This would be so helpful to me! Whenever I try to write, the emotion takes a higher seat because I’m wrapped up in it. If I was “out of the woods” on this with my daughter, I might have more energy and clarity to write. But of course, I may never be out of it, so a jump start to get writing would be sooo appreciated.
It’s ok Stormy I understand. I don’t do anything when my kids are home and sometimes I don’t even want to get out of bed. You’ve got plenty of people who are speaking up for us parents. There are quite a few excellent journalists and writers (including Lisa Selin-Davis, Wesley, Leor Sapir, etc) who have made this their mission and have broader readership. If I do anything I always think of my mom friends it motivates me but then I get discouraged and don’t want to deal anymore. This is so hard...on mothers. Too hard. Take care of yourself. ♥️
This is a great idea. I’d like to be more active and my daughter isn’t entrenched in the ideology as much as I feared at first, but I can still write from a personal perspective. The issue is so complex and it’s hard to know where to start and how much to say, especially with fellow liberal friends/family who are not personally affected.
I had a therapist several years ago, an older woman in a very liberal area of the country, who I told my concerns to, and at the time she was not that familiar with the surge in teens adopting the ideology. I sent her some background articles and she quickly grasped the problem. I lucked out. She was very pragmatic and came from a background of believing/observing that “trans” was very rare. She supported me and when I told her that my husband kind of just wanted to avoid the whole subject with our daughter, hoping it would go away like a phase, she said that my daughter needs to hear my voice, and so I continued to have conversations with her, not just about teens and trans but about feeling not-great as a woman in the world, about fairness in women’s sports, about questioning right-left thinking. I have more to do but in short I think it’s important to also reach out to therapists who we know or see who don’t have many teen clients. They can help us, but we can also help them.
I have just sent on a link with several sample texts and accompanying information and resources that I had worked up related to Title IX. I used this both to help make my “list” of personal friends aware of the issues and also to ask them to consider writing their representatives, etc. I hope these materials may be useful to others here.
Thanks so much for thinking to do this, Lisa, and for all of your good and hard work, generally. (I have saved the email address for future reference in the event I have anything else to offer that I think may be useful to folks here.)
Thank you so much for this, Lisa. I will send you some letters. I 'm really interested to hear who is on the receiving end of others' letters - like Coastal Elite's letters to doctors who are not pediatricians or gender doctors - super idea! This movement of ours needs a strategist/strategy.
And I'm also looking forward to seeing what letter-writers are asking, or asking for, in their letters. I think sometimes a clarifying question is important: "when you say you support 'gender affirming care', what are you supporting? Why?"
It wasn’t my idea Suzanne I was talking to my uncle about this and he’s Dean of Students at a California Med School and he was so incredulous that he said “can you write a letter for friend who was the President of the California AMA, I’m having lunch with him next week”.
So I got overwhelmed then I thought about what I needed to write and what was the most important point and I decided the most important thing and thesis would be “the US is behind many European countries on doing a thorough evaluation behind the science” AND my personal experience navigating this as parent and the incompetence to down right negligence of the doctors etc I had to deal with.
I ended with a plea that drs put their science hats on and start reading studies...I never heard what Dr. AMA former California president had to say and I asked my uncle and he said he didn’t say anything in response but he said he will share anything else with him if you need me to”.
I had such high hopes and nothing came of it but then I decided to just send it to friends and family myself and got a lot of responses contacting docs myself. And then I found out none them like or are members of the AMA. I talked to 21 docs only one was an AMA member (bc her employer pays the fees).
The letter I wrote was for physicians it was well sourced and I fact checked it. It’s important not exaggerate or write anything that isn’t accurate I had to change a few things bc if anything isn’t accurate or if there is hyperbole people won’t trust it. The truth is horrific enough.
I just emailed it to you, This week I got a call one month after I sent it to a cardiologist (my cousin) sorry I have to use my pool of personal resources and the first thing he asked was “what can I sign and what can I do to help”? A different doc who is urologist (also cousin) said he had no idea what was happening and also thought that as many physicians as possible need to be informed on this topic. They were surprised bc they don’t work with Pediatrics. One thing I’ve learned is don’t assume physicians know anything about this and secondly most docs are not AMA board members and many express disdain for the AMA, particularly the younger docs.
Leor Sapir is livetweeting a House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government hearing on "The Dangers and Due Process Violations of 'Gender-Affirming Care' for Children."
