Ok, I wrote to my very-left congressman, Sherrod Brown:
Dear Senator Brown and staff:
I am a knee-jerk progressive: pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, pro public schools, pro healthcare for all, etc. You get the idea. I have been voting Democrat since I was first able to vote nearly 40 years ago. And no one is more surprised than I am by what I am writing to you about today.
I am begging you to look into the medical transitioning of teens and young adults, and ask your fellow democrats to support stopping, or at least slowing, these treatments until more research is available about long-term health effects, both physiological and emotional. Other countries, more progressive than the US in many ways, have started to put the brakes on these treatments due to concerns about the lack of evidence supporting their efficacy: The UK, Finland, and Sweden.
I am the mother of a teenager who claims a trangender identity. Before this happened to my child, I reflexively supported what I was told was access to life-saving, medically necessary care for transgender children. Then one day, after being isolated by the shut-down for nearly a year, and being online for hours and hours each day, my child informed me they were trans, and would need cross-sex hormones. They were 15 years old.
There was not a hint of this before the isolation of COVID.
Please, please read this piece by author Lisa Selin-Davis (author of Tomboy: The Surprising History and Future of Girls Who Dare to Be Different.) that spells out what is actually known and not known about these treatments. The research is not nearly as cut and dry as organizations like the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and the AMA say. (I have always given money to the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, by the way, and volunteered with both organizations in the Cleveland Area, where I live.)
And please don't let the Republican party take the lead on this issue and use it as a wedge, to demonize helpful treatments for those trans people who truly need them. The issue has become so politicized that confused, concerned parents are stuck between bigots on the right, and extreme activists on the left, neither of whom are calling for more, and better research, and neither of whom truly seem to care about families and children caught in the middle.
Does anyone else feel trapped? I want to shout all this to the rooftops, but my child would likely run away and never speak to me again. I feel so helpless and broken, sometimes. Lisa, may I send this my congressman here in Ohio?
Lisa you are a goddess. Your ability to convey ideas and arguments succinctly is truly a gift- especially to those of us who have been harmed by this so called care.
I have just subscribed, am commenting here because it’s the first post of yours I read. I first want to say how grateful I am you are speaking publicly wherever you can. (I just listened to your commentary on the Showalter podcast, and you spoke right to my head and heart; I was also over the moon you "made it" into at least the Boston Globe, and also that you wrote to Merrick Garland.)
So, I apologize if this is an aside to the present post, but it leads me once again to ponder the issue of how to define gender. I read an earlier post of yours just now related to that subject and find I am not sure teaching multiple meanings of it can get us where we need to go. I suspect you've written to what I'm about to write somewhere else in the substack, and hope, if so, you may point me in that direction. Here's some background: I'm 73, gay female, was in law school when Title IX passed. I was absolutely horrified when I saw the current proposed changes to the regulations—and fortunately found out in time to write a comment to the Federal Register. It was at that point that I felt I needed to dig deeper into what this is all about—how what I thought was settled in terms of terminology and its consequences is now back up in the air. I am horrified on a daily basis now—including on seeing what activist groups wrote to Merrick Garland.
Stepping back a bit, on the term gender, specifically: if we do not understand it as we used to, that is, as a social construct imposed on us by society, how do we begin to discuss how wrong those constructs are that attempt to force us into feminine and masculine roles? For example, I had a young acquaintance (in her 30s), who proudly wore a "The Future is Female" T-shirt in 2016 the day she voted. We are no longer in touch, but I gather she has recently decided she is queer. So far as I know, she is not gay. I suspect what she's trying to do is escape from being defined by cultural/societal norms. More power to her, but how is saying that she's queer going to advance that? I personally think we are best served by reclaiming the term "gender" to express the social constructs imposed on men and women/boys and girls by society, but the bottom line, at least as I see it is, If we don't share common language, I don’t see how we can find a way to talk about what is wrong here and what is needed to fix it.
This is wonderful, Lisa. Thank you so much! Very inspiring, I will cite it when I contact my reps (yet again -- no response since last year, like others in this thread). All we want is protection for children who can't protect themselves from these powerful social forces. They need us adults to step up for them.
Ok, I wrote to my very-left congressman, Sherrod Brown:
Dear Senator Brown and staff:
I am a knee-jerk progressive: pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, pro public schools, pro healthcare for all, etc. You get the idea. I have been voting Democrat since I was first able to vote nearly 40 years ago. And no one is more surprised than I am by what I am writing to you about today.
