C.I. covered a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week in two snapshots and we're including them here.
From Thursday's "Iraq snapshot:"
Chair: Dick Durbin: This weekend, cities, including Chicago, across the globe, will host their annual pride parades to celebrate LTBGQ families, friends and neighbors. In just a short time, relative short time, a few decades, our nation has made remarkable progress in protecting the rights of LGBTQ Americans. Eight years ago this month, for instance, eight years, OBERGEFELL V HODGES which made marriage equality the law of the land. And last year, on a bipartisan basis, Congress codified these protections into law with THE RESPECT FOR MARRIAGE ACT. While Pride Month is an opportunity to celebrate these milestones, today we also remember that Pride began with an act of resistance. Back in 1970, the first ever pride parade was organized to mark the one year anniversary of The Stonewall Uprising. It was a protest led by gay, transgender and gender non-confirming Americans who refused to accept an unjust system of laws and united together to change not just America, but to change the world. Today, we draw from that spirit to unite together in acknowledging and defending the rights of LGBTQ Americans because right now extremist politicians across America are targeting LGBTQ youth along with the medical professionals who care for them and the parents who love them. I want to turn to a video that shows the story of one of those parents and his plea for the leaders in his home state of Missouri to stop these attacks.
And here's the father speaking in the video:
Brandon Boulware: I'm a lifelong Missourian, I'm a lawyer, I'm a Christian, I'm the son of a Methodist minister, I'm a husband. I'm the father of four kids -- two boys, two girls -- including a wonderful and beautiful transgender daughter. Today happens to be her birthday and I chose to be here. She doesn't know that. She thinks I'm at work. I came here today as a parent to share my story. One thing I hear when transgender is discussed is, "I don't get it. I don't understand." And I would expect some of you to have said that and to feel the same way. I didn't get it either. For years, I didn't get it. For years, I would not let my daughter wear girl clothes. I did not let her play with girl toys. I forced my daughter to wear boy clothes and get short haircuts and play on boys' sports teams. Why did I do this? To protect my child. I did not want my daughter or her siblings to get teased. And truth be told, I did it to protect myself as well. I wanted to avoid those inevitable questions as to why my child did not look and act like a boy. My child was miserable. I cannot overstate that. She was absolutely miserable. Especially at school. No confidence. No friends. No laughter. I -- I can honestly say this, I had a child who did not smile. We did that for years. We did that against the advice of teachers, therapists and other experts. I remember the day everything changed for me. I'd gotten home from work and my daughter and her brother were on the front lawn. And she had, my daughter had sneaked on one of her older sister's play dresses and they wanted to go across the street and play with the neighbors' kids. When it was time for dinner, I said, "Come in." She asked can she go across the street? I said "no." She asked me if she went inside and put on boy clothes could she then go across the street and play? And it's then that it hit me. My daughter was equating being good with being someone else. I was teaching her to deny who she is. As a parent, the one thing we cannot do, the one thing, is silence our child's spirit. My child was miserable. I cannot overstate that. She was absolutely miserable. And so on that day, my wife and I stopped silencing our child's spirit. The moment we allowed our daughter to be who she is, to grow her hair, to wear the clothes she wanted to wear, she was a different child. It was immediate. It was a total transformation. I now have a confident, a smiling, a happy daughter. She plays on girls' volleyball teams, she has friendships, she's a kid. I came here today as a parent to share my story. I need you to understand that this language, if it becomes law, will have real effects on real people. It will effect my daughter. It will mean that she cannot play on the girls' volleyball team or dance squad or tennis team. I ask you please don't take that away from my daughter or the countless others like her who are out there. Let them have their childhoods, let them be who they are. I ask you to vote against this legislation.
These are serious issues and Senator Durbin noted that:
By one place?
Don't you mean you? Why are you referring to yourself in the plural?
