A federal judge says that DeSantis was spreading lies when he called gender-affirming care “mutilation.”

This year has been all downhill for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. His presidential aspirations are going up in smoke thanks to his complete lack of charisma and general campaign incompetence. His losing war against Disney is costing Florida taxpayers millions of dollars. Now a federal court all but called DeSantis a liar for the way he justified his ban on medical care for trans youth.

DeSantis repeatedly claimed that the law was necessary to prevent youth from being “mutilated.” In just one example, he went after one reporter who questioned him about it when he signed the bill last May.

“And when you talk to people and I know, like people in your industry will dress it up with a euphemism, and they’ll say it’s health care to cut off the private parts of a 14 or 15 year old,” DeSantis said. “That is not health care. That is mutilation.”

Tell that to U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle.

-49 points
Removed by mod
permalink
report
reply
26 points

You’re fantasizing about a strawman. You’ve never actually spoken to a trans person.

permalink
report
parent
reply
70 points

I hope you are not being obtuse. No children are having such surgeries. This is a lie that is presented as fact to justify these hateful pieces of legislation. Children typically only socially transition, as in new name, hairstyle, clothes, etc. There is absolutely no mutilation or irreversible changes being made to these kids.

I think this bears repeating: No children are having any sort of gender affirming surgeries. These are lies that are used by hateful people to attack people like me. Please do not believe these lies. Rather, talk to a trans person. Hear their story. We just want to live our lives in peace.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

No one is cutting kids’ dicks off. Those are a fantasy made up to get people to hate trans people.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points

I wish people weren’t down voting you for asking a simple question.

It’s definitely mutilation if that happened, but doctors aren’t allowed to perform those surgeries on minors. So the premise is false, and DeSantis is just trying to stir the pot.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Knee jerk reactions are something I’ve come to expect from the Internet these days. I’m not bothered by it, and Internet points don’t have value so nothing is lost by it either.

DeSantis seems like a fairly horrible person, but that also doesn’t mean everyone should blindly dismiss anything he says, which is why I ask.

I wish I was all knowing, but I keep letting myself down on that front.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Your problem is that you start from the presumption that anyone is “cutting dicks off” at that age.

Psychologists have ways to tell if a child is faking their body dysmorphia (ie just sees it “as the cool trend”) - and, news flash; almost literally no one wants to change their body for “trendy” reasons.

So, if they do meet the criteria, they go on hormone blockers. This just delays puberty, and as soon as they stop taking them, puberty picks up where it left off.

So if they later decide this was all a mistake, they have until they’re an adult to make their decision.

Again: no one is mutilating any children. It is a strawman argument dreamed up by culture-war pedaling fascists who want to be able to point at the fake victories they won “for you” so they can get your vote and remain in power and accomplish their real goals like eventually outlawing all trans people, rounding up all immigrants, atheists, etc in their march to turn America into a theocratic white Christian ethnostate.

I mean they’re already quoting Hitler, bro. Wake the fuck up.

permalink
report
parent
reply
17 points

Stop listening to sycophants to get your information, because it’s almost always going to be wrong.

permalink
report
parent
reply
25 points

theyre exaggerating in order to take control of everyone, like the assholes always do.

no bottom surgery or full on hrt is happening to youth, what is meant by affirming care is puberty blockers (completely reversible), and therapy to help youth sort out this in their head. i would kill to not have to go through the wrong puberty, and i wish to protect trans children from having to meet the same fate as me.

and repeating yet again from the other commenter, no, children are not getting bottom surgery. stop falling for their propaganda and listen to the trans people preaching our life experiences on deaf ears

permalink
report
parent
reply
33 points

That just doesn’t happen.

permalink
report
parent
reply
42 points
*

First off, that doesn’t happen. Ever. (Surgeries do happen at that age, especially mastectomies, but not for cosmetic reasons)

Second of all, where is your outrage for all the boob jobs and other cosmetic surgeries that children under 18 get every year? There are more of those surgeries for teens under 18 than there are for trans people over the age of 18.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

