Sophie Labelle has been fire on this Kirk circus!

Vaccine Question for any DU healthcare professionals [crosspost]

Since this is about vaccines I believe this post is within GD guidelines. I am cross posting this here from the Health group as my appointment is tomorrow and I am desperate for as much input as I can get.

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Vaccine Question for any DU healthcare professionals

I’m 42 years old with type 2 Diabetes living in Texas. I had chicken pox as an infant.

From my understanding I am too young for the shingles vaccination and I am in this year’s gap age for the Covid vaccine .

However, in both cases I believe that there are exceptions for being immunocompromised. Since I have type II diabetes can I possibly get my doctor to write a script for me to get these vaccinations?

I have a 69 year old father with heart failure I care for and I work in education so I feel it is vital I get a Covid vaccination if I can.

I am absolutely terrified if I don’t get them now that they could be banned and I won’t ever be able to get them. I had a grandmother with shingles and I remember her crying herself to sleep from the pain. I don’t ever want to experience that.

Please tell me there is a chance of getting them!

At Least Darkmatter is still sane

Having watched many of the people whose views I once enjoyed come to epitomize everything I oppose, I am always happy to see those who resisted the darkside.

So words can not describe how happy I am to see that Darkmatter managed to get off the New Atheist to Alt Right pipeline!

Harris Surges On Economy Voters In Swing States As Trump Fixates On Anti-Trans Ads

In 2022, Republicans in Michigan made a major mistake: They spent more money on anti-transgender ads than on reinforcing economic messaging. As a result, Democrats won a trifecta in the state for the first time in 40 years. Now, there are signs Republicans may be repeating the same error. A new set of polls in the crucial "blue wall" swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania shows that Harris is matching Trump on the economy. This is happening as Trump spends more money on anti-trans advertising than immigration, housing, and the economy combined.

According to the well-respected Marist poll, Harris is nearly tying Trump on the economy in Pennsylvania and Michigan and has come within five points in Wisconsin. She leads Trump in all three states, polling at plus two in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and plus three in Michigan. The numbers were highlighted by James Singer, rapid response advisor to the Harris campaign, who noted that she had closed the gap on the economy, and shifted independent voters by 19 points in the state of Pennsylvania.

“This has been the long story of the Harris paid media campaign — just grinding on this economic message (anti-price gouging, Medicare covering home care, etc) for months as different shiny objects hit the news cycle,” said political analyst David Weigel on Twitter.

Harris's late-campaign surge comes as Trump has flooded the airwaves with anti-trans advertisements during major sporting events. Meanwhile, Republican Senate candidates have also received tens of millions of dollars in support from groups like the Senate Leadership Fund, which has blanketed these swing states with ads about transgender bathroom usage, sports, and health care. Spending on transgender issues dwarfs all others; according to national political reporter Marc Caputo, the Trump campaign has spent more money on anti-trans advertisements than on any other issue, surpassing topics like the economy and immigration.

[…]

Jim Cornette on who to vote for president

I hate Xitter links but this is too good not to share:

https://x.com/TheJimCornette/status/1849908593748799676

22 Republican AGs Threaten To Make It Illegal For The AAP To Endorse Trans Care

22 Republican AGs Threaten To Make It Illegal For The AAP To Endorse Trans Care
The letter, which was sent to the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, attempts to use consumer protection laws to make it against the law to support puberty blockers.

ERIN REED

On Tuesday, a group of 22 Republican attorneys general, led by Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador, sent a letter to the president and vice president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, accusing the organization of violating consumer protection laws by endorsing the use of puberty blockers. The letter also demands answers to 14 probing questions and extensive access to internal documents. While the letter carries no legal authority, states have increasingly used vague and broad consumer protection laws to investigate the records of gender-affirming care and abortion providers, often with little to no judicial oversight.

The letter, bearing the seal of the Idaho Attorney General's office, seeks to prohibit the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) from endorsing puberty blockers as a form of reversible gender-affirming care for transgender teenagers, using consumer protection laws as the basis. "Statements made by medical trade organizations, like the AAP, are subject to state consumer protection laws… misleading and deceptive statements of medical trade associations are connected to commerce and reach consumers," the letter states, asserting the authority of Republican-controlled states to challenge the AAP’s endorsement of puberty blockers and justify extensive investigations into the organization's documents.

The letter leans on flawed science and previous hit pieces from far-right, anti-transgender think tanks that have struggled to gain credibility in scientific and medical communities. It criticizes the organization for describing puberty blockers as “reversible,” a stance supported by several medical and scientific organizations, backed by studies, and decades of use in treating precocious puberty and other conditions. A review by the Sax Institute found that “two systematic reviews reported that puberty suppression treatment is reversible,” and that the treatment is “effective, safe, well tolerated, and reversible.”

The letter heavily references the Cass Review. On the second page, for example, it asserts that the claim puberty blockers are reversible is false, “beyond medical debate.” To support this assertion, it cites the Cass Review, which identifies several "possible" irreversible consequences, such as interference with neurocognitive development, bone density, and “blocking normal pubertal experience and experimentation.”

See this claim here:



[…]

Texas Just Quietly Revoked Trans People's Ability to Change Their Birth Certificates

Texas Just Quietly Revoked Trans People’s Ability to Change Their Birth Certificates
The Department of State Health Services simply removed the option on a publicly available form.
BY NICO LANG
September 3, 2024

Texas has stopped allowing trans people to correct the gender marker on their birth certificates, according to LGBTQ+ advocacy groups in the state.

