Sometimes we need a little push.

Thanks@Vidanjalifor the update that reveals the complexity of this issue. Particularly, Dr. Marci Bowers on surgeries:  "Gender-affirming surgery is valued highly by those who need these services—lifesaving in many cases,” Dr. Bowers said. Good for her.  

I took it for granted that I would not be able to read the NYT article related to this because of the paywall. Today I clicked on it and found I'm able to read it. I don't know why, I don't subscribe. Here it is in case anyone is interested to read it. It does provide more context and detail.   June 24, 2024 by Azeen Ghorayshi who covers the intersection of sex, gender and science for The Times.   Biden Officials Pushed to Remove Age Limits for Trans Surgery, Documents Show   Newly released emails from an influential group issuing transgender medical guidelines indicate that U.S. health officials lobbied to remove age minimums for surgery in minors because of concerns over political fallout. Health officials in the Biden administration pressed an international group of medical experts to remove age limits for adolescent surgeries from guidelines for care of transgender minors, according to newly unsealed court documents. Age minimums, officials feared, could fuel growing political opposition to such treatments. Email excerpts from members of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health recount how staff for Adm. Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services and herself a transgender woman, urged them to drop the proposed limits from the group’s guidelines and apparently succeeded. If and when teenagers should be allowed to undergo transgender treatments and surgeries has become a raging debate within the political world. Opponents say teenagers are too young to make such decisions, but supporters including an array of medical experts posit that young people with gender dysphoria face depression and worsening distress if their issues go unaddressed. In the United States, setting age limits was controversial from the start. The draft guidelines, released in late 2021, recommended lowering the age minimums to 14 for hormonal treatments, 15 for mastectomies, 16 for breast augmentation or facial surgeries, and 17 for genital surgeries or hysterectomies. The proposed age limits were eliminated in the final guidelines outlining standards of care, spurring concerns within the international group and with outside experts as to why the age proposals had vanished. The email excerpts released this week shed light on possible reasons for those guideline changes, and highlight Admiral Levine’s role as a top point person on transgender issues in the Biden administration. The excerpts are legal filings in a federal lawsuit challenging Alabama’s ban on gender-affirming care. One excerpt from an unnamed member of the WPATH guideline development group recalled a conversation with Sarah Boateng, then serving as Admiral Levine’s chief of staff: “She is confident, based on the rhetoric she is hearing in D.C., and from what we have already seen, that these specific listings of ages, under 18, will result in devastating legislation for trans care. She wonders if the specific ages can be taken out.” Another email stated that Admiral Levine “was very concerned that having ages (mainly for surgery) will affect access to care for trans youth and maybe adults, too. Apparently the situation in the U.S.A. is terrible and she and the Biden administration worried that having ages in the document will make matters worse. She asked us to remove them.” The excerpts were filed by James Cantor, a psychologist and longstanding critic of gender treatments for minors, who used them as evidence that the international advisory group, referred to as WPATH, was making decisions based on politics, not science, in developing the guidelines. The emails were part of a report he submitted in support of Alabama’s ban on transgender medical care for minors. No emails from Admiral Levine’s staff were released. Plaintiffs are seeking to bar Dr. Cantor from giving testimony in the case, claiming that he lacks expertise and that his opinions are irrelevant. Admiral Levine and the Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to requests for comment, citing pending litigation. Dr. Cantor said he filed the report to expose the contents of the group’s internal emails obtained by subpoena in the case, most of which remain under seal because of a protective order. “What’s being told to the public is totally different from WPATH’s discussions in private,” he said. Dr. Marci Bowers, a gynecologic and reconstructive surgeon and the president of WPATH, rejected that claim. “It wasn’t political, the politics were already evident,” said Dr. Bowers. “WPATH doesn’t look at