Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 574 | The Truth About Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' Bill & Texas' 'Attack on Trans Kids'

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

Starting point is 00:00:19 We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Tuesday. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers Better Than Organic Chicken, craft beef shipped right to your front door. Go to Good Ranchers.com slash alley for a discount.

Starting point is 00:00:54 That's goodrancers.com slash alley. All right, today we are going to talk about this protect trans kids reaction that's going on in Texas because of letters that were written by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as well as Governor Greg Abbott directing the Department of Family Services to investigate families that are allowing their child to go through transistors. through chemical castration and hormone therapy and different procedures. There has been a big backlash, protect trans kids has been kind of the hashtag or the phrase used by people who are saying that this is terrible, this is unconstitutional, this is Nazi-like we are even seeing people say. So we are going to examine those claims. We are going to look at what these letters actually say and what they're.

Starting point is 00:02:04 they mean and if there is any validity to either side of this. And then we are going to bust the propaganda about Florida's don't say gay bill. Obviously, that's not the real name, but that's what its opponents have dubbed it. And we are going to look at that four page bill and we are going to look at what it actually says versus what people are saying that it says. Now, before we get into that, I do want to say President Biden is giving his state of the union tonight. And we can expect him to, as all presidents do, to be fair, to paint his presidency in a very positive light. That certainly is not something that is unique to Democrat presidents. He will probably say a lot of things that Republicans, that conservatives will say are a misrepresentation or a lie.

Starting point is 00:02:57 And of course, the other side did the same thing when Trump was. giving the state of the union and conservatives thought that his speech was great. Democrats will probably think that Joe Biden's speech is great and all of the conservatives are going to be laughing over here because objectively Joe Biden's presidency is not going well. That's why he has such a low approval rating. But tonight will be an opportunity for him to try to do some PR for the accomplishments or the alleged accomplishments that he believes they have achieved over the past year or so. And so we will hear from him on that.

Starting point is 00:03:42 There is also a chance that he will say basically that COVID is gone, at least for now, that the restrictions can be removed. You probably heard that the rule for mask wearing and congress. went away yesterday the day before the state of the union. That is, again, for PR purposes, that is to try to better lighten the mood of the American people and not make this state of the union look so dystopian. Try to put Joe Biden at the center of normalcy to basically try to accompany Joe Biden's presidency with the defeat of COVID. But really what it should show you in all of the restrictions that we are seeing for strictly political purposes across the

Starting point is 00:04:30 country right now should show you that this has never been about the science the science really hasn't changed the numbers are still pretty gruesome if you're looking at that but they're removing these restrictions in places like new york and california in congress because the democrat poll numbers are in the tank and people on both sides of the aisle are tired of these restrictions that should make you very angry that people have suffered under the these restrictions, especially children for the past two years. And because the politics are changing, now those restrictions go away. So it really was never based on science or safety, was it? Especially, especially for the children, as we've talked about many times. So don't be gaslit into thinking

Starting point is 00:05:13 that these past two years have been anything but a political, rhetorical game that has ruined people's lives that has hurt people's livelihoods. Don't forget about everything that happened, even though Democrats are going to try as hard as they can to make you forget. And certainly Joe Biden is going to do some more of that tonight. So we will probably not talk about that tomorrow. We're going to wait until Thursday to talk about that. And the reason is because I promised you guys that I would do a theological episode tomorrow. And so I will keep my promise and do that. And then Thursday, we're going to analyze some of this stuff and also talk again, just. the latest and what's going on in Ukraine versus Russia.

Starting point is 00:05:58 We'll be talking to Victor Davis Hanson, who I know is one of your favorite guests, mine too. So stay tuned for that. So just wanted to make a note on that. Definitely tune in to the State of the Union tonight. I'll be watching it. I'll probably be giving commentary on Instagram as I do. All right.

Starting point is 00:06:15 Let's talk about this. So Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote a legal opinion about gender reassignment procedures in children. It was published on February 18th, and it was a response to Republican State Representative Matt Krause's letter to him asking whether these procedures should or do constitute as child abuse under Texas law. So Paxton in this letter argues that, yes, these procedures do count as child abuse. It is a 13-page letter. It's very long. It's a little bit complicated because there's a lot of legal ease.

Starting point is 00:06:49 He argues that, well, really his argument set up. up Abbott to say that the Department of Family Services should be investigating these cases. Like all cases of abuse, reporting of this kind of abuse should be reported by doctors, nurses, and teachers. That's what Abbott ended up saying. So here are a few parts of Paxton's letter, which we will link in the description. I want you to read it for yourself. I always do. Don't just take my word for it. Read these things on your own so that you are fully equipped to have conversations about this controversial issue. So one part. of the letter says this, quote, certain procedures done on minors, such as castration, fabrication of a,

Starting point is 00:07:29 quote, penis using tissue from other body parts, fabrication of a, quote, vagina involving the removal of male sex organs, prescription of puberty suppressors, and infertility inducers, and the like are all abuse under section 261.001 of the Texas family code. So he supports his argument for this. and by citing scientific literature about the implications of these kinds of procedures. So he says, it is important to note that it remains medically impossible to truly change the sex of an individual because this is determined biologically at conception.

Starting point is 00:08:10 True. No doctor can replace a fully functioning male sex organ with a fully functioning female sex organ or vice versa. True. That is completely incontrovertible. That is inarguable. In reality, the letter goes on. These, quote, sex change procedures seek to destroy a fully functioning sex organ in order to cosmetically create the illusion of a sex change.