I recommend that anyone with a Democratic Congressperson, particularly if the Congressmember participated in the Committee hearing, call or write and register any concerns you have. Here is what I did:
After viewing some of the hearing content, I called my Congressperson, Jerry Nadler, to note concerns I had with the Democratic side approach to the issues surrounding GAC (gender affirming care). FYI, in this case I kept to the term GAC, used in the hearings, though ordinarily I would not, so as not to get sidetracked from the overall points I wanted to make.
The very pleasant young woman with whom I spoke made sure to take down my name address information, and I feel confident she wrote my comments down as well as is possible when transcribing a call. I chose not to write in this case, as I never get an answer, and I also wanted to convey tone as well as content.
Here is what I covered with her, making sure to maintain a calm, non-combative tone throughout. After noting the hearing as the reason for my call, I made these points:
1. While Rs may be using this hearing for their own purposes, it is essential for the Democrats to become properly informed about GAC.
2. Some Ds characterized the concerns raised about GAC as “extreme right wing,” so I feel it important to note that I am a progressive Democrat, and I also have serious concerns about how GAC is being delivered on the ground.
3. I noted that I have worked hard to educate myself on the facts on the ground, including coming to know affected parents.
4. I advised that, from what I am aware of with regard to Shannon Minter’s testimony, she is not accurately representing the state of the science or quality of GAC as it is currently being delivered.
5. I recommended, as a starting point to learn more about these issues, that Nadler read Time to Think, by Hannah Barnes. I explained she was a BBC investigative reporter, and I found the book to offer a fair and thorough description of what had occurred at Tavistock.
6. I recommended also that Nadler read the Cass Report, which examined the delivery of GAC at Tavistock and determined there were many problems with the way GAC was being delivered and recommended closure of Tavistock and significant changes to the care delivery as a result.
We exchanged pleasantries about the hot weather, and I thanked her and Nadler’s office for all their hard work in our behalf.
Feel free to use any or all of this if you call or write your congressperson.
FWIW, I just tried calling Schiff for Senate, because they email and text me all the time. I calmly explained that I was a parent of a trans-identifying young adult and that as a Democrat, I had some concerns about the ways in which the Democrats on the committee were presenting the issue and that there was another perspective, I wished they'd consider. I shared that, as there are Democrats like me at odds with the Democrat platform on this issue, I wondered if Schiff would consider reviewing the evidence against GAC, and that I was looking to vote for a Democrat who shared my concerns. The Schiff for Senate staffer told me that I was "starting trouble" and that they "would just have to risk my vote".
PS: I’d be curious, if anyone tries this, how Katie Porter’s office would respond. She hasn’t got the memo, either, about which I feel sad, as I admire her work on so many other issues. But it would be good to know what the ethos is in that office. For example, I have received responses from Schumer and a state official who, while they also have not received the memo, so to speak, responded respectfully. That’s at least a start, and I really do believe if they start to hear from more of us, it will make a difference. As in the UK, where all the hard work of so many on our team has finally induced a sea change in UK Labour (knock wood it sticks).
It is terrific you did that, and it’s clear you handled it well. The response was really stupid of the person in that office, even if it’s what the office thinks. And I know from personal experience what a shock it can be to get a belligerent response like that, and can only say, for what it’s worth, that I have your back. What I am likely going to do in 2024 with any of my all D delegation who doesn’t get a proper grip on this is write someone in. Now, that’s easy for me to say, because I am in solid blue territory, but of course what we need most of all is a critical mass of folks doing concerted call-ins on occasions like this. That takes a while to build, but I sure do hope we get there sooner than later.
If of interest, here is a clip of Nadler's opening statement, followed by the truly heartrending testimony of Paula Scanlan and Chloe Cole: https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5079931/user-clip-hearing-gender-affirming-care-minors Please feel free to share it around. The democrats are totally in the wrong here, with callous disregard to the plight of these young women and so many others. It's dismaying beyond belief.
Not a reason not to write people you care about, but I have been cancelled by my little sister, the sibling I'm closest to and whom I partially raised after our mother died, for my gender critical views. As with COVID, the rest of my siblings have been unable to consider other views. We are all left of center though they aren't as far left as I am. (Or as independent a thinker, apparently!)
There's a new article by Alan Neale that I think Jennifer Bilek has on her 11th Hour re being de-banked in the U.K. for holding gender critical views. Expect serious push-back. Please read the following link.
Jeez. Just read in Tessa Lena's substack that Chase Bank has shut down Joe Mercola's accounts and those of family members. He'd better get a credit union... Ridiculous.