politics when making a decision.” In other emails released this week, some WPATH members voiced their disagreement with the proposed changes. “If our concern is with legislation (which I don’t think it should be — we should be basing this on science and expert consensus if we’re being ethical) wouldn’t including the ages be helpful?” one member wrote. “I need someone to explain to me how taking out the ages will help in the fight against the conservative anti-trans agenda.” The international expert group ultimately removed the age minimums in its eighth edition of the standards of care, released in September 2022. The guidelines reflected the first update in a decade and were the first version of the standards to include a dedicated chapter on medical treatment of transgender adolescents. The field of gender transition care for adolescents is relatively new and evidence on long-term outcomes is scarce. Most transgender adolescents who receive medical interventions in the United States are prescribed puberty blocking drugs or hormones, not surgeries. But as the number of young people seeking such treatments has soared, prominent clinicians worldwide have disagreed on issues such as the ideal timing and criteria for the medical interventions. Several countries in Europe, including Sweden and Britain, have recently placed new restrictions on gender medications for adolescents after reviews of the scientific evidence. In those countries’ health systems, surgeries are only available to patients 18 and older. The email documents were released by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, in a challenge to the Alabama ban brought by civil rights groups including the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of five transgender adolescents and their families. Transgender rights groups have turned to the courts to block laws, like Alabama’s, that have been approved in more than 20 Republican-controlled states since 2021, but the courts have been split in their rulings. On Monday, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear a challenge to Tennessee’s ban on youth gender medicine, which makes it a felony for doctors to provide any gender-related treatment to minors, including puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries. The petition, filed by the Department of Justice, cited the WPATH guidelines among its primary “evidence-based practice guidelines for the treatment of gender dysphoria.” Additional emails cited in the new court filings suggest that the American Academy of Pediatrics also warned WPATH that it would not endorse the group’s recommendations if the guidelines set the new age minimums. In a statement on Tuesday, Mark Del Monte, chief executive of the American Academy of Pediatrics, pointed out that the medical group, which represents 67,000 U.S. pediatricians, had not endorsed the international guidelines because it already had its own in place. He said the academy had sought to change the age limits in the guidelines because the group’s policies did not recommend restrictions based on age for surgeries. Last summer, the pediatrics academy reaffirmed its own guidelines, issued in 2018, but said that it was commissioning an external review of the evidence for the first time. The numbers for all gender-related medical interventions for adolescents have been steadily rising as more young people seek such care. A Reuters analysis of insurance data estimated that 4,200 American adolescents started estrogen or testosterone therapy in 2021, more than double the number from four years earlier. Surgeries are more rare, and the vast majority are mastectomies. or top surgeries. In 2021, Reuters estimated that 282 teenagers underwent top surgery that was paid for by insurance. Gender-related surgeries for minors have been a focal point for some politicians. Gov. Ron DeSantis, Republican of Florida, has argued that surgeons should be sued for “disfiguring” children. In Texas, where parents of transgender children have been investigated for child abuse, Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has called genital surgeries in adolescents “genital mutilation.” The final WPATH guidelines state that distress about breast development in particular has been associated in transgender teenagers with higher rates of depression, anxiety and distress. “While the long-term effects of gender-affirming treatments initiated in adolescence are not fully known, the potential negative health consequences of delaying treatment should also be considered,” the guidelines state. “Gender-affirming surgery is valued highly by those who need these services — lifesaving in many cases,” Dr. Bowers said.   https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/25/health/transgender-minors-surgeries.html  