Starting point is 00:08:33 It's exactly right. The letter goes on. Beyond the obvious harm of permanently sterilizing a child, these procedures and treatments can cause side effects and harms beyond permanent infertility, including serious mental health effects, vanis thrombosis, thromboembolism, increased risk of cardio, cardiovascular disease, weight gain, decreased libido, hyper triglyceridemia, doing my best, elevated blood pressure, decreased glucose tolerance, gallbladder disease, benign pituitary

Starting point is 00:09:05 prolactinoma, lowered and elevated triglycerides, increased homocysteine levels, hepatotoxicity, polysathemia, sleep apnea, insulin resistance, chronic pelvic pain and increased cancer and stroke risk. The letter goes on to say, the United States Supreme Court recognizes that the right to procreate is a fundamental right under the 14th Amendment, see Skinner v. Oklahoma. Almost a century ago, this is 1942, almost a century ago, the court explained the unique concern sterilization poses respecting this fundamental right. And now he is quoting this case, quote, the power to sterilize if exercised may have

Starting point is 00:09:49 subtle, far-reaching, and devastating effects. In evil or reckless hands, it can cause races or types, which are inimical to the dominant group to wither and disappear. There is no redemption for the individual whom the law touches. Any experiment which the state conducts is to his irreparable injury. He is forever deprived of a basic liberty. And so basically he is saying that this kind of procedure that results in the potential sterilization of the child, of the minor that is undergoing this procedure is depriving that child of basic liberty, the basic right to be able to one day procreate. The letter goes on, the Texas Family Code is clear. Causing or permitting substantial harm to the child or the child's growth and development is

Starting point is 00:10:36 child abuse. Courts have held that an unnecessary surgical procedure that removes a healthy body part from a child can constitute a real insignificant injury or damage to the child. And this seems absolutely logical. If your child said, look, I no longer want my foot. I just don't want this foot. I don't think that it should be a part of my body and I would rather identify as someone with that one foot. And you took them to the doctor and that doctor saw it off that foot for no other reason except for the child wanted it and kept on insisting that they wanted it. That would make you, that would mean that that was a really bad and abusive parenting decision. And that would make that doctor a really bad doctor. And anyone who affirmed. that choice would be at least complicit in, if not guilty, of abuse. So why is that different if a 15-year-old

Starting point is 00:11:26 boy wants to remove his testicles because he says he's a girl? I'm not saying that gender dysphoria and someone saying that they want to remove their foot is exactly the same. I'm trying to argue that in what other case would you say removing a healthy body part from a child is part of health care or affirmation? You wouldn't. Now, there is much more to, to Attorney General. Paxson's letter. It is very thorough. In my opinion, it is very thoughtful and it is logical. Again, no matter what side of the issue you're on, I really encourage you to read it for yourself and look at the citations. He's not just saying, in my personal opinion, this is what I think these procedures could cause in this child. Here's what I think these consequences are. He is citing

Starting point is 00:12:10 medical data, medical study, scientific study. So go read them on your own if you don't like what he said in his letter. Now, Governor Abbott also confirmed that he is on board with the letter. He wrote a letter to the commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services saying as much. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles,

Starting point is 00:12:42 faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false. comfort, we ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. So in Abbott's letter, he says this. The Office of the Attorney General has now confirmed in the enclosed opinion that a number of so-called sex change procedures

Starting point is 00:13:18 child abuse under existing Texas law. Because the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is responsible for protecting children from abuse, I hereby direct your agency to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures in the state of Texas. Texas law imposes reporting requirements upon all licensed professionals who have direct contact with children who may be subject to such abuse, including doctors, nurses, and teachers, and provides criminal penalties for failure to report such child abuse. Texas law also imposes is a duty on DFPS to investigate the parents of a child who was subjected to these abusive gender transitioning procedures and on other state agencies to investigate licensed facilities

Starting point is 00:13:58 where such procedures may occur. So we will link this letter as well. You can read it in totality. So the Department of the Department of Family and Protective Services basically said that, okay, we are going to follow the Texas law, as explained by the Attorney General. Now, they say that there are no current cases that they are investigating, but that they are going to basically follow these orders. So this was not an executive order or a new law. This was the Attorney General and the governor clarifying the fact that gender reassignment, so-called,

Starting point is 00:14:45 procedures counts as abuse under already existing Texas law and emphasizes the Department of Family Services job to investigate any cases of this happening to a minor. Now, before we look into these claims that Paxton is making, are these procedures abusive? And before we even say whether this is the right move legally, let's read some of the reactions to these letters. Because as I said at the beginning, a lot of people are upset by this. So the district attorneys in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Fort Bend County, that's outside Houston, called the actions of Abbott and Paxton disturbing and onslaught, a continued onslaught on personal freedoms. Of course, they say it's unscientific and all of that. They said, we want to be clear.

