17 Comments

"Shine a light, plant a seed"! Love it. I recently listened to Dahlia's "Amicus" podcast, where she talked with Chase Strangio about United States v Skrmetti. Highly recommended. 👏🏼🙏🏼💙✊🏼

Expand full comment

WHY does the state of TN even have standing? Why does it matter to anyone not going through it? Understand, couldn’t this lead to other inflictions of suffering? Like HRT?? Millions of post-menopausal women and men! Rely on hormone replacement therapy!

Expand full comment

The state of TN wrote the law. They are defending their law. Standing is whether the case affects you. I believe you are asking why does TN have a public interest - when ruling on basic human rights the courts must balance the interests of the public with the interests of the individual? Agreed; they do not. These are decisions made by parents and doctors together that does not affect the public in anyway. It would be different if the child is being abused, and that is where the state of TX has gone with this. But when parent and child and doctor agree on care how can the state claim it is abuse? There is no logic to their stance. Only ugly emotion.

Expand full comment

I really enjoyed this podcast. Not that they aren't are good, but this one was excellent.

Expand full comment

I do think it is really exaggeration to say that the Constitution and the rule of law are just toilet paper. It seems to be on a lot of culture wars type issues. But a lot of ordinary disputes are still ruled by law. And the point being made at the end--that there are a LOT of lower courts, and at least some appellate courts, that are going to decide using the rule of law. Even Supreme Court precedent can be distinguished in many cases on minute grounds and an opposite decision reached in the case at hand. The Extremes can't grant cert for ALL of them. State Constitutional law is a good place to fight, at least if the state has decent constitutional law and a reasonable court.

I am SO glad I live in the bluest region of a deep blue state. My rep beat her GOP opponent by 85%.

Expand full comment

Thank you, Waj. What an interesting discussion, thanks to Dahlia.

Expand full comment

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⚜️🫏⚧️🫏⚜️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚖️🚫⚖️🚫⚖️🚫⚖️🚫⚖️⚠️⚠️⚠️

⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️🍊🫅🏼👑🤥🤑👹🤡⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️

Expand full comment

50% of kids stopping this care is not an argument against it. My child identifies as nonbinary. When she first got her period she wanted to stop it. It was not because she wanted to transition, it was because she had a lot of other mental health issues and was afraid of the changes happening to her body. So we didn't give her puberty blockers, we gave her medecine to suppress her period. After 6 months she was in a healthier place mentally and decided she was ready for her period and stopped the meds. It was the care she needed; just like people temporarily use a nicotine patch or go on and off birth control. These children are struggling through serious mental health issues and their medical providers and parents are doing the best they can. Stopping the medication is a fantastic outcome. It means the child was hears, their needs were met, and then they figured out that the body they are in is fine and they don't need to make any drastic changes. This is the case for many, who simply choose to dress a certain way and change their name and that is enough for them. They are such a small minority of people. Regardless of who brought it into the public focus and why, the medical care of children should be in the hands of their parents unless a court finds a particular parent to be abusive. Even then, my state doesn't strip parents of all their rights unless the abuse is ongoing and aggregious. To legislate against this care is cruel and an overreach of state power.

Expand full comment

Thank you both so much!! I am trying to do the work at the local level. Everyone reading, make a commitment to do one thing to help strengthen your local community. Democracy is us. A population that refuses to be controlled cannot be controlled. We can do this together building from the bottom up one step at a time.

Weareworthfightingfor.org

Expand full comment

Dahlia Litwick is bar none (in my opinion) the VERY best SCOTUS reporter we have today. She breaks down the oral arguments this week and the apparent evisceration of civil rights, parental rights, and choice for transgender children in a 6 - 3 divided Court; the importance of the dissent to shine the light for the future, the importance of COURAGE IS CONTAGIOUS and we must look locally to those communities who are terrified as a result of these arguments and decisions from this SCOTUS and lift them up. There are brilliant state AGs, Supreme Court Justices, District Court Justices, and the Biden administration appointed many more . . . Hear the truth from Dahlia in this conversation, and feel the hope and way to the light.

Expand full comment

The hypocrisy is breathtaking, isn't it?

Expand full comment

i hate trump and maga too. ive voted dem my whole life. but its dems whov swallowed a fraud regarding gender beliefs.

when scotus asked Biden's team to provide evidence trans ID ppl are discriminated against they couldn't. the only two examples they mentioned were decades old bans on men wearing drag (an issue that relates to gays, not trans ID ppl) and bans on drag in the military (a place where rules about uniforms are allowed). Biden's team tried to argue that stopping kids from sterilizing themselves after being tricked into it relates to sex. But Tenn made a good case that banning this harm relates to the practice of the care, not sex. for example its ok to give morphine to someone as a slight pain killer, but not to enable an addiction. so its the why thats importnant, not to who.

the fact is that 75% of everyone oppose sterilizing kids. who are the 25%? they are low info dem voter who really arent paying attn. when they figure out theyre were lied to, they wont like it either. then theres the gender activists who are leading dems around by the nose. yes, i get it they are giving dems boat loads of $. but dems cant win elections supporting these polcies. dems have been scammed into a tin foil hat belief, the very thing dems accuse maga of doing.

these beliefs, based on opinion, not evidence, are harming vulnerable ppl via gender care. every gov systematic review on earth found gender meds dont help kids dysphoria, mental health or anything else. the systematic review is the highest form of evidence, containing multi year efforts with 100s of studies, checking their quality. do dems consider the highest form of evidence known to man? nope. they swallow a slick ad campaign that uses fraudulent online polls and other meaningless quackery to harm kids.