In December 2017, The New Yorker published an article by Jane Mayer showcasing interviews with former minority members of TPUSA. Former staff members said they witnessed widespread discrimination against minorities in the group, and stated "the organization was a difficult workplace and rife with tension, some of it racial."[26][133] One former employee, an African-American woman, said she was the only person of color working for the organization at the time she was hired in 2014; she then said that she was fired on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The article also revealed text messages sent by Crystal Clanton – who was a leading figure in the organization and served as the group's national field director for five years – to another Turning Point employee saying "i hate black people. Like fuck them all ... I hate blacks. End of story." Kirk responded to the revelations by saying that "Turning Point assessed the situation and took decisive action within 72 hours of being made aware of the issue."[26] The article also noted that Kirk had explicitly praised Clanton in his book Time for a Turning Point, saying that she had been "the best hire we ever could have made", and that "Turning Point needs more Crystals; so does America."[26]
In an April 2018 article titled "Turning Point USA Keeps Accidentally Hiring Racists", HuffPost reported that the woman hired to replace Crystal Clanton had a history of using racial slurs, particularly against African-Americans, on Twitter before deleting her account. In response to the reports, Kirk referred to the individual in question as "a former employee" in his official statement (without clarifying when she had been fired), and Turning Point issued an internal memo announcing that all current and new staff would face social media background checks.[134]
In the Hillsdale College Collegian, opinions editor Kaylee McGhee wrote an article titled "Charlie Kirk and TPUSA aren't conservative, as real conservatives already knew". In the article, McGhee referred to TPUSA as a "reactionary cancer" rather than a group supporting real conservatism that is "supposed to preserve the timeless principles of liberty and equality for all".[135] In June 2018, conservative radio talk show host Joe Walsh resigned from the TPUSA board because Kirk was too closely tied to Donald Trump. Walsh said: "It's so important to not be beholden to politicians, but to be beholden to the issues ... When Charlie went to work for Trump, that crossed that line. You can't advance Trump and advance these issues."[136]
During October and November 2019, Kirk launched the Culture War college tour of speaking events with appearances from many conservatives such as Donald Trump Jr., Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle. These events were frequently targeted by homophobic and antisemitic members of the alt-right and far-right who consider TPUSA to be too mainstream and not sufficiently conservative. Concerted efforts were made by this group to ask leading questions during the Q&A sections on controversial topics such as Israel and LGBTQ issues in order to challenge the extent of the speakers' views.[137]
Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center[edit]
In 2019, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has called TPUSA an alt-lite organization.[143] Both the ADL and the Southern Poverty Law Center have criticized TPUSA for affiliating with activists from the alt-right and the far-right.[144] The ADL has also reported that the group's leadership and activists "have made multiple racist or bigoted comments" and have links to extremism.[5]
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) today joined Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Corey Booker (D-NJ) in introducing the Equality Act – historic, comprehensive legislation to ban discrimination against LGBTQ+ Americans, just as religious, racial, and ethnic discrimination are illegal everywhere in the United States.
“If we want to live up to our nation’s ideal of true equality, we must address the fact that we have been coming up short. It is wrong that in a majority of states, LGBTQ+ people can be denied an apartment, cut from a job, thrown out of a store, or face other forms of discrimination just because of who they are or who they love,” said Senator Baldwin. “And that’s why I am proud to join my colleagues in introducing the Equality Act to protect LGBTQ+ Americans against discrimination and live up to our nation’s ideals of freedom and equality.”
The Equality Act would amend the landmark federal anti-discrimination laws to explicitly add sexual orientation and gender identity to longstanding bans on discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, jury service, access to credit, federal funding, and more. It would also add protections against sex discrimination in parts of anti-discrimination laws where these protections had not been included previously, such as public accommodations and federal funding.
“Generations of Americans have marched, voted, organized, and raised their voices to move us closer toward a more perfect union with freedom, equality, and opportunity for all,” said Senator Merkley. “We all go to work and school, go home, and go shopping, and none of us should have to keep our families hidden or pretend to be someone we’re not to do those things. Yet in some states, Americans can still be evicted, be thrown out of a restaurant, or be denied a loan because of who they are or whom they love. To realize the vision of America as a land of freedom and equality, we must be willing to take the steps to bring that vision closer to reality, and that’s exactly what the Equality Act does.”
“The flood of legislation in state after state seeking to undermine the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans is antithetical to our nation’s fundamental ideals and only serves to foster more hate, division, and prejudice,” said Senator Booker. “Congress must act to ensure that no person is discriminated against based on their gender identity or who they love. That is why I am proud to join again with colleagues to reintroduce the Equality Act, landmark legislation that will guarantee that LGBTQ+ Americans are protected under federal law and move us one step closer to having a nation that truly lives up to our ideals of liberty, freedom, and justice for all.”
LGBTQ+ equality received a huge boost across the nation last year when President Biden signed Senator Baldwin’s bipartisan Respect for Marriage Act into law, enshrining federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages. Further, in 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is prohibited as a form of sex discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. However, this court ruling has not yet been nationally applied to other areas of potential discrimination—including housing, public accommodations, jury service, access to credit, and more.
