Mind Dump

A lot of this came from the press conference Gary Click did with Chloe Cole. I dislike giving him more press but it needs to be seen if you care about the issues.

Gary Click and Chloe Cole do not believe that there is any science behind gender dysphoria or gender medical care. The reasons they believe this are because you can not perform a blood or DNA test to detect it and because a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals is required to diagnose it. So lets keep that fact in mind for the rest of this article. Gary Click’s HB 68 requires that comorbidities such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, autism and other mental health disorders be screened before mental health care for gender dysphoria can be addressed. Many of these disorders Gary is requiring to be screened for are not detectable with blood or DNA tests and require a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals to diagnose. Gary is cherry picking the medical disorders he thinks are valid and the ones that do not align with his ideology he is saying are illegal and do not exist.

Understanding the fact that Gary and Chloe Cole do not believe gender care exists. They also believe that state and federal laws are a good place to put medical procedure and diagnosis guidelines. There are no other medical procedures or diagnosis guidelines that are set in laws.

Lets dive into the reasons why HB 68’s transgender healthcare restrictions are hypocritical and a violation of an individuals rights to healthcare.

The DSM-5 indicates how to diagnose autism and gender dysphoria. Gary and Chloe believe autism is real, but gender dysphoria is not and that it can not be treated medically. This is Gary deciding that one disorder is valid and another is not, even though they use similar procedures to diagnose.

Gary thinks because someone could become sterile or have complications that the procedures are wrong. Some cancer treatment procedures will leave children sterile for life. There is research being done to provide options in these cases, but it happens. Maybe the same procedures could help transgender individuals.

Puberty blockers are blamed for causing heart defects, bone growth issues, and other ailments. These same drugs are used to treat Precocious puberty and other medical disorders and are allowed according to Gary. This is another case of Gary choosing which medical procedures can be performed and which ones can not.

Gary says 85-95% of individuals that go through puberty no longer have gender dysphoria. This statistic is very in line with the fact that only 3% of youth who have gender dysphoria receive puberty blockers. The narrative Gary and Chloe try to push that every single person who expresses feelings, expressions or actions that are generally associated with the gender opposite of their birth will be rushed through treatment is just wrong.  Less than 0.5% of the population is transgender and less than 3% of those that are minors receive puberty blockers. The WPATH guidelines stress to wait. Again, medical procedures put into law is not the way this is handled for any other medical diagnosis.

Lets take a stab at some religious takes. Many people speak to gender being male and female because god created man in his image and then women from men. They even go into XX and XY chromosomes. Then they ignore that there are people with other combinations of chromosomes. HB 68 even has language to address these scenarios. So it’s science. So people are not made to some perfect image. The possibility that someones physiology is causing mental disorders is also plausible. Then they say that god would not make you in the wrong body. You just need to accept what god has done. Because of the perfectly imperfect thing. 

Gary thinks a therapist should be able to determine why a person has gender dysphoria and then find a way to convince them that it’s not a problem but natural. This is is from his FAQ for HB 68

“A skilled therapist would look for why a child thinks they need to change. They would attempt to discover underlying comorbidities and learn what the child is running or hiding from and teach them coping strategies.”

Medical facilities that listen to the child, try to help the child understand and navigate the process of living how they feel is natural for themselves; Gary thinks this approach is wrong. He would rather a therapist find a way to teach the individual to cope with the problem. Coping implies that it can not be resolved and there is no cure or healing. This does not sound like great advice and the wrong approach. Who would want to cope with something their entire life. This is why Gary should not be listened to. He does not treat people with dignity or respect. He wants people to cope with a disorder their whole life. Rather than try to improve peoples well being.

You can’t actually change your chromosomes, so you can’t change your gender. People who can’t sing still go to karaoke. Who cares. If someone wants to change their name or change how they would like to be referred to. How does it affect you? Chloe Cole is a stage name. She is asking people to address her based on her personal preference. There is no difference. None.

Gary Click says this is what the people of Ohio wanted. But of the people that testified about the bill in Columbus, only 9% were for the bill. 91% of the people who testified were against the bill. This does not seem like the will of the people.