FOR THE SAKE OF CHILDREN

Did You know?

6 of the US states still have no hard minimum age requirement for marriage.

Some states are pushing to ease child labour laws, including the elimination of parental consent requirements.

State anti-drag laws are being tabled or passed targeting drag performers, that are likely to equally affect trans and non-binary people of all ages, as well as the LGBTQ community writ large in those states.

Several states have enacted or proposed outright bans on gender-affirming and often lifesaving care for minors, even going so far as to criminalize the procurement and provision of such care as child abuse. Some of these bills also allow educators to misgender students, and prohibit them from any discussion of gender or sexual identity.

Why should you care?

Find out more below...

Child Marriage

Child Marriage

Currently, 6 of the US states still have no hard minimum age requirement for marriage, most of these allowing exceptions for parental/guardian consent. Only 7 states have hard limits set at 18 without exception.

The balance allow minors of anywhere between as young as 15 to 17 to marry with parental consent, although a handful also require a judicial approval. What all these “exceptions” have in common is the possibility of denying agency to these minors, especially girls, being forced into marriages that will likely impact their lives in a very negative way.

They are more likely to :

become pregnant at an age where the risk of complications during pregnancy and at childbirth is significantly higher for them than their more mature counterparts;

• forego continuing education, ultimately limiting their economic prospects and possibility for independent living;

• live in isolation, and oftentimes without being able to legally extricate themselves until they turn 18, as in many of these states, minors cannot contract beyond employment and the “necessities of life", so in order to obtain a legal divorce, again, parental/guardian consent is required;

• when intimate partner violence occurs, to be turned away by many shelters, for fear of running afoul of state “runaway” laws.

Child Labour

Federal labour laws in the US impose blanket restrictions on the employment of minors regarding maximum hours and types of work. The manner in which these laws are administered however, varies from state to state.

Most states require work permits for anyone under 18, and these permits usually require attestation of parental or guardian consent. Over the last decade, many states have slowly softened labour laws when it comes to child labour. Some of the easing includes lowering minimum ages, increasing the maximum allowable hours set by the state, and eliminating work permits for some minors. In an effort to make these erosions more palatable, some of these states have even resorted to eliminating the words “child labor laws” in their legislative language, in favour of euphemisms like “youth employment laws”.

And now, in the endless pursuit of power, privilege, and exploitation, some states are pushing the agenda of doing away with parental consent in many areas that are at the states’ discretion. On March 7th, 2023, Arkansas signed into law a bill that effectively does just that by removing the requirement for work permits for minors. It stands to reason that such laws will likely lead to the exploitation of socio-economically disadvantaged youth, and further perpetuate that cycle for their subsequent generations.

Anti-Drag Laws

Signed March 2 in Nashville, Senate Bill 3, also known as the Tennessee drag ban, prohibits public "adult cabaret performance" in the state, defining the latter as “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest, or similar entertainers, regardless of whether or not performed for consideration”. On the surface, the wording itself might appear innocuous enough, however, one has to consider that the previous iteration of the bill sought to define any and all drag performances as appealing to a prurient interest, by placing them in the same category as “go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers”, ostensibly to “protect children from adult-oriented performances”. Many of the lawmakers that support and promote such legislation consider all drag to be sexual in nature. These bills are intentionally being worded to skirt constitutional scrutiny, while providing enough room for interpretation as to be abused by law enforcement to target and harass the LGBT community, especially drag performers, trans people and gender non-conforming individuals of any age, of course…”for the sake of the children”. Such bans are being considered in a dozen other states, with very similar wording.

Does anyone remember that, SCOTUS, as recently as 1986 upheld the constitutionality of “anti-sodomy “laws? Such laws remained on the books for many years subsequent to that ruling and were often used as cudgels to specifically target same-sex couples, in an effort to closet them out of existence. There is every reason to believe that these recent laws will be used in like manner.

Denial of gender-affirming care

As mentioned in a previous Amazon Times article, over 100 bills have been tabled in the 2023 legislative session attempting to restrict or ban gender-affirming care for minors. Such bills have already been signed into law in 8 states. The rhetoric from proponents of these bills would have everyone believe that scores of thousands of pre-pubescent girls and boys are being prescribed hormones and hormone blockers at the drop of a hat, and undergoing top and bottom surgeries – what they refer to as “mutilations” - before even entering high school. Meanwhile, in the real world, the only “transition” these young people undergo is social...i.e. changing name and pronouns and how they “present”, in order to allow them to live their authentic gender identities. The notion that all these pre-pubescent children are undergoing anything beyond that is patently absurd, and anyone who says otherwise is being untruthful or is willfully ignorant.

The standard of care for young trans people requires an interdisciplinary approach to the care of transgender patients, where a team of gender specialist MDs and mental health professionals painstakingly assess the person and determine the best course of action for that individual. Normal puberty entails many permanent changes, and others that can be reversed or mitigated only via specialized (read expensive) procedures, many of which are not covered by any public or private insurance program. If a patient presents before puberty, puberty-blockers, which have been used safely for decades in precocious puberty, are prescribed in order to delay the onset of puberty, thus allowing the patient, their family, and their medical team more time to determine whether medical transition is truly the right course of action; if it is, hormone-blocker and cross-sex hormone therapies may be prescribed in order to help align the transgender patient with their gender identity. Finally, top and bottom surgeries may be performed to further the patient’s alignment; it should be noted however that in some instances, the costs such therapies and procedures must be covered out-of-pocket, which can be quite prohibitive. In cases where the patient decides they don’t wish to continue in their transition, getting off puberty blockers triggers the normally expected hormonal changes, and puberty resumes its course with no ill-effects.

Currently, several states have enacted or proposed outright bans on gender-affirming and often lifesaving care, even going so far as to criminalize the procurement and provision of such care, trumpeting that it's “for the sake of the children”. Most recently, on March 16th 2023, the Kentucky legislature passed a bill that prohibits transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers, hormones and hormone blockers; additionally, the bill allows educators to misgender students and prohibits school staff from discussing gender or sexual identity with students of any age.

The Bottom line (the Hypocritical Oath)

The above touches on but a few examples, to highlight the insane hypocrisy of certain lawmakers, political elements and their supporters, who are willing to actively disregard child lives when it’s expedient for them to do so. They claim to be looking out for the children. They claim to value life. Sadly, it seems their concern and compassion exist -IF AND ONLY IF- THEY get to choose which ones, and dictate the manner in which those lives are lived.