LGBTQ+ Americans around the country are facing an uptick in discrimination and dangerous state-sponsored legislation. State legislatures have introduced nearly 500 pieces of legislation that target LGBTQ+ rights. Despite Americans’ increasing support of LGBTQ+ rights and protections, the majority of states currently do not have fully-inclusive non-discrimination laws for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
U.S. Representative Mark Takano (D-CA-39) led the introduction of the Equality Act in the House.
The full text of the Equality Act can be found here as introduced in the Senate, and here as introduced in the House.
A summary of the bill can be found here.
The Senator's remarks can be downloaded here.
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Friday's "Iraq snapshot:"
Harleigh Walker: Thank you for the opportunity to tell you more about myself and what it is like to be a transgender person. My name is Harleigh; my pronouns are she/her; I’m 16 years old, and I am from Alabama. I’m hoping to be able to share with you what my journey has been like and to clear up some of the false information that I’ve heard come out of Congress and state legislatures, including the Alabama legislature. There has been so much misinformation shared around what it means to be a transgender person, and what healthcare looks like for transgender youth like me. Most of what I’ve been hearing is inaccurate at best, or just outright falsehoods and misrepresentations about the healthcare given to transgender youth by qualified medical professionals. The laws preventing people like me from having access to the health care that our doctors and parents agree is necessary to keep us healthy don’t keep us safe; they do the opposite. The horrible things we hear from legislators at the state and federal levels put us at greater risk because of bullying and dangerous harassment. Transgender people deserve to be able to pursue happiness - and I am happy.
Growing up, I had a really great childhood, loving parents, a wonderful big brother, loving grandparents, and friends. As I grew, I just felt like something was different for me, and when I was between ten and eleven years old, I told my parents that I was transgender. No one pushed me to become transgender. No one suggested, forced, or influenced me to “choose” to be transgender. It is not a choice. I just knew that this is who I am.
My parents did the absolute best they could to love and support me, and they took me to our
pediatrician. He sat down with my parents and me and referred us to medical professionals in
our state that could best treat me. He never once “pushed an agenda” onto me. Instead, he
listened to me, his patient, and advised all of us on how I could get the best healthcare for my
situation. I remember going on the first trip to the specialists - we were all so incredibly nervous
- and the team of doctors we saw were incredible. It wasn’t a single doctor but a group of
doctors who were there to help me in whatever way they could. One of the falsehoods I hear all
the time out of those who would keep me from getting my healthcare is that these doctors
pressure or rush you, and they pull you in and start filling you full of hormones, puberty blockers
or wanting to surgeries - and I want to tell you that none of that happened. As a matter of fact,
these doctors advised us that at no point would they talk about any surgeries on a minor; it
wasn’t even something they would discuss. Instead they spent time getting to know me,
understanding my specific case, getting to know my parents, and figuring out how to best care
for me, personally, as a patient. Not only did they never push me, but instead, one of the things
that stuck out as they talked to my parents and me was that if I ever decided to stop, or if this
care wasn’t right for me, it was ok, and they would support me on that, too. This is the opposite
of what I hear in the news or in the legislatures. It makes me wonder why legislatures think they
should get to tell my parents and my doctors that I can’t get the care I need to be healthy and
happy.
I want you to understand something really important. I want all of you to look at me, here and
now, and hear my words. I am a VERY happy 16-year-old. I have wonderful friends who accept
me fully for who I am. I’m active in my school’s debate team and other extracurricular activities. I
love to travel. I enjoy concerts and music like Taylor Swift, and listening to my record collection
way too loud in my room. I get As in school and I'm looking forward to college. I am not
miserable in my life, I’m not depressed. I’m just trying to be a teenager in America. Same as any
other teen, but I keep having to jump through hoops that other people my age don’t have to. I
have had to spend spring break lobbying for my right to exist while my friends are on
vacation. I’m here in front of this Committee instead of enjoying summer vacation, just to try
and ensure that my right to exist isn’t taken away.
