Dude, I'm talking about the blatant attempt of Trump and his clonies in the GOP to steal the vote. I'm talking about all the election deniers who have said they are willing to decertify votes. This is a real threat to Democracy. I'm not talking about gerrymandering. I'm talking about actual attempts to discredit the actual results again if the GOP loses in 2024. Hell, Trump and his team of thugs already have plans for doing that in the midterms. You might think that's fine, but it's not. Not in a Democratic society. You asked me if I would accept results. I say again for the third time, yes. I will accept the results of the vote. I will not accept results if the GOP goes in and decertifies votes to cheat and steal an election to take power. Get that through your thick head! I stand by the votes of the people. I don't stand for trying to steal an election. I don't believe in coups, lies, propaganda, and stirring up an insurrection to stop the process of certifying the actual winner.
@deb4rockets, I think I have generally tried to remain polite with you. I would appreciate it if you could do the same.
I just get so tired of you asking me the same thing over and over. You were rebutting with something completely different than what I was talking about. Anyway, sorry. You just really go on and on and on sometimes. I would appreciate it if you just read my answer and accepted it the first time. You asked a question and I answered it. I shouldn't have had to explain it in so much detail for you three times. And honestly, you aren't always respectful with your responses. You often group me with something false or offensive, just because you don't like that I disagree.
Lol didn't you make her the butt of jokes and memes and did pile on jokes about her with other posters who share your views? Are you gaslighting bro?
This is an interesting twist for parents of typical girls... The # of children diagnosed with early puberty (age 7-8 for example instead of the typical age 13) has doubled recently and spiked post-2020 (all over the world). Whatever the cause, the mental health impact is concerning, and some parents are so concerned, they are choosing to delay it with medication (the same type of puberty blocker some trans kids use to delay puberty). Republicans in some states have banned this. Would they ban it for these typical girls also, or leave it up to the dr, parent, and family to decide for themselves? Why More and More Girls Are Hitting Puberty Early | The New Yorker Megan Gray was eight years old when she got her first period. Gray was taller than her peers and wore layers of tops to conceal her developing breasts. She estimates that she was a C-cup by fifth grade. “There were assumptions about me because I had boobs. And I had never even kissed anyone. I was lucky, because nothing traumatic occurred. Yet I do think that there is a trauma in being sexualized.” Then, during the coronavirus pandemic, pediatric endocrinologists saw a new surge of referrals for girls with early puberty. Recent retrospective studies from Germany and Turkey show that the number of these referrals doubled or even tripled during the lockdown periods of 2020 (this at a time when many families may have been avoiding non-emergency doctor’s visits for fear of covid-19). A paper published in August in the journal Frontiers in Pediatrics, which analyzed data from South Korea’s national statistics portal, found that the number of children diagnosed with precocious puberty almost doubled between 2016 and 2021, with a sharp post-2020 spike. The rise in early puberty “is a phenomenon that is occurring all over the world,” Frank M. Biro, the former director of the adolescent-medicine division at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, told me. (Although there has also been a rise among boys, girls experiencing early puberty still vastly outnumber them.) But early puberty is associated with a daunting list of adverse physical and psychological outcomes: various studies have suggested that early-maturing girls are at greater risk for developing obesity, breast cancer, eating disorders, depression, and a range of behavioral issues. Especially in the midst of what is increasingly understood to be a post-covid youth mental-health crisis, the startling new uptick in early puberty is troubling to some physicians and parents. Even in the absence of an acute medical crisis, some families do decide to halt the process of puberty temporarily, with medication that blocks the release of sex hormones—most commonly, a drug called Lupron. Lupron is sometimes prescribed off-label to children with gender dysphoria, and, due to efforts in many states to limit or ban gender-affirming pediatric care, the drug has become controversial.
To me the issue of how to care for and what the proper protocol for transgender minors is very much up in the air. I do think that Republican politicians are purposely playing up the extremes and the topic in an effort to scare voters. Democrates do this with abortion, so it isn't unique to one party. As for the actual transgender kids (if anyone really gives a **** about them, which I question based on what I have read), there appears to have been a little under 800 masectomies done on minors since 2021. So, about 1-2 a day across the USA. The numbers are growing, but that is a small number in the grand scheme of things. So it isn't this tidal wave of kids have surgery as the GOP has pushed. Having said that, I have heard a lot of Democrats down-play the hazards of hormone blockers. We know that they cause blood clots and other issues, and we don't know what they cause long term. FWIW genital re-assignment surgery on a minor in the USA is EXTREMELY rare. Yes, there are some who have had gender re-assignment surgery that regret it. The number is believed to be very small, but what will the number be in 20-30 years? IDK
Scare voters of what? Of the harm done to Children? Republicans are banning this to "protect Children". They are completely dismissing that parents/dr/children are the ones making that decision and they are taking that right away. Why aren't Republican banning circumcision? Children have died from the procedures. While drs/parents make the decision on circumcision, the children have zero input. The reason we don't ban that is that we as a society, even with the known risk, leave it up to the parent and their dr to decide for themselves. Yes, there are risks with hormone blockers (and every medical intervention for transgender). No one is downplaying them - I think that's a strawman. There are risks with cancer treatments. There is risk with Children's Tylenol. There are risks with ALL prescription drugs for Children. We don't go and ban any of that because we have medical establishment guidelines for their usage and we leave it up to the dr/parent/children (if they are old enough) to make those decisions for themselves. The medical establishment has close to 50 years of guidelines (and as usual, they change over time with new understanding) for how and when to use hormone blockers and other medical interventions - why should we not listen to them? If one feels it's too dangerous, they are free to not follow it. But why should the State ban them for those who trust enough to follow the medical establishment guidelines? (and why was this not an issue for 50 years)? It's pretty simple. Republicans found a social issue they believe is a winning issue and the harm they actually do to children and families of transgenders by taking options away from them is absolutely acceptable for their win.