Expand full comment

Ask the successfully transitioned person and they won’t tell you they were scammed they’d tell you it saved their life. It’s not about “ sterilization “ and honestly, while I cannot imagine what they go thru, it’s no one’s fckg business but their own. The whole issue is designed by maga haters to other a group, (it’s only the first, more are targeted) and distract the public with this from the criminal org coming back to pick our pockets clean, then make us too sick to fight, and desperate to survive. Ripe for submission.

Expand full comment

yes, some claimed it helped them. many others say it didnt. its a placebo. and theyre not looking at long term responses or if perhaps they simply needed psych care. so who should we trust? unfortunately, when we look at those who claimed gender care helps, theyre not basing thier claims on evidence. UK medical group BMJ report "gender dysphoria in youth is rising" explains why some thinks gender meds help. its not based on evidence. its based on wild claims of quacks who are harming vulnerable ppl, tricking them into this quack "care" that has no evidence of benefit. if adults want to get this optional care, no one should object, IMO. but they shouldnt be lied to and told theres evidence of benefit: there isnt. german insurance records found 50% stop taking gender meds by year 4. US military says a similar # stop. this tracks with most detrans by year 10. sorry, these are the actual #s. the reality is much different than gender biz claims based on meaningless online polls run by activists.

no - gop didnt bring this issue to the public, dems did. dems swallowed a carefully crafted PR campaign that robs the rights of a half a doz groups and is based on false claims. 75% of everyone oppose allowing men to invade womens spaces and sterilize kids. and why should men who ID as trans be allowed to use womens spaces.

- trans ID arent safer in the womens room

- theres zero evidence using the womens room helps because theres zero evidence affirmation helps. if you think so you should check why. got it. becuse white men told you this. they are lying. meanwhile women are one of the most at risk groups. 99% of assaults on women are via men, trans ID men are in this group. theres an epidemic of viololence against women. in UK 3 women are killed ea week. zero trans ID ppl were killed there in 5 years. trans are one of the safest groups and claims to the contrary dont check out. its dems who swallowed this fraud that sets womens rights back 400 years and if they hadnt maybe trump wouldnt have won.

Expand full comment

Who should make the decision, the government or the family with advice from their doctors? The family and doctors can read all the evidence and decide based on the facts of the individual case. 50% may quit the hormones after 4 years and 50% don’t. We don’t know why they quit maybe they don’t like the side effects, maybe they figure they are not trans. Some gay kids may initially think they are trans but aren’t the family and the doctor better suited to help the figure this out? Most parents and doctors want to do what is best for their kids. Trans activists are not making these decisions.

Expand full comment

kids and parents are being tricked into this “care”. parents are told without it, their child will die - a blatant lie with zero evidence to support it. kids and parents are told this “care” helps dysphoria, mental health and social function - every gov systematic review on earth found this “care” helps none of these things. kids are told puberty is optional and puberty blockers are reversible. but once they start taking puberty blockers for dysphoria , 98% go to hormones that cause lifelong health catastrophies. the german insurance and US military #s showing most on track to stop or already stopped taking the meds are blind its true. but detrans ppl tell us why they stopped taking the meds. they say in retrospect their issues had nothing to do with gender. they say what they really needed was psych care and time to resolve their non gender related trauma. but instead they were quicky offered a quack intervention (based on these activist promoted false claims regarding this care) at the most vulnerable time in their lives and it caused a lifetime of health problems and regret. i know what your response to that probably is. but ..but..only 1% regret. Like most gender biz claims, the 1% # is from meaningless online poll, this time by activist group trevor. Thier online poll with all participants anyonomous , with no cookies to prevent repeats. would you trust the NRA to provide a poll about gun safety? if NRA poll showed 100% think guns are 100% safe, would that mean they are? this is fraud. and its tricking vulnerable ppl and their parents. even potus and scotus judges are confused via this flood of bad info. once you start checking, ul find every gender biz stat and claim is misinfo. thats why we cant go by these activist claims. the systematic review is the highest form of evidence. but no US based medical group has done one. or they have but wont release the results because they show this "care" actually does nothing (wpath and now olsen i think both did this). this sentence is commentary in its self. has the aap, the ama or any US medical group thoroughly reviewed this issue? no. they rely on activist groups to guide them, such as wpath and quack religious goof olsen. these groups, such as the original amsterdam study authors, are afflicted with the religious idea of gender (based on activist sci fi narratives) and then tailor their surveys etc to achieve their pre determined conclusions. anyways, to properly answer your question i suggest reading oral arguments of the scotus case. this exact thing was asked a doz times. be sure to get to the part where Tenn chimes in. it doesnt start until after page 100.

Expand full comment

Ok, I’ll listen to the argument today. My understanding is the issue is whether the law should be subjected to intermediate scrutiny required when sex based discrimination is alleged. Generally speaking I think parents and doctors want what is best for their kids/patients so maybe the solution is education.

Expand full comment