- reverse pyromania
- Posts
- Checking In with the Genital Police
Let’s talk about the issue that supposedly helped Republicans win the election: whether people who have other sexual or gender orientations deserve to exist. First, there’s some good news out of Texas:
Texas conservatives who've championed book bans & anti-LGBT policies suffered big losses tonight in school board races. And They seem to have lost their working majorities to pass their policies in big school boards. I tracked these results in FOUR boards tonight. So a 🧵 on each ICYMI.
— Taniel (@taniel.bsky.social)2025-05-04T04:57:47.208Z
Basically, some zealots got beat. The thing about zealots is that they tend to have ideas that screw up education, and people in Texas suburbs still want their kids to get a good education. So, they let the zealots have their shot (because of course they do), but when they prove to be unsurprisingly bad at their jobs, they get the axe.
Second, RFK Jr’s HHS is going all-in on bullshit woo when it comes to transgender kids. They’ve issued a report based on a Trump EO calling transgender care “mutilation”. Erin Reed has a full rundown of this 400-page document, but some of the highlights:
It judges quality of care by whether the person is employed or whether they have “romantic partners” rather than patient health and satisfaction, which is the standard. (Since the anti-trans movement has struggled with the high patient satisfaction from gender-affirming care, they’re moving the goalposts.)
It claims that European countries are “pulling back” on transgender healthcare, when in fact many are moving forward and pushing back on some of the right-wing anti-trans documents. (And when has what Europeans have done ever been a rationale for right-wingers to do something rather than not do something?)
It says that some trans kids might really just be gay, when a trans person may or may not be gay or bisexual after transition.
It says that trans youth are more common due to “social contagion” and posits that “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” is a thing. In fact, what’s happening is the broader acceptance of transgender people allows more trans kids to come out earlier. Since someone can know their gender identity long before they come out, it only seems “rapid” to those who didn’t know what was in the trans persons’ mind.
It says that conversion therapy, widely debunked and sometimes considered torture, can work. In reality, it’s ineffective.
In a preview of coming attractions for RFK Jr’s HHS, this announcement was made by the NHS, the UK’s health ministry:
The ongoing war between the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) and transgender Britons has abruptly shifted to target neurodivergent people.
The only way for transgender youth to receive an evaluation and treatment for gender dysphoria in the UK is to be referred to a specialty service by a pediatrician or adolescent mental health worker, and new NHS guidance states that every patient referred to a gender clinic must be “screened for neurodevelopmental conditions” like autism and ADHD, according to The Telegraph.
Medical professionals will also evaluate each child’s “mental health, their relationship with their family and their sexual development, including whether they are experiencing same-sex attraction,” though it’s unclear how those factors might relate to gender dysphoria or a desire to socially or medically transition.
While there does seem to be a noteworthy increase in autistic traits among transgender people, ethical scientists say that this information just “reinforces the importance of trans young people with and without autistic traits being availed the same opportunities to access gender-affirming care,” and that “trans young people with autistic traits may have distinct needs and that gender-affirming care may need to be tailored accordingly.” Conversely, many transphobes have suggested that a diagnosis of autism renders an individual incapable of autonomy over their medical care, and should thus disqualify them from medical transition. It’s unclear whether or not the NHS intends to use this data to deny treatment.
As this story notes, there may be legitimate reasons for evaluating trans kids for neurodivergent traits, noted scientist Bobby Jr. will probably use it as an excuse to fuck over trans kids.
If you have any other news on this topic, please post it in the comments below.
Reply