Thread by @the_debijackson

Here are a few things supporters of Missouri's HB 2649, a bill to ban #healthcare for #trans youth, said in today's committee hearing. 🧵

It's a bill to "save children who are struggling to become comfortable w their biological sex."

As my trans teen listening said, they didn't struggle with that. They knew their sex & gender didn’t match. The struggle was getting other people to recognize & affirm their gender.

The bill “author” claimed to have hard evidence that teens are starting hormones after one visit with a therapist and that young kids are having surgeries.

She also said she had heard from 100s of desisters/families who were afraid to testify — even in writing — because it would be too emotionally exhausting to be at the Capitol for it.

But...trans youth were there. Because they have no choice but to show up to fight for their right to access the care they need, and it’s emotionally exhausting for them, too.

A TERFy psychologist (from California) showed up to compare Dysphoria to an untreated infection that leads to sepsis. When asked if she is in favor of conversion therapy, she enthusiastically said “Yes, I am.”

Then we got 2 doctors who actually treat trans kids. A GOP Rep asked one if she’d prescribe alcohol to a very young child who said he needed it for his mental health. Because if a child says it’s needed, parents and doctors must agree, right?

He then said he wanted to be Wolverine when he was little, and if his mom had allowed him to be injected with Adamantium (which DOES NOT EXIST!), he would have regrets now because he grew up and realized he couldn’t actually be Wolverine.

Now we move on to “grooming,” because you knew someone would say it in hearings that are taking place after the Don’t Say Gay bill passed in Florida…

Same Rep said, that as a criminal attorney, the case that disturbed him the most was when a family groomed a child to believe that she should fall in love with and have sex with a family member…

He then asked if either of these two affirming doctors would approve of a child having an incestuous relationship with an adult in the family because that’s what the parents believed was best for that child.

Then they cut the doctors’ testimony short because one witness in favor of the bill (Erin Brewer) needed to catch a flight home. Mind you, we learned about this 8am hearing with only 24 hours’ notice…

Note: You can’t book a ticket within 24 hours of flight, but here she was ready to testify. That means she arrived yesterday to be at this hearing this morning. How did she know to be here and have a flight home right after the hearing? Hmmm…

On to her testimony…she introduces herself as someone who almost transitioned and knows many detransitioners afraid to be public. Google her and you’ll see she says she was a trans kid. But today she said she wasn’t…

…that she experienced a horrible crime at age 5 (it was), and thought she needed to be a boy to be safe. That is NOT what being trans is.

Diagnostic criteria used TODAY would 100% not end with any healthcare provider saying she had Gender Dysphoria!!!

But she believes most trans youth have dissociative identity disorder (as she did) and aren’t trans. They must also be victims of abuse. Or they are victims of internalized homophobia who think being a trans straight person is better (ignoring trans folk who are gay…)

She says that “tomboys and feminine girls are being taught they are in the wrong bodies” — more of that groomer language. And some others are victims of big Pharma and the trans crisis is like the opioid crisis…big Pharma convinced doctors to medicalize people for profit.

And because she had to testify and fly, no one had a chance to ask her a single question before they recessed to head to the House floor. But later, they came back to hear witnesses.

Lots of people against the bill were there to speak. But someone again claimed 100s who support it were too afraid to be there because they’d be doxxed or *assaulted* and refused to show up.

Another GOP Rep claimed to have proof of lots of surgeries earlier than 18 but couldn’t talk about it in the hearing and could only disclose it offline. A REP on the committee said he couldn’t present proof of something in the committee hearing for the public to hear.

He also said that children are making decisions to get medical care with ZERO input from their parents OR doctors.

How would/could that happen with ANY medical care, sir????

He then said that the decisions trans kids make with their doctors’ input is as fickle as them changing their mind when picking a prom dress.

For some reason, he got a little miffed by people repeatedly pointing out his transphobia with those sorts of comments, but he said, “Just because we are discussing the bill, it doesn’t mean we are against the trans community. Don’t take it personally.”

It was the “discussion of the bill” that equated to transphobia (although we wouldn’t be discussing it if not for the sponsor’s transphobia).

It was HIS COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS that were blatantly transphobic.

And apparently, he also wanted to be Wolverine, so his parents should have insisted that he have metal claws surgically implanted into his hands. Two Wolverines on one little Missouri committee. Who ever would have imagined?

So here's my proposal...

#StopAttackingTransKids, and instead #ProtectTransKids

But in 2023, every state in the country should have bills to ban movies with Wolverine and other fantasy characters.

They are clearly grooming children with them.