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Yasha's avatar

This makes me want to vomit. We have to be ready to challenge this on every possible front, and hopefully if they use it to try and justify HRT bans (which I'm assuming is the whole point) that the ACLU will immediately take this to court.

As an aside, I know the "Death before Detransition" slogan might sound a bit corny, but for many of us, it's a very real feeling. The threat of taking away HRT feels like an existential threat to our very existence. We have to fight like that's the case: with truth, but also unrelenting fury and determination.

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Nancy Brennan's avatar

Me too. The hate and willful ignorance is palpable and cruelty, as they say, is the point.

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Katrina deVille's avatar

Agreed, and here with you 🩷✊🏼🏳️‍⚧️

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Veronica (she/her)'s avatar

Death before detransition isn’t a slogan, it’s reality. I have all kinds of plans in my head if things truly go south. But I’ve taken to calling this thought process “plan Z”. It’s the last plan, when no other options are available.

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Madison N's avatar

100% agree with everything you said.

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Samantha Paige (she/they)'s avatar

Here with you too! 💕

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Joy Gallagher's avatar

I know of several groups arranging non standard supply pathways. It is relatively inexpensive to set up your own pipeline. The more groups we have doing this, the harder we will be to pin down.

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Abby's avatar

Funny as a trans woman the only surgical mutilation I have experienced was circumcision. Awful physical and emotional scar of that process I had no voice to prevent. While that procedure is still legal, don't dare speak to me about mutilating children.

My HRT and orchie are comparative blessings which I spent years researching the pros and cons beforehand.

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s l's avatar

Circumcision left less donor material for vaginoplasty, adversely affecting my results. The loss due to circumcision is the only thing I regret about surgery, which was nevertheless the best thing that ever happened to me.

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MissNumbersNinja's avatar

We should all contact our Democratic Senators and Congress members about this HHS report and ask them to speak out and make the reports Erin mentioned (French, German, Swiss, and Austrian) part of the media discourse in effort to combat the disinformation with truth.

Here is the message I sent to my Senator today if anyone would like a template (ideally customize it as unique message get more attention).

------TEMPLATE----

SUBJECT: HHS Anti-trangender report (expected April 28th)

Dear Senator Baldwin,

I am writing to ask you to help all LGBTQIA Wisconsinites by combating the disinformation we expect in the upcoming HHS report, anticipated to be released on April 28th and used to justify sweeping bans against healthcare for transgender children and adults.

As reported by award winning trans journalist Erin in The Morning on April 10th -

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/the-trump-administration-is-about

Now, SPLC-designated hate group Genspect is reporting that the Trump administration’s HHS review will be released on April 28. “When the HHS review is published, it will catalyze a transformation in American healthcare,” Genspect boasts, predicting legal attacks, insurance denials, and the collapse of gender clinics. Their vision isn’t subtle: they want to replace evidence-based care with ideological warfare—recasting transgender healthcare as fringe pseudoscience while ignoring the overwhelming global consensus on its safety and efficacy.

....

Researchers, physicians, and advocates must be ready not only to debunk the coming wave of disinformation, but to meet it with unrelenting truth. The future of transgender healthcare in the United States may depend on it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the HHS report drops, I implore you to please speak out and elevate the reports released earlier this year by France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, which do an excellent job at communicating the benefits so many receive from gender affirming care.

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/new-french-guidelines-recommend-trans

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/new-german-swiss-and-austria-guidelines

When these reports were released, they were largely ignored by mainstream media. Please use your platform to make them part of the media discussion in order to combat the disinformation with truth.

Thank you for your continued support and leadership.

Sincerely,

<YOUR NAME>

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RRMother's avatar

That’s a great letter - thanks for sharing it so we can more easily write our own!

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MissNumbersNinja's avatar

You're welcome!

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June Rockway's avatar

Good old rapid onset gender dysphoria. I started feeling it when I was 11 and finally started transitioning when I was 39. But that day I made the appointment, my number of trans care related appointments increased from 0 to 1. That is an infinity percent increase in JUST ONE MINUTE. Thank goodness some man with a worm gnawing on his brain will protect me from myself!

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Sarah F's avatar

When I was age 3, my aunt and uncle tried grooming me with toy trucks and tractors, but it didn't work.

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Jaimie Hileman's avatar

The Nazis had studies too.

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Raine Magnus's avatar

It seems like everyday there is some new garbage that confirming that my view that the Republican party is an anti-transgender hate group.

Conservatives in general tend to be very anti-science. That's why they need to make their own fake scientific and medical organizations and concoct ridiculous junk science reports. Whether it's the environment, vaccines, infectious diseases, or gender, they have nothing of actual substance to back up their garbage beliefs.

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John Longshore's avatar

I’m scared, do you think they could block estrogen from out of country?

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Jayna Sheats's avatar

At this point (following the CECOT deportation play), "they" can do anything they damn well please; it's just a question of how much actual interest there is in transgender people vs. the interest and workload of immigrants, tariffs, etc. They don't need any justification. I composed a fairly careful analysis of this a week ago:

https://jaynasheats.substack.com/p/its-past-midnight-what-should-transgender

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Jaimie Hileman's avatar

Yes. It's already "illegal" via EO, but the enforcement isn't there yet. It's coming.

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Jenny's avatar

Remember the war on drugs? Trying to block estrogen would be about as effective.

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JjMc's avatar

Are we going to have a naming contest for this forthcoming piece of trash anti science fascist fuckery?

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Jaimie Hileman's avatar

Sadly "Mein Kampf" was apparently already taken.

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Alexandra-Anathema Dyce's avatar

How about the "Diet of (Brain) Worms"

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Jaimie Hileman's avatar

THAT'S brilliant! Alexandra-Anathema, I adore you!

