What wasn’t talked about enough in Idaho’s transgender care debate was suicide | Opinion
Gender care
I grew up in Idaho and have always called it my home. I am deeply saddened by the passage of the Vulnerable Child Act and believe it’s necessary to talk about the devastating ripple effects it could have. I can tell that legislators care deeply about Idaho children, many of them being parents and grandparents themselves, and I commend their desire to keep children safe. However, one thing that “irreversibly damage their (transgender adolescents’) healthy bodies” that was not addressed is suicide. Among transgender adolescents, 47% have seriously considered and 25% have attempted suicide. Compared to cisgender peers, they are approximately 2 times more likely to have seriously considered and 1.45 times more likely to have previously attempted suicide.
Access to puberty blocking medications, which are reversible, positively affects these alarming statistics. Compared to transgender adolescents who were unable to access these medications, those who did were 70% less likely to have experienced suicidal ideation and 30% less likely to have attempted suicide. To allow access to puberty blocking medications is to save the lives of Idaho children. If Idaho lawmakers are concerned about things that “irreversibly damage… healthy bodies,” I urge them to consider the permanent damage of suicide.
Mickie Piechowski, Saint Louis, Missouri
Fox News
Fox News Network will pay $787-plus million to bury its dirty laundry.
In a court case significant to many Idahoans — but largely unreported by Idaho media — Fox News Network agreed to settle the lawsuit by U.S. Dominion Voting Systems by paying out over $787 million. The deal was a last-minute settlement of the defamation case launched against the right-wing network.
By settling with Dominion, influential Fox News personalities will be spared from testifying about their 2020 election coverage, which was filled with lies about voter fraud. “In a major pretrial ruling on March 31, Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis ruled Dominion had successfully proven that all 20 statements mentioned in its lawsuit against Fox were false,” according to CNN.
The New York Times reported Feb. 16: “Newly disclosed messages and testimony from some of the biggest stars and most senior executives at Fox News revealed that they privately expressed disbelief about President Donald J. Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, even though the network continued to promote many of those lies on the air.”
James Lang, Meridian
Nampa lessons
The big “to-do” in the Nampa School District brought back a teaching memory.
Many years ago, I taught anatomy and physiology as an elective high school course. Neurotransmitters and their role in mental illness was a part of the course. Not as much was known in the 1980s as is known today, but the students were curious, and we had a great discussion on brain chemistry.
Well – maybe not so great, as the closing bell had barely rung when one of the parents came into my classroom telling me that I needed to stop talking about brain chemicals because everyone knew that it’s demonic possession that causes the symptoms of mental illness.
My principal got involved and made a strong case for basing the course content on scientific evidence. He never wavered.
What I’m reading about the psychology course offered in the Nampa School District concerns me. There should be no question of the science. Teach the facts. Support good teaching.
Mary Ollie, Bonners Ferry
Justice Thomas
Harlan Crow is right about nothing amiss in his relationship with a Supreme Court justice, if we throw the history of democracy out the window.
The politically privileged aristocracy in England openly hob-nobbed with high level government officials all the time. In fact, they often got automatic hereditary positions in the government precisely because they were from the upper crust.
But England’s slow revolution in the 1600s and America’s revolution in 1776 changed all that. We learned about the importance not only of separation of powers, but separation of the money changers from unfettered access to public decision-makers. Our ancestors put a provision in the Constitution prohibiting any titles of nobility, so everyone would have an equal chance to influence government.
The Citizens United court case opened up the floodgates allowing American corporations and individuals to control election financing by permitting unlimited financial contributions to friendly candidates. Are you seeing the link here between money and Supreme Court decisions favoring the Republican Party?
Condoning friendly financial contributions from the wealthy to sitting Supreme Court justices is another big step on the road to allowing the wealthy exclusive control of policy in America, and it must not be allowed to happen.
Kimball Shinkoskey, Woods Cross, Utah