Hi there,

The climate crisis, war, attacks on reproductive rights, book bans—these threats aren't looming. They are here now. If you think Democracy Now!'s reporting on these issues is essential, please sign up for a monthly gift of $10 or more. Right now, a generous donor will DOUBLE your gift, making your donation twice as valuable. We don't have a paywall or run ads, which means we’re not brought to you by the oil, gas, coal, or nuclear companies when we cover the climate catastrophe or by the weapons manufacturers when we cover war. Democracy Now! is funded by you and that’s why we need your help today. This is a challenging year for news organizations and nonprofits across the board, so please don’t close this window before making your gift. We're counting on you more than ever to sustain our reporting. Start your monthly donation of $10 or more right now and help Democracy Now! stay strong and independent all year round. Thank you so much.
-Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Calls Gender-Affirming Surgery for Trans Teens “Child Abuse”

HeadlineFeb 24, 2022

At least two district attorneys from Texas’s largest counties say they will refuse to comply with an order by Republican Governor Greg Abbott to investigate gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth as “child abuse.” Abbott’s directive to state agencies says parents of trans children receiving the often lifesaving care should be investigated and that anyone — including doctors, nurses and teachers — who fails to report the treatment to authorities could face criminal liability. Medical groups, rights groups and families slammed Texas’s latest attack on LGBTQ+ youth. Last year Texas joined other Republican-led states in banning transgender youth from participating in school sports. 

Earlier this month, South Dakota’s Republican Governor Kristi Noem signed a similar law for South Dakotan trans athletes. She came under fire this week when she refused to acknowledge how anti-trans legislation was impacting her own constituents.

Kyle Ireland: “There is a statistic circulating around right now that 90% of South Dakota’s LGBTQ community is diagnosed with either anxiety or depression. Why do you think that is?”

Gov. Kristi Noem: “I don’t know. That makes me sad, and we should figure it out.”

Meanwhile, Florida’s new anti-LGBTQ education bill, known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, has advanced in the state House and is scheduled for a final vote in the House today. The bill would ban discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top