Tag: lgbt

At Least 3,000 Medical Professionals Sue U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over Transgender Mandate

Amanda Casanova – September 1, 2021

Some 3,000 medical professionals involved in two different associations and a Tennessee doctor have filed a lawsuit against the “Transgender Mandate,” a law that they say violates federal conscience protection laws.

Dr. Jeanie Dassow of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the American College of Pediatricians and the Catholic Medical Association filed the suit last week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

The “Transgender Mandate,” part of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, bars sex discrimination and requires doctors to perform elective gender-transition procedures, such as cosmetic procedures, double mastectomies, phalloplasties and orchiectomies, The Christian Post reports.

The suit names the defendants as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, the HHS Office for Civil Rights; and Robinsue Frohboese, acting director and principal deputy in the HHS Office of Civil Rights.

“This case challenges whether the federal government can make medical doctors perform gender-transition surgeries, prescribe gender-transition drugs, and speak and write about patients according to gender identity, rather than biological reality – regardless of doctors’ medical judgment or conscientious objections,” the lawsuit said.

Doctors say the HHS rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment’s Free Speech and Free Exercise of Religion Clauses.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Ryan Bangert said in a statement that the law allows “HHS to grossly overreach its authority.”

The HHS announced a revised interpretation of the statute in May. The law was first implemented by HHS under former President Barack Obama in 2016. Former President Donald Trump repealed the mandate in 2018 before it was announced again in May.

https://www.christianheadlines.com

Transgender Surgeries Surged During Pandemic as All Other Health Care Fell Dramatically

Dr. Susan Berry – August 19, 2021

The American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS) released its first report outlining statistics for “gender confirmation surgeries,” one that reveals a double-digit increase in transgender surgeries in 2020, even as all other healthcare services dropped dramatically because of the coronavirus pandemic’s restrictions.

“Despite the pandemic and its accompanying difficulties, the report shows a double-digit increase of 12 percent in [transgender] procedures performed from 2019 to 2020,” ASPS noted in a report published at the end of July on surgeries performed by its member surgeons in 2020.

Elective mastectomies for “trans male patients,” i.e., biological women who identify as men, saw a 15 percent increase from 2019 to 2020, and “trans female” facial and breast surgeries similarly jumped 14 percent.

ASPS member Loren Schechter, M.D., said it should not be surprising to see double-digit increases in elective double mastectomies and other transgender surgeries during a pandemic.

“I think the trend line over the last eight to 10 years has been an increase in the number of individuals seeking surgery – across most types of procedures,” Schechter said, suggesting that COVID-19 presented a “confounding” issue, with various restrictions on surgeries.

“Some of the more complex surgeries, which required longer inpatient stays, like the male bottom surgeries, were down – not necessarily because of interest, but practical issues related to COVID-19,” Schechter added.

https://www.breitbart.com

‘Utter woke insanity’: Social media users blast ‘sick’ new Scottish rules that allow FOUR-YEAR OLDS to declare ‘gender identity’

RT – August 13, 2021

The Scottish government has kicked off a storm on social media after issuing “deeply disturbing” LGBT inclusivity guidelines that allow children as young as four to change their gender and name at school without parental consent.

In the 70-page document, issued to schools across the country on Thursday, teachers are instructed not to question students who declare that they are transgender or tell them “it’s just a phase”. Instead, they are urged to “be affirming” of the students’ feelings.

Other “tips” for teachers include asking these students “what name and pronoun” they would prefer to be addressed by and to check if that is “all the time or in certain circumstances”.

As well, teachers are encouraged to “ask reflective questions that allow young people to express themselves, explore their gender identity and identify their needs”.

Stating that it is possible for students to “come out” as transgender “at any age and to varying degrees”, the guidance – which applies from primary schools on up – claimed that “recognition and development of gender identity can occur at a young age” and should be respected.

Schools can do this by giving trans students the option to use whichever toilet and changing room they prefer, instituting “gender neutral” uniform options, putting up classroom posters that challenge gender stereotypes, and including notable transgender role models and personalities in lesson plans and reading materials.

According to The Telegraph, the recommending reading list for primary school students includes books about a blue crayon with an identity crisis because it was mistakenly labelled as red and another about a primary schooler who has “a girl brain but a boy body” and says “pretending [to be] a boy felt like telling a lie” till an “amazing day” when she was medically diagnosed as transgender.

