Attacks on transgender kids and their families prove that Republicans don't give a d@mn about 'parental rights'

This excerpted piece below was published five days ago in The Los Angeles Times, but it underscores a fact which needs consistent highlight in the war against trans Americans. In the mouths of the Republican party and their religious right cohorts, the phrase 'parental rights' is nothing more than a prop; a weapon used to wreak havoc for the sake of political power and to remind certain people how they are hated. It's the same manner the Republican party and their religious right cohorts exploit religion.

It's sad how certain people who are always going on about values, morality, and safety can easily convert these very same concepts into weapons of destruction. Almost as if it's a sociopathic tendency.

It's despicable that politicians would threaten medical care that has been vetted and peer-reviewed by mainstream medical organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, and pretend they are acting to protect the health of young people. They ignore current medical and psychological thinking and are making families and transgender teens feel singled out for hatred. 

These measures might well be struck down in court, but in the meantime, they make it hard for transgender youth to receive or continue receiving the medical care they need. According to a 2017 report by the Williams Institute at UCLA, less than 1% of teenagers identify as transgender and many of those don't get medical treatment related to their sexual identity.

 Such moves by Republican politicians are also hypocritical. When it comes to masks and COVID-19 vaccine mandates for kids, those politicians say those are matters for families to decide. But they seem fine with stripping parents of their right to help their children with a complicated medical decision that, unlike COVID-19, has no effect on the health or safety of others.

 . . . Deciding whether to seek gender-affirming care for teens should be done in consultation with doctors and and psychologists, who require certain criteria to be met before they will provide treatments for transitioning kids. The last thing parents need is politicians telling them that supporting their children is wrong or threatening to take their kids away.

 . . .Singling out a vulnerable group — and attempting to restrict its members' movements out of state, as Idaho would, or encouraging McCarthy-era spying and tattling on neighbors, as Texas’s governor wants — is a contemptible way to score points with voters. Even if all of these efforts eventually lose in court, it could still take years to resolve and still do untold damage to today’s transgender teenagers and their families.