Starting point is 00:15:40 We will enforce the Constitution and will not irrationally and unjustifiable. interfere with medical decisions made between children, their parents, and the medical physicians. We want to reassure our residents with transgender children that they are safe to continue seeking the care their children need. That's a little bit of Orwellian language, though, isn't it the care that their children need? Because that is assuming that blocking the natural puberty process in, say, an 11-year-old girl is care. The Texas Nursing Association also put out a letter on February 18th, disagreeing with this and basically saying that the letters that were put out by Paxton and Abbott

Starting point is 00:16:24 do not reflect the policy position of the Texas Nurses Association and says that they advocate for evidence-based, culturally congruent, interesting, health care for transgender and gender diverse youth and their families. and so obviously they are saying that they're not going to go along with these directives. The ACLU, which used to stand for civil liberties, now they are basically just an arm of the Democratic Party and they will advocate for whatever left-wing policy Democrats want, said that Attorney General Paxton's opinion and Governor Abbott's letter have no legal effect, can't change Texas law, and can't override the constitutional rights of Texas families.

Starting point is 00:17:07 No court anywhere in the country has ever found that gender affirmed. care can be considered child abuse. So what I would say to that is it's true that these letters do not change Texas law. That's not their intent. It's to clarify Texas law. And it's to ensure that the proper agencies are carrying out their interpretation of Texas law. And the purpose of Attorney General Paxton's letter was to argue why scientifically this does count as child abuse and should be treated as such. And while it may be true that no court anywhere in the country has ever found that, quote, gender affirming care can be considered child abuse, there have been cases that have, that have concluded that giving a child a medical procedure that they don't actually need that

Starting point is 00:17:59 causes them harm is a form of abuse. And you can read further in Attorney General Paxton's letter about that. He cites those cases. Now, of course, better work who says that he is running for the governor of Texas tweeted this to every trans kid in Texas. And I have a really hard time with that phrase in general and we'll get to why trans kid in Texas. He says, you're amazing. I'm proud of you. You belong right here in Texas and I'll fight for you to live freely as yourself and free from discrimination. Now, of course, I don't believe that kids who are confused about their gender should be treated with any kind of malice or meanness or hatred or anything like that.

Starting point is 00:18:40 So if that's what you're saying, then I completely agree with you. I do think that we should treat everyone with kindness, absolutely. But if you are saying that living free from discrimination means that parents have to sign off on castrating their 15-year-old son and removing the healthy breasts of their 15-year-old daughter, I'm not sure in what world that constitutes is loving. And we'll get to all that. Ellen DeGeneres, of course, she needed to weigh in. More than half of trans kids seriously contemplate suicide,

Starting point is 00:19:08 Consider that when you hear the Texas governor wants to label treatment for trans kids as child abuse. Shame on you, Governor Abbott. So that's kind of the theme of all of this pushback, that this is going to cause transgender kids to commit suicide. Now, what they're not telling you is the study out of Sweden that looked at the mental health, the mental health state and the rate of suicide among people who transitioned or tried to transition into a different gender from, 1973 to 2003 and what it found is that even after transition, the rate of suicide is still extremely high among transgender people, people who identify as the opposite gender. Now, Sweden is a very accepting, very tolerant society. And so it really doesn't make a whole lot of

Starting point is 00:19:58 sense to say that, well, it's just because people didn't accept them. It's actually because there are underlying mental health issues when it comes to gender dysphoria. that are not being addressed and are not being taken care of because of the political stigma of saying that gender dysphoria could be anything other than a person truly needing to transition into the other sex. Gavin Newsom, governor of California, for some reason, he feels the need to weigh in on this. Trans kids and their families should be celebrated. This is actually a sadly hilarious tweet, not targeted by the state. They are heroes. This order is a direct assault on their well-being to fearful families in Texas right now. California's door is always open to you.

Starting point is 00:20:40 He wants your tax money because everyone's leaving California to go to Texas. And so he's like, oh, if you've got a transgender kid and you want to put them on puberty blockers, we're here. We're over here in California. Just it's fine. The cost of living is going to like quadruple when you live here and you're going to have to step over dirty needles and defecation on your way to the bus stop every morning. But you can castrate your 15 year old son.

Starting point is 00:21:07 hey, says Gavin Newsom. So that's his marketing pitch, I guess, for California. And Gin Hatmaker posted on Instagram. I won't read the whole long thing. Now, Jen Hatmaker, if you don't know, she's the woman, she calls herself like a Christian teacher, Christian author. And she has been increasingly liberal over the past seven years and has fundamentally rejected just the basic tenets of Christianity, including Genesis 1. So she posted a picture that basically that I think said protect trans kids. And she said in summation, Abbott has targeted one of the most vulnerable communities for harassment, prosecution.

Starting point is 00:21:49 I think she meant persecution, terror and more violence. He deployed every citizen as investigators and destroyed every safe place. That's not true. I'm very confused about that. He deployed every citizen as investigators, no, and destroyed every safe place. Kids will die because of this. Let me tell you who is not dangerous, but certainly in danger, trans kids, their parents, teachers, doctors, counselors, who love and support them in a state committed to causing them further harm.

Starting point is 00:22:14 God, these kids are already so misunderstood and targeted trans kids, and their parents went to bed in terror last night. This sets a precedence and sends yet another terrifying message to trans kids and their family. Families everywhere are so cruel. And then she goes on to talk to parents of what she calls trans kids and how she will be first in line to vote, Governor Abbott out. So the question is, who is right here? Who is right in all of this? Because I don't actually think, here's what I'll say before I get into this, I don't think that the opponents of this have no legitimate points. I don't think that Gin Hatmaker has no legitimate points here. But we need to look at the claims that are made

Starting point is 00:22:58 by Attorney General Paxton, at least some of them, that basically this amounts to abusive practices, abusive behavior to know if it's completely right to say that this is cruel, this is anti-child, and that this is going to end in suicide and death. Because that's how they morally extort you, that if you disagree with a child's going through hormone suppressants and puberty blocker procedures, then you want kids to die when there's really no data that's actually backing that up. But the other claims that basically this is not legally right, this is going to hurt kids and their parents. Is there any validity to that? So we're going to explore some of that.

