gusto:
In October, right-wing media produced obsessive coverage about a Texas custody battle involving a trans child, using dangerous misinformation about trans health care. Anti-LGBTQ sites LifeSiteNews and The Daily Wire, which is conservative media figure Ben Shapiro’s outlet, published coverage of the case that earned some of the highest engagement on Facebook -- more than 2.78 million interactions during just one week.
From October 21 to 27, LifeSiteNews published at least 19 posts about the case, which earned over 1.65 million total interactions on Facebook, according to the Crowdtangle Chrome extension. The outlet’s top performing article earned nearly 469,000 interactions on Facebook after several of LifeSiteNews’ Facebook pages posted it. Additionally, according to the Facebook Ad Library, LifeSiteNews ran six ads about the case on Facebook and Instagram that earned at least 52,000 total impressions.
During the same time frame, The Daily Wire published at least nine posts about the case, which earned over 1.13 million total interactions on Facebook, according to the Crowdtangle Chrome extension. The outlet’s top performing article alone earned over 341,000 interactions on Facebook after The Daily Wire’s main media personalities -- Shapiro, Michael Knowles, and Matt Walsh -- each posted the article to their Facebook pages multiple times. In the past, these same figures have drastically boosted engagement on anti-trans stories by posting articles on their pages multiple times and within several minutes of one another. Walsh also started a Twitter hashtag about the case that went viral and which was shared by Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX).
And let's not forget the right-wing and anti-LGBTQ organizations, such as hate group The Alliance Defending Freedom, who share "information" with legislators pushing these bills, such as in the case of a South Dakota bill attacking trans youth under the guise of wanting to protect them. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Fred Deutsch consulted with ADF and several other anti-LGBTQ groups and attended their "forums."
Taking all of this into account, one has to wonder how far are these people going to take their war against our trans children. And will it end before someone gets hurt.
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