Radical Republicans and their culture war agenda is focused on demonizing children and women based upon their sex. They have an unnatural fear of sex and sexualty. It comes from a twisted brand of fundamentalist religion pushed by Cathi Herrod at the Center for Arizona Policy, the unofficial and unelected “31st Senator” of the Arizona legislature.
If you want to break this evil woman’s stranglehold over the Arizona legislature, you have to elect more Democrats to give them control of the Arizona legislature for the first time since 1966 (you read that right). Democrats will kick her to the curb.
Courthouse News Service reports, Transgender and abortion bills highlight growing division of Arizona lawmakers:
Highlighting growing political divisions and controversy in Arizona — and around the nation — a Republican-controlled legislative committee voted Wednesday to approve two transgender-focused bills and one abortion bill.
Senate Bill 1165, “Save Women’s Sports Act,” looks at limiting the ability of transgender youths to play sports of their chosen gender.
Proponents of the act say transgender women would dominate women’s sports based on several biological factors.
“I love competition; allowing males to compete against females takes away the fairness of competition in female athletes,” said state Representative Quang Nguyen, R- Prescott, reading a statement from one of his constituents. “Why compete when you know you’re already defeated before you even start? Allowing males to compete with female athletics is stealing wins, opportunities and dreams from female athletes.”
Opponents of the act say it is offensive to classify transgender women as physically superior.
“The notion that all people born male are automatically great athletes above all other athletes is wildly offensive and laughable,” said state Representative Jennifer Pawlik, D-Chandler, reading a statement from one of her constituents. “Muscle fiber typing genetics, nutrition, cross-training, understanding the rules, overall build and mental game are some of the multitudes of variables that go into making an athlete. These vary person to person regardless of their genitals.”
As Laurie Roberts wrote earlier this year when this bill was introduced, Bill to ban transgender girls from playing sports solves a problem Arizona doesn’t have:
The Arizona Legislature has, at long last, solved the most pressing problem facing Arizona’s schools.
No, not the fact that Arizona ranks 48th in teacher pay and, not surprisingly, continues to struggle to attract and keep teachers.
Instead, our leaders are devoting their energies to the vital work of deciding who can play girls’ grade school intramural volleyball and high school softball and such.
Senate Bill 1165 stands as proof that our leaders must have fixed all that ails Arizona’s schools and indeed all the major problems confronting this state and now are onto the problems that actually aren’t.
Problems in Arizona, that is.
[T]he GOP-controlled Arizona Legislature feels compelled to legislate a one-size-fits-all approach.
SB 1165 would bar any transgender girl from playing on any girls’ team at a public school or any private school that competes against public schools. They’d be banned even from playing girls’ intramural sports.
So here’s where Republican legislators offer the many examples of Arizona transgender children who are trampling the dreams of their teammates.
…….
…….
OK, so there aren’t any.
Perhaps it’s because the Arizona Interscholastic Association already has the issue handled, deciding on a case-by-case basis whether transgender student athletes can play on high school teams.
Transgender athletes are required to apply to play on a team that conforms with their gender identity. They must explain their “gender story, including age at emerging awareness of incongruence between sex assigned at birth and gender identity and where the student is in the gender transition process.”
They also must submit letters of support from a parent, a school administrator and a doctor. Their application must then be approved by the AIA’s Sports Medicine Advisory Committee and by the AIA’s executive board.
In all, about a dozen transgender athletes have applied to compete over the last 10 to 12 years, according to AIA lobbyist Barry Aarons. Seven have been approved.
None have posed a problem.
You know what [the real] problem is? Suicide rates among transgender teens, struggling to figure out how and where they fit in. [Where is your Christian compassion and understanding now, you heretics?]
More than half of all transgender and nonbinary youth in the U.S. seriously contemplated killing themselves in 2020, according to The Trevor Project’s third annual National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health.
