This meme is making the rounds of Facebook, purporting to show how concerned conservatives are about kids.
The meme is nonsense, of course. it assumes that there are these nefarious forces “corrupting children” and convincing them to question their gender identity. The science says otherwise, that even young children can experience “gender dysphoria,” or “the feeling of discomfort or distress that might occur in people whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth or sex-related physical characteristics.” Not all transgender and gender-nonconforming people feel this, but many do, and many who are trans gender-nonconforming know it at a young age.
Many conservatives don’t see it this way, and many others are just confused and scared, lacking experience with the issue. Political forces on the right are hoping to use this to their advantage and, in states run by Republicans, they have trans youth in their cross hairs. They are using anti-transgender legislation to wage a new culture war, targeting kids and their parents, and attempting to place legitimate medical care out of their reach.
I write about the issue in the current issue of The Progressive Populist.
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