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More Lies in the Transgender Wars
The transgender activists must be getting desperate. They are more determined than ever to set up our kids for a lifetime of despair and confusion by pushing transgenderism on them. Fortunately, Gov. Ron DeSantis has acted once again to stymie their agenda, and they feel compelled to attack anyone remotely connected to him.
The latest volley in the transgender wars occurred when Gov. DeSantis made two new appointments to the Florida Board of Medicine:
Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to reshape important medical boards that are a key component of his push to limit gender-affirming care, especially for minors.
His latest appointments are drawing fire from critics who contend the new appointees are being put in place to keep pushing ahead with a ‘transphobic’ agenda.
DeSantis this week appointed two doctors to the Board of Medicine, both of whom have weighed in on the debate over the types of treatment offered to minors. The Board of Medicine agreed in November to alter the standard-of-care rules to ban doctors from performing gender-confirming surgeries on anyone under 18 and from supplying puberty blockers and hormones to anyone under 18.
DeSantis appointed Gregory Coffman, a pediatrician at Orlando Health Physician Associates, and Matthew Benson, a pediatric endocrinologist at Nemours Children’s Health to the Board of Medicine.
These aren’t a couple of slouches who’ve been appointed. But of course, the activists have decided they must be defamed, so they accused them of being supporters of “conversion therapy,” which for many people contains the dark definition of a religious and (some would say an ineffective) therapy. I found this Merriam-Webster definition of conversion therapy:
the use of any of various methods (such as aversive stimulation or religious counseling) in an attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation to heterosexual or to change a person’s gender identity to correspond to the sex the person has or was identified as having at birth
NOTE: Conversion therapy is generally regarded as having no scientific basis and as being both ineffective and harmful.
Conversion therapy is both pointless and painful. At its best, it can inflict considerable psychological damage on a child without changing their sexual orientation or gender identity whatsoever. At its worst, it can lead to suicide …—Samantha Allen
Sounds pretty ominous, doesn’t it? I don’t know how effective conversion therapy is, but hidden in the details of this article is that Dr. Benson did not show support for conversion therapy; he recommended exploratory psychodynamic therapy:
Benson also signed an open letter to the Florida Board of Medicine supporting ‘exploratory psychodynamic therapy,’ otherwise known as conversion therapy, for transgender and gender-nonconforming youth.
That letter was cosigned by Dr. Monica Mortensen, a Jacksonville pediatric endocrinologist who DeSantis appointed to the state board of osteopathic medicine on Dec. 6.
And what, you may ask, is exploratory psychodynamic therapy? Columbia University Irving Medical Center defines it in this manner:
- Exploratory psychotherapy (also known as psychodynamic psychotherapy) is originally derived from psychoanalysis and focuses on understanding unconscious thoughts and feelings.
- In exploratory therapy, the patient and therapist work together to understand the origins of a patient’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in order to improve relationships and quality of life.
- Exploratory psychotherapy can address problems with self-esteem, mood regulation, and relationships as well as depression and anxiety.
Sounds like, well—normative psychotherapy, doesn’t it?
This kind of article, on a subject that is so controversial and sensitive, is unconscionable. We are talking about our children, their lives, and their futures. If the subject of transgenderism comes up, which is likely to happen given the pre-occupation with the topic on social media, why aren’t moral, responsible and compassionate steps embraced by those in charge without the law stepping in? Why aren’t the parents contacted? Why isn’t therapy recommended? Do we really care about the mental state of these kids, or about brainwashing children into an ill-defined and life-changing topic that we still know little about?
As mentioned earlier, Florida passed legislation in November to protect our kids from these activists, but they persist in their agenda:
‘These rules, as written, put transgender youth at higher risk of depression, anxiety, and suicidality,’ Nikole Parker, Equality Florida Director of Transgender Equality, said after the November vote on the new rules. ‘Those are the facts purposely ignored by a Board of Medicine stacked with DeSantis political appointees who have put their toxic politics over people’s health and well-being.’
Ms. Parker’s “facts” have been shown to be questionable, at best.
Thank G-d for Gov. DeSantis and those in the medical community who stand by him.
Let’s hope the other states are taking notes!
Published in Culture
Great post, Susan. I think this cultural battle (maybe more of a campaign) is going very badly for trans activists. They captured woke CEO’s and journalists and had no idea how much backlash it would unleash. So instead of backing up and reconsidering their approach, they doubled down, and can’t figure out why it doesn’t work. After all, it worked before, over and over.
There is a quick way to let Ron DeSantis know he speaks for you. Go to “Ready for Ron” and sign up as a volunteer. See https://www.readyforron.com/.
Thanks, Tex. I hope we’re both right!
There is absolutely nothing sinister sounding in the wiki definition of conversion therapy.
Thanks to our very own Saint Augustine and his writings on the eminent theologian, Saint Augustine, conversion of desire is a fundamental aspect of Christianity.