I think harping on plastic surgery for trans teens while not showing greater overall concern for teenagers in general getting plastic surgery makes the concern seem disingenuous. You may reply, but those are just nose jobs and removing acne scars. It's not the same as getting your breasts removed. https://www.plasticsurgery.org/news/briefing-papers/briefing-paper-plastic-surgery-for-teenagers And again there's no concern for steroid or PED use among teenagers in athletic sports which is far more common than trans identifying teens that receive any type of healthcare whatsoever. I mean we're talking about living in a nation where the number of uninsured is already high compared to other first world nations, whether you're trans or not. That also means that typically people who do have health insurance are on private coverage meaning it's not anyone's tax dollars paying for a trans teens hormone therapy or any surgical procedures just like the patients that received healthcare at Vanderbilt. If it's a private healthcare opt in that parents are willing to pay for, I fail to see how the U.S. government should get involved and have a say. I could better understand government intervention if there were trans teens receiving healthcare through Medicaid and Medicare but that's doesn't appear to be the case and personally I'd be for government funding trans healthcare. I'm merely stating, I'd understand government intervention better if Uncle Sam was footing the bill over healthcare from which the majority of Americans have decided they don't want to fund through some sort of electoral process. But we're talking about privately funded health insured trans population that are paying for it themselves. That's already a small number of people you'd have to figure. What's the issue? Understanding the Connection Between Steroid Use and Fertility in Men The selective concern over which teens are socially permitted to take hormones and receive plastic surgery makes the whole trans topic seem manufactured and disingenuous. Sure the high school athlete that starts a cycle and gets recruited to the top football program in the nation may win you money at the bookies when you gamble who wins the BCS and a trans teen merely having hormone therapy while existing in the privacy of their own community won't, but as a truly concerned person over the well being of teenager's bodies, you gotta ignore all the money gambling on a roided out athlete will bring you because teenagers need to be told what to do with their body by politicians and concerned Rocket fans because they clearly know better than anyone else on this topic. I find this to be a manufactured wedge issue to distract from the fact that healthcare for a lot of Americans sucks, whether you're trans or not and it's by design that it is that way because of our own elected officials currently in office that are up for re-election that choose to make it a wedge issue just so they can campaign on how they're going to make healthcare not only shittier for trans people, but shittier for everybody. Here's a FtM trans person I respect a lot. I don't understand why you'd deliberately want to discriminate someone like him. In truth though it shouldn't take being an accomplished scientist or anything to just be accepted as trans. I don't get it.
So a school isn’t supposed to let them go to class? Transgender people exist and are part of society. I don’t agree with some of the things I have seen concerning the LGBTQ and how far they will go. However, just like there are gay children, there are transgender children and they both go to school and deserve to not be bullied or treated poorly and like any child, if there is a way to allow them to feel happy and safe at school, then they deserve it. I can understand not supporting mastectomies for teenagers… but that isn’t the fault of the school, and that really isn’t something a child should be bullied over either. You or I can think it should be illegal or have concerns over it and that has nothing to do with what I could read on what was contained in the tweet pamphlet. There is a line I am seeing some cross, from having concerns for these children and venturing into being abusive and trying to suppress who these children are, ridiculing them and in some cases even bullying them. I am not saying that is how you feel, but I think people need to be cognizant that there is a line being crossed in some of these cases.
Maybe I lack imagination, but really, transgender children in elementary school? The younger they are, the less sure you can be that it is not just a phase they are going through. I would be very wary of virtue-signaling parents projecting their own "inclusivity" inadvertently to the (permanent) detriment of their children.
You may not agree or like it, but yes a lot of people, including moderates and even some older moderate Democrats are going to be swayed by this issue and are against it. We can say it is ignorant or bigoted, or whatever term… but it doesn’t change the fact a lot of people are against it or puzzled and concerned over it. I hear people down play the side effects from hormone treatment all the time. People that are supportive of transgender rights down play the risks and those against it over play how prevalent things like mastectomies are. There are places that have made circumcisions illegal. I believe San Francisco did, and there is a movement away from circumcision. Is it a double standard by Republicans? Yes… but there are also Democrats against circumcision and want it banned. Both sides love to play the “if you don’t like it, don’t do it” on issues they believe in. I see it with guns and abortion and now transgender treatment for children.
Regarding circumcision - yep - I think it's not right. I am fully aware most parents in the US do it. Leave the children alone.
Yes, there are transgender children in elementary school. Do they all take hormone blockers or have mastectomies? No…. In my son’s grade there is one child that has asked to wear dresses and to be called a girl since they were 2-3 years old. Once they went to preschool around other girls, they have progressively acted and dressed like a girl. They wear dresses and have begged their parents to grow their hair out and to get make up. Their parents are very wealthy and conservative. They are not taking any hormone blockers and obviously haven’t had any surgery but have been getting counseling for 5 years now. I am very involved in my sons school. The school is small and has multiple psychiatrists on staff and social workers to ensure all the kids are healthy and emotionally growing. Early on the told my sons class that some boys want to dress like girls and some girls dress like boys. They didn’t make any judgment other than to tell them to be kind and to not bully someone for being different.
I circumcised my son but not sure I would do it now because it’s almost 50/50 with young boys now. The WHO actually supports circumcision but a lot of medical boards do not now. Only other thing in support of it is that I have had women comment that some men that are not circumcised don’t keep it clean down there. I do think 100 years from now it will be very rare.
