On Tuesday, the Biden administration released a statement targeting surgery and other care for trans youth. Now, transgender and nonbinary state legislators are pushing back.
Given the enormous issues and risks that trans people are facing - especially with the strong likelihood of a new Trump administration in six months - I find it very unfortunate that the Biden administration and trans advocates needed to engage in this squabble in the first place. The bottom line is: 1) gender confirmation surgeries - especially “bottom” surgeries - are rarely if ever performed on under-18s; 2) medical decisions wrt trans care should always rest with patients, families and doctors, and not politicians. These tenets are noncontroversial and we can all agree on them, correct? Including Democratic politicians? So why is there a need to expend much needed political resources on this? Maybe I’m missing something. But in six months, trans people will be facing dire threats to their IDs, civil rights, and medical care, and surgery for under-18s will seem a trivial issue by comparison.
Yes, agree, but when you are under siege you have to pick your battles and strategically deploy your resources. Bottom surgeries aren’t performed on under-18s, period. We all agree with that, hopefully, so squabbling about it is a useless distraction that just gives right-wing talking heads even more fodder than they already have. The loss of IDs, civil rights, and medical care is far more serious and coming like a freight train - barring an electoral miracle - and with trans people seemingly tied to the track and unable to escape.
OK, so they don't want gender affirming surgeries (usually top surgeries, breast reduction or enhancement) for trans youth. Are they also willing to ban these for cisgender youth?
Top surgeries are far more common for cisgender youth than for transgender folks. Breast reduction surgeries are done for cisgender male youth with excessive tissue (gynecomastia), cisgender girls with excessive breast tissue, and breast enhancements are not unheard of. (The "Alabama Sweet 16" birthday present...). And yes, these are gender affirming surgeries.
"Breast Surgery in Adolescents: Cisgender Breast Reduction Versus Transgender and Nonbinary Chest Masculinization"
Transgender youth and their families already have to jump through far more hoops than cisgender youth to gain access to gender affirming care. Is the Biden administration really intent on banning this care for one specific class or category of people?
This entire debacle is not just an embarrassment for the administration, it is also illustrative of their clumsy and amateurish flailing in nearly all areas of decision-making, messaging, and managing Biden's re-election. Another very badly fumbled "own goal" that I'm sure our enemies are cackling over in their hate-filled glee.
I applaud these legislators for demanding a clear repudiation of this mealy-mouthed, spineless garbage coming from the president's undisciplined inner circle, who are clearly panicking just as we are approaching crunch-time for our very democracy.
Ugh. I fear the Biden Administration will turn into the Labour Party in the UK. There, both sides of the aisle have agreed that trans people shouldn’t have meaningful rights and things seem lost. I’ve been a Biden supporter, but idk if he’s steering the ship right now.
I'm a little confused, but yeah, he needs to be definitive about protecting all of us now. I swear he's afraid to piss off potential voters seeking another choice besides ex-45. They're playing politics with our lives and need to stop being mealy-mouths about all this. Either it belongs in the healthcare industry or it doesn't.
That’s exactly what I told Kelly Robinson on a recent Olivia Cruise on a recent Mexican Riviera Cruise. But it doesn’t surprise me in the least. As a veteran I was eagerly awaiting the issuance of new rules that would allow gender affirming surgery through the VA. These rules were supposed to have been issued two years ago but as of now, crickets.
Thanks for this effort in response to WH statement which was harmful and dangerous and showed little effort to understand why trans youth can need medical intervention. To add, our org has been advocating for trans youth all over the country and beyond. Since 2007. We also made a strong statement to our large and significant followers. Check us out to familiarize yourself with our work and impact www.transyouthequality.org. The ups and downs we have seen as one of the first trans youth orgs is astonishing and lately discouraging. We continue with hope.
Thank you Erin, for the update and all of your work, which never seems to end.
After we all finish reading this and venting about yet another disappointment (sigh), we should do the minimum, which is to shoot a quick note to the WH: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/share/
It can be brief, something like: "I am disappointed in President Biden's recent statement opposing all transgender surgeries for all minors. " Let's use our anger and do something that will take only seconds, but builds pressure on the President.
I still haven't seen any evidence of the actual statement from the Biden Admin. Not a single news source, or the HRC, have shown the document. We don't even know which member of the admin sent 19News the email. We've seen multiple attempts to turn marginalized groups against the Biden admin and a very apparent bias from the media to aid those attempts.
The reach out by 19News was instigated by reports on the New York Times and Fox News that this was the position the Biden admin was taking. Each of those sources have been pushing anti-trans panic for years now.
Over a week and no evidence has been put forth that I've been able to find. Just hearsay, secondary sources, anonymous sources, and so forth. And I've been asking.