Starting point is 00:23:46 All right. So who is right here? Are puberty suppressors and surgeries gender affirming care that is necessary for, quote, trans kids? So there was this interesting substack article. under the name pseudonymous, pseudonymous, I guess is how you would pronounce it, reporting. It's a substack. It's written by a woman who goes by the pin name pseudonym. And she wrote an article agreeing with Greg Abbott saying that she doesn't want to agree with

Starting point is 00:24:18 Greg Abbott, but she does. Now, I'm not citing her as a source because you have no reason to know whether or not this person is credible, although she is a pretty well-known writer and is clearly not a conservative. So I think that's an interesting perspective. but she cites medical data. She cites her sources that show without a doubt what a danger of these procedures are for kids. So as always, I will include the links to them in this description.

Starting point is 00:24:42 One of the citations, according to the European Journal of Indochronology, quote, and both girls and boys, after a short activation of puberty blockers, of, oh, sorry, gonadal axes, puberty blockers will bring the patients into a hypochitis, gonatotrophic state. In girls, withdrawal of estrogens may induce a withdrawal bleeding. Cycling is disrupted. In early pubertal boys, the hypogonatrophic state will block the development of fertility. In older-staged boys, fertility will regress. Therefore, in older boys, cryopreservation of semen should be discussed prior to the start of treatment. So basically, this is going to disrupt the cycle of girls. They might stop having a period.

Starting point is 00:25:32 They might have withdrawal bleeding, but they might stop having a period. And if you don't have a period, then you're not fertile because that means you're not ovulating. In order to get pregnant, you have to ovulate. And so, a girl who no longer has a period is not going to be able to get pregnant because she's not ovulating in general. And for boys, if you are not producing sperm, you are going to be unable to get a woman pregnant. So it doesn't even take going through all of this medical literature to understand that disrupting the natural process of puberty, of course, is going to disrupt potentially permanently fertility. A study by a widely read psychologist Diane Aaron Safd, I think that's how you pronounce her last name, says this, quote, although advances are being made in reproductive medicine to preserve immature gametes or reproductive tissues for later reproduction, at this point in history,

Starting point is 00:26:29 A child who begins puberty blockers at Tanner stage 2 and proceeds directly to cross-sex hormones will be rendered infertile. Administration of testosterone or estrogen to a post-pubertal adolescent may compromise a youth later fertility or might require going off the hormones for a period of time if a transgender youth who has not had gonad or genital surgeries later in life desires to have a genetically related child. Or the study titled, Fertility concerns of the transgender patient.

Starting point is 00:27:01 Quote, transgender individuals who undergo gender affirming medical or surgical therapies are at risk for infertility. Suppression of puberty with gonadotropin releasing hormone agonist analogs and the pediatric transgender patient can pause the maturation of germ cells and thus affect fertility potential. Testosterone therapy and transgender men can suppress ovul. So that's women. girls can suppress ovulation and alter ovarian histology, while estrogen therapy and transgender

Starting point is 00:27:34 women, so that's men or boys, can lead to impaired spermatogenesis and testicular atrophy. The effect of hormone therapy on fertility is potentially reversible, but the extent is unclear. So it might be reversible, but the extent is unclear. Gender affirming surgery, that includes hysterectomy. So this is obviously a pro-transition publication because of the language that they're using. They call it gender affirming surgery. That includes hysterectomy. And there's a, you know, guys, there's a lot of medical language.

Starting point is 00:28:11 And because I'm not a doctor, it's not always the easiest to pronounce. So y'all in the medical community, you might have to help me here. So hysterectomy and ophorectomy in trans men. again, that's women or girls, orchiectomy in trans women, again, that's boys or men, results in permanent sterility. It is recommended that clinicians counsel transgender patients on fertility preservation options prior to initiation of gender affirming therapy. So it doesn't take the ability to pronounce every single scientific word and phrase in these publications to be able to understand them. You're talking about procedures and treatments that

Starting point is 00:28:54 render the patient potentially permanently infertile. This is published information. This is from a 2015 article published by PBS. 2015 seems to be the last year that we were really able to say anything that is now considered controversial. Another potential dilemma, PBS says, facing transgender children, their families and their doctors, is this. Taking cross hormones can reduce fertility. And there is not enough research to find out if it is resched out if it is reversible or not. So when children make the decision to start taking hormones, they have to consider

Starting point is 00:29:29 whether they ever want to have biological children. I think it's really important to talk to these children and families about fertility. Finlayson says, as a person quoted in this article, I do worry that at that stage in life, many of them may not be able to realize how important that would be to them one day. Of course not. Of course a child wouldn't be able to. That's why they have parents to try to help them think through these things. Another 2015 article from BuzzFeed. trans kids and teens, if you go from taking puberty suppressing medication directly to hormone replacement therapy, that can render you infertile down the line. Interestingly, Sweden changed its guidance recently on treating transgender youth with a shift away from an emphasis on hormone

