Marjorie Taylor-Greene Seeks to Criminalize Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

[Ferguson97]

https://www.newsweek.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-seeks-criminalize-gender-affirming-care-kids-1735044

Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia plans to introduce legislation to federally ban gender-affirming care for transgender children.

Greene announced the bill during a Thursday appearance on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight. The Georgia Republican argued that gender-affirming care—which is backed by most in the medical establishment, including by major mainstream organizations like the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)—is "disgusting and appalling" and "child abuse" when minors are involved.

"I find this absolutely appalling, Tucker," Greene said. "When it comes to gender-affirming care, which is really child abuse, this is actually an assault and it's child abuse. And this practice should never happen, it's so disgusting and appalling... gender-affirming care is... genital mutilation."

"This needs to be illegal and I'm introducing a bill called Protect Children's Innocence Act," she added. "It would create a law that would cause it to be a class C felony for any person involved in so-called gender-affirming care... anything involving any youth under the age of 18."

Carlson enthusiastically agreed with Greene's proposal, arguing that doctors who provide the care should "go to prison" and that he expects every Republican to vote for the bill.

The Republican Party is straight-up evil.

[jojoju1998]

Aside from the Gender part,

This would violate Medical Freedom of Doctors to practice however they want, and would violate interstate commerce as well.

It’s a private medical service, offered freely by the provider.

[Trans Rights Are Human Rights]

Surprised she's not going after adults too, honestly. Of course, that'll probably wait until they don't have to rely on Democratic support. In any case, TIL I was abused for five months in 2019.

Also, I guess my genitalia have been mutilated, even though I haven't even had bottom surgery yet (which is much closer to "mutilation" than any other form of transition, even if I think it's far too complicated to justify dismissing it as such).

[afleitch]

Surprised she's not going after adults too, honestly. Of course, that'll probably wait until they don't have to rely on Democratic support. In any case, TIL I was abused for five months in 2019.

Also, I guess my genitalia have been mutilated, even though I haven't even had bottom surgery yet (which is much closer to "mutilation" than any other form of transition, even if I think it's far too complicated to justify dismissing it as such).

Oh they'll get there;

I mean yeah. It's clear where this is going. You see it with trans and LGBT stuff too; rhetorically and legally chip away at the right for anyone under 16, then 18, then maybe even 21 to make decisions about their body or identity. Unless it's having babies, getting married or going to church.

The Republican Party and conservative Christians are nothing more than a fertility cult. They do, genuinely, want control over everyone's bodies. This isn't hyperbole anymore.

[Ferguson97]

Surprised she's not going after adults too, honestly. Of course, that'll probably wait until they don't have to rely on Democratic support. In any case, TIL I was abused for five months in 2019.

Also, I guess my genitalia have been mutilated, even though I haven't even had bottom surgery yet (which is much closer to "mutilation" than any other form of transition, even if I think it's far too complicated to justify dismissing it as such).

Oh they are. Florida banned Medicare from covering trans adults.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

I'd like to criminalize being a stupid, transphobic piece of fascist garbage.

[Alben Barkley]

Bill goes too far, unsurprisingly, but "gender-affirming care" is too often a euphemism for sterilizing/chemically castrating children with experimental medical procedures and drugs poorly supported by evidence that their use is justified. Sweden and Finland aren't "evil" for banning or severely restricting these things, although they naturally did so in a much more sane and humane way than what MTG and the GOP are proposing. I wouldn't criminalize it, certainly not for parents who are often as misled as the children themselves. But it's a shame how loud lunatics like MTG make it difficult for people to have a rational discussion about whether or not we should be encouraging these irreversible and potentially dangerous procedures for children.

[Joe Republic]

The Republicans are panicking that the headlines haven't been going their way for about a month - which is showing in the polls - so they're replaying the hits that get the morons all riled up.  It's an election year, so this is 2022's equivalent of the migrant caravan, Ebola, etc.

[Trans Rights Are Human Rights]

Oh they are. Florida banned Medicare from covering trans adults.