If you've seen something I would love to see it, too.
Look up “PROJECT 2025” and let’s see if transgender people will fare better under Republican leadership.
That’s a loud : GENOCIDE for you.
So: hold your nose and vote for Biden (blue all down the ballot seeing that we NEED a blue majority in Congress too).
If people would have held their nose and voted for Hillary; we’d be in a MUCH better place right now. She’s the one who made it possible to get passports with correct gender markers!!!
Yeah, pretty much. Nobody has to like the candidates this year... we just have to recognize that a Republican victory this election would be catastrophically worse- not just for the trans community, but everyone else as well- than the worst Democratic government could be. That's where we're at. It's another damage control election. If Biden is still on the ticket in November, vote for Biden. If he gets replaced, vote for whichever candidate replaces him. Blue no matter who, all the way down the ballot.
But we should absolutely remember what concessions they were willing to make- and who they were willing to throw under the bus- to get elected... and once the last vote is tallied and the election is called (hopefully 𝘯𝘰𝘵 in favor of a mob of theocratic fascist lunatics), we'll need to very loudly and emphatically remind a few Democrats that merely being 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘥 is only a job qualification during election season.
I oppose prohibitions of care, it's arbitrary, and as another comment mentioned, it's not common for the surgeries to be done for minors, when it is they have made an informed decision.
If this is the truth, it is not un expected when you field a weak candidate who is questionably in charge of the administration. The ignorance and cowardice of politicians is on full display if this betrayal is true. Biden is a good human being but I am at a loss as to how a country of 360 million winds up fielding two poor candidates, one who is and seen as simply too old for the job and the other who is a liar, narcissist, amoral, misogynistic, anti-democratic poor excuse for a human being who hope to be like his buddies that he admires like Putin, Adolph H and Kim Jong Un. So we have to pick the least worst which is clearly Biden.
Given the enormous issues and risks that trans people are facing - especially with the strong likelihood of a new Trump administration in six months - I find it very unfortunate that the Biden administration and trans advocates needed to engage in this squabble in the first place. The bottom line is: 1) gender confirmation surgeries - especially “bottom” surgeries - are rarely if ever performed on under-18s; 2) medical decisions wrt trans care should always rest with patients, families and doctors, and not politicians. These tenets are noncontroversial and we can all agree on them, correct? Including Democratic politicians? So why is there a need to expend much needed political resources on this? Maybe I’m missing something. But in six months, trans people will be facing dire threats to their IDs, civil rights, and medical care, and surgery for under-18s will seem a trivial issue by comparison.
I think it's just the pain of feeling a knife in the back. I have never seen Biden as the savior of trans folks, but I didn't expect this.
Yes, agree, but when you are under siege you have to pick your battles and strategically deploy your resources. Bottom surgeries aren’t performed on under-18s, period. We all agree with that, hopefully, so squabbling about it is a useless distraction that just gives right-wing talking heads even more fodder than they already have. The loss of IDs, civil rights, and medical care is far more serious and coming like a freight train - barring an electoral miracle - and with trans people seemingly tied to the track and unable to escape.
OK, so they don't want gender affirming surgeries (usually top surgeries, breast reduction or enhancement) for trans youth. Are they also willing to ban these for cisgender youth?
Top surgeries are far more common for cisgender youth than for transgender folks. Breast reduction surgeries are done for cisgender male youth with excessive tissue (gynecomastia), cisgender girls with excessive breast tissue, and breast enhancements are not unheard of. (The "Alabama Sweet 16" birthday present...). And yes, these are gender affirming surgeries.
"Breast Surgery in Adolescents: Cisgender Breast Reduction Versus Transgender and Nonbinary Chest Masculinization"
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38896845/
"Prevalence of Gender-Affirming Surgical Procedures Among Minors and Adults in the US"
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2820437
Transgender youth and their families already have to jump through far more hoops than cisgender youth to gain access to gender affirming care. Is the Biden administration really intent on banning this care for one specific class or category of people?
This entire debacle is not just an embarrassment for the administration, it is also illustrative of their clumsy and amateurish flailing in nearly all areas of decision-making, messaging, and managing Biden's re-election. Another very badly fumbled "own goal" that I'm sure our enemies are cackling over in their hate-filled glee.
I applaud these legislators for demanding a clear repudiation of this mealy-mouthed, spineless garbage coming from the president's undisciplined inner circle, who are clearly panicking just as we are approaching crunch-time for our very democracy.
These jerks are seriously damaging my calm...
Ugh. I fear the Biden Administration will turn into the Labour Party in the UK. There, both sides of the aisle have agreed that trans people shouldn’t have meaningful rights and things seem lost. I’ve been a Biden supporter, but idk if he’s steering the ship right now.
