Creating a “sanctuary” that makes it “safe” for individuals, schools, medical practitioners, and businesses to break laws; to force a political ideology on people who do not align with that ideology; or to take away the freedom of parents to safeguard their children from those who are intent on usurping parental rights is morally wrong, illegal, and un-Constitutional (including our own State Constitution and the US Constitution). If challenged in a court of law, I believe it will be found to be both illegal and unconstitutional. [read more]
First and foremost, I have zero problem with or anything against folks who identify as transgender or nonbinary. Adults have a right to identify however they so choose. The last I heard, this is still a free country, and I am 100% in favor of protecting all of our Constitutional freedoms. In fact, I have some very, very dear friends who are part of this community.
However, I have grave concerns regarding gender-affirming health care as it relates to children under the age of 18. These so-called healthcare practices include puberty blockers and/or surgeries which remove parts of one’s body, are forever life-altering, result in reproductive sterilization, and in most cases are irreversible. Children under the age of 18 are still growing, still exploring and discovering who they are, are susceptible to peer and adult pressure/coercion and influence, and frequently change their minds on almost everything from what they will wear, how their hair should look, who they should date, and what they like or don’t like to eat – and those are just things that don’t affect the rest of their lives.
Allowing a child (or the parent of a child) whose brain and body is still developing and growing, to make these types of irreversible choices is not only wrong it can also be the result of coercive and ideological manipulation! Providing children with a social environment in which they are allowed to freely discover who they are as individuals is vital; but allowing or even encouraging the irreversible mutilation of these young bodies is not only morally wrong it’s downright dangerous. Most, if not all, of these children will be sterilized in the process of their gender-affirming health care resulting in them never having the ability to reproduce children should they decide at some point in their life that they want to have children. There are many, many cases of folks who deeply regret their irreversible choice to surgically transition, many of whom were pre-adult when their transition occurred. Statistically, those who are allowed to transition are just as likely to commit suicide as those who do not transition; and, in some studies, it has even been shown to increase loneliness and isolation, and potentially increase the likelihood of suicide. The science on these medical procedures is far from settled and has a long road to go before we understand not only the long-term psychological and medical effects but also the societal effects of allowing these types of procedures on young children.
Then there is the issue of the never-ending money train for the medical professionals which results from each and every surgery. For Big Pharma and the medical community that are pushing for these surgeries on minors, their bottom line will be extremely profitable at the expense of each child who is allowed to go through these types of procedures. These children do not have the capacity to understand the full ramifications of what they are getting choosing from either a medical standpoint (most will have many on-going medical issues to deal with throughout the remainder of their lives) or from a financial standpoint (the amount of money they will be required to pay out over the course of their lives is astronomical to say the least). Are we as a society really ready to subject children to an irreversible life of never-ending medical and financial issues for the rest of their lives?
Finding the right answer is not going to be easy. But creating “sanctuary” cities and counties is not moving in the right direction. In fact, it may cause greater harm than good. It will (and already has) create further division in an already divided community, and will do nothing to heal the growing chasm between groups holding diverse ideological views. I would ask each person, especially our elected officials, to pause and think seriously about the full impact and long-term effects of such actions from the various points of view and not just from the bubble of your own personal ideology.
By Rebecca Witherspoon
