Politicians need to stay out of trans child’s business
On Oct. 24, Greg Abbot, governor of Texas, tweeted: “FYI the matter of 7-year-old James Younger is being looked into by the Texas Attorney General’s Office and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.”
Why the interest in a child custody case that had already been settled by an 11-1 jury verdict in the second-most populous state in the country? Because the child is transgender.
You remember transgender people right? That 1.4 percent of the population that is so reviled, a special session of the Texas Legislature was called in 2017 to dictate where we pee?
Our attorney general, Ken Paxton, has also inserted himself into the fray, tweeting: “Texans understand that children … should be supported and properly cared for as they grow up in our communities. I trust that the DFPS will act immediately upon our request, conduct a thorough investigation and protect this child.”
Texas House Rep. Matt Krause of Fort Worth chimed in with his own tweet: “Absent a special session between now and the 87th Session, I will introduce legislation that prohibits the use of puberty blockers in these situations for children under 18. We missed our opportunity to do so in the 86th Session. We won’t miss the next one.”
That is chilling.
By the way Matt, no one who is 18 would be able to block puberty. That ship has sailed. Read on; I will try and educate you.
I’d like to believe that the motivations of our elected representatives are born of genuine concern for a child. But that is clearly NOT the case. It appears to be the first salvo in their 2020 re-election bids, and nothing fires up Republican Primary voters like transgender people.
None of those white men weighing in on the issue are transgender. None of them are doctors. None of them are qualified therapists.
As a transgender woman, I have some thoughts on the matter. (Surprise!)
First and foremost, none of those politicians should be interfering in matters settled by a family court. A jury ruled 11-1 to give sole custody to the affirming mother, and then Judge Kim Cooks over-ruled the jury and awarded a joint managing conservatorship to both parents
I weep for Luna. (I will refer to this child by the name and pronouns she has chosen, by the way.)
Three mental health professionals have evaluated her and diagnosed her with gender dysphoria. Being transgender is hard. It’s harder still when your family is fighting over you and what they consider your best interest.
It’s a million times worse when politicians who don’t know you or care about you use you as a tool to get re-elected.
Once again, fear is being used as a tool to gin up phony outrage. Words like “chemical castration” or “mutilation” are being thrown around. As someone who knows a little about the subject, let me share some truth:
“Transition” for a 7-year-old is social, not medical. It might involve hairstyles, clothing choices and selecting new a new name and pronouns. It might also include counseling.
That’s it. Period. Read it again.
Do you see anything there that is irreversible or would rise to the definition of mutilation or chemical castration? I don’t.
Between now and the onset of puberty, Luna’s parents have time to discuss and observe her. Luna should be able to guide them on her feelings — not Greg Abbott, not Ken Paxton, certainly not Ted Cruz and especially not Matt Krause.
Doctors and therapists can help, but ultimately Luna should decide.
If puberty blockers are introduced, they are generally introduced at Tanner Stage 2 (There are five Tanner stages to puberty). Boys typically begin Tanner stage 2 around age 11, and for girls it’s between ages 9 and 11. So, there is time. Lots of it.
Puberty blockers essentially hit the “pause button” on puberty, giving the transgender child and their parents yet more time to make sure a medical transition is right for them. If the puberty blockers are removed, the child would have a puberty in alignment with their sex assigned at birth.
Completely revocable. Non-permanent. No mutilation. No chemical castration.
If the trans youth and their parents agree, at age 16 or so, THEN cross-sex hormones can be introduced. This will provide a puberty that matches their lived gender and prevent a whole host of undesired effects of a biological puberty.
I hated puberty. I wish with all of my heart I would have had access to affirming parents and puberty blockers. But I was born before such things.
The effects of my puberty are permanent, and I live with them every day. I am female through and through. But my voice is deep; my hands are big; my hips are narrow; I’m nearly 6 feet tall, and my feet are too big to find shoes in most women’s shoe stores.
Luna can be saved from this fate — if that’s what she wants. And if her parents can put aside what “they” want and do what’s best for their child.
Please, keep her health and well-being first and foremost.
The rest of y’all — Stay out of it!
Leslie McMurray, a transgender woman, is a former radio DJ who lives and works in Dallas. Read more of her blogs at lesliemichelle44.wordpress.com.
Having read many of your articles Leslie I can state that you are definitely a very prejudice person. If the narrative doesn’t fit what YOU consider then those people are seen as ‘bad’ somehow. What I am coming to realize is that more and more of the LGBT community are anything but tolerant. You are promoting a harsh line between straight and the LGBT community. I would ask that you diverse yourself on BOTH sides of an issue, rather than oppose any that doesn’t meet your narrative.
Luna, should decide…when she is an adult with a fully developed brain.
You’re insane. You’re anout child abuse. It is disgusting.
Just as Virtues can be corrputed/perverted, so can legal doctrines and theories. Anything can be taken to absurdity. Wisdom comes in knowing where the line is.