I'm a little confused, but yeah, he needs to be definitive about protecting all of us now. I swear he's afraid to piss off potential voters seeking another choice besides ex-45. They're playing politics with our lives and need to stop being mealy-mouths about all this. Either it belongs in the healthcare industry or it doesn't.
I have to give joe biden this: he or his team actually managed to get the HRC to speak up and say something with this.
Wow, that's really something for the HRC. They're usually the ones throwing the trans community under the bus!
That’s exactly what I told Kelly Robinson on a recent Olivia Cruise on a recent Mexican Riviera Cruise. But it doesn’t surprise me in the least. As a veteran I was eagerly awaiting the issuance of new rules that would allow gender affirming surgery through the VA. These rules were supposed to have been issued two years ago but as of now, crickets.
HRC has massively changed to be more inclusive over the last 10 years. They are now supportive of the trans and nonbinary community.
Ive seen them in the middle of stuff, but its been like, getting their logo out there and then borking up logistics.
My favorite was when their rep didnt show up on time to testify against tx sb 12
News to me.
Thanks for this effort in response to WH statement which was harmful and dangerous and showed little effort to understand why trans youth can need medical intervention. To add, our org has been advocating for trans youth all over the country and beyond. Since 2007. We also made a strong statement to our large and significant followers. Check us out to familiarize yourself with our work and impact www.transyouthequality.org. The ups and downs we have seen as one of the first trans youth orgs is astonishing and lately discouraging. We continue with hope.
Well, thanks for the heads-up, Joe. Message received, loud and clear: you aren't our friend- you're just our enemy's enemy.
Thank you Erin, for the update and all of your work, which never seems to end.
After we all finish reading this and venting about yet another disappointment (sigh), we should do the minimum, which is to shoot a quick note to the WH: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/share/
It can be brief, something like: "I am disappointed in President Biden's recent statement opposing all transgender surgeries for all minors. " Let's use our anger and do something that will take only seconds, but builds pressure on the President.
I tried to keep my letter civil but whoever had to read it knew I was furious and so deeply disappointed.
If Trump wins and Project 2025 is implemented all minorities in America face genocide.
I still haven't seen any evidence of the actual statement from the Biden Admin. Not a single news source, or the HRC, have shown the document. We don't even know which member of the admin sent 19News the email. We've seen multiple attempts to turn marginalized groups against the Biden admin and a very apparent bias from the media to aid those attempts.
The reach out by 19News was instigated by reports on the New York Times and Fox News that this was the position the Biden admin was taking. Each of those sources have been pushing anti-trans panic for years now.
Over a week and no evidence has been put forth that I've been able to find. Just hearsay, secondary sources, anonymous sources, and so forth. And I've been asking.
If you've seen something I would love to see it, too.
Look up “PROJECT 2025” and let’s see if transgender people will fare better under Republican leadership.
That’s a loud : GENOCIDE for you.
So: hold your nose and vote for Biden (blue all down the ballot seeing that we NEED a blue majority in Congress too).
If people would have held their nose and voted for Hillary; we’d be in a MUCH better place right now. She’s the one who made it possible to get passports with correct gender markers!!!
Yeah, pretty much. Nobody has to like the candidates this year... we just have to recognize that a Republican victory this election would be catastrophically worse- not just for the trans community, but everyone else as well- than the worst Democratic government could be. That's where we're at. It's another damage control election. If Biden is still on the ticket in November, vote for Biden. If he gets replaced, vote for whichever candidate replaces him. Blue no matter who, all the way down the ballot.
But we should absolutely remember what concessions they were willing to make- and who they were willing to throw under the bus- to get elected... and once the last vote is tallied and the election is called (hopefully 𝘯𝘰𝘵 in favor of a mob of theocratic fascist lunatics), we'll need to very loudly and emphatically remind a few Democrats that merely being 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘥 is only a job qualification during election season.
I oppose prohibitions of care, it's arbitrary, and as another comment mentioned, it's not common for the surgeries to be done for minors, when it is they have made an informed decision.
Replace Biden now!
Certainly he's not very likely to win.
If this is the truth, it is not un expected when you field a weak candidate who is questionably in charge of the administration. The ignorance and cowardice of politicians is on full display if this betrayal is true. Biden is a good human being but I am at a loss as to how a country of 360 million winds up fielding two poor candidates, one who is and seen as simply too old for the job and the other who is a liar, narcissist, amoral, misogynistic, anti-democratic poor excuse for a human being who hope to be like his buddies that he admires like Putin, Adolph H and Kim Jong Un. So we have to pick the least worst which is clearly Biden.
Just wondering why Biden is running for president at 81 years of age. Shouldn't he just leave and rest?