Gov. Abbott: "We Want To End" Trans And Gender Nonconforming Teachers

[Ivy]

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/gov-abbott-we-want-to-end-trans-and?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=994764&post_id=143782810&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=k5hac&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

 

I'm kinda surprised there are any left.

 

"The statement, first reported by journalist Steven Monacelli, addresses a teacher in a small town in Texas. Abbott, who repeatedly refers to the teacher as a "man dressed as a woman," states that the teacher's mere presence "normalizes the concept" of being transgender or GNC—a concept Gov. Abbott then asserts the state should try to prohibit. He states, "This kind of behavior is something we need to end in the state of Texas.""

 

God forbid that high school students find out that trans people actually exist!!!

[VickySGV]

When is Abbot going to end?? 

[Sally Stone]

3 hours ago, VickySGV said:

When is Abbot going to end?? 

Not soon enough, I'm afraid.  However, I think this agenda is going to be the Republican Party's undoing.  They are trying to forward an agenda supported by a minority; the "quiet majority" in this country don't support these extremist views.  Sadly, those of us that make up the quiet majority electorate tend to be slow to act, so I think it will take a while for our views to reign supreme.  History is on our side; however, so I have no doubt we will win out in the end. 

 

I like to think of us as the quiet majority, because, we aren't actually "silent," it's just that we tend to be drowned out by the loud mouth blowhards.  It's amazing how much noise they can make, especially when we let them.   

[Ashley0616]

I hate to say but it's Texas. They are probably going to be Florida 2.0. Heck discrimination is allowed as long as it's backed up by religion. Texas is one of the worst states. I feel sorry for all those stuck there.

[awkward-yet-sweet]

I'm kind of surprised there are any.  I mean, trans folks are a tiny minority of the population, and teachers aren't a huge part of the population.  So...a minority of a minority, its not like they would be very common. 

 

As for "ending" them, pretty sure that's not legal.  Discrimination in hiring for government jobs was phased out a long time ago.  There's a big difference between private schools and public schools. 

[Carolyn Marie]

1 hour ago, awkward-yet-sweet said:

I'm kind of surprised there are any.  I mean, trans folks are a tiny minority of the population, and teachers aren't a huge part of the population. 

 

 

There were 3.5 million public school teachers in the U.S. in 2021-22.  If you accept the estimate that trans folk make up around 1.5% of the population, that results in over 52,000 trans teachers.  That's quite a lot, actually.  I personally know four, including two college professors. 

 

Carolyn Marie

[awkward-yet-sweet]

6 hours ago, Carolyn Marie said:

 

There were 3.5 million public school teachers in the U.S. in 2021-22.  If you accept the estimate that trans folk make up around 1.5% of the population, that results in over 52,000 trans teachers.  That's quite a lot, actually.  I personally know four, including two college professors. 

 

Carolyn Marie

I wonder if the percentage of the population varies by area? I'm pretty sure trans folks are not anywhere near 1.5% of the population here. Perhaps many of them move out to other places?

[Ivy]

1 hour ago, awkward-yet-sweet said:

I'm pretty sure trans folks are not anywhere near 1.5% of the population here.

Maybe not.  But some trans people don't want to be visible for… reasons.

[awkward-yet-sweet]

35 minutes ago, Ivy said:

Maybe not.  But some trans people don't want to be visible for… reasons.

Indeed.  I also suspect that there are trans folks who may not know who they really are.   And also those who think they are, due to the increasing focus on the issue, when perhaps they might not be.  Trying to figure it out it's like trying to diagnose yourself on WebMD. 

[Ivy]

It can be complicated

[Abigail Genevieve]

I don't have the report, but there was a study on teenage suicide prevention programs.  The conclusion was interesting: telling kids that suicide was an option that they should not take caused more kids to kill themselves.  Help should be available, but over-broadcasting it apparently turns some kids suicidal.

 

"Real" trans kids do not need anyone to tell them they are trans.  Someone with other problems may be told that all they need to do is transition and their problem will go away, sort of like giving an appendectomy for a broken leg.  I was glad to see the detransitioning rate is as low as it is; stuff I had read indicated it was a lot higher.