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Sarah F's avatar

"Your Body is Our Body: Why the Government Should Control It"

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Hope Jasen's avatar

"The pursuasive power of post truth constructions to frame reality in service of authoritarian wishes"

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Katrina deVille's avatar

“When the HHS review is published, it will catalyze a transformation in American healthcare,” Genspect boasts

Yes, it will catalyze my fist punching their faces.

In seriousness, I abhor violence and would never resort to it, but the anger toward all of this bigotry is real and intense.

I also find it ironic how I hear the right wing parrot phrase “we’re tired of all this being shoved down our throats” in regards to transgenderism and LGBTQ communities. They’d better buckle in, they really have no idea how loud we can be ✊🏼🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

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Beverly Trafton 🏳️‍⚧️'s avatar

Ugh, I have facial feminization surgery scheduled for June. I am using my federal health insurance... at least I hope I am.

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Celeste's avatar

Mine is scheduled for February. I'm terrified I will lose it

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Robin Elise's avatar

My orchi is scheduled for the end of May. Yippee.

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Brenna's avatar

If they outlaw gender-affirming surgeries, how will MAGA build new tradwives who meet their standards of female beauty? Will no one think of the poor oppressed cishet straight white dudebros and their needs?? What about Elon's jawline??? And hairline????

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Jesse Keeler's avatar

Yes, this impacts trans people directly. And the larger population needs to understand that this is a step toward the government controling their bodies too. They want to tell every person what they can and cannot do with their body.

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Margo's avatar

Brainstorming, but wouldn’t it be a decent countermove to crank out a good English translation of the French and German/Swiss/Austrian guidelines and literature reviews? And then set it to publish at the same time as the anti-science disinfo from this crowd? (see EitM newsletters from March 9 and Dec. 3, 2024)

Nothing like fighting fire with fire — actual, rigorous, scientific 🔥.

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Stephanie Shea's avatar

That's what I have been hoping for. If we could get a major news outlet to publish it that would help so much.

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Margo's avatar

Ok, @stephanie, understood. But journos do also really prioritize newness. Don’t give reporters and editors the excuse, in other words, that the French and German etc. reports are “old news.”

And I’d be happy to volunteer to copy edit the doc. I’m worthless on the translations. But glad to help if it’s useful in working on the English!

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Brianna Amore's avatar

Fascists are OBSESSED with not only controlling culture to fit their own very narrow viewpoints but are also obsessed with the destruction of those who do not fit within that very narrow viewpoint. And here we are today. And there is zero doubt that this "review" will be nothing but an ideological hit list of all their grievances against trans people while completely ignoring the VAST amount of scientific data that proves gender affirming care saves lives.

No, this is just another attempt to completely erase the trans community.

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Joanne C. Mahlmeister's avatar

Just like many of us had predicted, take the bans and legislation that has been successful and use those to model new bans across the country. This does not bode well for our collective future.

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Brooklyn Ricky's avatar

We must stand in unwavering solidarity with transgender people and affirm their fundamental right to access comprehensive, evidence-based healthcare.

This recent news regarding the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) preparing to release a review of transgender care that is intentionally slanted to oppose it, raises serious concerns and demands our immediate attention.

This anticipated review echoes the biased and politically motivated approaches seen in Governor DeSantis’ Florida Board of Medicine review and the Cass Review in the UK.

These reviews, which excluded experts in gender-affirming care and were engineered to justify crackdowns on essential medical services, serve as alarming precedents for what we may expect from the HHS.

The very foundation of this HHS review, stemming from a Trump executive order that uses the scientifically unsupported term "rapid-onset gender dysphoria," suggests a predetermined negative outcome driven by ideology rather than medical evidence. The deeply troubling language used in an internal NIH email, referring to "chemical and surgical mutilation," further underscores the bias and harmful rhetoric that appears to be shaping this report.

I am deeply concerned that this review will disregard the overwhelming consensus of major medical organizations worldwide, which recognize the safety and efficacy of gender-affirming care. By potentially excluding expert voices and misrepresenting scientific findings, the HHS risks creating a document that will be used to justify sweeping restrictions on vital healthcare for both transgender youth and adults across the country.

The potential consequences of such a politically motivated review are dire. As evidenced by the experiences in Florida and the UK, this report could be weaponized by anti-trans organizations to fuel legal attacks, insurance denials, and the closure of gender clinics, ultimately harming countless individuals.

We must reject attempts to undermine evidence-based healthcare with disinformation and harmful rhetoric. Decisions about medical care should be made by patients in consultation with their doctors, based on the best available scientific evidence and clinical expertise.

We must call on our leaders and communities to stand firm in their support of transgender people and their right to access the medical care they need to thrive. We must be vigilant in debunking any misinformation that arises from this forthcoming report and continue to advocate for policies that protect and affirm the health and well-being of transgender individuals.

Our commitment to the transgender community must be resolute. Now, more than ever.

We must continue to fight for a future where all individuals have access to the healthcare they need and are treated with dignity and respect.

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Tammy's avatar

Well, we know ahead of time what to expect, and can be prepared. No surprises, really. At each step, Trump has chosen the person with the highest likelihood to do the most harm to be in charge of a department. Such as the coal and oil czar in charge of renewable energy. This is not new territory folks- we've seen our friends and family walk this line in the U.K. Those who have transitioned, talk to your providers and make a plan to carry you through until we depose this jerk. Those not yet there, also, make a plan, and know he is not here for good. Make sure you have the support around you if you are feeling suicidal. He is not worth it. You need to remember there are Trump-less times ahead, and you need to be there to celebrate them. There is hope.

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RRMother's avatar

This is so well said. Thank you. ♥️

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