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Ren's avatar

Hi Qasim, I love your work and super appreciate everything you do and all the time and effort you put into your work. This was a great article, as usual, and you always do an awesome job of linking to sources as well.

As a trans person, I would just ask that you consider rephrasing next time you reference trans healthcare? "Transgender surgeries" is not quite the correct terminology, and is a phrase that the far right tends to use to demonize us as "other", alien or somehow macabre. It's used as shock-value. In two hours of hate and vitriol toward just about everyone who isn't white, cishet, male, abled, nominally Christian, and wealthy, Trump's double-punch racist *and* transphobic comments about wrongfully imprisoned migrants seeking asylum were among some of the most disgusting.

It should go without saying that no one chooses to endure being trans in a healthcare setting unless they are, in fact, trans--it's difficult at best and goes quickly downhill from there. Nationalists and fascists love to make us the villain of the week, which of course reinforces systemic problems rooted in ignorance and fear that extend into the medical community. I know your intention was absolutely not to contribute to that, very much the opposite, and that's why I'm reaching out, just to offer my perspective. With that in mind, a better umbrella term, and the one utilized by healthcare professionals, queer advocacy organizations, and most trans folks, would be gender-affirming surgery, or just gender-affirming healthcare (or trans healthcare for short).

Thank you so much for hearing me out, and again, thank you so much for all the work you do. <3

Warmth and appreciation from upstate NY!

-Ren

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Penni Livingston's avatar

Exactly right on all accounts although I think stating the two state solution was bold and she said territory with equivalent security. I would give her extra credit for that and discussing a cease fire even if she is not in a position to stop arms sales yet. Trump’s killing babies stuff is getting so old! And no policies for anything.

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