Starting point is 00:30:13 therapy and surgery to an emphasis on psychological therapy. So other parts of the world are recognizing a lot of the problems with how we treat these kids who are confused about their gender. I guarantee you, we will see more and more the harmful manifestations of these kinds of treatments. This substack article also notes that in some clinics, transition is actually being used as kind of a form of conversion therapy for kids who have homosexual feelings. So they change genders. Now they're straight. Now their problems go away. That's problematic in themselves. I mean, that's problematic in itself. So the whole thing is very convoluted. And guess what? just like the fertility industry, which we've talked about several times recently,

Starting point is 00:30:57 there is a ton of money behind this industry. There are also a lot of politics behind it. No psychologist or doctor wants to be called a transphope and targeted by Glad or any of these trans activist groups. So they suspend their normal medical scientific skepticism and they okay procedures and kids that have lasting effects. And as we know from Abigail Schreier's book, Irreversible Damage. We've had Abigail on this show before. Trans identification has exploded in recent years since the advent of social media and the normalizing of gender bending, especially among teen girls. There is a social contagion to this.

Starting point is 00:31:36 And it very often accompanies other kinds of mental health struggles, self-isolation, sudden anger and distance, anger toward indistance from parents. Copious time spent online. Gender dysphoria is real, but it is rare. The actual mental disorder, it is a mental disorder according to the DSM-5. which is the big manual of mental disorders. It is a mental disorder and it's characterized by persistent and insistent feeling to being in the wrong body, usually at a very, very young age. Because it's really, this is actually a milestone that a child around the age of two years old

Starting point is 00:32:13 is supposed to be able to start to understand their own sex and the sex of other people around it. They start noticing the differences between themselves and other people, between mommy and daddy, grandpa and grandma, random people out in the wild, they start noticing these differences. It's actually an important part of development to be able to understand what sex you are. And so it's also sometimes around this time that someone with genuine gender dysphoria would start to be confused about that. So gender dysphoria is not just insecurity when you're a teenager about your body. It's not homosexuality. It's not being a feminine guy or a masculine girl. It's not looking trucks if you're a girl. It's not looking ballet if you're a guy.

Starting point is 00:32:51 It is not even liking makeup if you're a guy that doesn't make you the opposite gender because it's actually impossible to be the opposite gender. It is a mental disorder that needs to be treated with compassion and cautious care. But I am afraid that we have lumped for political reasons, for ideological reasons, for fear of being called a certain name, we have lumped in so many different feelings and disorders that people have into transgenderism that we are physically and emotionally damaging thousands of kids without even the pretense of benefit for them. The frontal lobe of our brains, which helps us understand the consequences of our actions, is not fully developed until we are 25 years old. So a child, even a 15-year-old child,

Starting point is 00:33:35 cannot understand the long-term consequences of cutting off his testicles or her healthy breasts or becoming infertile. Of course, right then, when they're 13, 14 years old, they don't know that they want a child one day. They might be thinking, oh, I hate kids. I'm never going to want a child. I'm never going to feel any differently. I definitely. I definitely. want to do this. There are a lot of things that young people think that they want to do. There are a lot of things that we all thought that we were going to do for the rest of our lives or feel a certain way for the rest of our lives when we were a teenager. That changes. And there's no way, I don't fault these kids. I don't fault these teenagers at all. There's no way for them to know the consequences

Starting point is 00:34:10 of this because their brains were not created to understand the consequences of this. That is why God gave children parents. Adults are supposed to know better. Parents, doctors are supposed to know better. These institutions who don't even show a bit of skepticism or scientific curiosity are dangerous. They are the ones who are deadly. The same thing, of course, happened over the past two years. Even scientists who knew, for example, that cloth masks and lockdowns weren't actually working or that natural immunity was strong, they didn't want to say anything, not for scientific reasons, but for political ones. And so I think it's pretty obvious that a large portion of the scientific community has been completely politicized by left-wing

Starting point is 00:34:51 ideology and that they are actually, they're actually projecting. They are accusing the other side, the skeptical ones of being guilty of the very thing that they are guilty of, which is harming kids for politics. Kids, once again, sacrificed on the altar of adults' recklessness, the unconstanting subjects of progressive social experiments, just as they always are, whether it comes to this gender ideology, whether it comes to indoctrination in schools, whether it comes to unscientific mask mandates, whether it comes to abortion or the redefinition of the family, family or dangerous reproductive technology, the surrogacy industry. Kids are always the unconsenting subjects of progressive social experiments.

Starting point is 00:35:31 This is another example of that. Now, from a biblical perspective, Jen Hatmaker, there is no category of gender identity in the Bible. And I don't expect people who are not a Christian to care about this argument. I'm not saying that they should. But for those of us who identify as Christians, we absolutely must care. This is a Genesis 1 issue. As I say, like we're talking first chapter of the Bible, okay?

Starting point is 00:35:55 We're not talking about, oh, this is some secret thing that maybe we can try to discern what God really wanted for male and female if he really meant that somewhere in the implications of Scripture. This is the first chapter of the Bible. This is something that is reiterated throughout Scripture, the reality of male and female. This is something that Jesus reiterates in Matthew 19, that God made us male and female. There is no biblical category of gender identity that is independent from sex. God made our bodies as part of us and God made our bodies good. We do not have a secret, real identity inside of us that trumps our biology. I really encourage you to read Love Thy Body by Nancy Piercy.

