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solarbirdrip the two-systems solution in Hong Kong.
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Gender Critical Support Board Promotes Therapists Who Reject Transgender Identities
Amid a wave of new anti-trans state laws, Transcendence is a series centering the lived experience and resilience of trans youth.
By Heron Greenesmith
June 17, 2020
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/gender-critical-support-board-trans-youth
Want more from Teen Vogue’s politics team? Sign up for Teen Vogue Take, a bi-weekly newsletter that brings the news straight to you.
Warning: This reported op-ed contains a content note for strong anti-trans rhetoric, harmful narratives, and parents who are not supportive of their transgender children.
Over the past three years, hundreds of parents whose children have come out to them as transgender or gender nonconforming have turned to the Gender Critical Support Board. Founded in 2017 “for parents and families by parents and families who share the experience of coping with a child, teenager, or young adult who believes she or he is transgender,” the online comment board has thousands of posts from parents who are desperate for help — but many of these parents aren’t looking for trans-affirming care.
Just look at a sample of some posts: “I need a therapist for my male-identified daughter who won’t just affirm without any questions. We are desperate. Thank you.”
“Glad you found a great therapist. I have yet to find one non-affirming therapist.”
“Seeking non-affirming therapist in Syracuse area.”
“It might be a good idea to start researching therapists so you have a go-to plan if it ever comes to that. You’ll find that a lot of people in the medical and therapy fields are affirming and that is the LAST thing you want. So cultivate a list if you can of non-affirming therapists and doctors.”
Some parents on the Gender Critical Support Board may be seeking what many would view as conversion therapists for their children — licensed mental-health-care workers who, in the parents’ words “won’t just affirm [their gender identity] without any questions.” These parents don’t view “non-affirming therapists” as conversion therapists, but the connections are clear: “gender-critical therapy” is the newest cover of a song that’s been playing for the past 50 years. And while the methods aren’t perfectly aligned, the harm that can be caused by these kinds of practices can be as severe. The desired outcome — rejection of transgender identity — is a message that’s been broadcast by a network of quasi-medical organizations, the evangelical anti-LGBTQ right, and the old guard of conversion therapists who’ve been defending their harmful actions for decades. (Teen Vogue has reached out to the Board for comment.)
The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) defines conversion therapy as “a variety of behavioral, cognitive, psychoanalytic, and other practices that try to change or reduce same-sex attraction or alter a person’s gender identity.” A 2019 survey from the Trevor Project found that 57% of trans and gender-nonconforming youth subjected to conversion therapy reported attempting suicide (compared to 17% of LGBTQ youth who were not subjected to the practice). Conversion therapy is not taught at a single medical school.
The names being recommended on the Gender Critical Support Board include psychiatrists, endocrinologists, pediatricians, and therapists. The thread tying them together is their commitment to “gender criticism,” a term that’s morphed from its introduction in women’s and gender studies departments into a dog whistle for anti-trans-affirming activists. Rather than turning a critical eye to the patriarchal systems that use gender as a form of oppression, “gender-critical” pundits turn to social media to attack those who would push transgender and gender-nonconforming people to express their gender identity rather than their assigned sex at birth. Some couch their intentions by saying they’re merely “questioning” medically established consensus on the issue, but the result of denying trans youth trans-affirming care is crystal clear.
As NCLR puts it: “While these contemporary versions of conversion therapy are less shocking and extreme than some of those more frequently used in the past, they are equally devoid of scientific validity and pose serious dangers to patients — especially to minors, who are often forced to undergo them by their parents or legal guardians, and who are at especially high risk of being harmed.”
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Once again, John Roberts tries to save the Republican Party from itself
Opinion by
Paul Waldman
June 29, 2020 at 10:16 a.m. PDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/29/once-again-john-roberts-tries-save-republican-party-itself/
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. just preserved the right to an abortion in America. For now. In a development that was only surprising if you aren’t familiar with how Roberts operates in the Trump era, he joined with the court’s liberals to strike down a Louisiana law restricting abortion rights.
It was not, we should be clear, because Roberts does not think Roe v. Wade should be overturned. He almost certainly does. He may take the opportunity to do so, if the timing is right. But now is not that moment.
Roberts has an ideology, but he is not an ideologue. He is an extremely savvy political operator, one who carefully sides with liberals when he determines that it is necessary to save the Republican Party from itself. Which is what he just did.
Roberts knows that the timing could not be worse for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe, or even to gut it without explicitly overturning it, as conservatives wanted to do with this case. The party that nurtured and raised him up is in a position of extraordinary peril, and if it is not restrained, it could destroy its political prospects for years or even decades, which would dramatically undermine the conservative legal project to which Roberts is devoted. He isn’t going to let that happen.
