You’d think Texas would want to fix its electrical grid or do everything in its power to stem the COVID-19 pandemic, but you’d be wrong. Nothing is ever more important to a Lone Star State politician than launching unnecessary salvos in the culture wars.
If it’s not the brutally defamed Mr. Potato Head they’re rushing to defend, it’s busybody Texas conservatives who simply can’t brook the thought of transgender kids being understood and cared for by loving parents who accept them as they are. Texas may think these kinds of parents are “abusers,” but two things they’re not doing is shoehorning their children into rigid gender roles or blaming them for coaxing them onto a jet bound for Cancun.
A bill making its way through the Texas Legislature would prohibit transgender children from taking hormones or puberty-suppressing drugs or from undergoing any gender-affirming medical procedures. But that’s not all. Such interventions would be characterized under the law as “child abuse.”
During a Monday hearing on the bill, a transgender girl name Kai Shappley sought to set Texas straight and asked legislators to reconsider their support for the bill.
Shappley’s testimony was echoed by Doctors for Change, a Houston advocacy group that sent a letter to the Legislature in advance of Monday’s hearing.
KVUE-TV, Austin, Texas:
This cynical attack on trans youth is disgraceful but, you know, Texas gonna Texas. Again, they have much bigger problems than kids growing up happy and healthy and comfortable in their own skin. But that’s the Republican Party these days. Why repair your energy infrastructure when it’s so much easier—and politically beneficial—to bully kids and their parents?
”This guy is a natural. Sometimes I laugh so hard I cry." — Bette Midler on author Aldous J. Pennyfarthing via Twitter. Need a thorough Trump cleanse? Thanks to Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, Dear F*cking Lunatic, Dear Pr*sident A**clown and Dear F*cking Moron, you can purge the Trump years from your soul sans the existential dread. Only laughs from here on out. Click those links, yo!
If it’s not the brutally defamed Mr. Potato Head they’re rushing to defend, it’s busybody Texas conservatives who simply can’t brook the thought of transgender kids being understood and cared for by loving parents who accept them as they are. Texas may think these kinds of parents are “abusers,” but two things they’re not doing is shoehorning their children into rigid gender roles or blaming them for coaxing them onto a jet bound for Cancun.
A bill making its way through the Texas Legislature would prohibit transgender children from taking hormones or puberty-suppressing drugs or from undergoing any gender-affirming medical procedures. But that’s not all. Such interventions would be characterized under the law as “child abuse.”
During a Monday hearing on the bill, a transgender girl name Kai Shappley sought to set Texas straight and asked legislators to reconsider their support for the bill.
Watch the amazing @KaiShappley a huge fan of @DollyParton, 4th grader and a transgender girl, school the Texas Senate and especially @SenBryanHughes once again on how bad their anti-trans bills will be for #TransYouth if passed. Of course those #txlege will ignore her plea! pic.twitter.com/ypbD1Nvm51
— Meghan Stabler (@MeghanStabler) April 13, 2021
SHAPPLEY: “Hello, my name is Kai Shappley. I love ballet, math, science, and geology. I spend my free time with my cat, chickens, FaceTiming my friends, and dreaming of when I will finally meet Dolly Parton. I do not like spending my free time asking adults to make good choices. I’ve been having to explain myself since I was 3 or 4 years old. Texas legislators have been attacking me since pre-K. I’m in fourth grade now. When it comes to bills that target trans youth, I immediately feel angry. It’s been very scary and overwhelming. It makes me sad that some politicians use trans kids like me to get votes from people who hate me just because I exist. God made me, God loves me for who I am, and God does not make mistakes. You should be careful how you treat the least of these. Please, listen to me, hear me, try to educate yourselves, try to understand everybody. My mom has been giving everything she has to stand up for me. With these new things y’all are trying to do we both are having to advocate for each other because you are now targeting a great mom and a great nurse. My mom needs her nursing license to take care of me and my siblings. Bullying is bad. Please stop. Don’t make bad choices. It’s never too late to turn it around. And I want to say ‘thank you’ to those of you who are sticking up for kids like me. By the time I am in college, you’ll be celebrated in the history books.”
Shappley’s testimony was echoed by Doctors for Change, a Houston advocacy group that sent a letter to the Legislature in advance of Monday’s hearing.
KVUE-TV, Austin, Texas:
“We care for Texans of all ages, including transgender and non-binary children, youth, and adults and we are appalled by the blatant intention of SB 1646 to characterize the provision of our compassionate, evidence-based care as ‘child abuse’ and to levy criminal penalties against providers who are putting the health and well-being of patients first,” the letter said.
This cynical attack on trans youth is disgraceful but, you know, Texas gonna Texas. Again, they have much bigger problems than kids growing up happy and healthy and comfortable in their own skin. But that’s the Republican Party these days. Why repair your energy infrastructure when it’s so much easier—and politically beneficial—to bully kids and their parents?
”This guy is a natural. Sometimes I laugh so hard I cry." — Bette Midler on author Aldous J. Pennyfarthing via Twitter. Need a thorough Trump cleanse? Thanks to Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, Dear F*cking Lunatic, Dear Pr*sident A**clown and Dear F*cking Moron, you can purge the Trump years from your soul sans the existential dread. Only laughs from here on out. Click those links, yo!