Hi, Lisa, if you see this, it’s great to see the letter “cache” growing, with interesting and varied perspectives. FYI, though, I am not able to “like” a couple I found particularly interesting, as I am not recognized as a subscriber. If this can be fixed, that would be great. Thank!
Hi, all: this is related, though it may not at first blush seem to be. ICONS (Independent Council on Women’s Sports) has just had a conference and has posted video of the whole of it. I commend to everyone here the remarks of Helen Joyce, starting at ~56:15 in this video: https://www.iconswomen.com/ Joyce makes the point, as part of her remarks, that to her the most important issue isn’t women’s sports, but rather what is happening with children and with women in jails. Joyce as always, is, smart, plain spoken, and no holds barred. I know for many here that what is happening in your families and to your children has to be, quite rightly, the number 1 priority. What you will see, I think, if you have time to listen to what Joyce says, is the way in which women’s sports can provide the gateway to getting heard on these crucial issues.
Thanks, Susan, for sharing this. I agree - I think sports may be a way in for some of our discussions and a way out of the madness. I'd also encourage people to stay with the video for Carole Hooven.
Suzanne: very glad you noted the Hooven video. Her story is a US version of Kathleen Stock’s, and her courage is outstanding. I went on, then, to listen to Linda Blade, and highly commend it. I think what we are seeing in ICONS is an excellent example of how organization and strategy come to be formed. This can be a model for other efforts. Really impressive how ICONS has developed into a force, and thank goodness.
This would be so helpful to me! Whenever I try to write, the emotion takes a higher seat because I’m wrapped up in it. If I was “out of the woods” on this with my daughter, I might have more energy and clarity to write. But of course, I may never be out of it, so a jump start to get writing would be sooo appreciated.
It’s ok Stormy I understand. I don’t do anything when my kids are home and sometimes I don’t even want to get out of bed. You’ve got plenty of people who are speaking up for us parents. There are quite a few excellent journalists and writers (including Lisa Selin-Davis, Wesley, Leor Sapir, etc) who have made this their mission and have broader readership. If I do anything I always think of my mom friends it motivates me but then I get discouraged and don’t want to deal anymore. This is so hard...on mothers. Too hard. Take care of yourself. ♥️
Stormy: I ran across this letter a parent who wrote to her daughter’s school shared, and I thought you might find it of interest. I hope all goes well for you and your daughter. https://open.substack.com/pub/pitt/p/ray-of-hope?r=16541&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
This is a great idea. I’d like to be more active and my daughter isn’t entrenched in the ideology as much as I feared at first, but I can still write from a personal perspective. The issue is so complex and it’s hard to know where to start and how much to say, especially with fellow liberal friends/family who are not personally affected.
I had a therapist several years ago, an older woman in a very liberal area of the country, who I told my concerns to, and at the time she was not that familiar with the surge in teens adopting the ideology. I sent her some background articles and she quickly grasped the problem. I lucked out. She was very pragmatic and came from a background of believing/observing that “trans” was very rare. She supported me and when I told her that my husband kind of just wanted to avoid the whole subject with our daughter, hoping it would go away like a phase, she said that my daughter needs to hear my voice, and so I continued to have conversations with her, not just about teens and trans but about feeling not-great as a woman in the world, about fairness in women’s sports, about questioning right-left thinking. I have more to do but in short I think it’s important to also reach out to therapists who we know or see who don’t have many teen clients. They can help us, but we can also help them.
I have just sent on a link with several sample texts and accompanying information and resources that I had worked up related to Title IX. I used this both to help make my “list” of personal friends aware of the issues and also to ask them to consider writing their representatives, etc. I hope these materials may be useful to others here.
Thanks so much for thinking to do this, Lisa, and for all of your good and hard work, generally. (I have saved the email address for future reference in the event I have anything else to offer that I think may be useful to folks here.)
Thank you so much for this, Lisa. I will send you some letters. I 'm really interested to hear who is on the receiving end of others' letters - like Coastal Elite's letters to doctors who are not pediatricians or gender doctors - super idea! This movement of ours needs a strategist/strategy.
And I'm also looking forward to seeing what letter-writers are asking, or asking for, in their letters. I think sometimes a clarifying question is important: "when you say you support 'gender affirming care', what are you supporting? Why?"
It wasn’t my idea Suzanne I was talking to my uncle about this and he’s Dean of Students at a California Med School and he was so incredulous that he said “can you write a letter for friend who was the President of the California AMA, I’m having lunch with him next week”.