Starting point is 00:36:37 We'll also link the episode biblical tell loss of gender that I talk about a lot of what she writes in her book and why, again, theology, this is so important to get right. but our body is inextricably intertwined with who we are. So we love our bodies. We teach our children to love their bodies. Love is seeking the best interest for those in our lives. And best interest is not always defined, but by what makes a person, especially children who are still just learning so much

Starting point is 00:37:08 and still have so much time to grow. It's not defined by what makes them happy in the moment all the time. I mean, we understand that in small things. We understand that we can't give our kids everything they want to eat in the moment. We can't give them unlimited screen time, although that would make them happy. We can't allow them to, you know, wear all the clothes that they want to wear if they're weather inappropriate. And then there are even times when we know that children pretend to be something that they're not. A child could be obsessed with dogs.

Starting point is 00:37:40 And so they want to start, you know, eating food off the ground or something. or they want to start crawling again when they're a toddler. You know, there's a time and a place for all of that. And of course, we allow our kids to have imaginations. But it's really important for our kids to know that they're not a puppy, that they're a human being. That's how we guide them as parents. And if a child is truly struggling with gender dysphoria, of course we love them. Of course we help them.

Starting point is 00:38:05 But we help them reconcile their mind with their body. We don't mutilate their body to try to reconcile it with their mind. For an adult, they can make them. that choice. If they want to make that choice, they can't. But for a child whose brain isn't even developed, who does not understand that they won't be able to have babies one day and that their body will never be the same, even if they one day realize it was all a mistake, yes, it is negligence for parents and doctors to allow that. That is being an irresponsible steward of a child. Now, here's where the nuance comes in. All of that said, I think there are many parents of kids.

Starting point is 00:38:46 these kids who say that they're the opposite gender, I think that many of these parents love their kids so much, genuine love, that they had the same feeling that I did when my kids were born that, wow, I would do anything for you. I would sacrifice anything for you. There is nothing that I would not do to help you be successful and fulfilled in life.

Starting point is 00:39:08 I believe that. I think that they feel that they are doing what is best and they're listening to the people that they are told are experts. Like all of us, they want their kids to be happy. They want their kids to be whole and confident. There are, of course, other parents who may be exploiting their kids for attention, who may be pushing their kids to explore new identities. There might be some lunchhouse and by proxy in there. Maybe they enjoy being, you know, special or different. But I think a lot of parents, when they have their 13-year-old daughter come to them and say, hey, I'm a boy.

Starting point is 00:39:43 and the parents affirm that new identity, that they think that they're being good parents. They are fearmongered, as we already talked about a few minutes ago, by this false narrative that if you don't affirm your child's brand new declaration of their new gender, that they're going to commit suicide and it's going to be your fault. That's what they're told. Can you imagine? I mean, we've talked about before how these kind of manipulative tactics by doctors women are giving birth,

Starting point is 00:40:09 that if you don't listen to them and take this medication and do exactly what they want in that moment, that their child is going to die. And of course, sometimes that's true and doctors are just being prudent and honest, but a lot of times it's not. A lot of times the doctor either wants more control or there are other ulterior motives there and the mom isn't listened to. It's the same kind of manipulative tactic that if you don't do this, then your child is going to die. It's really amazing how parents are manipulated into making bad decisions that way, really from the moment of birth onward. It's crazy. But, even Glad has said that we have very unreliable statistics on suicides of people who are transgender.

Starting point is 00:40:51 Why? Because gender identity is not recorded at death. So we really have no way of knowing just how many kids in the U.S. are committing suicide because their parents don't accept them or because people are not accepting their gender identity. So this is moral extortion. To say, scare parents and the general population into normalizing this idea of a boy being able to become a girl and vice versa. So I do think that parents who think that they have to affirm their, you know, son or daughter's newfound declaration or newfound identity that they believe that they're doing the right thing, that they really love their kid, but they have been manipulated by these experts and these activists on social media and maybe even in some cases

Starting point is 00:41:39 by their own child. But you also have to understand that the parents who realize this is not my child, this is not what's best for them. I do not want to irreversibly damage them for the rest of their lives, even if they're mad at me, that they really love their child too. That they are doing, well, in my opinion, they are objectively doing what's best for their child and also what they think is best for their child.

Starting point is 00:42:02 For the parents who are saying, you know, the only loving option is to allow my child to go on puberty blockers or whatever and affirm them, of course, they're going to be very angry at anyone who argues with them or says otherwise because they think that you're questioning their love as a parent and no one wants to be questioned about that. Of course, understandably. So the question is, do I think that parents who try to transition their child into the other gender are being abusive? I do. Even if the intent is not malicious, even if they believe that they are doing it out of love. I do think the result is abuse, even if that is not the intent. And we have to look at the consequences of this, not just what the intentions are,

Starting point is 00:42:48 although I do think the intentions are important to weigh. I don't know how it could not be to put your child through a physically unnecessary procedure that is very likely going to render them infertile. I don't see how that cannot be abusive. Here's where I think intent matters. And this may sound contradictory. Do I think that those parents should have their kids taken away from them? Well, here's my next question. Would those kids do better in the care of the state? I say no.