But actually, it’s a fundamental aspect of large parts of our lives and many religions and social existence. And it isn’t always ineffective, and it isn’t necessarily harmful. In fact, conversion of desire, whether to be in better health or to simply tame our baser instincts, can always be through destructive means or productive means.
Conversion therapy has been tightly associated with electric therapy, which is nothing but a smear. First, through a false association that that’s what most conversion therapy is, and secondly that electric therapy is such a heinous behavioral modifier with no scientific basis; and yet it is considered a valid treatment for extreme cases of anorexia.
Conversion therapy is frequently employed for diet modification, fitness regimes, developing healthy habits, and self esteem. Do none of these have scientific foundations? Or is it just because the CT we are discussing here touches on the highly charged rail of the LGBTQ Acela?
I also saw somewhere that DeSantis has also appointed an independent board of medical experts to look into the people harmed in FL by the vaccines and Doc Jay is on it?!
Sounds pretty right wing to me.
Thanks, Stina . I suspected it was more complex and nuanced than they would want to acknowledge.
Nice
Not to toot my own horn, but I was a bit proud of that one 😁
Thanks for noticing!
Gonna hafta defund the CDC it seems:
This guy
was bragging today about California being a sanctuary state for transgender youth.
Democrat Scott Wiener DROPPED for calling CA a ‘refuge’ for trans kids under his new creepy law – twitchy.com
Uh, that’s not true. ECT is the single most effective therapy known for depression. And it is effective in treating a number of other disorders.
[Edit] Oh wait. You are talking about aversive therapy using electric shocks, right? That’s a different thing, and yes, not ethical. Sorry about that.
[Edit again] Sigh. I followed the link regarding treatment for anorexia, and now I’m not sure what you mean. There are three different things, here:
ECT is “electroconvulsive therapy.” It involves inducing a tonic-clonic seizure with electrical stimulation. It gained a bad reputation in earlier years, partly because it sounds so outrageous, but also because, at the dosages used then, there was a high level of sound effects. These days, it is both safe and effective, with typically minimal sound effects. If you had seen how effective it is, as I have, you would certainly not term it “heinous.”
Aversive therapy involves giving someone unpleasant electric shocks, to condition them not to engage in certain behaviors. It used to be used in severe autism, was very effective, but not I think ethical.
The anorexia article refers to “deep brain stimulation” via electrodes implanted in the brain. I don’t know a lot about it, but it is something completely different from the other two.
Sounds like self examination and reflection to me. Horrific!
I was being critical of two things that seem prevalent in the anti-Conversion Therapy side:
A) That conversion therapy is typically believed to be predominately electric therapy. It does not need more than that, this is the aversion. I had a “conservative” priest friend who thought Mike Pence was evil incarnate because of his support for CT based on this. Most lefties don’t think any deeper than that.
B) That electro therapy is evil incarnate and unscientific. There are clearly electro therapies that are scientifically and ethically acceptable to be used by the medical community.
The two points are sort of at odds with each other, which is probably why you had trouble figuring the point I was making. Conversion therapy does not need to be coercive and unethical. There are many means of therapy before electrical therapies. If electrical therapies are considered desirable, they are within the realm of acceptable medical practice.
Gotcha, and I agree. Thanks for clearing that up.
Thanks, Dunstaple and Stina, for hanging in there until it was cleared up!
How anyone who supports the belief that young children can decide what sex they are can call themselves “human” is beyond me . . .
You’re right, FSC!–
DeSantis Forms Panel to Counter Federal Health Agencies
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) “announced Tuesday that he is forming a new state committee to counter policy recommendations from federal health agencies — a decision that medical professionals said will further politicize medicine in the Sunshine State,” the Washington Post reports.
If the same little kid whipped out a pack of Luckies and lit up, they would lose their minds.
Maybe we need to make that happen . . .
But if it was weed it would be okay.
It’s hard to keep up.
I wonder if this under age transgender activism has 2 seemingly unrelated goals.
Catholicism is bad.
I remember that story of that woman caller on Rush who went on and on of how tolerant she was about her son having sex and that she’d stock his nightstand with condoms to ensure it was “safe”. He asked what if your son smoked? And she said she’d kick him out of the house.
Guy?
It’s not as though I said, “He’s a regular guy.”
ECT got a bad rep because in the olden days people would break bones and such due to convulsions. For several decades though, muscular neuroleptics have been given prior to ECT to prevent violent contractions.
All this physiological treatment in conversion therapy is new to me, I always thought it was a form of talk therapy. But you’re right, electric therapy is usually quite benign and many people walk around supermarkets and such wearing electotherapeutic devices for pain control.
Good point. My aunt tried one of those for debilitating back pain, but she hated it and stopped. Apparently it gave off a vibration at intervals and she didn’t have the patience to try to accustom herself to it. It was unfortunate.
Beat me to it. I too have seen ECT work on real patients.