The guidelines also state that children can informally tell others they want to use a different name, and schools do not need to officially record this. As well, it has been deemed “best to not share information with parents” since “inadvertent disclosure” may create “needless stress” and added “risk” for the student.

https://www.rt.com

Judge rejects religious freedom argument, rules school was justified in forcing out Christian teacher who refused to use students’ transgender pronouns

Phil Shiver – July 15, 2021

A federal judge in Indianapolis this week rejected an argument based on a Christian teacher’s religious liberty rights by ruling that a school was justified in forcing him to comply with the school’s transgender-affirming agenda or else resign.

Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana sided against 30-year-old John Kluge, a former orchestra teacher who claimed that in 2018 he was discriminated against by being forced to resign for refusing to refer to students by their preferred gender pronouns.

In a ruling issued on Monday, Magnus-Stinson concluded that Brownsburg Community School Corporation could not accommodate Kluge’s “religious beliefs without sustaining undue hardship,” and so it was justified in overriding his constitutional freedoms.

In support of her decision, the judge argued that Kluge’s “religious opposition to transgenderism is directly at odds with [the district’s] policy of respect for transgender students, which is grounded in supporting and affirming those students.”

She added that a public school “has an obligation to meet the needs of all of its students, not just a majority of students or the students that were unaware of or unbothered by Mr. Kluge’s practice of using last names only.”

Kluge taught orchestra at the school from 2014 to 2018, when he resigned over the transgender-affirming policies, WISH-TV reported.

According to court filings, the controversy began at the end of the 2016-2017 school year, when faculty at the school heard a presentation on “what it means to be transgender and how teachers can encourage and support transgender students.”

Soon after, the school adopted policies to promote transgenderism, one of which was the requirement that faculty and staff refer to transgender students by their preferred pronouns.

But Kluge indicated to school administrators that due to his religious beliefs he would not be able to comply with the new policy.

https://www.theblaze.com

UK-based Methodist Church votes to approve gay marriage, recognize cohabitating couples

Michael Gryboski – June 30, 2021

The Methodist Church of the United Kingdom passed resolutions to approve the blessing of same-sex unions and recognize cohabitating couples.

The London-based Methodist Conference announced Wednesday that it has voted to confirm the resolutions at its gathering held in Birmingham.

“A report on marriage and relationships, ‘God in Love Unites Us’, was received by the Conference in 2019 and the local District Synods were asked to consider the provisional resolutions and report back to this year’s Conference,” a statement detailed.

“The Conference received a report on the results of the local conferring which showed that 29 out of the 30 Synods confirmed support for the provisional resolutions.”

The conference voted 256-45 to allow its ministers to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies and for churches to be locations for such services.

The Rev. Sonia Hicks, the conference’s new president, said in a statement that the debate over the resolutions “has been conducted with grace and mutual respect.”

“As we move forward together after this historic day for our Church, we must remember to continue to hold each other in prayer, and to support each other respecting our differences,” Hicks said.

Regarding cohabitation, the conference approved a resolution stating that it “recognises that the love of God is present” either “through informal cohabitation or a more formal commitment entered into publicly.”

https://www.christianpost.com

Will there be another EU ‘exit’ – over homosexuality?

Patrick J. Buchanan – July 1, 2021

Respect LGBT rights or get out of the EU, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte instructed Hungary’s Viktor Orban at last week’s gathering of the European Union in Brussels.

According to Reuters, attendees described it as the “most intense personal clash among the bloc’s leaders in years.”

What caused the clash?

Hungary just passed a law that bans schools from using materials seen as pro-homosexuality. According to the AP, the new law “prohibits sharing content on homosexuality or sex reassignment to people under 18 in school sex education programs, films or advertisements.”

Rutte eagerly related details of his confrontation with Orban: “It was really forceful, a deep feeling that this could not be. It was about our values; this is what we stand for.”

“I said, ‘Stop this; you must withdraw the law, and if you don’t like that and really say that the European values are not your values, then you must think about whether to remain in the European Union.'”

Orban calls himself a freedom fighter and defender of traditional Catholic values who believes in democracy but not liberalism: “The Hungarian nation is not a mere pile of individuals.”

https://www.wnd.com

Watch: Child Being ‘Brainwashed’ to Recite ‘GayBCs’ Draws Serious Concerns

Christian News – March 2, 2021

A disturbing video that has surfaced online has many raising concerns over the sexualization of children by those pushing a homosexual agenda. In the now viral video, a seemingly special needs child is sitting on the lap of a woman reading through a book called “The GayBCs” as the boy recites letters of the alphabet that are identified with sexual terms.