Starting point is 00:43:24 I say no. Those kids would not do better in the care of the state with people who don't love them or have their best interest at heart at all. Unless it is an obvious case, this is just my opinion of deliberately malicious abuse or negligence, I think there should always be, I think there should always be a very high bar for separating kids from their parents. The state system for kids is usually terrible. It holds its own potential for serious abuse. And I don't think that either of these letters is necessarily saying that kids will be taken away from their parents specifically, but I can see how, to Jen Hatmaker's

Starting point is 00:44:00 credit, how someone would certainly deduce that and fear that. And I don't think that consequence, children being handed over to the state in most cases is best for them either. And if I'm thinking about what is best for kids, what is going to lead to their well-being the most, I don't think them being put in foster care or some kind of system like that is going to help them. I don't at all. So my main beef is really with the doctors who are supposed to be the ones to know better, the psychologists who are supposed to be the ones to know better, the school counselors,

Starting point is 00:44:33 who are supposed to be the ones to know better. The scientists and the so-called experts who are supposed to know better, that's my main beef. I want to shut those people down. If these people were telling parents, hey, there's another way. And the loving thing to do is for us to help your daughter accept and love the body that she has, then maybe parents wouldn't be going this direction. Now, that doesn't mean the parents aren't responsible at all. But I think we do have to look at everything going on and the intentions in these situations

Starting point is 00:45:02 when we are making these kinds of monumental decisions. So I think Attorney General Paxton's letter made some excellent points. I honestly don't know how anyone could argue against them in good faith. And most of the responses you'll see don't even try to argue against them in good faith because they're all cited. All of its arguments are cited. I don't want the consequence of this, though, to be families torn apart for the reasons that I listed. Maybe you disagree with me on that, but I think we have to be really careful when we say,

Starting point is 00:45:32 well, let's just take kids away from their parents and give them to the state. I don't think that that's a better alternative. So that's where I land there. I want to quickly go through this Don't say Gay Bell. It's just four pages. There's just a couple things that I'm going to correct. The propaganda out there is ridiculous. Per usual. I would say way more ridiculous than actually what we're seeing to what is happening in Texas. So all right. So HB. 1557, that's House Bill 1557, from the Florida House of Representatives seeks to establish parents' right to the upbringing of their child, including conversations about so-called gender identity and sexuality. And this is a bill that covers kindergarten through third grade.

Starting point is 00:46:20 All right? So we're talking about five to nine-year-olds. And it discusses what can actually be required to be discussed in the classroom by the district. and also what kind of information a teacher is allowed to withhold from the parents that the student, that the student tells the teacher. So here are some things that you have probably heard. For example, the White House said a couple weeks ago, today conservative politicians in Florida, advanced legislation designed to attack LGBTQI plus kids. What?

Starting point is 00:47:00 instead of making growing up harder for young people, POTUS is focused on keeping schools open and supporting students' mental health. And then President Biden himself said, I want every member of the LGBTQI plus community, especially the kids who will be impacted by this hateful bill, to know that you are loved and accepted just as you are. I have your back. And my administration will continue to fight for the protections and the safety that you deserve. You've probably seen several graphics and memes on Instagram. I don't have them in front of me right now, but several of them saying that this actually bans any kind of conversation about homosexuality in the classroom. They can't learn about LGBTQ plus history.

Starting point is 00:47:45 That's why the opponents are calling it don't say gay bill. They're saying that you're not even allowed to talk about this stuff. And that is actually not true. And then there is also the point, the other big point that is being. made by left-wing propagandists is that teachers are required to out to out these kids to their parents. So if a kid comes to a teacher and says, I'm gay, then the teacher has to go to the parents. And that is called they're saying outing a child to their parents. And that is what are they saying that's going to lead to suicide. It always is if you don't follow along with what

Starting point is 00:48:20 they say. And if parents don't do exactly what left-wing ideologues, who have no interest whatsoever in the well-being of their child the way the parents do. If you don't do exactly what they say, then your child is going to kill themselves. How awful. Like what awful people that would make that kind of argument. Again, based on no data. That's just conjecture. That's what they want to say. That's, again, how they morally extort you as a parent. But here's the reality. This is a very simple bill. The Senate version of this bill is just four pages. The House version of this bill is seven pages. The reality is, is that a district cannot force a teacher to include LGBTQ-centered curriculum in the classroom. So this is what it says. Prohibiting a school district from,

Starting point is 00:49:14 this is what the bill does, prohibits a school district from encouraging classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity and primary grade levels. So that's kindergarten through third grade or in a specified manner. So it's not even saying that a teacher can't talk about this in class. It's not saying that if a teacher wants to talk about homosexuality for some reason to a bunch of six-year-olds, I mean, I think that's weird, or wants to talk about gender identity, that this law doesn't actually stop a teacher from doing that. it simply says that a district cannot encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity

Starting point is 00:49:53 and only in kindergarten through third grade. Okay, we're not talking about K through 12. And we're not even talking about a law that is directly prohibiting a teacher from talking about something. It prohibits, quote, a school district from encouraging classroom discretion about sexual orientation or gender identity. All right. So that's what the bill does. And then as far as this whole outing, claim. What the bill says is that a teacher cannot withhold important information from a parent for kids kindergarten through third grade. So it says this. A school district may not adopt procedures or student support forms that prohibit school district personnel from notifying a parent about his or her students mental, emotional, or physical health, or well-being, or a change

