This Week In the Land of the Free and....

Hi Cuties,

So, first things first.

It has been reported that Federal court has ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects transgender people from discrimination. 

This ruling issued by a federal court of appeals judge ruled as a response to a 2020 lawsuit filed on behalf of a transgender woman who was forced to be incarcerated in a Virginia men's prison and denied hormone replacement therapy which she had been receiving for almost 20 years.

Kesha Williams sued Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid and a bunch of others involved, alleging that they violated the ADA by failing to treat her gender dysphoria.

It has already been established that being trans is not in and of itself a disability however, this ruling establishes that being denied treatment could in fact be considered an act of discrimination against a disability.

Gender dysphoria, unlike "gender identity disorder" which can if left untreated can create the recognized disabling condition known as "gender dysphoria".

Wow.

Looks like Ron DeSantis is in for a fight with his ongoing attempt to ban transition related care for transgender minors.  He is also calling for doctors who perform these treatments on minors to be sued for them.  

Basically he is claiming that the doctors are in fact experimenting on these kids for profit in spite of all the support for these treatments like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Endocrine Society who recommend these treatments.

He is also trying to ban all such treatments for Medicaid recipients across the board.

DeSantis, who seems incapable of staying out of the news lately, is back in the hot seat.

First he fired the elected State Attorney Andrew Warren (D) for speaking out against DeSantis' ban on transgender youth getting gender affirming medical care - the state of Florida does not have a ban.

Warren also came out against the criminal prosecution of people seeking abortions as well as being against the "Don't Say Gay" law.

DeSantis picked Susan Lopez (R) who stated "Effective immediately, any policy my predecessor put in place that called for the presumptive non-enforcement of the laws of Florida is immediately rescinded.  This includes the bike stop and pedestrian stop policy."

The bike stop law allowed police officers to stop and ticket cyclists for violating safety rules, including taking their hands off the handlebars. The was the subject of a 2016 Department of Justice investigation that found that 75% of bicyclists stopped under the law in Tampa were Black, while only about 23% of the city’s population is Black, according to the Census Bureau.