It was after I got out of the Army and the death of my parents that I knew I was transgender.I could not hold it in anymore

UK General election: Party leaders battle for votes on eve of election as Tory minister predicts Labour landslide. David Tennant's message to young trans people was that “it’s a tiny bunch of whingeing little f--- that are on the wrong side of history and they’ll all go away soon.”    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/jul/03/uk-general-election-2024-live-updates-tories-labour-polls-boris-johnson  

It was good,went to a parade and my boyfriend went with me.He was appraised for saying he loves and accepts me for I am.He even went to an event with me too.Work,they did something nice for me.Bought me a pride shirt and flag.

I am much happier now,do not miss the old self I was before

That's adorable @MaeBe 🥰

Hiding in plain sight getting harder.

Here's a question, though. If an individual were turned off by this Biden admin statement so much so that they no longer wanted to vote for him, is the alternative candidate really someone they'd perceive as more trustworthy? If their predilection for Biden were in fact eroded over this issue, maybe they'd just not vote at all which is in effect similar to voting for the alternative.   I agree the public needs clarification on this. Especially the facts on how uncommon trans minor surgery actually is & what trans youth healthcare actually entails. I'd like to see the Biden admin state what they DO support with respect to trans youth and the trans population at large. The present concern here seems to be the optics of this statement and the further ignorance is has the potential to inflame.

@Mirrabooka - agree - I have all 3 of the Ace albums and love all 3.

Are you happy now or do you still have fears that rule your inner peace?

More integration inside is happening now.

A Gentle Practice for Opening Up to Painful Emotions   A Gentle Practice for Opening Up to Painful Emotion Noticing any of these kinds of reactivities coming up for you, you can, as always, just take a few deep and conscious breaths. And as you do so, you’re turning your attention in a very purposeful way toward these sensations that are coming up for you beneath the breath and in the body.  Taking a long, slow breath in, and a gentle, even longer breath out. Continue to follow the flow of your breathing as best you can, resting your attention there. On an in-breath, breathe in for a count of four. Hold your breath for a count of seven, and then release for a count of eight. We’re doing the four, seven, eight cycle here. So on the next in-breath, breathe in for four counts, hold for seven counts, and then release for eight counts. Repeat that four, seven, eight cycle of breathing in and out one or two times. Breathing out through the mouth, if at all possible. Now settle into a natural rhythm and as best you can, maintain awareness of the quality of your breath—in and out. And rest as best you can, along the river of these sensations, resting in the long, broad, and deep now. As you rest, gently call to mind your desire and the will you have inside yourself for peace that begins with you. For well-being that begins right here, right now, in your own body and being and spirit, for justice that begins here. Perhaps on the next in-breath, consciously focus on the love and compassion that exists in your own heart. The peace that can begin with you right now—extending through you, right now. As you breathe in, bring greater awareness to this love. This warm, loving softness within you. Or other characteristics that you sense in your own experience, other ways you would describe your own warming heart and the will in your heart for justice and positive social community, for global change. As much as possible, allow yourself to completely feel the compassion in your being for everyone who’s suffering—obviously in a way that includes you, includes all of us. And particularly those who are suffering the most in your community and in the world right now, wherever they may be. So as you breathe in and out, breathing in the sense of awareness of the love in your heart, and breathing out very consciously, sending loving support toward all those you believe to be in need of it in this very moment. Breathe in a sense of your own loving heart and what is well within you, and while breathing out, gently extending the wish for well-being from your own head to toe, and flowing out through you, to the communities you meet and touch and work with. And out as far as my reach can go, circling the globe. As you bring this meditation gently to a close, take a moment to appreciate all that you are, all that you do. The body that is carrying you through this very life in all its perfect imperfections—just as you are.  Call forth an intention for staying grounded and holding with grace, your spirit, your being, and your energy for the work today.

Well, the arcade has come to a close.  I tried to sell the full cabinets, but no one seemed interested, so I disassembled them a couple days ago.  I'll try to hang onto the control boards in my next life venture.

This move by the Biden administration concerns only 1%–2% of youth surgeries, so why would they risk alienating the many votes of the whole supportive LGBT+ community for this? Biden's main problem with his own voters is that he often refuses to stand up and advocate for his own principles—that's why his support is so soft. But he's just done that again. Perhaps the backlash from this new ruling will turn him back towards better support, but how can we trust him? How? There's this: Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson issued a strong rebuke on Tuesday of the Biden-Harris administration’s position opposing gender affirming surgeries for minors. The New York Times reported on June 28 that the White House, which broadly supports making medical interventions available for transgender youth, had expressed opposition to surgeries for patients under 18, having previously declined to take a specific position on the question. “Health care decisions for young people belong between a patient, their family, and their health care provider. Trans youth are no exception,” Robinson responded.    Wake up, Biden! Stand up or lose your base votes to an insane fascist.