 

I think kids should be told there are resources available but not be pushed, which apparently happens to some kids, according to the testimonies of some detransitioners.  Gender dysphoria is real but treating it is not the solution to every problem.

 

Someone may work out they are trans only after decades, and growing up in the wrong gender will generate comorbidities. 

 

I think detransitioning would generate all sorts of problems, particularly if the individual transitions again (someone did this).  Physical, emotional, psychological problems.  Best to be mean and screen people as accurately as possible, which I think is being done.  Gatekeeping can be important in sorting out those who are trans from those who are, say, suffering from bipolar disorder.

[Ivy]

3 hours ago, Abigail Genevieve said:

Gatekeeping can be important in sorting out those who are trans from those who are, say, suffering from bipolar disorder.

Maybe.  But it can also be used to keep people from transitioning.  Having said this, I do think that making this decision is not something to do lightly.  But starting with a social transition can let someone realize what they're getting into.

 

[Abigail Genevieve]

10 minutes ago, Ivy said:

Maybe.  But it can also be used to keep people from transitioning.  Having said this, I do think that making this decision is not something to do lightly.  But starting with a social transition can let someone realize what they're getting into.

 

It depends on the height of the gate.  And some people should not transition, because they are not trans.

[Abigail Genevieve]

14 minutes ago, Ivy said:

Maybe.  But it can also be used to keep people from transitioning.  Having said this, I do think that making this decision is not something to do lightly.  But starting with a social transition can let someone realize what they're getting into.

 

Someone who is not trans but who is encouraged to transition to solve, say, their body image issues, is only compounding their problems.

 

That being said, someone should be allowed to transition and de-transition if they find they made a mistake without condemnation or ridicule.  There is enough evidence to demonstrate that 1) you cannot change someone's gender identity, no matter how hard you try and 2) transitioning helps and 3) it is not simply mental illness or sin.  I fear gatekeepers unjustly keeping those needing care from transitioning, but also railroaders who will push transition when it is not warranted.

[Ivy]

8 minutes ago, Abigail Genevieve said:

And some people should not transition, because they are not trans.

But who decides?  That's the thing.

[Abigail Genevieve]

If you have read my story on Taylor, I would sic her on this governor.

[Ivy]

Haven't finished it yet.

[Abigail Genevieve]

2 minutes ago, Ivy said:

But who decides?  That's the thing.

Yep.  That is the big question.  And on what basis

[Ivy]

5 minutes ago, Abigail Genevieve said:

That being said, someone should be allowed to transition and de-transition if they find they made a mistake without condemnation or ridicule.

I agree with this.  People detransition for reasons other than not being trans.  Like social pressure or discrimination.  Sometimes life is just easier if you don't rock the boat.  I don't condemn people for this.

[MaeBe]

1 hour ago, Abigail Genevieve said:

Someone who is not trans but who is encouraged to transition to solve, say, their body image issues, is only compounding their problems.

Who is encouraging people to transition? This reads like something out of the right-wing playbook. Who is railroading people into transition?

 

I agree with allowing people to be who they are, regardless of how they were or thought they were.

[Abigail Genevieve]

2 hours ago, MaeBe said:

Who is encouraging people to transition? This reads like something out of the right-wing playbook. Who is railroading people into transition?

 

I agree with allowing people to be who they are, regardless of how they were or thought they were.

'right-wing playbook'?

 

I have read detransitioning stories in which the detransitioner felt they were pushed into transitioning.  My point is that people should neither be inappropriately kept back or inappropriately pushed to transition.  I looked for the story but in the time I had I found this interesting article https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-transyouth-outcomes/

 

If someone detransitions they should not be rejected.  It is hard enough to transition once.  I hate to think what these people are going through, and the reception they get from the TG folk.  Need to do a better job.

[VickySGV]

@Abigail GenevieveSomewhere in the Forums here, we have a link to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health's Standards Of Care, now at revision 8 but it is available in plenty of places.

 

https://www.wpath.org/soc8. 

 

These are the canons for the allied medical fields that deal with Trans people and are the guidance for those professionals.  I personally know members of the Association and have toyed with the idea of becoming an associate member since I am not a medical professional but because I like to keep on top of what is going on medically.  There are a number of Trans people who think they are overly oppressive as far as the gatekeeping goes, but the medical / psychological profession members who follow these guidelines for there patients WILL NOT be forcing their patients into unneeded or harmful surgery or medications. 