I also hear so many lawmakers saying they are writing and passing these laws to protect kids,
yet, in my home state, when these laws were being proposed, not one lawmaker was willing to
sit down with my dad or me to talk through it, so that we could better explain what this looked
like, what it meant to us. From our State Senate, House of Representatives and even our
Governor, we begged and pleaded for an audience - but those writing these laws absolutely
refused to meet with us. Instead, these lawmakers pushed rhetoric and laws that weren’t true
and were unfounded, including that transgender people are being “groomed” by our parents,
which is nonsense!. In support of these laws my Governor has decided to say horrible things
about me and those like me in my state. I would love for you to imagine for a moment if these
statements were made about you or your kids, how would this make you feel? What would you
do to protect your kids from these harmful laws and statements? If you were me, would you
want to stay in a state where the people who are supposed to make sure you have a safe place
to live instead talk about you and your family this way? I live only a few miles from the best
college in my state, but I can’t really even consider going there in this climate, because of the
continued attacks against me.
As I’m looking forward to college though, I have had to rethink where I might go. Alabama was
one of the first states to ban my healthcare, but because of the new laws that have been passed
in states across the nation blocking my ability to just be who I am, and because we don’t have
the Equality Act to help protect me from discrimination,I’ve had to start looking at colleges very
far away from where I was born and raised, away from family and friends. My parents say this
breaks their heart; they can’t stand the thought of their kid being so far away from them where it
would be tough for them to help me If I needed them.
This type of discrimination, which will make me have to move where I live or work or go to
school, is not designed to protect or help me. It is really designed to do two things: one, keep
me from being who I am and being successful; and two, to use transgender people as
scapegoats for increased political capital. I’m here today to tell anyone who would support that
to look out; you will not stop me from being who I am or obtaining my goals, and I will not be
used as a political pawn.
I also want you to understand that discrimination makes me unsafe. This journey isn’t easy; as I
first began my transition, there was an incredible amount of bullying in my middle school. So
much so, that at one point my parents decided I needed to go to online school, not because I
wanted to but because the bullying got so bad that it was getting close to physical violence, and
the school refused to help. I hated online school - I love being around people, and I learn best
in a school environment. The next year, I went back into my old school, and, though there was
still bullying, we worked with the school to make sure they knew they couldn’t shrug their
shoulders anymore. For me, it never escalated to physical violence but that was just lucky. Kids
shouldn’t feel helpless at school against being bullied or discriminated against just because they
are different - this is another way that The Equality Act could really help. Leaders in our state
and country have the ability to help, but instead so many legislators have decided to promote
bullying and discrimination.
Despite all this, despite being called a demon, a monster, or other despicable things, I love my
life, I love my family, I love my friends and I’m happy. I am asking for you to help us stop certain
people from using the transgender community as a political pawn. Please stop attacking our
lives for votes or money. These are our human rights hanging in the balance. Help us
communicate that they are impacting people’s lives and our “pursuit of happiness.” We’re not
people to be feared or villains. We are just like your kid, your neighbor, and you. We also
deserve the ability to be happy.
Harleigh Walker appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday for a hearing entitled "Protecting Pride: Defending the Civil Rights of LGBTQ+ Americans."
That's what a 16-year-old girl had to say. This week.
Transphobe Glenneth Greenwald avoided an actual trans voice. But he did want you to know what Renee Richards now thinks. I'm sorry, who gives a damn? It's not 1976. It's 2023. Renee had the microphone for years and spoke to her day. Her day is done. You'd think Glenneth of all people would grasp how you age out. He's also wanting you to know that long-retired Martina Navratilova doesn't approve of trans women playing tennis with non-trans women. I care even less what Chris Everet says. That would be Chris who didn't realize Dusty Springfield was a lesbian and made a point of telling Dusty that they really needed to get lesbians out of tennis. Oh, Chrissie, between your ex Jimmy Connors outing you on the abortion and now we're addressing the issue of your homophobia, you really are destroying you own image.
For those who don't know, singer Dusty Springfield was a huge tennis fan. She was also a lesbian. She never respected Chrissie after that and would share that story with anyone who would listen. She also went all in on cheering on Billie Jean King. Chrissie's homophobia was well known and it's part of the reason that players like Billie Jean felt they had to stay in the closet.
Sensing the possibility of media attention, Glenneth sets aside his widow weeds, pushes his two children out of the way and goes running for his close up. To show the world that he's covered in s**t like any lying sack of s**t he reTweets:
Dem witness: "There's been this news article about men that think they can beat Serena Williams in tennis. And it's just not the case. She is stronger than them." @Riley_Gaines_: "Both Serena and Venus lost to the 203rd ranked male tennis player."
That's the first 'coverage' that I've read on the hearing. When Riley lied at the hearing, I just shook my head. I thought we all had brains and that the problem with that lie would be obvious.
