In better times, we cold have entitled this entry "Transgenderism Causes Cancer!" It would have been obvious to community members, regular readers and even some drive-bys that it was a joke. These days?
These days, failed former Congress member and successful hate merchant Tulsi Gabbard will probably be doing a video about how, "According to a research paper that was recently published to the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, transgender people have greater rates of prostate cancer!"
Why?
Because she's a liar and an idiot -- see Thursday's Iraq snapshot. Because she doesn't know how to read and isn't interested in reading.
JAMA has published another letter (online, it's not in print yet). And Tulsi's probably eager to distort it and try to tack on lies that she'll then 'source' to a UCLA study that she won't specify.
The letter's about early research on prostate cancer and transgender women. The small sample that was reviewed was from VA records and we'll note this part of the letter:
This case series demonstrated that prostate cancer occurs in transgender women and is not as rare as published case reports might suggest. However, rates were lower than expected based on prior prostate cancer incidence estimates in cisgender male veterans.4 Using data from 2005 to 2019,4 the age-weighted cisgender mean number of cases was 331 per 100 000 in 2011 (median year of transgender identity entry in the VA2). Given estimates of 10 000 transgender women in the VA,2 33 cases per year would be expected. Instead, only about 14 per year were observed. Lower rates may stem from less PSA screening owing to barriers including lack of prostate cancer risk awareness or stigma,5 the suppressive effects of estrogen on prostate cancer development, or prostate cancers being missed in transgender women because of misinterpretation of “normal” PSA levels among those receiving gender-affirming hormone therapies.
Although limited numbers precluded formal statistical comparisons, transgender women receiving estrogen at diagnosis had the most aggressive disease (highest PSA density and proportion of biopsy grade group 5), suggesting delayed diagnosis or early selection of cancer cells resistant to androgen deprivation, which tend to be more aggressive. Among transgender women, 25% overall and 35% receiving estrogen had biopsy grade group 4 or 5 vs only 16% among cisgender male veterans.6 Only 8% of transgender women with prostate cancer vs 29% of cisgender male veterans with prostate cancer were Black,6 suggesting additional disparities at the intersection of race and gender identity.
Limitations include being a case series without a formal comparison group, restriction to the VA population, and the inability to access records outside the VA unless documented in notes, which may have underestimated prostate cancer numbers. Associations between characteristics such as estrogen use and markers of disease severity may reflect selection on disease diagnosis (an index event). Future work is needed to optimize prostate cancer detection strategies in transgender women.
Tulsi Gabbard and her fellow hate merchants should have to pay for what they're doing and the lives they're destroying. That's especially true of her 'gal pals' Moms for Liberty. John Russell (LGBTQ NATION) notes David Gilberts' VICE report zooming in on the story of one son and one mother:
After Tony’s mental health began a precipitous decline—he reportedly stopped playing baseball, locked himself in his bedroom, and engaged in self-harm—Carolyn briefly consented to allowing him to undergo counseling with the local chapter of LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Rainbow Youth Project.
At the same time, however, Carolyn contacted Moms for Liberty after learning about the anti-LGBTQ+ group on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show. For months, the group reportedly bombarded Carolyn with anti-LGBTQ+ misinformation, convincing her that Rainbow Youth Project would “convince Tony to have his private parts removed and changed.”
When Carolyn pulled her son out of counseling with the group, Tony told her, “Mom, you just killed me.” He attempted suicide that same day.
Carolyn continued to engage with Moms for Liberty, receiving a visit from a member of the group’s Austin, Texas chapter who suggested that she sue Rainbow Youth Project for “damaging” her son. Tony’s mental health continued to decline, and a second suicide attempt followed.
“They were trying to indoctrinate me to be a foot soldier for their cause,” Carolyn now says of Moms for Liberty. “Looking back, it was never about Tony. It was about them.”
Crushingly, Tony says that his experience is not unique. He says he knows of at least four other young people who participated in a Rainbow Youth Project virtual peer group “that have been through exactly what I have been, where Moms for Liberty and Fox News have totally pulled their parents into this same trap my mom went through.”
Carolyn now holds Moms for Liberty partially responsible for what the now 19-year-old Tony went through after she found him unconscious on his bedroom floor, overdosing. “I’m responsible because I was literally putting him second to all of this, for lack of a better term, bulls**t, that they were giving to me, and I will never do that again. Ever,” she says.
“They are preying on people and when you have a question and you’re trying to save your kid, they took advantage of me and I honestly believe they do that with other parents.”
The hate merchants are ruining lives, destroying families. They need to be called out. For those not familiar with the hate mob Moms for Liberty, GLAAD notes:
Moms For Liberty was founded in January 2021 claiming it will “organize, educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights.” This advocacy has included calls for book bans, classroom censorship and bans on teaching about slavery, race, racism and LGBTQ people and history. (Pictured above from left to right: Tiffany Justice, Tina Descovich, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Marie Rogerson.)
Moms for Liberty claims to be a grassroots organization, but its founders and founding chapter have strong ties to high-ranking elected officials and national anti-LGBTQ groups including the Heritage Foundation. It claims to have 135 chapters in 35 states.