I am begging you to look into the medical transitioning of teens and young adults, and ask your fellow democrats to support stopping, or at least slowing, these treatments until more research is available about long-term health effects, both physiological and emotional. Other countries, more progressive than the US in many ways, have started to put the brakes on these treatments due to concerns about the lack of evidence supporting their efficacy: The UK, Finland, and Sweden.
I am the mother of a teenager who claims a trangender identity. Before this happened to my child, I reflexively supported what I was told was access to life-saving, medically necessary care for transgender children. Then one day, after being isolated by the shut-down for nearly a year, and being online for hours and hours each day, my child informed me they were trans, and would need cross-sex hormones. They were 15 years old.
There was not a hint of this before the isolation of COVID.
Please, please read this piece by author Lisa Selin-Davis (author of Tomboy: The Surprising History and Future of Girls Who Dare to Be Different.) that spells out what is actually known and not known about these treatments. The research is not nearly as cut and dry as organizations like the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and the AMA say. (I have always given money to the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, by the way, and volunteered with both organizations in the Cleveland Area, where I live.)
https://lisaselindavis.substack.com/p/dear-merrick-garland?r=dxc6c&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
And please don't let the Republican party take the lead on this issue and use it as a wedge, to demonize helpful treatments for those trans people who truly need them. The issue has become so politicized that confused, concerned parents are stuck between bigots on the right, and extreme activists on the left, neither of whom are calling for more, and better research, and neither of whom truly seem to care about families and children caught in the middle.
Thank you, Lisa. Any thoughts on drafting a letter we can all sign online?
Web link for contacting Garland (choose "Messages to the Attorney General"):
https://www.justice.gov/doj/webform/your-message-department-justice
Always best to use your own words. Repeated form letters have much less impact.
Does anyone else feel trapped? I want to shout all this to the rooftops, but my child would likely run away and never speak to me again. I feel so helpless and broken, sometimes. Lisa, may I send this my congressman here in Ohio?
Lisa you are a goddess. Your ability to convey ideas and arguments succinctly is truly a gift- especially to those of us who have been harmed by this so called care.
Preach. Let’s all write him
Mail this to garland, people!
Thank you!
Awesome!
You never fail to impress!! Pure brilliance again!
I have just subscribed, am commenting here because it’s the first post of yours I read. I first want to say how grateful I am you are speaking publicly wherever you can. (I just listened to your commentary on the Showalter podcast, and you spoke right to my head and heart; I was also over the moon you "made it" into at least the Boston Globe, and also that you wrote to Merrick Garland.)
So, I apologize if this is an aside to the present post, but it leads me once again to ponder the issue of how to define gender. I read an earlier post of yours just now related to that subject and find I am not sure teaching multiple meanings of it can get us where we need to go. I suspect you've written to what I'm about to write somewhere else in the substack, and hope, if so, you may point me in that direction. Here's some background: I'm 73, gay female, was in law school when Title IX passed. I was absolutely horrified when I saw the current proposed changes to the regulations—and fortunately found out in time to write a comment to the Federal Register. It was at that point that I felt I needed to dig deeper into what this is all about—how what I thought was settled in terms of terminology and its consequences is now back up in the air. I am horrified on a daily basis now—including on seeing what activist groups wrote to Merrick Garland.
Stepping back a bit, on the term gender, specifically: if we do not understand it as we used to, that is, as a social construct imposed on us by society, how do we begin to discuss how wrong those constructs are that attempt to force us into feminine and masculine roles? For example, I had a young acquaintance (in her 30s), who proudly wore a "The Future is Female" T-shirt in 2016 the day she voted. We are no longer in touch, but I gather she has recently decided she is queer. So far as I know, she is not gay. I suspect what she's trying to do is escape from being defined by cultural/societal norms. More power to her, but how is saying that she's queer going to advance that? I personally think we are best served by reclaiming the term "gender" to express the social constructs imposed on men and women/boys and girls by society, but the bottom line, at least as I see it is, If we don't share common language, I don’t see how we can find a way to talk about what is wrong here and what is needed to fix it.
This is wonderful, Lisa. Thank you so much! Very inspiring, I will cite it when I contact my reps (yet again -- no response since last year, like others in this thread). All we want is protection for children who can't protect themselves from these powerful social forces. They need us adults to step up for them.