So I got overwhelmed then I thought about what I needed to write and what was the most important point and I decided the most important thing and thesis would be “the US is behind many European countries on doing a thorough evaluation behind the science” AND my personal experience navigating this as parent and the incompetence to down right negligence of the doctors etc I had to deal with.
I ended with a plea that drs put their science hats on and start reading studies...I never heard what Dr. AMA former California president had to say and I asked my uncle and he said he didn’t say anything in response but he said he will share anything else with him if you need me to”.
I had such high hopes and nothing came of it but then I decided to just send it to friends and family myself and got a lot of responses contacting docs myself. And then I found out none them like or are members of the AMA. I talked to 21 docs only one was an AMA member (bc her employer pays the fees).
I’m always thinking of the next angle. Or edge.
"I’m always thinking of the next angle. Or edge."
Thank you, Coastal Elite. This is helping me start my day. Let's keep thinking together.
Sometimes I feel like I have an elephant sitting on my chest and I can’t breathe. 🐘♥️
Yep, that elephant visits my house too. Hang in there.
🐘🐘🐘
“This movement of ours needs a strategist/strategy.”💕💯💕💯💕
The letter I wrote was for physicians it was well sourced and I fact checked it. It’s important not exaggerate or write anything that isn’t accurate I had to change a few things bc if anything isn’t accurate or if there is hyperbole people won’t trust it. The truth is horrific enough.
I just emailed it to you, This week I got a call one month after I sent it to a cardiologist (my cousin) sorry I have to use my pool of personal resources and the first thing he asked was “what can I sign and what can I do to help”? A different doc who is urologist (also cousin) said he had no idea what was happening and also thought that as many physicians as possible need to be informed on this topic. They were surprised bc they don’t work with Pediatrics. One thing I’ve learned is don’t assume physicians know anything about this and secondly most docs are not AMA board members and many express disdain for the AMA, particularly the younger docs.
Leor Sapir is livetweeting a House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government hearing on "The Dangers and Due Process Violations of 'Gender-Affirming Care' for Children."
https://twitter.com/LeorSapir/status/1684566667685404674
A direct link to the hearing is here: https://judiciary.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/dangers-and-due-process-violations-gender-affirming-care
I recommend that anyone with a Democratic Congressperson, particularly if the Congressmember participated in the Committee hearing, call or write and register any concerns you have. Here is what I did:
After viewing some of the hearing content, I called my Congressperson, Jerry Nadler, to note concerns I had with the Democratic side approach to the issues surrounding GAC (gender affirming care). FYI, in this case I kept to the term GAC, used in the hearings, though ordinarily I would not, so as not to get sidetracked from the overall points I wanted to make.
The very pleasant young woman with whom I spoke made sure to take down my name address information, and I feel confident she wrote my comments down as well as is possible when transcribing a call. I chose not to write in this case, as I never get an answer, and I also wanted to convey tone as well as content.
Here is what I covered with her, making sure to maintain a calm, non-combative tone throughout. After noting the hearing as the reason for my call, I made these points:
1. While Rs may be using this hearing for their own purposes, it is essential for the Democrats to become properly informed about GAC.
2. Some Ds characterized the concerns raised about GAC as “extreme right wing,” so I feel it important to note that I am a progressive Democrat, and I also have serious concerns about how GAC is being delivered on the ground.
3. I noted that I have worked hard to educate myself on the facts on the ground, including coming to know affected parents.
4. I advised that, from what I am aware of with regard to Shannon Minter’s testimony, she is not accurately representing the state of the science or quality of GAC as it is currently being delivered.
5. I recommended, as a starting point to learn more about these issues, that Nadler read Time to Think, by Hannah Barnes. I explained she was a BBC investigative reporter, and I found the book to offer a fair and thorough description of what had occurred at Tavistock.
6. I recommended also that Nadler read the Cass Report, which examined the delivery of GAC at Tavistock and determined there were many problems with the way GAC was being delivered and recommended closure of Tavistock and significant changes to the care delivery as a result.
We exchanged pleasantries about the hot weather, and I thanked her and Nadler’s office for all their hard work in our behalf.
Feel free to use any or all of this if you call or write your congressperson.
