 So, it seems like Republican politicians in states like Florida and Texas are trying to do everything in their power to make the lives of LGBTQ plus children as miserable as possible, and at this point I really don't even think it's a stretch to say that they enjoy terrorizing gay and trans kids, especially given their behavior over the course of the last couple of days. So there's two stories that I want to talk about here, one from Florida and one from Texas. We'll start with the latter story first, because Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made this bizarre announcement via Twitter. Sex change operations and puberty blockers prescribed to kids is child abuse under Texas law. These procedures are monstrous and tragic. I'll do everything I can to protect against those who take advantage of and harm young Texans. Okay, first and foremost, there are no children having sex change operations. You made that up. It's a lie that transphobes use to fear monger about gender affirming care. Gender affirming care, oftentimes for youth, usually means therapy, mental health, and sometimes puberty blockers. But that's medically necessary. There are no children having sex change operations. But understand the implications of what he just said here. In the event you are a parent who has a trans child and you seek out gender affirming care by his definition under Texas state law, apparently, you are a child abuser therefore if you are a child abuser, the state of Texas has a responsibility to intervene and remove said child from that abuse from that abuse of environment and put them in an environment where they're with somebody who is not affirming of their identity. That is such twisted and monstrous logic. He's literally talking about potentially taking trans children out of the homes where they are loved and cared for in order to put them into homes with people who don't affirm their identity. Do you know how many trans children are going to kill themselves if you actually followed through with this? Do you know how irreparably harmful this would be? How much damage it would cause psychologically to trans youth? This is one of the most draconian, violently transphobic things I've seen yet. Now this move comes after Texas tried but failed to ban gender affirming care for trans youth. As Dallas Morning News explains, last year GOP lawmakers tried and failed to change state law to ban gender affirming care for transgender minors. In August after pressure from Governor Greg Abbott, the Child Protective Services Agency changed its definition of abuse to include transgender reassignment surgery for minors and promised to investigate any allegations after Abbott directed them to look into the issue. In November of 2021, a prominent Dallas-based clinic treating trans kids called Genesis stopped taking new patients. The American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, and American Academy of Pediatrics all support providing age-appropriate individualized care for children experiencing gender dysphoria. Days after Child Protective Services issued its new guidance in August, the Texas Pediatric Society sent the agency a letter urging it to make its decision based on science. Medical care for transgender children and adolescents is evidence-based and has proven effectiveness. Dr. Seth Kaplan, the Society's then president, wrote to D-FPS Commissioner Jamie Masters August 16th on behalf of its 4,600 pediatrician, pediatric, subspecialist, and medical student members. So because the Texas legislature did not ban gender-affirming care as he wanted, he is unilaterally taking things further by just saying, this is child abuse. If you care for your child in the way that experts say you should care for your child, therefore we're going to take your child away. We're going to kidnap your child, essentially, if you care for your child and you affirm their identity so that way they are healthier. They grew up in an accepting environment. Can't do that. Can't have that. So we're going to literally say that you loving your child and accepting your child is child abuse and the state is going to take them away from you potentially. This is by far one of the grossest things I've seen with regard to trans youth stories, you know, targeted policies against trans youth and everyone has to pay attention to this story because in the event this actually were to be the law of the land in Texas, I believe that there's going to be legal challenges to this, but in the event Texas actually set this precedent in their state legally where it is child abuse to give your child health care, gender-affirming health care, I mean, the damage that this will cause, it's just, it's unimaginable. Now speaking of damage to youth, we go to the state of Florida. Now we've been talking about their don't say gay bill where it essentially bans teachers from even acknowledging the existence of homosexuality in any way, shape or form. While there was an amendment introduced that would make that bill exponentially worse. As Brian Tyler Cohen explains, a new Republican amendment to Florida's don't say gay bill would legally require schools to inform parents within six weeks of learning if a student is any sexual orientation other than straight, even if it would lead to abuse, neglect or abandonment. The bill already requires schools to inform parents if they find out a student is not straight, but it currently has an exception if the school suspects the information would lead to abuse, neglect or abandonment. This amendment would explicitly remove that exception. So just pause for a moment and try to let that sink in. This don't say gay bill is already going to make it so that way teachers have to out students, but there was a provision that stopped teachers from having to out students if they feel as if outing said student would put them in danger and it will in many, many circumstances. This amendment would remove that. So that way it doesn't even matter what you'd endanger that child by outing them to a hostile parent who's homophobic doesn't matter. This is so unbelievably unnecessarily cruel that anyone who believes that they are doing all of this, uh, introducing all of these policies and Republican controlled states across the country because they care about LGBTQ plus children. I mean, they're going mask off. They don't just hate LGBTQ plus children. They want them to die. They want them to commit suicide. When we talk about how these types of policies harm LGBTQ plus youth and it leads to increased suicide rates, that's not dissuading them. They like it. They want that to happen. That's that's what we have to deduce from this situation. It's so beyond the pale that you can't come to any other conclusion. Now let's look at some of the proponents and what they have to say because I'll let you determine for yourself if these are serious people with serious concerns for children. Children in kindergarten do not need to hear about a hundred different sexual orientations, sexual preferences in reality and gender identities. Our children are not and should not be part of a social experiment. This can only be known as indoctrination. Should teachers tell children, pick a gender, any gender, you'll be happy. Do we say lie, cheat, kill, steal, you'll be happy. They're an LGBTQ issues. Children can be traumatized by these non biblical issues. I can tell you what's inappropriate is a man and a speedo talking about sex to class or drag queen coming into an elementary school. Oh, yes, the supposed army of men in speedos infiltrating schools is definitely something that we should be worrying about and we should worry about it so much that we should pass a law where we force teachers to outstudents. Do you understand these people are fucking morons? They are ignorant. They are stupid and they are driven by hatred and they hate gay and trans people so much that they're taking it out on children. See, they feel as if they lost this cultural war when it comes to gay rights. You know, we have LGBTQ plus marriage now. Trans people are gaining more visibility and they're fighting against this, but they're targeting children, the most vulnerable of all. And it is truly morally reprehensible and it should make you nauseous. It makes me nauseous. It's vomit inducing. These people are fucking scum. Now, the good news is that thankfully the so-called forced to disclosure amendment has been withdrawn from the bill, but the mere fact that it was ever even considered proves that they don't care at all if gay children die. They don't care. Even if outing a child to their parent puts that child at risk of child abuse or even homelessness, they don't care. They were going to create an amendment or they did create an amendment before it was withdrawn to make sure that that kid is outed anyway. Now, listen, as somebody who was outed as an adult, I'm still recovering mentally from the damage that that caused. But if you do this to children, the damage that it will cause will never leave them. You will scar them for life. You will ruin their lives. You can't just choose to out them when coming out is such a sensitive process. Somebody from the LGBTQ plus community doesn't just come out flippantly. So they have to evaluate whether or not they are they're in a safe environment, whether or not coming out will cause more harm than good if they have hostile parents or siblings or family members. So the fact that this was even considered goes to show you how they don't care at all about gay kids and trans kids. And, you know, it's not like there isn't a provision to out. It's just that now they're saying, OK, I guess you don't have to out a kid if it's going to lead to abuse or neglect. Wow, well, how merciful of them? How fucking merciful? Look, Republicans hate LGBTQ plus youth. They hate them. And they don't care if their lives are affected in a negative way by their policies, they don't care if these kids die. They want to erase them out of existence. And if that means that we see increased suicides, increased homelessness with LGBTQ plus youth, they don't care.