Tag: Gender Affirming Care

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Episode 38: Happy Labor Day!

On this Week’s episode: a rambling conversation about everything from the holiday weekend to running races and training for marathons to … Martha Stewart? 

More importantly, we discuss the Texas Supreme Court’s ill-advised decision that lets the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors take effect despite the overwhelming weight of scientific and medical evidence to the contrary. And, on a related note, we talk about how the “parents’ rights” movement isn’t about parents’ rights at all, but interfering with your rights as a parent. We talk about the Canadian doofus who goes by the name “Billboard Chris,” the anti-queer cult’s complete misunderstanding of “consent” in the context of minors’ health care (hint: parents always have to consent to health care for their kids), and the limited (but obvious!) circumstances where parents lose the right to make decisions for their kids.

Finally, a couple of notes: First check out our friend Jesse Jackson’s appearance on the Bella Grayce Podcast where he talks about dealing with family members’ substance abuse and the uniqueness of losing a sibling. Second, we briefly revisit the firing of a local queer teacher over social media posts and the new GoFundMe to support him. Please consider making a donation!

Anyway, please enjoy this week’s episode, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, and, as always, support the rights of LGBTQIA people everywhere! And follow us on Twitter at @itsotetPodcast and @JennandDave1.

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Episode 21: Reflecting on Trans Day of Visibility

Since we recorded our last episode, Transgender Day of Visibility happened (it was March 31) and we would be remiss if we didn’t share our thoughts. According to GLAAD, only about 30 percent of Americans personally know someone who’s trans. At the same time, legislators around the country introduced more than 400 bills attacking LGBTQIA rights in the first three months 2023, and over half of those bills specifically targeted trans people. But you can help! Please consider filling out this form on GLAAD’s website and sending it to the political leaders in your state.

But Trans Day of Visibility is more than an opportunity to rehash negative things, no matter how aggravating they are or how important it is to confront them. It’s just as important, if not more so, to celebrate trans and nonbinary people for who they are and what they accomplish. While we have to address negative things like harmful legislation, we can’t let trauma define the community. Like our own daughter who’s living a great life, trans and nonbinary people are making their way in the world and achieving greatness, and they are not defined by the horrible things the bigots visit upon them. Case in point: Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider, who schooled the world in trans excellence over the past year.

We then talk about Kansas’ legislature overriding their governor’s veto of a bill that bans trans girls from participating in sports consistent with their gender. Barbara Wasinger, one of the bill’s sponsors, reportedly said the state would enforce the bill by requiring girls to undergo sports physicals to confirm their biological sex … which most critics interpret to mean genital inspections. 

Aside from the utterly disgusting idea of the state forcing inspections of kids’ genitals, this leads to a broader conversation about sports and how they’re really not the level-playing-field meritocracy that people imagine them to be.

And from there, we tackle yet another deceptive story about the Washington University health clinic that provides gender affirming care for trans youth, this time by Emily Yoffe on Bari Weis’ Free Press blog … er, website? No, we’re not going to link to the offending article, but we will say what we’ve said all along: Utterly unqualified folks like Jesse Singal, Bari Weiss, Matt Walsh, Bill Maher, and the rest of those weirdos need to keep their noses out of the health care decisions other people make for their kids.

So, please enjoy to this week’s episode, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, and, as always, support the rights of LGBTQIA people everywhere! And if you’re new here, you can also follow our Twitter account, @itsotetPodcast.

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