It’s tough enough to be a kid. Add in the rejection, the isolation and the bullying of classmates and of politicians who spend a fair amount of time worrying about where you go to the bathroom or what uniform you’re wearing, and I imagine it’s a fairly crushing experience.
Transgender parents on Thursday pleaded with legislators not to bar their children from playing on teams with their friends.
“This is her life,” one mother said of her 10-year-old transgender daughter, “and I know she’s going to face other challenges. Playing sports with other girls should not be one of them.”
“You’re putting all these kids at risk,” warned another, who has a 17-year-old trans daughter. “You don’t understand how hard we’re fighting just to keep our kids alive.”
Ten [Republican] states have laws that bar transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports.
Add in an 11th, if this bill passes.
[It’s] worth noting that just 7% of high school athletes go on to compete in college and only 2% compete at a Division I school, according to the NCAA.
Imagine penalizing little kids because one day they might – might – grow up to be among the 2%?
Senate Bill 1138, “Arizona’s Children Deserve Help Not Harm Act,” addresses the legality of gender reassignment treatment by doctors.
The bill’s detractors say it takes away from personal liberties and insults the practice doctors uphold.
“I oppose this bill that essentially dictates medical care and inserts politics into the exam room and patient-family relationships,” [just like abortion] said Dr. Atsuko Koyama, a board-certified pediatric medicine specialist, during public comments. “In medicine, we believe in updating and improving our standards of care based on medical research, expert opinion and patient-centered care. We don’t need legislators to dictate medical management, and this is what SB 1138 does. It’s unnecessary.”
Proponents of the bill say children with gender dysphoria regret their decisions to transition later down the road.
“Studies have shown that the so-called gender reassignment surgery does not improve mental health or lower the suicide rates among those traveling with gender identity conflict,” said Cathi Herrod of the Center for Arizona Policy during public comments. “A major study in Sweden revealed that 10 to 15 years out the suicide rate of those who had undergone sex reassignment surgery was 20 times that of comparable female peers.” [Anything this woman says is automatically suspect as false.]
Both bills passed 6-4 along party lines despite Democratic objections. The bills will be read by the House as a whole one final time before being sent to the governor for his signature.
The committee also voted along party lines Wednesday to pass Senate Bill 1164, [a trigger law] which would greenlight felony charges against doctors who perform an abortion after 15 weeks except in the case of an emergency.
If enacted, this law is unenforceable because it is currently unconstitutional. But this trigger law would automatically go into effect if the landmark case of Roe v. Wade is overturned this year by the radical Republican Supreme Court in the Mississippi case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – a 15 week ban on abortion on which this bill is modeled after. There are no exceptions for rape or incest in this bill.
The controversial bill will move to the entire House floor for its final read before sending it to the governor. If passed, it’ll be one of many recent laws across the nation that has publicly challenged the precedent of the 1973 Supreme Court holding in Roe v. Wade.
The last time the Supreme Court took a challenge to Roe occurred in the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v. Casey. There, the justices ruled 5-4 to keep Roe largely intact.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who has supported all Republican-led abortion bills, is expected to sign the bill if passed. [Cathi Herrod was an advisor on his campaign team in his first run for governor.]
Ducey leaves office Jan. 1, 2023. The leading gubernatorial candidates took to Twitter to discuss their stances on the controversial bill.
“As governor, I would not only veto this extremist bill, I would also trust Arizona women to make health care decisions alongside doctors, not politicians,” said Democratic gubernatorial candidate and current Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.
The leading GOP candidate [is she really?], Kari Lake, took a hardline stance by replying to Hobbs directly.
“Killing a baby in the mother’s womb is not health care, Katie,” Lake said.
Yet another fetus fetish Republican. They love the fetus, but once a baby leaves the womb, their attitude immediately changes to “you’re on your own baby!” No state aid for healthcare, early childhood development, day care or parental leave, education, safe housing or even enough food to eat. Children are just moochers.
Contact your House members and demand that they vote against these radical, extremist, hateful bills.