The point is that wasn’t actually happening to children, they made it up out of thin air as a pretext to attack all healthcare for trans children, and now nationwide are moving on to making healthcare for trans adults (the adult care can include surgery) illegal as well. These laws including Florida’s are opposed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, and many other medical organizations. These laws are causing great harm to both children and adults across the country, all based on lies and half truths as an excuse to prevent doctors and patients from making their own healthcare decisions, which seems to be the Republican MO.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

I’m not a fan of people throwing hurtful incendiary statements into conversations around healthcare, whether it be you or DeSantis.

permalink
report
parent
reply
102 points

I think it’s wrong and bizarre that we cut the private parts of babies just because of a social trend started by a bunch of weirdos. That’s why medically unnecessary circumcision before the age of 18 should be regulated.

This is consistent with the tiny minority who view the practice as a covenant with God because you’re not allowed to enter into a contract as a minor in the US.

permalink
report
reply
-15 points

Tbh, I think that irreversible sex change surgeries shouldn’t be allowed until the age of 18 (circumcision included). There’s a reason that we don’t let children do a lot of things, and that’s because their brain isn’t developed enough to make informed decisions.

There are a lot of things that I personally thought were a good idea in my teens that I definitely wouldn’t in my mid 30s, and I’m sure that’s true for most people.

permalink
report
parent
reply
13 points

But your brain is so developed it can decide what’s good for others. Kindly shut up.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-10 points

I guess you also support letting 14 year olds get tattoos?

permalink
report
parent
reply
14 points

Okay, can we just take a minute to acknowledge that the ONLY gender affirming surgery legally on the table before you are 16 is for breasts?

It also requires the sign off of a legal guardian and there are a bunch of recommendations in place from therapists about how to make good long term decisions so it’s not like minors are making uninformed decisions on their own.

permalink
report
parent
reply
35 points

This is the lie that is being told. No reputable doctor is doing this. You are right, a teenager can’t reliably make those sorts of decisions.

The optimal treatment is a combination. They give drugs that delay puberty, combined with intensive mental health care.

The drugs are because reversing the effects of puberty is hard and invasive. By delaying puberty, they can sidestep a lot of these issues. If the patient decides they were wrong, they can stop the drugs, and puberty will kick in normally.

The mental health care is to help them get a handle on what is actually wrong. It filters out those with other mental health issues, that could be helped better in other ways. It also allows those who want to go through with it to firm up their understanding of what it will entail, and what they need to do prior.

If, after all this, they still want to transition, they can start the process. They are at least now aware of what it will entail, and don’t have the baggage of their body lurching in the opposite direction to their mind.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-8 points

Yeah, for sure. I’m definitely not against hormones and mental health treatment. It’s just weird that “children shouldn’t be able to just get permanent, life altering surgery,” is a bad take around here.

permalink
report
parent
reply
45 points

I’d like to know the stats for how many people under 18 are having actual sex change procedures.

I always assumed the care what we’re receiving at that age was things like hormone therapy, or something that could easily be reversed later.

permalink
report
parent
reply
36 points

You are correct, it is only reversible care. Nobody gets a sex change under 18 in the US due to minor status consent and permanent procedures like that. Unfortunately you will find it hard to prove something that doesn’t happen, happened. That’s why they choose this route so they can claim that they are making sure kids aren’t getting sex changes by getting the medical/therapy records for anyone Trans.

The problem is that it’s just so they get their info to persecute them, which even if this gets stopped in court it keeps Trans people from seeking professional care due to completely legitimate fears of future breaches. They win whether they get the records or not.

permalink
report
parent
reply

___

permalink
report
reply
21 points

Get rekt you insecure bitch

permalink
report
reply
26 points

I hope they strike down every one of these bigoted garbage laws.

permalink
report
reply

politics

!politics@lemmy.world

Create post

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
  2. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  3. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  4. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive.
  5. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  6. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That’s all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

Community stats

  • 14K

    Monthly active users

  • 14K

    Posts

  • 412K

    Comments