The language of freedom and liberty is being used & preverted to justify child abuse /abomination in America.I will not sit idly by and let the child abuse cult use the language of kindness and love in order to justify societal tolerance and actual participation in child mutilation.
It’s not just our instutions of higher learning that have been targeted. Our instutions of Science, once bastions of truth and facts, have been under under attack. I’ve noticed all the stories over the years of radical transgender activists systematically protesting, throwing a fit and outright threatening scientists and educational instutions when studies and findings occur that contradict their political agenda or world view. They consistently attact every scientist or finding that contradicts what they espouse as illegitimate, bigoted and with flawed methods. (Apparently, to them, anything that doesn’t agree with that they are saying is bad science.)… I cannot support this and we as a society should not allow it to continue to happen. It’s a danger to our society and to our children.
Frankly, I do not care if they are offended. We should not allow our STEM fields to be corrupted by ‘the feelz’ or the political correctness cultists. Practicing medicine based on the feels in more akin to shamanism not science. I’m interested in the facts, not their feelings.
The radical transgender cultists would have you believe that this is settled science and the entire scientific community and every doctor is in agreement on this. This is not the case. There is widespread disagreement and plenty of scientific evidence to back up those not in agreement with the transgender randicals.
Let’s look at facts…
Since we’re talking about a a 7 year old boy, let’s look what science says how at how children’s minds work….”Stage by Stage 5 – 6
•Fives and sixes move in and out of magical thinking as explanations for what they see.
•Kindergartners use dramatic play as a way to sort through what is fantasy and what is reality.
•Five- and 6-year-olds are still in an animistic stage, thinking inanimate objects can come alive.”(2)
However, we also have to take into account that just like with bodies, not everyone’s brain matures at the same rate. So, we can have a 7 year old that is a little behind and whose mind still works like a 5 year old that still “move[s] in and out of magical thinking.”
It is chemical castration. It has psychological and psycical consequences. These natural and artificial hormones effect the brain, moods and body. Ask any woman that has gone through menopause or any man that has experienced an medical issue where testosterone production is drastically altered in the body and they’ll tell you just how powerful of an effect the loss or gain of these hormones has on the mind and body.
Some side effects of one puberty blocker are emotional problems like nervousness, anxiety and delusions…. so we are giving vunerable minds chemicals that can reinforce and further exacerbate that vulnerablity? Isn’t that absurd?
In dogs, it’s been seen that removing the sex organs leads to a higher rate or hyperthyroidism because the thriods go into overdrive and produce more of the sex hormone to compensate for the bodys need and loss of production capactity at the loss of the sex organs. We also see higher rates of bone density loss and other medical conditions. We’re starting to see these issues in humans also.
The body needs these natural hormones in order to produce healthy organs, systems, brains, skeletons. We do not yet know the full range of long term health consequences that will occure disrupting the natural biology of children. We do not know at all, but the radical transgender cultists would have us belive that it’s completely normal and subject children to abuse… they would have us make science experiments out if children. Will we tolerate it as a society?
The radical transgender activists might say “but, but, doctors say…” If you respond that other doctors say they will respond with they are bigoted and that was discredited. Just because someone has a doctorate (PHD) doesn’t mean what they are saying/doing isn’t absurd, idiotic or cruel. If some doctors say it’s to give hyperactivr kids lobotomies or electroshock therapy to calm them down, will we accept that as a society? No, I think not. We have long since rejected such practices sold under the guise of medical treatments/cures as largely cruel and barbaric. They were once sold as a cure for a wide variety of psychiatric ailments and behavioral issues. Those practices have long been discredited but not before they were accepted and destroyed or ruined hundreds if not thousands of people.
Like I said, everything can be take to absurd or dangerous places. Even Virtues. Legal reasoning and law are being taken to absurd places. It is time to push back…
We don’t trust kids with the decision to consent to have sex until the age of 17, but the radical transgender activists are going to say that that we should trust 7 year olds with the decision to give consent to having their body pumped full of mind and body altering chemicals that will render their sexual organs infertile and could lead to sexual disfunction?
We recently passed a law rasing the age to use tobacco to 21. So, we as a society say we can’t trust individuals to make sound, rational, adult choices usage until they are 21 but we should trust a 7 year old to make sound, rational choices about gender identity and substance usage/hormonal injections?
Some might say, well, it’s the parent’s choice. Let’s them decide. Well, if a 7 year old kid thought he was a cyborg, and wanted his arm and leg cut off so he could get robot arms and legs, and the parent paid someone to cut his arms and legs off (to mutilate their child), would we not charge the parent and doctor with child abuse?
The wisdom is in knowing where the line is. I reject this preversion of legal principle and theory.
1. https://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/18/at-what-age-is-the-brain-fully-developed/
2. https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/ages-stages-how-children-use-magical-thinking/