I don't claim to know sports. I've got 101 real things to focus on. But the Williams sisters? I thought we all knew their story. They aren't 'sports stars,' they're so huge they're just stars. Their legend has gone far beyond sports fans.
Again, I caught Riley's lie immediately in the hearing and thought -- since I'm not a sports fan -- that everyone else would as well.
But, no, idiots are spreading her lie. 'It's proof!' It's proof that you're stupid and that Riley outsmarted you with a lie.
What's wrong with that 'fact'?
Like most right-wing garbage, it takes a factual event and leaves out all the facts that would undermine the case hate merchants are trying to make if the actual story were told.
Serena and Venus were adults? No, they were children when this happened.
Reality: An adult male beat two teenage girls -- not women, girls.
I saw it, why didn't Glenneth? So let's go to WIKIPEDIA because, as I remember the story, Serena as a teenager was not yet the great Serena that she became. Oh, look, even sports idiot me got that correct:
In 1995, just after turning 14, Williams planned to make her professional debut as a wild-card entry in the Bank of the West Classic in Oakland, California, but was denied by the WTA owing to their age-eligibility restrictions.[45] She subsequently filed an antitrust lawsuit against the women's tour, but withdrew it at her parents' request.[45] Her first professional event was in October 1995 at the Bell Challenge in Quebec,[44][46] where she used a wild-card entry to circumvent age-eligibility rules.[44] She lost in the first qualifying round to then 18-year-old American Annie Miller, winning just two games.[47]
Williams did not play a tournament in 1996. The next year, she lost in the qualifying rounds of three tournaments,[48] before winning her first main-draw match in November at the Ameritech Cup Chicago.[49] Ranked No. 304, she upset No. 7 Mary Pierce, and No. 4 Monica Seles,[50][51] recording her first career wins over top 10 players and becoming the lowest-ranked player in the Open Era to defeat two top-10 opponents in one tournament.[1] She ultimately lost in the semifinals to No. 5 Lindsay Davenport.[52] She finished 1997 ranked No. 99.[53]
Williams began 1998 at the Medibank International Sydney.[54] As a qualifier ranked No. 96,[55] she defeated No. 3 Davenport in the quarterfinals,[55] before losing to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals.[56] Williams made her debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open,[57] where she defeated sixth-seeded Irina Spîrlea in the first round,[58] before losing to her sister, Venus, in the second round in the sisters' first professional match.[58][54] She reached six other quarterfinals during the year, but lost all of them,[59] including her first match against No. 1-ranked Martina Hingis at the Lipton International Players Championships in Key Biscayne,[60] and her second match against Venus at the Italian Open in Rome.[59] She failed to reach the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam tournament the remainder of the year,[citation needed] losing in the fourth round of the French Open to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario,[61] and the third round of the US Open to Spîrlea.[62] She withdrew from Wimbledon two games into a match with Virginia Ruano Pascual, after straining a calf muscle during the first set.[63] She did win the mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open with Max Mirnyi, completing the Williams family's sweep of the 1998 mixed doubles Grand Slam tournaments. She won her first professional title in doubles at the U.S. National Indoor Championships in Oklahoma City with Venus, becoming the third pair of sisters to win a WTA title.[1] They won two more doubles titles that year. Williams finished the year ranked No. 20 in singles.
The year that Serena and Venus were both beaten in tennis by the same man? 1998. They were not the champions they would become. They were two 16-year-old girls just starting their tennis careers. She began that year ranked number 96.
Not quite the way Riley and Glenneth try to spin it.
Repeating, a 16-year-old girl went before Congress this week and told her story.
Glenneth wasn't interested in that. No. He was interested in three elderly women (Chris, Martina and Renee) who really have no skin in the game, they're more likely to be found looking for plots at Forest Lawn Memorial Parks than setting foot on a court at Forest Hills.
A 16-year-old had the guts to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a time when a war on transpeople is taking place and Glenneth ignores her to reTweet lies and offering the thoughts of, for example, an 88-year-old woman who really has no skin in the game and probably, let's be honest, very shaky cognitive knowledge of the world today.
Yesterday, we covered the liars who appeared before the committee --Riley Gaines and Matt Sharp. Today, we're covering the other three witnesses -- you know, people actually qualified to speak to what's going on today: Harleigh, the Human Rights Campaign's Kelley Robinson and pediatric endocrinologist Dr Ximena Lopez.