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Devin Nunes’ cow
twitter.com/DevinCow
29 June 2020
https://twitter.com/DevinCow/status/1277695909334142976
CENSORSHIP! I was banned from Parler
[IMAGE: locked account]
[NEXT]
for posting this. I guess they don’t like free speech [cow emoji]
[EMBEDDED IMAGE: Cartoon cow holding up sign reading "DEVIN IS A LOSER"]
[NEXT]
Devin, however, posts about blowing up Twitter. Like this.
[EMBEDDED IMAGE: Text, "Took this picture leaving Twitter waste land...hope no ones left over there..." above image of large gasoline explosion.]
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Couple draw guns at crowd heading to St. Louis mayor's home
Monday, June 29, 2020
https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Couple-draw-guns-at-crowd-heading-to-St-Louis-15373594.php
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A white couple pointed guns at protesters in St. Louis as a group marched toward the mayor's home to demand her resignation after she read the names and addresses of several residents who supported defunding the police department during an online briefing.
A social media video showed the armed couple standing outside of their large home Sunday evening in the upscale Central West End neighborhood of the Missouri city.
In the video, the unidentified couple shouted at protesters, while people in the march moved the crowd forward, urging participants to ignore them. People in the crowd included Black and white protesters.
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Hong Kong national security law unanimously passed by Beijing, while Joshua Wong and associates announce decision to quit party politics
- 162 members of National People’s Congress Standing Committee back legislation, and law could come into effect on Wednesday
- All Hong Kong delegates to nation’s two top political bodies to attend session at liaison office on Tuesday afternoon
South China Morning Post
30 June 2020
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3091119/hong-kong-national-security-law-passed-beijing-expected
Beijing’s top legislative body has unanimously passed a sweeping national security law
for Hong Kong prohibiting acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security.
The law, approved by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) on Tuesday, is expected to carry a maximum penalty of life in jail.
Sources told the Post the law was approved unanimously by the standing committee’s 162 members, within 15 minutes of the meeting starting at 9am.
Only a handful of Hong Kong delegates to the national legislature saw a draft of the law before its passage, a major point of contention, with many in the city decrying the lack of transparency given the legislation’s far-reaching consequences.
- Gender Critical Support Board Promotes Therapists Who Reject Transgender Identities
- Once again, John Roberts tries to save the Republican Party from itself
- Devin Nunes’ cow banned from Parler
- Couple draw guns at crowd heading to St. Louis mayor's home
- Hong Kong national security law unanimously passed by Beijing, while Joshua Wong and associates announce decision to quit party politics
----- 1 -----
Gender Critical Support Board Promotes Therapists Who Reject Transgender Identities
Amid a wave of new anti-trans state laws, Transcendence is a series centering the lived experience and resilience of trans youth.
By Heron Greenesmith
June 17, 2020
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/gender-critical-support-board-trans-youth
Want more from Teen Vogue’s politics team? Sign up for Teen Vogue Take, a bi-weekly newsletter that brings the news straight to you.
Warning: This reported op-ed contains a content note for strong anti-trans rhetoric, harmful narratives, and parents who are not supportive of their transgender children.
Over the past three years, hundreds of parents whose children have come out to them as transgender or gender nonconforming have turned to the Gender Critical Support Board. Founded in 2017 “for parents and families by parents and families who share the experience of coping with a child, teenager, or young adult who believes she or he is transgender,” the online comment board has thousands of posts from parents who are desperate for help — but many of these parents aren’t looking for trans-affirming care.
Just look at a sample of some posts: “I need a therapist for my male-identified daughter who won’t just affirm without any questions. We are desperate. Thank you.”
“Glad you found a great therapist. I have yet to find one non-affirming therapist.”
“Seeking non-affirming therapist in Syracuse area.”
“It might be a good idea to start researching therapists so you have a go-to plan if it ever comes to that. You’ll find that a lot of people in the medical and therapy fields are affirming and that is the LAST thing you want. So cultivate a list if you can of non-affirming therapists and doctors.”
Some parents on the Gender Critical Support Board may be seeking what many would view as conversion therapists for their children — licensed mental-health-care workers who, in the parents’ words “won’t just affirm [their gender identity] without any questions.” These parents don’t view “non-affirming therapists” as conversion therapists, but the connections are clear: “gender-critical therapy” is the newest cover of a song that’s been playing for the past 50 years. And while the methods aren’t perfectly aligned, the harm that can be caused by these kinds of practices can be as severe. The desired outcome — rejection of transgender identity — is a message that’s been broadcast by a network of quasi-medical organizations, the evangelical anti-LGBTQ right, and the old guard of conversion therapists who’ve been defending their harmful actions for decades. (Teen Vogue has reached out to the Board for comment.)
