Author: tjw

  • New Poll: 76% Say Trans Care For Trans Youth Should Be Decided By Parents Or Doctors

    New Poll: 76% Say Trans Care For Trans Youth Should Be Decided By Parents Or Doctors

    More evidence that Republicans are hurting their own electability by pursuing their bigoted agenda, contrary to some older narratives that Democrats should be silent on trans rights to avoid scaring moderate voters:

    In the poll, likely voters were asked who they thought should be able to make the final decision on who can access gender affirming care. 54% of respondents stated that the parents of trans youth should make that decision, while 22% said that the decision should belong with the doctors of the trans youth. Only 12% of people answered that the elected state lawmakers should be able to make the decision around whether or not a trans youth should be able to access gender affirming care. Moreover, even Republicans opposed legislative interference in trans care; only 16% of Republicans answered that such decisions should be handled by the legislature.

    https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/new-poll-76-say-trans-care-for-trans

  • Kentucky and Tennessee bans on trans care blocked

    This year has been rough with unprecedented anti-trans laws. But now the wave of many of those same laws being struck down is starting to happen and we can only hope that in due time they’re all struck down. At least all bathroom laws and all restrictions on trans care.

    The unbroken record of federal judges finding that anti-transgender bans on gender-affirming medical care for minors violate, or likely violate, the U.S. Constitution continued Wednesday, when U.S. District Judge David Hale in Kentucky issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement of S.B. 150, that state’s recently passed ban.

    The order from Hale, an Obama appointee, bars the state from “enforcing, threatening to enforce, or otherwise requiring compliance” with provisions of the new law that were to ban health care providers from prescribing or administering puberty blockers or testosterone to assist with the provision of gender-affirming care. The law goes into effect on June 29.

    In Hale’s order, he also made clear that the scope of the ruling does not just apply to the plaintiffs, calling it a “facial injunction” that bars the state from enforcing the provisions of the new law against anyone.

    https://www.lawdork.com/p/kentucky-ban-on-trans-care-for-minors-blocked?publication_id=899862&post_id=131758436&isFreemail=true

  • Most Kentuckians Oppose Restrictions on Youth Transition

    Most Kentuckians Oppose Restrictions on Youth Transition

    Keeping in mind the usual caveats about how surveys can have issues, like people giving opposite answers depending on how a question is worded – this poll from last month shows that most people polled in Kentucky (71%) and even most Republicans (62%) in the poll oppose bills that would force detransition trans youths. This makes sense because those bills are indeed extreme and basic rights and bodily autonomy seem to be increasingly popular. But it also shows that these lawmakers are willing to risk going against the majority to please certain donors or to satisfy their own anti-trans impulses:

    A majority of Kentucky voters believe parents — not the state government — should have the final say on if transgender teenagers receive gender-affirming care, a new statewide poll has found. Seventy-one percent of voters said they would oppose a “proposed Kentucky law that would allow the state to overrule parents’ decisions to obtain certain health care for their transgender teenager,” including medications that “can regulate the onset of puberty.” The poll of 625 registered Kentucky voters was conducted by the respected Mason-Dixon Polling and Strategy in January and released by pro-LGBTQ advocacy group the Fairness Campaign on Thursday. The poll’s release comes as Kentucky lawmakers are considering a number of bills that the Fairness Campaign has labeled a part of the “Slate of Hate,” which the group says are harmful to queer and trans people — especially to trans youth.

    https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article272581588.html

  • Idaho Senate Halts Bill Targeting Trans Youth

    Trans children in Idaho were at the mercy of Republicans holding to “parental rights” principles, which prevailed in this case.

    Republican leaders in the Idaho Senate halted the advancement of the bill on Tuesday, saying it undermined parental rights and amounted to government overreach, even as they affirmed their staunch opposition to any kind of trans-related medical care.

    “We believe in parents’ rights and that the best decisions regarding medical treatment options for children are made by parents, with the benefit of their physician’s advice and expertise,” Republican Senate leaders said in a statement released late on Tuesday.

    https://www.reuters.com/world/us/idaho-senate-halts-healthcare-bill-targeting-trans-youth-2022-03-16

  • Texas Judge Temporarily Halts Investigations

    Texas Judge Temporarily Halts Investigations

    All investigations into families with transgender children are temporarily halted in Texas. Some more unsavory facts about how CPS is operating are coming to light, making this look even worse than we initially suspected.

    Driving the news: A supervisor for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services testified on Friday that investigators were required to prioritize cases involving parents of transgender children but were prohibited from closing them if they determined that the case likely did not involve child abuse, according to media reports of video footage from a state district court hearing.

    What she’s saying: The agency’s approach to reports of parents seeking gender-affirming care for their children was different from other cases, the supervisor, Randa Mulanax, testified on Friday before Meachum, the Texas Tribune reports.

    Investigators were told to look into such cases without exception and not to document anything about the cases in writing, she testified.

    They could not give these cases “priority none status,” which occurs when the agency concludes that a report is unlikely to reflect a case of child abuse, according to Mulanax, who said she says she will resign from the agency.

    “I’ve always felt that, at the end of the day, the department had children’s best interest at heart,” she added. “I no longer feel that way.”