I was coming here to just drop a pithy "Why would ANYONE on EM's substack oppose them???" Like, just couldn't think of a reason. But then saw Daniel's comment and remembered the inevitable worry about the law and "bodily autonomy" in the name of "healthcare."
But this is not healthcare, it's literally (lolol) harming healthy bodies. And t…
I was coming here to just drop a pithy "Why would ANYONE on EM's substack oppose them???" Like, just couldn't think of a reason. But then saw Daniel's comment and remembered the inevitable worry about the law and "bodily autonomy" in the name of "healthcare."
But this is not healthcare, it's literally (lolol) harming healthy bodies. And those bodies are not autonomous, nor should they be, because they are children. (Even though I am pro-choice and trained as an attorney, I've never been comfortable with the effort to allow minors to get abortions without parental consent *because* it's rooted in this falsehood that children's/teen's minds are capable of making truly informed rest-of-their-lives decisions.) We ban or require all KINDS of things for children because they're children. The idea that *this* thing is different... Nah.
In fact, *this* thing is problematic for even more reasons. Not the least of which is there are no "trans children." NO ONE IS BORN IN THE WRONG BODY. The fact that some adults tell us they always "felt like a boy/girl" and *sincerely believed* they were one or the other (or both or neither, *very large eye roll*) doesn't mean body dysphoria/dysmorphia or just gender nonconformity (including homosexual attraction) should be "treated" in ANYONE, but especially not in children. (There is no good argument for not "treating" this problem - to the extent that it even is a real problem - with cognitive behavioral therapy or just "radical acceptance.")
Do I wish Republicans would do the banning in a more thoughtful and neutral (less politically overblown rhetoric) way? Absolutely, but I'd much rather have it banned outright and everywhere than have any child - including those currently being harmed by having their and their parents' delusions acquiesced to - be harmed (physically with the "medical" interventions themselves, and psychologically/emotionally by affirming this completely false ideology about what gender and sex are).
I was coming here to just drop a pithy "Why would ANYONE on EM's substack oppose them???" Like, just couldn't think of a reason. But then saw Daniel's comment and remembered the inevitable worry about the law and "bodily autonomy" in the name of "healthcare."
But this is not healthcare, it's literally (lolol) harming healthy bodies. And those bodies are not autonomous, nor should they be, because they are children. (Even though I am pro-choice and trained as an attorney, I've never been comfortable with the effort to allow minors to get abortions without parental consent *because* it's rooted in this falsehood that children's/teen's minds are capable of making truly informed rest-of-their-lives decisions.) We ban or require all KINDS of things for children because they're children. The idea that *this* thing is different... Nah.
In fact, *this* thing is problematic for even more reasons. Not the least of which is there are no "trans children." NO ONE IS BORN IN THE WRONG BODY. The fact that some adults tell us they always "felt like a boy/girl" and *sincerely believed* they were one or the other (or both or neither, *very large eye roll*) doesn't mean body dysphoria/dysmorphia or just gender nonconformity (including homosexual attraction) should be "treated" in ANYONE, but especially not in children. (There is no good argument for not "treating" this problem - to the extent that it even is a real problem - with cognitive behavioral therapy or just "radical acceptance.")
Do I wish Republicans would do the banning in a more thoughtful and neutral (less politically overblown rhetoric) way? Absolutely, but I'd much rather have it banned outright and everywhere than have any child - including those currently being harmed by having their and their parents' delusions acquiesced to - be harmed (physically with the "medical" interventions themselves, and psychologically/emotionally by affirming this completely false ideology about what gender and sex are).