While it is unclear where the video was recorded, or who the woman is, the boy is seen reading and reciting from the book while being encouraged by the unidentified woman whose lap he is sitting on as he turns the pages and reads.

“B is for bi,” the boy states. “C is for coming out,” “I is for intersex,” and “Q is for queer” are some of the other recitations in the recording.

“The GayBCs,” the book which the child was believed to be reading from, was authored by Matt Webb in 2019. Webb, who is also a graphic designer and illustrator, created the sexual-themed book in order to allow children between the ages of 4 and 8 to begin to dialogue about “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” early on in their lives, according to an article published by the Chicago Tribune when the book was released.

The video was shared by conservative blogger Matt Walsh, a Catholic, who cited that the “LGBT Left is brainwashing children.”

https://christiannews.net

Dem. governor halts Kansas effort to protect female sports

AP- May 3, 2021

TOPEKA, Kan. (May 3, 2021) — Conservative Republican legislators in Kansas failed Monday to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a proposed ban on transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s school sports.

The Senate’s vote to override Kelly was 26-14, leaving backers of the measure one short of the necessary two-thirds majority and blocking an attempt in the House. The outcome was in doubt until the only Democrat to waver on voting against the override, Sen. David Haley, of Kansas City, cast his no vote.

More than 20 states have considered such proposals this year, as Republican lawmakers have pressed the issue. Idaho enacted such a law last year, and bans were enacted this year in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and West Virginia. Florida lawmakers passed a bill, and South Dakota’s governor issued an executive order.

Kelly called the Kansas measure “regressive,” said it would send a message that Kansas was not a welcoming place and predicted it would hurt the state’s attempts to recruit businesses.

The bill’s supporters said they were trying to protect fair competition in women’s sports and preserve hard-won opportunities for female athletes, such as college scholarships.

https://onenewsnow.com

Former Students Sue to Force LGBT Orthodoxy on Christian Colleges

Tyler O’Neil – March 31, 2021</s

When five unelected super-legislators on the Supreme Court unilaterally amended the Constitution to legalize same-sex marriage in 2015, Chief Justice John Roberts warned that the ruling would pose “hard questions” about the freedom of religious colleges to operate according to their convictions. Former Solicitor General Donald Verrilli said, “It will be an issue.” This week, Roberts’ warning has come to pass, and the time in which Verrilli’s “issue” comes to the fore is now.

On Monday, 33 current and former students at federally-funded Christian colleges and universities launched a historic attack on religious freedom by filing a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Education (DoE). The lawsuit, Hunter et al. v. Department of Education, claims that the DoE violated the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution by granting religious exemptions to Christian institutions that allegedly “discriminate” against “sexual and gender minorities.”

“The religious exemption to Title IX impermissibly burdens the fundamental marriage rights of same-sex couples seeking to attend taxpayer funded religious educational institutions that prohibit their marriages,” the lawsuit, filed by the Religious Exemption Accountability Project, alleges. “When sincerely held religious beliefs become enacted as school policies that harm LGBTQ+ students at taxpayer-funded colleges and universities, the necessary consequence is that the U.S. Department of Education has put its imprimatur on an exclusion that demeans and stigmatizes sexual and gender minorities.”

“The federal government cannot claim a legitimate governmental interest in furthering discrimination that harms sexual and gender minority students,” the lawsuit adds.

https://pjmedia.com

Biological male wins female beauty pageant in Nevada

Phil Shiver – March 18, 2021

A transgender person is now one step closer to being crowned Miss USA.

Kataluna Enriquez, a biological male, won the Miss Silver State USA pageant this week, an event considered the biggest preliminary competition for the Miss Nevada USA pageant, KVVU-TV reported.

The outlet called it a “monumental win” for Enriquez, who will now move on to the statewide competition in the pageant circuit that leads to Miss USA and, eventually, the Miss Universe competition.

The pageants, collectively run by the Miss Universe Organization, were once owned by former President Donald Trump and are widely recognized for awarding among the most coveted crowns in the pageant world.

In an interview with the local news outlet after the victory, Enriquez called the experience “a celebration of womanhood and diversity and this celebration of being your true self.”

https://www.theblaze.com