It’s the wind, you know » « Why is Florida so awful?

Texas is racing Florida to the bottom of the slime pit

While Florida is eager to out vulnerable kids, the Texas Attorney General has decided to deny them health care.

Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued a new interpretation of state law that says medical care for transgender children is abuse, a dramatic change contrary to medical standards that could make Texas one of the most aggressive states in targeting trans youth access to health care.

On Monday, Paxton issued an opinion stating his office believes gender-affirming health care for transgender youth – including common treatments like hormone therapy and puberty blockers – is a form of child abuse. The move comes despite opposition from the top medical and child welfare groups, who for months have urged Paxton not to take this step.

That last bit…yes, all the doctors and experts say this is a bad move, but Texas Republicans are going to go ahead and do it anyway. Why? It’s politics.

Paxton’s opinion comes as Republican politicians, jockeying for power ahead of one of the most competitive re-election seasons in years, increasingly put transgender children under the spotlight.

How else can Republicans demonstrate their evil bona fides other than by torturing small children who are a little bit different from their aryan Christian ideal? They’ve got to make sure they keep the hater voter focused on supporting them.

It’s the wind, you know » « Why is Florida so awful?

Comments

  1. raven says

    I tried to figure out how many Transgender kids there are in Texas. The statistics aren’t very good.

    About 0.7 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds living in the United States identify as transgender, some 150,000 teenagers, according to an estimate released in January by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law.

    There are 7 million children in Texas.

    This means that these hate bills are targeting at most, 50,000 children out of a population of 29 million.

  2. raven says

    I thought Texas was all about freedom.
    Freedom to not wear a mask during a pandemic. Freedom to not get a vaccine and die of Covid-19 virus.

    But not freedom to control your own body. Forced child bearing.
    Forced gender identity.
    Preventing large segments of the population from voting any way they can.

    These idiots are always massive hypocrites.

  3. Artor says

    Paxton is practicing medicine without a license. He should face charges from the state AG. Oh wait..

  4. Doc Bill says

    Texas already has legislation that limits how transgender high school athletes can compete in girls team sports. That bill affects an estimated 150 kids in the entire state. The Legislature spent months and months crafting this bill. Of course, the power grid is still not weatherized but, hey, they brought the hammer down on those gall-darned high school kids! In other legislation, a bill was also passed but VETOED by sociopath Governor Abbott requiring dog owners to provide adequate shelter and water for dogs living outside, and banning the use of heavy chains. Abbott reversed his decision after an outcry from the public. Texans love their dogs, doncha know.

  5. birgerjohansson says

    Doc Bill @ 4
    The motto for Texas republucans; “You do not have to be a sociopath, but it helps.”

  7. says

    Conservatives on CRT: WAAAH! THE CHILDREN!!
    Conservatives on prayer in schools: WAAAH!! THE CHILDREN!!
    Conservatives on teaching evolution: WAAAH!! THE CHILDREN!!

    Conservatives on mass shootings: ¯_(ツ)/¯
    Conservatives on LGBTQIA+ kids: ¯_(ツ)    /¯
    Conservatives on priests molesting kids: ¯_(ツ)_/¯

    Yeah, I really don’t think these guys give half a shit about “the children”.

  10. brightmoon says

    How did this country turn into fundie-ville ? I don’t get it. Atheists and agnostics are one of the larger minorities now. Moderate Christian can’t stand these people because they’re crazy, scary and hateful .

  11. John Morales says

    brightmoon, fundies are motivated and agitated and mobilised.

    (And, of course, you mob have optional rather than mandatory voting, so…)

  13. birgerjohansson says

    Re. the governors of Texas and Florida.
    “Some people are such treasures.
    You just want to bury them.”

  14. StevoR says

    @11. John Morales : Plus no preferential voting and the anti-democratic obscenity that is the Electoral college and voter-suppression laws, unfettered gerrymandering and the list goes on ..

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-petrocelli/its-time-to-end-the-electoral-college_b_12891764.html

    While Florida is eager to out vulnerable kids, the Texas Attorney General has decided to deny them health care.

    Pretty much all Repugs in all the USA seem to me likely keen to do both those things and more – and just for the sake of cruelty and transphobia and “owning the libs compasionate people who aren’t sadistic bigots.