Senator Dick Durbin is the Chair of the Committee.
We've noted here repeatedly that FOX "NEWS" traffics in hate and that they run with freak show people to scare Americans. That's especially true of their war on trans people. As we've noted, they repeatedly bring on the White British man -- who lives in London -- to try to prove points regarding trans people. The freak show is a White man who spent a fortune to look like an Asian man, he had his face redone to look like the K-Pop singer he was obsessed with. That was long before he briefly decided he was trans. The last time we mentioned that, FOX "NEWS" trotted him back out yet again. They love to do that. It's got nothing to do with the US or what we're experiencing.
Durbin made a point to note that when a Supreme Court nominee appears before the Judiciary Committee, they will always be asked about what laws would influence them the most ("whether or not they're going to be influenced by foreign laws") and that the answer the Committee always wants, expects and receives is "US law."
Chair Dick Durbin: The answer they're waiting for is, "I stick with America." And now we have references to Europe as the standard-bearer in terms of where America should go for it's future. Secondly, if we're called an outlier in that headline [that a Republican wanted noted], guilty as charged. America's always been an outlier. A written Constitution for over two hundred years. A Bill of Rights that people can depend upon. We are outliers. No one in Europe can make the same claim. So I would just start with the premise, I love Europe, I love Europeans, but we're Americans. And when it comes to the decisions as basic as the rights of our individual citizens and freedoms, I think we've got a pretty good starting point with the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I want to ask you, Dr Lopez, there have been references made here to whether or not your profession and what you've done with your life for the last ten years is an outlier itself. That in fact you're not doing what is mainstream medicine in America. How do you respond to that?
Dr Ximena Lopez: That is not true. The type of care that I provide, gender affirming care, is the mainstream standard of care, best practice recommended by all the legitimate medical societies in the United States and across the world. And, as I said in my opening statement, we have a clinical experience of more than twenty years and a robust body of evidence that supports this treatment as life saving, decreasing depression and anxiety. There are no other studies that support any other treatment. So this --
Chair Dick Durbin: And --
Dr Ximena Lopez (Con't): -- is the mainstream treatment.
Chair Dick Durbin: And accepted by the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics as well?
Dr Ximena Lopez: Correct.
Chair Dick Durbin: Is there any major medical profession organization in the United States of America that opposes this medical form of care?
Dr Ximena Lopez: No.
Chair Dick Durbin: That speaks for itself. We're talking about science and medicine versus a political spin on the issue. I want to say that I am old enough to remember the debate on The Equal Rights Amendment fifty years ago -- the fears [that] 'If we pass the Equal Rights Amendment, women will be serving in combat.' You know what? Women are serving in combat because they want to serve in combat and we need them. 'If we pass The Equal Rights Amendment, we're going to have men and women sharing the same bathrooms.' Have you been to restaurants with all gender bathrooms? I've seen them quite frequently in Chicago and I'm sure you've seen them too. When I listen to Ms. Gaines, I think, "There's a fundamental call for justice in your statement,'' I understand it. We've got to be able to work that out as a nation. And not at the expense of Harleigh Walker and her future. There has to be a middle ground here that is fair to both. As far as I am concerned, that's our job on this side of the table to deal with that moving forward. Dr Lopez, you said, and I want to make sure it's on the record clearly, that accepted medical practices in the field does not provide for surgery for youth. Is that correct?
Dr Ximena Lopez: There-there. Genital surgery is not recommended for minors. That is the standard of care.
Chair Dick Durbin: And, in terms of hormone therapy, it's not administered until after puberty?
Dr Ximena Lopez: That is -- that is recommended in adolescence.
Chair Dick Durbin: And if you went forward with any surgery at any point, or even medications that we're talking about, has it been your practice to involve the parents of the young person involved?
Dr Ximena Lopez: That is the standard of care. Parents, all legal guardians, parents have to consent to the treatment. That's part of the medical decision making to involve the parents and discuss the risks and benefits like with any type of medical treatment. And, at the end of the day, it is the parents that consent to the treatment.
Chair Dick Durbin: Ms. Robinson, you've noted the resurgence, if you will, of anti-LGBTQ legislation across the country. A lot of it is focused on the transgender issue but not exclusively when we look at the body of legislation. What else is coming up in the state legislature that concerns you?
