By CASEY HARPER | THE CENTER SQUARE
The U.S. State Department’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Strategic Plan has sparked controversy for including taxpayer-funded “gender transition care” for employees and their children.
The policy comes as some states have begun banning those very same transgender surgeries and drugs from use on children, labeling them “child abuse.”
“The State Department might not just be paying for their employee’s kids to receive these damaging surgeries, they’re penalizing foreign service officers who disagree and pressuring countries to perform these procedures on children,” U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told the Free Beacon.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order in June specifically aimed at combating these state efforts.
“During my confirmation hearing, I said that I would judge the success of my tenure, in part, by how well I lead the Department to be more diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after the plan was released. “Together, we will make the Department a more effective organization, better equipped to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century.
“Our country’s diversity is our greatest strength,” he added.
The policy lays out strategies to “increase support for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) employees and family members.”
The plan commits that the State Department will “assess resources for gender dysphoria and gender transition care at posts for employees and their dependents.”
The agency will also “develop a Department-wide targeted plan to achieve equity in the advocacy plan to obtain the accreditation of same-sex spouses overseas” and “increase gender-neutral restrooms and locker rooms in overseas facilities.”
The plan says the agency will “evaluate and ensure inclusion and safety policies and procedures for LGBTQI+ children at overseas schools in collaboration with the educational accreditation agencies and provide mechanisms for social-emotional support.”
Last year, the Veterans Administration began offering surgeries for veterans seeking to alter their gender appearances. The VA said it would make the department more “more welcoming” to all veterans and the announcement included that the LGBT health program would become the LGBTQ+ health program, to “reflect new community standards of inclusiveness and anticipate future changes in terms.” The VA is not providing plastic surgery for vets who simply want a more youthful appearance, but will do surgery for those who want to mutilate their genitalia and be on hormone replacement therapy for the rest of their lives.
Republicans around the country have begun pushing policies to ban transgender surgeries and drugs from use on children.
Arkansas became the first state last year to ban transgender procedures and drugs for minors.
“They need to get to be 18 before they make those decisions,” Republican Rep. Robin Lundstrum said at the time.
In Texas, several legal battles are underway over Gov. Greg Abbott’s investigations into child transgender transitions as child abuse.
In August, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration said the state’s Medicaid coverage would not pay for transgender drugs or surgeries. Florida’s medical board has begun reviewing transgender treatments for youth with the likely goal of banning them for those under 18 years old.
Tennessee is also foremost among the states after state Republican leadership said it is considering an outright ban on transition drugs and surgeries for minors.
Last month, allegations arose that Vanderbilt University was pushing the transition treatments to earn a profit and forcing out employees who disagreed after a video of the university’s medical center went viral. That video included a Vanderbilt University Medical Center doctor in 2018 touting that transgender surgeries “bring in a lot of money” and has further ratcheted up scrutiny on the issue in that state.
“We should not allow permanent, life-altering decisions that hurt children or policies that suppress religious liberties, all for the purpose of financial gain,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, said in a statement.
Funding the mutilation and killing of children. And the Democrats are proud of this.
No wonder we’re slipping into a dark age. More, we deserve to.
Our system is becoming so destructive on many fronts. Fiddling while Rome burns!
Sodom and Gomorrah all over again. I didn’t think I would ever see it in my lifetime. But it sure looks like that’s where America is headed. May the Good Lord be with us.
Fact: Children do not get gender altering surgeries. You have to be over 18. Medication does get prescribed, surgery for children does not It is interesting that laws are being made to ban something that does not happen. Almost seems like virtue signaling.
Fact:
“The Center for Gender Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital offers gender affirmation surgery services to eligible adolescents and young adults
“At Boston Children’s, we are proud to be home to the first pediatric and adolescent transgender health program in the United States, the Gender Multispecialty Service (GeMS), which has cared for more than 1,000 families to date. We believe in a gender-affirmative model of care, which supports transgender and gender diverse youth in the gender in which they identify. This is a standard of care grounded in scientific evidence, demonstrating its benefits to the health and well-being of transgender and gender diverse youth. In addition to supporting our patients and families, we stand with our colleagues who may identify as transgender or gender diverse, those who provide care to transgender youth and who are allies to the transgender community.”
Matt, you are simply falling for a lie that they are not altering children. They are.
‘https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/26/health/top-surgery-transgender-teenagers.html
If you go to website for the hospital mentioned in your response and read a bit further it states, “All genital surgeries are only performed on patients age 18 and older.” The medical community makes the same recommendation. Some surgeries have been performed with 16 year olds as reported by a variety of stories but without any corroboration. If it has happed to kids below 18, I would be the first to agree that it is not a good thing. It would just be nice to have this issue discussed honestly, from both sides.
“The only gender affirmation surgery available for teens under 18 is chest reconstruction, which is available for 15-years-olds with their parents’ consent.”
Other surgeries, such as hysterectomies, are only offered after the age of consent (18) and after a one year wait.
‘https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/08/22/fact-check-false-claim-boston-hospitals-transgender-care/10340507002/
Thank you for proving my point that they are doing breast surgery on children, as in removing their breasts. But if we are using USA Today for fact-checking what is spelled out in the hospital’s own online website, then we are reaching, my friend.
This sounds horrible. UGH.
I do not consent.
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