Greg Abbott, You’ve Got It All Wrong

In the muck and mire of an impending third world war, something got a little lost this week. Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, slipped a quick one in that he thought no one would notice. Parents supporting their transgender kids are now guilty of child abuse.

Despite the fact that that the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychological Association have all agreed that gender affirming care is medically necessary for transgender kids and is backed by decades of research, Governor Abbott has determined that it constitutes child abuse. Why? Among other reasons, it denies the child the future ability to procreate.

Perhaps Governor Abbott didn’t realize this is a slap in the face to families who struggle with infertility, (about 10–15% of couples, according to the Mayo Clinic). It is. Just ask any woman with the bruises from infertility treatment. Perhaps he forgot that there are many ways to have a family that are just as legitimate as good ole’ fashion sex. Adoption, surrogacy, and artificial insemination are all on the table. Just ask the millions of families that were created this way. They are pretty darned legitimate.

Perhaps Governor Abbott didn’t realize that transgender kids are among the most bullied kids in school. Research shows that 90% of transgender kids have been bullied, with 25% having been the victim of a physical attack. 52% of transgender kids contemplated suicide in 2020. Think about that. More than half of transgender kids — bright…