On Friday, the Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT), the state’s largest trans advocacy organization, reported that the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) removed the option to amend an individual’s sex in the application form to correct birth certificates. TENT provided screenshots to Them, appearing to show form VS-170, the application used for birth certificate corrections, before and after the recent changes. The form bearing a revision date of January 21 allows applicants to “correct child’s date of birth, place of birth, time of birth, or sex” in Box #1 located on Page Two. But as of August 24, the form no longer includes birth-assigned sex as a potential reason for records corrections.

Also missing from the current version of the form available on the DSPS website is the previous option to “correct child’s sex after medical/surgical change,” which formerly allowed both youth and adults to update their birth records after beginning the process of medically transitioning. That phrase has been replaced with an option to “correct child’s sex due to incompletion or inaccuracy.”


Birth certificates
Left: Form VS-170 dated January 2021; Right: Form VS-170 dated August 2024
Courtesy of TENT

“We are still working with our legal partners to understand these changes,” TENT noted in a Friday Instagram post.

These changes were not publicly announced by DSHS prior to their apparent adoption, according to Andrea Segovia, a senior policy and field organizer for TENT. She says that her organization first became aware of updates to the birth certificate correction process when several trans clients reached out to TENT for help after their applications had been denied. Segovia says that DSHS did not provide a reason for the refusals, which she adds is not uncommon in cases where corrections were rejected simply due to clerical error. TENT had been hoping that would be the case in these instances and that they were merely mistakes.

Trans Texans have been able to correct their legal gender marker since at least 2009, according to TENT, and taking that option away has placed countless trans Texans in limbo. Segovia says the organization wants to remind trans Texans that their identities are valid, no matter what rules state agencies make and unmake.

[…]

Alice (TW:suicide)

Court Ordered Gender Changes Ignored In TX; Drivers License Changes Blocked In MO, MT

Court Ordered Gender Changes Ignored In TX; Drivers License Changes Blocked In MO, MT
Anti-trans regulations blocking drivers license changes are spreading in Republican states, with a Texas directive even claiming it will ignore court orders.

ERIN REED
AUG 22, 2024

On Tuesday, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced in an internal email that it will no longer accept amended birth certificates or court orders to change gender markers on a person’s driver’s license. The email also states that name changes accompanying gender marker changes will not be accepted. Meanwhile, reports from Montana indicate similar bans on driver’s license changes are occurring there, and the state has similarly ignored court orders allowing for gender marker changes. In Missouri, a new and unannounced internal policy now requires transgender individuals to undergo gender reassignment surgery or obtain a court order to change their gender marker. These states join Florida, Tennessee, and Kansas, which have banned gender marker changes entirely, imposing significant challenges on transgender people in their daily lives.

The Texas policy was announced in an email entitled “Court Order Notice to Employees” by Sheri Gipson, Chief of the Drivers License Division at the Texas Department of Public Safety. The email states that “effective immediately, the department will not accept court orders or amended birth certificates that change the sex when it differs from the documentation already on file.” It also states that if somebody presents a court order that contains both a name and a sex change, a common type of court order for a transgender person to seek out, the division will not accept the order and issue no correction.

Perhaps most troublingly, a database will be made to track those who attempt to make these changes. Anyone who attempts to change their drivers license gender marker will have the information sent to DLCourtorders@dps.texas.gov, noting that the email address is for “internal reporting only” and “should not be shared with customers.”

See the email here:


Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office released a statement about the change, indicating his intention to continue to ignore court orders:

“The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has recently raised concerns regarding the validity of court orders being issued which purport to order state agencies-including DPS-to change the sex of individuals in government records, including driver licenses and birth certificates. Neither DPS nor other government agencies are parties to the proceedings that result in the issuance of these court orders, and the lack of legislative authority and evidentiary standards for the Courts to issue these orders has resulted in the need for a comprehensive legal review by DPS and the OAG. Therefore, as of Aug. 20, 2024, DPS has stopped accepting these court orders as a basis to change sex identification in department records – including driver licenses.”

[…]

Texas removes trans people's ability to change their ID's gender marker

Texas removes trans people’s ability to change their ID’s gender marker
Anyone seeking to change their gender will be added to a database that state Republicans can access.
By Mira Lazine Thursday, August 22, 2024

Transgender Texans are no longer able to change the gender marker on their state IDs, including if they have a court order or they have an amended birth certificate, according to KUT.

The only way Texans can change the gender marker is if it’s demonstrated to be a clerical error. However, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), this is no longer in effect. The previous DPS rules were quietly removed from their website yesterday. A spokesperson for the DPS blamed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) for the change.

“The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has recently raised concerns regarding the validity of court orders being issued which purport to order state agencies—including DPS—to change the sex of individuals in government records, including driver licenses and birth certificates,” the agency told KUT.

“Neither DPS nor other government agencies are parties to the proceedings that result in the issuance of these court orders, and the lack of legislative authority and evidentiary standards for the Courts to issue these orders has resulted in the need for a comprehensive legal review by DPS and the OAG. Therefore, as of Aug. 20, 2024, DPS has stopped accepting these court orders as a basis to change sex identification in department records–including driver licenses,” the agency added.

[…]