Kelley Robinson: I mean, we're concerned about bathroom bills re-emerging. Not moving forward explicit non-discrimination protections for communities and so much more. And for me, what's even more concerning is the violent rhetoric that surrounds every introduction of a bill, I mean, it's contribution to the fact that one-in-five of every hate crime is now motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ bias. This is an urgent problem facing our community and creating fear and isolation even when the bills aren't passed into law.
Chair Dick Durbin: Thank you.
Let's note this exchange.
Senator Chris Coons: Let me talk initially to Ms. Walker, if I could, thank you. As a parent of three children myself, I can only imagine how proud your parents must be of your poise and your advocacy. And thank you for sharing with us that you're a straight-A student and participating in school and happy. It is a very difficult thing to insert yourself into these very heated debates in your home state of Alabama and nationally. And I could feel your frustration, explaining that as you search for college, you feel you can no longer safely do so in your home state. I just don't think that's right and I think someday soon we may be in a place where young people can search out their college dreams without having to worry about whether they're in a state that affirms them or not. You mention something about this is not an ideology that's been pushed on you. Could you just help us for a moment understand? You describe consulting closely with your parents, then with your physician to make a decision about your future that reflects who you are and how you were created. Can you just help us understand that a little bit further, Ms. Walker?
Harleigh Walker: Yeah. So, like I said, whenever I was about 11-years-old, I was doing research on LGBTQ community and I came across the term "transgender." And, growing up as a kid, I always knew that I was different. And so I came to my parents with -- saying that I think I am transgender. And, at first, we didn't really know what that meant. We weren't super educated on the issue because, you know, at that time it wasn't a big public issue. And so whenever we went to our doctors, they were all incredibly supportive and they never were telling me what I should do. The entire first couple of visits were just listening to me, listening to my story, who I was and what I thought was best for me and what they could do to help me. It wasn't, "You need to stop these puberty blockers immediately." It wasn't, "You have to do all of this to identify as transgender." Because everybody's journey is different. And they just wanted to do what was best for me. And they listened to me to make sure that is what I wanted to do.
Senator Chris Coons: Thank you. Dr Lopez, one of the things you mentioned was the importance of close consultations with parents in making a decision about gender affirming care. Could you just briefly speak to the role that parents play in your practice making any decision about gender affirming care for their children?
Dr Ximena Lopez: The decision to start gender affirming care is a highly complex decision. It's not easy for any parent from any background. Most parents are not well informed when this happens to them. And it takes a lot of time and effort to meet with different types of professionals and the health providers and physicians to discuss risks and benefits and potential alternatives which is what should be done for any type of medical treatment.
Senator Chris Coons: And what sort of impact do you see on the mental and physical health on your patients in a state where there is a ban imposed on that sort of care? Or on books or on discussions in school? Does that have any impact whatsoever?
Dr Ximena Lopez: I am very, very worried. That is the reason that I am here. I am here because I am very worried for the mental health of my patients.
Senator Chris Coons: Mmm-hmm.
Dr Ximena Lopez: The ones that I see in my clinic who are supported by their parents and are receiveding gender affirming care are thriving and, if that is taken away from them, I am sure their mental health will worsen -- not only because the treatment that helps them is taken away but also because there's a -- there's a feeling of stigma and discrimination that has been created around them and, as I say, they're-they're debating whether to leave [the state] or hide. And it's really -- it's really devastating.
Senator Chris Coons: Mr. Sharp, if I might, in your written testimony, you criticize schools for trying to replace parents as the ultimate determents of what's best for their children when it comes to things like teaching about LGBTQ rights and issues but, if I understand you correctly from your spoken testimony, you also think parents should be barred from making medical care decisions about their own children in the case of gender affirming care as described by Dr Lopez. Which one is it? Are parents in charge of what's in the best interests of their children or not?
Matt Sharp: Thank you, Senator. We do support the right of parents. But our laws have long recognized that there are limits to those and parents can't consent to things that can be damaging and harmful --
Stop. We're done with him. I don't have time for liars. He's a hack when it comes to the law. We have better things to do. You, as a parent, can ask for any legal medical care for your child or refuse it on behalf of your child. The only legal exception thus far has been is if you refuse care that is considered life sustaining -- meaning, if you refuse medical care that could save your child's life, you can be held liable for the child's death in a court of law.
I don't know how these people think they can get away with lying in an open hearing. But Riley thought she could get away with lying regarding Venus and Serena and clearly she did because the lie was posted as truth by Glenneth Greenwald.