Funding and political support:
—Founded by Bridget Ziegler, a candidate for Sarasota County school board, who is married to County Commissioner and Vice Chair of the Republican Party of Florida, Christian Ziegler, who attended the rally that preceded the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Bridget Ziegler’s school board candidacy has been endorsed by anti-LGBTQ Governor DeSantis, and she appeared with DeSantis as he signed the “Don’t Say LGBTQ” bill into law, at a private school that would not be subject to the law.
—Other founders, former school board members Tina Descovich of Brevard County and Tiffany Justice of Indian River County, have amplified false claims against evidence-based healthcare for trans youth, and harmful “groomer” rhetoric. Descovich has spread misinformation about trans youth.
—Moms for Liberty’s Executive Director of Program Development, Marie Rogerson, is a campaign consultant who previously worked for Rep. Randy Fine, who has widely spread anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and supported anti-LGBTQ bills including the “Don’t Say LGBTQ” law, and pushed for bans on lifesaving, evidence-based healthcare for transgender youth.
Moms for Liberty’s efforts include:
—Hosting at its first national summit Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has instigated and signed into law anti-LGBTQ policies; former Governor and current Senator Rick Scott; and former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The summit also hosted anti-LGBTQ activist groups like Turning Point USA, the Leadership Institute and Heritage Action, and the evangelical Liberty University.
—Falsely claiming it stands “against government overreach and intimidation tactics,” while attempting to ban books about Martin Luther King Jr., Ruby Bridges, and Black and queer memoir All Boys Aren’t Blue. Supporters including Florida state representative Randy Fine posted a school board member’s cell phone number on Facebook. A school board member who defeated one of the founders of Moms for Liberty says opponents filed a false claim of child abuse against her, and protestors shouted at her five year old child outside her home.
—School board member details how Moms for Liberty targeted county guidelines to protect students’ right to dress and use bathrooms according to the gender they identify with, falsely calling school board members “pedophiles.”
—Founder Tiffany Justice supports Florida “Don’t Say Gay/Trans” censorship law, falsely and disingenuously claiming “nothing about the bill says anything about gay or straight." Text of the bill shows it prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. Justice also fails to provide evidence to support her claims of “indoctrination” in schools, and defames those who support children being able to discuss their LGBTQ family or identities as “groomers.”
—Offers bounties to encourage people to report on teachers who discuss so-called “divisive concepts” including discrimination based on sex or race.
—Spreads inaccurate and inflammatory claims about LGBTQ books, including the memoir of Black and queer author George M. Johnson All Boys Aren’t Blue, for so-called “racially charged commentary” and “alternate gender ideologies” as well as sexually explicit passages, alcohol and drug use, and profanity. Johnson’s book was named a 2020 Best Book of the Year by Amazon, the New York and Chicago public libraries and Kirkus Reviews.
—A Moms for Liberty chapter in Brevard County, Florida, is chaired by a business owner known for refusing to serve same-sex couples.
—A Texas Moms for Liberty chapter announced it would host anti-LGBTQ activist Kelly Neidert at its July 25 meeting. Neidert is well-known in the greater Dallas area for harassing local LGBTQ events including story hours for children, protesting outside of a medical center that treats transgender patients, and being permanently suspended from Twitter for tweeting “Let’s start rounding up people who participate in Pride events” in addition to repeated misgendering and anti-trans rhetoric. Neidert’s targeting of transgender people led more than 21,000 people to sign a petition created by her fellow students at the University of North Texas calling for her expulsion from the school.
—A Tennessee Moms For Liberty chapter shared video of a school Pride club Homecoming float. Local community members said the video outed some students and put their safety at risk. Moms for Liberty claimed the float featured “two girls kissing” and “groping,” and accused the group of “encouraging bisexuality” by handing out National Bi Week awareness flyers. Moms for Liberty also criticized the school district for asking middle and high school students for their pronouns and falsely claimed of LGBTQ-inclusive clubs: "Our schools are on a slippery slope in the sexualization of children.”
—Tweeted “gender identity indoctrination” is one of the most dangerous threats facing children in America today. The CDC reported that one in four LGBTQ teens attempted suicide in 2021, with half of LGBTQ teens considering suicide. Research shows adults using a trans youth's authentic name and pronouns improves mental health and reduces suicidal ideation. 36% of LGBTQ youth reported being physically threated or harmed due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.
—Pushed for bans on discussions of racism and LGBTQ content in schools.
Turning to Iraq, and
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei decried the presence of the US military in Iraq during a meeting with Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid in Tehran on Saturday.
“The presence of even one American in Iraq is too much,” Khamenei said, Iranian state media outlet IRNA reported.
“Americans are not friends with anyone and are not even loyal to their European allies,” Khamenei said, as he called for Iran and Iraq to expand “bilateral cooperation.”
The US has been on the outside of recent major diplomatic developments in the Middle East - a restoration of ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia and Saudi-led moves to welcome Syria back into the Arab League. Washington was 'blindsided' by the developments, according to reports."
The following sites updated:
