In What Spirit Shall a Member of a Legislature Serve?
Last Thursday, the current representative of Colorado House District 39 posted on X the tape recording she secretly made of her back-to-school-night confrontation of one of her children’s high school teachers. Those who are familiar with her (see my previous post here, here, here, here, and here) will be unsurprised to learn what was at the heart of the imbroglio. Below are some of the statements that she made in a post she put up on X this past Friday:
I will not tolerate people in authority, who are supposed to be trusted adults LYING TO CHILDREN.
Gender fluid does not exist, boys cannot be girls, girls cannot be boys.
And for those of you quoting Wikipedia and Google as your sources, maybe stop being so lazy and actually read some factual science like the WPATH files and the CASS report.
One seldom encounters such a clear case of projection.
The representative referenced the Cass Review, which is a study that the National Health Service (NHS) in England commissioned “to make recommendations on how to improve NHS gender identity services, and ensure that children and young people who are questioning their gender identity or experiencing gender dysphoria receive a high standard of care, that meets their needs, is safe, holistic and effective.”
British pediatrician Hillary Cass led the study and issued its final report this past April. Had the representative “stop[ped] being so lazy and actually read” the report, she might know that Dr. Cass directly affirmed to children and young people that medical transition can be the appropriate course and that gender fluidity is real (emphasis added below).
On a personal note, I would like to talk through this foreword to the children and young people at the heart of this Review. I have decided not to write to you separately because it is important that everyone hears the same message. Some of you have been really clear that you want much better advice on the options available to you and the risks and benefits of different courses of action and will be pleased by what you will read in this report. Others of you have said you just want access to puberty blockers and hormones as quickly as possible, and may be upset that I am not recommending this. I have been very mindful that you may be disappointed by this. However, what I want to be sure about is that you are getting the best combination of treatments, and this means putting in place a research programme to look at all possible options, and to work out which ones give the best results. There are some important reasons for this decision.
Firstly, you must have the same standards of care as everyone else in the NHS, and that means basing treatments on good evidence. I have been disappointed by the lack of evidence on the long-term impact of taking hormones from an early age; research has let us all down, most importantly you. However, we cannot expect you to make life-changing decisions in a vacuum without being able to weigh their risks and benefits now and in the long-term, and we have to build the evidence-base with good studies going forward. That is why I am asking you to join any research studies that look at the longer-term outcomes of these interventions so you can help all those coming behind you. We have to show that the treatments are safe and produce the positive outcomes you want from them. People in research studies often do better than people who are on regular treatment because they get the chance to try new approaches, as well as getting much closer follow-up and support.
Secondly, medication is binary, but the fastest growing group identifying under the trans umbrella is non-binary, and we know even less about the outcomes for this group. Some of you will also become more fluid in your gender identity as you grow older. We do not know the ‘sweet spot’ when someone becomes settled in their sense of self, nor which people are most likely to benefit from medical transition. When making life-changing decisions, what is the correct balance between keeping options as flexible and open as possible as you move into adulthood, and responding to how you feel right now?
The representative of HD39 also referenced the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which released its Standards of Care Version 8 in September 2022. Below are some pertinent excerpts (PDF of the document here) that specifically address gender fluidity:
Page 568 – Research and clinical experience have indicated gender diversity in prepubescent children may, for some, be fluid; there are no reliable means of predicting an individual child’s gender evolution (Edwards-Leeper et al., 2016; Ehrensaft, 2018; Steensma, Kreukels et al., 2013), and the gender-related needs for a particular child may vary over the course of their childhood.
Page 576 – Gender social transition has often been conceived in the past as binary—a girl transitions to a boy, a boy to a girl. The concept has expanded to include children who shift to a nonbinary or individually shaped iteration of gender identity (Chew et al., 2020; Clark et al., 2018). Newer research indicates the social transition process may serve a protective function for some prepubescent children and serve to foster positive mental health and well-being (Durwood et al., 2017; Gibson et al., 2021; Olson et al., 2016). Thus, recognition that a child’s gender may be fluid and develop over time (Edwards-Leeper et al., 2016; Ehrensaft, 2018; Steensma, Kreukels et al., 2013) is not sufficient justification to negate or deter social transition for a prepubescent child when it would be beneficial.
Page 576-7 – We recommend health care professionals and parents/caregivers support children to continue to explore their gender throughout the pre-pubescent years, regardless of social transition. It is important children who have engaged in social transition be afforded the same opportunities as other children to continue considering meanings and expressions of gender throughout their childhood years (Ashley 2019e; Spencer, Berg et al., 2021). Some research has found children may experience gender fluidity or even detransition after an initial social transition. Research has not been conclusive about when in the life span such detransition is most likely to occur, or what percentage of youth will eventually experience gender fluidity and/or a desire to detransition—due to gender evolution, or potentially other reasons (e.g., safety concerns; gender minority stress) (Olson et al., 2022; Steensma, Kreukels et al., 2013).
Page 580 – Nonbinary is used as an umbrella term referring to individuals who experience their gender as outside of the gender binary. The term nonbinary is predominantly but not exclusively associated with global north contexts and may sometimes be used to describe indigenous and non-Western genders. The term nonbinary includes people whose genders are comprised of more than one gender identity simultaneously or at different times (e.g., bigender), who do not have a gender identity or have a neutral gender identity (e.g., agender or neutrois), have gender identities that encompass or blend elements of other genders (e.g., polygender, demiboy, demigirl), and/or who have a gender that changes over time (e.g., genderfluid) (Kuper et al., 2014; Richards et al., 2016; Richards et al., 2017; Vincent, 2019). Nonbinary people may identify to varying degrees with binary-associated genders, e.g., nonbinary man/ woman, or with multiple gender terms, e.g., nonbinary and genderfluid (James et al., 2016; Kuper et al., 2012). Nonbinary also functions as a gender identity in its own right (Vincent, 2020). It is important to acknowledge this is not an exhaustive list, the same identities can have different meanings for different people, and the use of terms can vary over time and by location.
That the current representative of House District 39 cited for her argument authorities that directly contradict her reflects a degree of carelessness that one would rather not see in a public servant. Bad as that is, it is not the worst aspect of this episode. Consider something she said in the secretly-recorded conversation that she blasted over social media:
I don’t know that I want my fifteen-year-old knowing what gender fluidity is. I mean, we have a very Biblical worldview and I see a lot of LGBTQ flags and I wonder how inclusive my Christian conservative child feels in this room.
I absolutely respect the right of parents to rear their children in whatever religious traditions they would like. It is of course their prerogative to do so.
I object, however, to the idea that a “Christian conservative” family should have the right to impose its beliefs on their children’s classmates. I object to the idea, which the representative has espoused, that it is appropriate for “Christian conservatives” to harass people who are transgender or who participate, as either performers or audience members, in drag shows.
Members of the Colorado General Assembly are servants of all of their constituents, regardless of their affiliations. This November, the voters of House District 39 have the opportunity to elect someone who would serve in that spirit.