FWIW, I just tried calling Schiff for Senate, because they email and text me all the time. I calmly explained that I was a parent of a trans-identifying young adult and that as a Democrat, I had some concerns about the ways in which the Democrats on the committee were presenting the issue and that there was another perspective, I wished they'd consider. I shared that, as there are Democrats like me at odds with the Democrat platform on this issue, I wondered if Schiff would consider reviewing the evidence against GAC, and that I was looking to vote for a Democrat who shared my concerns. The Schiff for Senate staffer told me that I was "starting trouble" and that they "would just have to risk my vote".
PS: I’d be curious, if anyone tries this, how Katie Porter’s office would respond. She hasn’t got the memo, either, about which I feel sad, as I admire her work on so many other issues. But it would be good to know what the ethos is in that office. For example, I have received responses from Schumer and a state official who, while they also have not received the memo, so to speak, responded respectfully. That’s at least a start, and I really do believe if they start to hear from more of us, it will make a difference. As in the UK, where all the hard work of so many on our team has finally induced a sea change in UK Labour (knock wood it sticks).
It is terrific you did that, and it’s clear you handled it well. The response was really stupid of the person in that office, even if it’s what the office thinks. And I know from personal experience what a shock it can be to get a belligerent response like that, and can only say, for what it’s worth, that I have your back. What I am likely going to do in 2024 with any of my all D delegation who doesn’t get a proper grip on this is write someone in. Now, that’s easy for me to say, because I am in solid blue territory, but of course what we need most of all is a critical mass of folks doing concerted call-ins on occasions like this. That takes a while to build, but I sure do hope we get there sooner than later.
If of interest, here is a clip of Nadler's opening statement, followed by the truly heartrending testimony of Paula Scanlan and Chloe Cole: https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5079931/user-clip-hearing-gender-affirming-care-minors Please feel free to share it around. The democrats are totally in the wrong here, with callous disregard to the plight of these young women and so many others. It's dismaying beyond belief.
Thank you, Susan! Have been watching. Your list is great - as is the suggestion to call.
FWIW, here is who is on the subcommittee: https://judiciary.house.gov/subcommittees/committee-judiciary/subcommittee-constitution-and-limited-government
Helen Joyce is so clear and concise.
Not a reason not to write people you care about, but I have been cancelled by my little sister, the sibling I'm closest to and whom I partially raised after our mother died, for my gender critical views. As with COVID, the rest of my siblings have been unable to consider other views. We are all left of center though they aren't as far left as I am. (Or as independent a thinker, apparently!)
There's a new article by Alan Neale that I think Jennifer Bilek has on her 11th Hour re being de-banked in the U.K. for holding gender critical views. Expect serious push-back. Please read the following link.
https://www.the11thhourblog.com/post/de-banking-the-latest-weapon-in-the-corporate-bid-to-normalize-gender-ideology
Nosey, That is a terrifying article - the power and reach of those who promote this ideology is stunning.
Jeez. Just read in Tessa Lena's substack that Chase Bank has shut down Joe Mercola's accounts and those of family members. He'd better get a credit union... Ridiculous.
i tried to email you a submission i made here in new zealand but the link you supplied didn't work.
Hi, Lisa, if you see this, it’s great to see the letter “cache” growing, with interesting and varied perspectives. FYI, though, I am not able to “like” a couple I found particularly interesting, as I am not recognized as a subscriber. If this can be fixed, that would be great. Thank!
Hi, all: this is related, though it may not at first blush seem to be. ICONS (Independent Council on Women’s Sports) has just had a conference and has posted video of the whole of it. I commend to everyone here the remarks of Helen Joyce, starting at ~56:15 in this video: https://www.iconswomen.com/ Joyce makes the point, as part of her remarks, that to her the most important issue isn’t women’s sports, but rather what is happening with children and with women in jails. Joyce as always, is, smart, plain spoken, and no holds barred. I know for many here that what is happening in your families and to your children has to be, quite rightly, the number 1 priority. What you will see, I think, if you have time to listen to what Joyce says, is the way in which women’s sports can provide the gateway to getting heard on these crucial issues.
Thanks, Susan, for sharing this. I agree - I think sports may be a way in for some of our discussions and a way out of the madness. I'd also encourage people to stay with the video for Carole Hooven.
Suzanne: very glad you noted the Hooven video. Her story is a US version of Kathleen Stock’s, and her courage is outstanding. I went on, then, to listen to Linda Blade, and highly commend it. I think what we are seeing in ICONS is an excellent example of how organization and strategy come to be formed. This can be a model for other efforts. Really impressive how ICONS has developed into a force, and thank goodness.
The video with Joyce’s remarks is Day 1.