I read my first pitiful and heart-rending  "detransitioning" story 60 years ago when I snuck a tabloid newspaper behind a comic book down at the neighborhood convenience store when I was 16 years old and reading it off the rack which should have been adult only.  I am afraid that it was the first thing I ever read that told me about Trans and Transsexual people, it would be another 30 years before I actually figured out my own story.  The story I later found out, was NOT written by a Trans person, but a well known Porn scribbler who wrote many fantastic and gory stories about what he thought Trans people were.  We are not anything like his imagination, but he was a "press agent" for Trans people of the time.  We do have some well known and noisy, negative view Detransitioners who have been found to have gone to multiple psychologists and lied their way Transitioning, one of the most infamous actually hid Dissociative Identity Disorder, right therapist wrong Identity that was being counseled.  It is a messy story.  The public, like my first encounter, was NOT getting their information from the scientific journals of the time, they were getting it from Adult Entertainment and Tabloids   We need to be careful of where we get some of our ideas from. Evidence is good that the person at the heart of this thread gets most of his information from us from the slanted and non-scientific sources most people get theirs.

 

OOPs, I( may have sent this off track here, but but but.

 

 

[Abigail Genevieve]

42 minutes ago, VickySGV said:

@Abigail GenevieveSomewhere in the Forums here, we have a link to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health's Standards Of Care, now at revision 8 but it is available in plenty of places.

 

https://www.wpath.org/soc8. 

 

These are the canons for the allied medical fields that deal with Trans people and are the guidance for those professionals.  I personally know members of the Association and have toyed with the idea of becoming an associate member since I am not a medical professional but because I like to keep on top of what is going on medically.  There are a number of Trans people who think they are overly oppressive as far as the gatekeeping goes, but the medical / psychological profession members who follow these guidelines for there patients WILL NOT be forcing their patients into unneeded or harmful surgery or medications. 

I read my first pitiful and heart-rending  "detransitioning" story 60 years ago when I snuck a tabloid newspaper behind a comic book down at the neighborhood convenience store when I was 16 years old and reading it off the rack which should have been adult only.  I am afraid that it was the first thing I ever read that told me about Trans and Transsexual people, it would be another 30 years before I actually figured out my own story.  The story I later found out, was NOT written by a Trans person, but a well known Porn scribbler who wrote many fantastic and gory stories about what he thought Trans people were.  We are not anything like his imagination, but he was a "press agent" for Trans people of the time.  We do have some well known and noisy, negative view Detransitioners who have been found to have gone to multiple psychologists and lied their way Transitioning, one of the most infamous actually hid Dissociative Identity Disorder, right therapist wrong Identity that was being counseled.  It is a messy story.  The public, like my first encounter, was NOT getting their information from the scientific journals of the time, they were getting it from Adult Entertainment and Tabloids   We need to be careful of where we get some of our ideas from. Evidence is good that the person at the heart of this thread gets most of his information from us from the slanted and non-scientific sources most people get theirs.

 

OOPs, I( may have sent this off track here, but but but.

 

 

This reminded me of an individual who, due to child sexual abuse, lived as a woman for 15 years, detransitioned and noisily insists that all trans people have his story.  His name comes up fairly often because it fits the narrative.

 

I don't know that anyone actually has been railroaded.  People may say it, they may look back at what happened and decide that happened.  It's a he said / she said, but it feeds a narrative that is useful for those who are already convinced that trans people are abuse victims first and foremost.  That the detransition rate is so low tells me that railroading is not actually a problem, and I regret giving the impression that I thought it was.  That so few detransition is a success story.

 

What is pertitent at heart is that people hear and believe all the stories out there, and the story we have to tell is not heard, because TG folk are, after all, untrustworthy in their view and unworthy of an audience.  Somehow it needs to get out there as to what the real situation is. 

[Ivy]

There's a lot of bad information out there.  People like the sensational stuff, whether it's true or not.

 

Too many people live in a news/opinion bubble.  My ex's late husband kept Fox News on 24/7.  It was always there in the background of their life.  There is something about "trans" stuff every day, and always negative.