Starting point is 00:50:41 related to services or monitoring, or that encourage to have the effect of encouraging a student to withhold hold from a parent such information. So listen to all kind of like the caveats even within that sentence. A school district may not adopt procedures or student support forms that prohibit school district personnel from notifying a parent. So this isn't even saying necessarily that the personnel can't, but that they can't be prohibited. A personnel cannot be prohibited from telling a parent about a piece of information that the child gave them about their mental or emotional well-being. Now, I think if we read between the lines, this basically means that if little seven-year-old Jack comes up to the teacher and says, I'm Sally, that teacher cannot be required

Starting point is 00:51:34 to withhold that information from the parents. I actually think that the teacher should have to report that information to the parents. And you keep hearing, well, these kids are going to get kicked out. I'm sorry. I don't, I don't think so. I don't think so. Maybe in rare, cruel cases, that means that that parent was probably abusive anyway. Like if a parent, what, they're going to kick out. This is, again, kindergarten through third grade we're talking about. They're going to kick out their seven-year-old. No, I think the vast majority of parents want to know that information to help their child, to talk to their child, to love their child. I guarantee you, every single parent loves their child more than teachers do.

Starting point is 00:52:13 teachers love their kids in certain ways, but you can't ever love a kid as much as a parent loves their kid. These administrators, politicians, don't know your child or care about your child's well-being. Of course, this kind of sensitive information should be told to a child. But again, this is just saying that a teacher cannot be prohibited from telling a parent this kind of information. So really, this is a very soft bill.

Starting point is 00:52:35 This isn't directly saying what a teacher can and can't say. It's really more about what the district can encourage or prohibit. Does that make sense? And so everything that you are hearing really about this bill is total and complete propaganda. Really, it almost doesn't go far enough because there should be no situation where a teacher should be talking to a kindergarten through third grader and beyond about gender identity in the classroom. There's no reason for them to suggest that, hey, little kids, as you are still just figuring out the world and yourself and your body and all of this, Here is a curveball, you could also be the opposite gender. Like, there is in no sane world, in no sane world should a teacher be talking about that.

Starting point is 00:53:21 And I'm sorry, you should probably ask yourself, what kind of person would be against this kind of rule? Like, what kind of person actually thinks that an adult should have these private conversations without parents in the room about things like sexuality and gender identity to little children ages five through nine? What kind of person thinks that's okay? What kind of person thinks it's okay for the district to require a teacher to keep personal information, especially something that's consequential, a so-called gender identity from a parent? You know, preventing abuse 101 says that adults aren't supposed to tell kids, this is our little secret. That's not something that you're supposed to do because that's not appropriate.

Starting point is 00:54:08 Okay, that in itself is typically a precursor. or a part of abuse. So really, what the people who oppose this bill are trying to do is they're trying to shut out parents. They're trying to say, you know, parents have no role here. And actually, parents and parents having knowledge of their kids and what their kids are going through is actually detrimental to a child, that it's better for teachers and administrators to conduct these kind of secret conversations about very sensitive topics with kids without the parents knowing or being able to interfere. That's what people who oppose this bill are saying. And again, I, ask you to consider what kind of person would have that mentality. What kind of person would think that way?

Starting point is 00:54:50 I'll let you piece that together. The reality is, no matter what side of the aisle that you're on, you are not co-parenting with the state. All right? They don't have the same interest in your child and your child's well-being that you do. You have every right to be involved in those kinds of conversations. You have every right to say, no, I'm sorry, my six-year-old's not going to talk to random. Miss Susie Smith, 27-year-old, who, you know, just graduated from grad school about their gender identity. I'm sorry, no. That's not going to happen. Of course.

Starting point is 00:55:22 That's like the sane and the logical and moral position to have. Of course. And so anyone who opposes this bill, which honestly is a gentle bill, it is very obvious and it should be obvious. Again, these conversations should not be happening with kindergarten through third graders. and that secrets about a child's well-being should not be kept from their parents. Anyone who opposes this, it's just, I don't know. I don't know. Lots to think about there.

Starting point is 00:55:49 So so much propaganda. We'll link the bill. Read it yourself, please. And I guarantee you all of the people pushing back about this and going crazy about it that they haven't read it. I guarantee you they haven't read it. So bust the propaganda. Tell the people in your life who are freaking out about this to calm down.

Starting point is 00:56:09 It's a little crazy and it's too much. Meanwhile, Democrats tried to pass the most radical abortion legislation in the Senate yesterday. Every Democrat except for Joe Manchin voted for it. And it's a fact would be to get rid of any restriction on abortion nationwide. It prohibits any state from putting a prohibition on abortion and even allows a doctor in his quote, good faith judgment to perform an abortion up until birth if that doctor decides that it's for the mental or physical well-being of the mother. Just in his good faith judgment. So you can read that according to Doe v. Bolton really as any reason. So the effect of this legislation would be to legalize abortion through birth. We're talking about 42 week, 7 to 8 pound wiggling baby could legally under this bill be aborted.

Starting point is 00:57:02 Thankfully, it did not pass. They didn't have the votes. But every single. single Democrat in the Senate, except for Joe Manchin, but for it. Again, you can read the Women's Health Protection Act, which is not about women. It's not about protection. It's not about health. You can read that online if you don't believe me. We've talked about in the past. Maybe we'll link the past episode on it. All right. So we've got for you today. We will be back here tomorrow with a theology episode. See you guys then.

Starting point is 00:57:30 Hey, this is Steve Dase. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in. and what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular.

Starting point is 00:57:55 This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this Steve Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcast. I hope you'll join us.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 574 | The Truth About Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' Bill & Texas' 'Attack on Trans Kids'

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