See, that's what I mean. They don't need Democratic support to do that in Florida, but they do need it at the federal level. I suspect that, when the Republicans next have a trifecta, they'll be going much further than banning gender-affirming care and imprisoning doctors who provide it. They'll probably even imprison patients who ask for it, and especially those who actually transitioned when it was legal (such as myself). I wouldn't be surprised if gender non-conforming behavior (not even necessarily trans sh**t, either!) became punishable by prison, too.

[Del Tachi]

SRS/HRT should be illegal for minor children under 18, yes.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

SRS/HRT should be illegal for minor children under 18, yes.

Hormone treatments have been used for decades to treat all sorts of conditions, and the idea that they should be uniquely prohibited as a treatment for gender dysphoria is just bananas to me.

I don't want to get into a debate on the surgeries issue because it is admittedly a drastic measure, and besides that the far right only even brings it up because they want to pretend it is becoming common for minors.

[Ferguson97]

SRS/HRT should be illegal for minor children under 18, yes.

This is a monstrous thing to believe.

[OSR stands with Israel]

SRS/HRT should be illegal for minor children under 18, yes.

This is a monstrous thing to believe.

No it is not and it should be banned

[John Dule]

SRS/HRT should be illegal for minor children under 18, yes.

This is a monstrous thing to believe.

The standard for monstrousness has really plummeted in the modern era.

[T'Chenka]

Republicans can't win the argument without lying about doctors performing bottom surgery on "children" (teenagers, but it sounds scarier if you use the word "children"). It happens very very rarely and in many places not at all, but sticking to the facts doesn't rile up their base and frighten low-info voters.

Actually, "but sticking to the facts doesn't rile up their base and frighten low-info voters" describes the GOP position on hundreds of issues.

[Horus]

This is one of the least offensive things she's said.

As for the hormones, one could argue that in these cases they're being used for a psychological condition while they are usually used for physical conditions. Since a young person's brain is still developing and they may have a completely different view of their body and what they want for their life every other month, I'm not completely comfortable with (irreversible) hormone therapy for minors. Especially since there are some irreversible side effects such as loss of bone density.

[T'Chenka]

SRS/HRT should be illegal for minor children under 18, yes.

This is a monstrous thing to believe.

No it is not and it should be banned

There are several treatments for cisgender children involving HRT. Banning it doesn't make sense at all. If you want to restrict doctors from prescribing it for certain things, that makes more sense, but might be harder to accomplish.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

Republicans can't win the argument without lying about doctors performing bottom surgery on "children" (teenagers, but it sounds scarier if you use the word "children"). It happens very very rarely and in many places not at all, but sticking to the facts doesn't rile up their base and frighten low-info voters.

Actually, "but sticking to the facts doesn't rile up their base and frighten low-info voters" describes the GOP position on hundreds of issues.

It also basically only ever happens in cases where you have teens who are literally suffering from suicidal urges due to the severity of their gender dysphoria, and where less drastic treatments have failed to bring them relief. I get why it freaks people out, trust me, but if I were a parent of a trans teenager and the options were either a surgical procedure or risking seeing my child kill themselves, I sure as hell wouldn't want the government making that decision for us.

[Joe Republic]

One of our resident unhinged posters unironically used the word 'demonic' three times in his lengthy rant ITT.  So that's where conservatives are at here.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I still can't believe this woman holds elected office.

[T'Chenka]

I still can't believe this woman holds elected office.

More like her are coming. Trumpists LOVE her, and there are tens of millions of them.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

I still can't believe this woman holds elected office.

I can, but that doesn't make it any less disappointing.

[Hammy]

I'll ask again: why the hell are cons so obsessed with having control over other people's genitals

[T'Chenka]

I'll ask again: why the hell are cons so obsessed with having control over other people's genitals

It's about keeping trans people in their place as "others" and not allowing them to feel normal or be treated as normal. Otherwise, the next thing you know, half the neighbourhood will be trans and our kids will either bring trans kids over to play or becomes trans themselves. We have to stop it before it gets out of hand!

[ProgressiveModerate]

I kinda think the GOP has ruined this issue for themselves. There is a genuine conversation to be had around how old someone should be to get gender re-affirming care if not surgery, but the way the GOP turns it into a culture war overpowers any genuine debate.