Trans Kids Are Amazing!

If you know any trans children you will know that they are amazing! You can see the changes in them as they become the person that they really are, a number of years ago there was an article in Tapestry called “Learning to See: A Mother’s Journey”  the story tells of a mother who finds out that her “son” is a trans. The boy is diagnosed with ADD and is having academic  problems in school, is becoming withdrawn and is on a downward spiral, but once she transitioned everything changed for the better. In a video that I use in my classroom lesson a child is taking 14 different meds a day to get by each day but once she transitioned the number of meds she is taken dropped to zero!

In adults their transition also brings about radical changes for the better. Suicides are reduced, drug and alcohol dependency drops, anti-social behaviors declines. If you know a trans person their transition brings about amazing changes. My brother saw a change for the better with me before I came out to him as trans, he could almost pinpoint the date that I attended my first support group, he didn’t what happened then but when I came out to him he could see the change in me. When I came out to my cousins one of my cousins wrote,

The last time we saw you was at your father's funeral. It was actually the first time in my memory that we had spent any real time together. I remarked to [to her husband] as we were leaving  what a warm and charming host you were and how sorry I was that I never knew you well. Now I understand better why. Thank you for sharing your story with us. I, in turn, shared your letter with my children who, as parents themselves, need to be reminded of the importance of accepting their children as they are. whatever their differences may be.   To see from another person's  point of view is always enlightening. We  admire your courage and rejoice in your new life.

A trans person’s transition is a medical necessary, all the medical and mental healthcare professional associations endorse transitioning for children and adults, but the courts are another matter when it comes to healthcare.

Federal judge issues injunction against Obama administration abortion, transgender regulations
Washington Post
By David Weigel
December 31, 2016

A federal judge in Texas handed a victory to conservatives Saturday, issuing a temporary injunction to stop an Obama administration regulation that would prevent discrimination in health care on the basis of “gender identity” and “termination of pregnancy.”

U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas by President George W. Bush, sided with conservative plaintiffs who argued that the administration's rule violated religious freedom. In his opinion, first published by BuzzFeed's Chris Geidner, O'Connor argued that the conservatives had shown that the ruling would harm them, and that the administration lacked a basis for its definition of gender identity.

“The government's usage of the term sex in the years since Title IX's enactment bolsters the conclusion that its common meaning in 1972 and 2010 referred to the binary, biological differences between males and females,” O'Connor wrote. “Prior to the passage of the ACA in 2010 and for more than forty years after the passage of Title IX in 1972, no federal court or agency had concluded sex should be defined to include gender identity.”

And in Wisconsin

Wisconsin would scrap transgender health benefits for state employees following legal actions
Madison.com
By Jessie Opoien The Capital Times
December 31, 2016

Gender reassignment surgery and related gender identity services will be covered by insurance for transgender state employees in Wisconsin starting Jan. 1, but that coverage would be taken away if a series of legal developments occur.

The board overseeing state employees’ health benefits voted 7-2 Friday evening to reinstate exclusions in coverage for gender identity services, including counseling and gender reassignment surgery, as long as four contingencies are met.

The Group Insurance Board met late Friday afternoon to discuss how coverage for state employees may be affected by the upcoming ruling in a federal lawsuit filed in Texas by several health care providers and states including Wisconsin. The lawsuit opposes a federal rule that bans health care providers from discriminating on the basis of gender identity.

Deputy Commissioner of Insurance J.P. Wieske told members of the board it is the position of Gov. Scott Walker and his legal counsel that the rule was illegally implemented and violates the U.S. Constitution.
[…]
After more than three hours of deliberation in closed session, the board voted to remove the transgender benefits if four contingencies are met: a court ruling or an administrative action that invalidates the federal HHS rule, compliance with state law, renegotiation of contracts that maintain or reduce premium costs for the state and a final opinion from the state DOJ that says removing the benefits does not violate the board's fiduciary duties.

The assault on our health care has begun. What healthcare providers deem as medically necessary politics overrule.