And for the record, he said "right" not "rights." That's not a typo. He said, "We do support the right of parents." Right.
Senator Chris Coons: Dr Lopez, if I might, just in conclusion, your testimony was that the American Medical Association and the American Association of Pediatrics both support gender affirming care as an option for children and their parents to choose in consultation with physicians. Is that correct?
Dr Ximena Lopez: That is correct.
Senator Chris Coons: And how do you reconcile with what Mr Sharp just said about the EU with our national, medical associations that are relevant to this care?
Dr Ximena Lopez: First of all, no country in Europe has banned gender affirming care. They have taken steps to make sure that there is a cautious approach when deciding eligibility for gender affirming care and, actually, the steps they have taken are very similar to what is the standard of care practices that is recommended by the Endocrine Society and The WPATH [The World Professional Association for Transgender Health] which does recommend very careful, comprehensive, lengthy assessment before deciding that this is the best care for the patients and there is no single research study that shows that psychological therapy as mentioned by [spokesperson] Sharp is enough to resolve gender dysphoria and mental health issues that transgender people can have.
These are serious issues. These issues were ignored by our so-called left yet again. Now the hate merchants were not silent. They took Riley Gaines' nonsense story that has you picturing strong, seasoned, champion-women Serena and Venus taking on a man and losing due to their gender when in fact, they were still developing 16-year-old girls with Serena having been the 99th ranked female competitor the year immediately prior. Serious issues.
Kelley Robinson: Recently, and for the first time in our nearly half-century history, HRC has declared a national state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the United States. Our emergency declaration is neither exaggeration nor dramatization, but a sober reflection of the dire circumstances faced by the LGBTQ+ community. It follows an unprecedented spike in anti-LGBTQ+ legislative assaults and political extremism across our nation, which is resulting in a health and safety crisis for LGBTQ+ Americans and causing countless families to reconsider whether they want to live and work in the states they call home.
In Missouri, where legislators filed more than a dozen anti-LGBTQ+ bills this year, Governor Mike Parson signed one bill that bans lifesaving, gender-affirming health care for transgender children and another that keeps those same children from playing sports with their friends. Danielle and her husband, who are the parents of a transgender child, have a thriving agriculture business in the state and aging parents who live nearby. Still, they have been weighing whether Missouri is a safe place for their son to grow up. Danielle told us, “It’s unfair that Missouri is making us choose between doing what two different generations of my family need to survive.” In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis doubled down on his “Don’t Say Gay” law when signing a slate of extreme anti-LGBTQ+ bills in May. Julia and Theresa, a married couple living in central Florida who just welcomed their first child, are now leaving the state. Julie, an elementary school teacher, worries about losing her job as an out lesbian educator. Theresa, a nurse, said, “There aren’t laws saying I can’t take care of my trans patients anymore, but this is Florida, so it’s probably just a matter of time.” The couple is actively applying for jobs in other states. In Texas, where Governor Greg Abbott signed legislation banning transgender young people from receiving the health care they need, some families have made the decision to flee the state—including a family whose son relied on the services he was provided at Texas Children’s Hospital, a single mother who is moving her child overseas, and another mother who told me, “We have accepted that this state is not safe. It is a warlike zone.”
In every corner of our country, there are parents and children, teachers and nurses, community
leaders and small business owners who are afraid that the rise in legislative assaults and political
extremism has put a target on their backs. LGBTQ+ people are living in fear, and such fear has
no place in the United States of America.
Thus, we have declared this state of emergency. In addition, we have issued a guidebook to help
LGBTQ+ Americans stay safe as they navigate these new anti-LGBTQ+ laws—whether they are
deciding to move, planning a vacation, or searching for a new job. We have also compiled a
report that details the impact of these laws for advocates, policymakers, and the media. I have
submitted both into the record for your reference.
Although this is a state of emergency, I believe that we still live in a land of possibility and a
nation that prides itself on progress. For every Missouri, there is a Minnesota, which recently
passed a statewide ban on so-called “conversion therapy.” For every Florida, there is a Michigan,
which recently became the 22nd state to make LGBTQ+ non-discrimination protections law. For
every Texas, there is a Pennsylvania, which is on the cusp of becoming the 23rd. For every
Defense of Marriage Act, there is a Respect for Marriage Act. And for every extremist, there are
many more Americans who support LGBTQ+ rights.
Our nation is greater than hate -- and we must act now to end this emergency and secure equality
for every American, without exception.
For every American, without exception.