The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) defines conversion therapy as “a variety of behavioral, cognitive, psychoanalytic, and other practices that try to change or reduce same-sex attraction or alter a person’s gender identity.” A 2019 survey from the Trevor Project found that 57% of trans and gender-nonconforming youth subjected to conversion therapy reported attempting suicide (compared to 17% of LGBTQ youth who were not subjected to the practice). Conversion therapy is not taught at a single medical school.
The names being recommended on the Gender Critical Support Board include psychiatrists, endocrinologists, pediatricians, and therapists. The thread tying them together is their commitment to “gender criticism,” a term that’s morphed from its introduction in women’s and gender studies departments into a dog whistle for anti-trans-affirming activists. Rather than turning a critical eye to the patriarchal systems that use gender as a form of oppression, “gender-critical” pundits turn to social media to attack those who would push transgender and gender-nonconforming people to express their gender identity rather than their assigned sex at birth. Some couch their intentions by saying they’re merely “questioning” medically established consensus on the issue, but the result of denying trans youth trans-affirming care is crystal clear.
As NCLR puts it: “While these contemporary versions of conversion therapy are less shocking and extreme than some of those more frequently used in the past, they are equally devoid of scientific validity and pose serious dangers to patients — especially to minors, who are often forced to undergo them by their parents or legal guardians, and who are at especially high risk of being harmed.”
----- 2 -----
Once again, John Roberts tries to save the Republican Party from itself
Opinion by
Paul Waldman
June 29, 2020 at 10:16 a.m. PDT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/29/once-again-john-roberts-tries-save-republican-party-itself/
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. just preserved the right to an abortion in America. For now. In a development that was only surprising if you aren’t familiar with how Roberts operates in the Trump era, he joined with the court’s liberals to strike down a Louisiana law restricting abortion rights.
It was not, we should be clear, because Roberts does not think Roe v. Wade should be overturned. He almost certainly does. He may take the opportunity to do so, if the timing is right. But now is not that moment.
Roberts has an ideology, but he is not an ideologue. He is an extremely savvy political operator, one who carefully sides with liberals when he determines that it is necessary to save the Republican Party from itself. Which is what he just did.
Roberts knows that the timing could not be worse for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe, or even to gut it without explicitly overturning it, as conservatives wanted to do with this case. The party that nurtured and raised him up is in a position of extraordinary peril, and if it is not restrained, it could destroy its political prospects for years or even decades, which would dramatically undermine the conservative legal project to which Roberts is devoted. He isn’t going to let that happen.
----- 3 -----
Devin Nunes’ cow
twitter.com/DevinCow
29 June 2020
https://twitter.com/DevinCow/status/1277695909334142976
CENSORSHIP! I was banned from Parler
[IMAGE: locked account]
[NEXT]
for posting this. I guess they don’t like free speech [cow emoji]
[EMBEDDED IMAGE: Cartoon cow holding up sign reading "DEVIN IS A LOSER"]
[NEXT]
Devin, however, posts about blowing up Twitter. Like this.
[EMBEDDED IMAGE: Text, "Took this picture leaving Twitter waste land...hope no ones left over there..." above image of large gasoline explosion.]
----- 4 -----
Couple draw guns at crowd heading to St. Louis mayor's home
Monday, June 29, 2020
https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Couple-draw-guns-at-crowd-heading-to-St-Louis-15373594.php
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A white couple pointed guns at protesters in St. Louis as a group marched toward the mayor's home to demand her resignation after she read the names and addresses of several residents who supported defunding the police department during an online briefing.
A social media video showed the armed couple standing outside of their large home Sunday evening in the upscale Central West End neighborhood of the Missouri city.
In the video, the unidentified couple shouted at protesters, while people in the march moved the crowd forward, urging participants to ignore them. People in the crowd included Black and white protesters.
----- 5 -----
Hong Kong national security law unanimously passed by Beijing, while Joshua Wong and associates announce decision to quit party politics
- 162 members of National People’s Congress Standing Committee back legislation, and law could come into effect on Wednesday
- All Hong Kong delegates to nation’s two top political bodies to attend session at liaison office on Tuesday afternoon
South China Morning Post
30 June 2020
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3091119/hong-kong-national-security-law-passed-beijing-expected
Beijing’s top legislative body has unanimously passed a sweeping national security law
for Hong Kong prohibiting acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security.
The law, approved by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) on Tuesday, is expected to carry a maximum penalty of life in jail.
Sources told the Post the law was approved unanimously by the standing committee’s 162 members, within 15 minutes of the meeting starting at 9am.
Only a handful of Hong Kong delegates to the national legislature saw a draft of the law before its passage, a major point of contention, with many in the city decrying the lack of transparency given the legislation’s far-reaching consequences.
