Transgender Archives - Florida Family Action

Congress Voted Against Banning Taxpayer Funding of Gender Transition Benefits for Military

Amber Kelly — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 18:57:43 +0000

From the desk of John Stemberger, President of Florida Family Action:

I am sitting here stunned. Late last week, Congress voted on an amendment by Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which would have barred the use of taxpayer dollars for gender reassignment surgeries and hormone therapy for transgender members of the military. Unfortunately, with the defection of 24 Republicans in the US House, the initiative failed and there is nothing to prevent the Obama-era policy from moving forward.

I believe that gender dysphoria (the condition of feeling one’s emotional and psychological identity as male or female to be opposite to one’s biological sex) can be very painful for the individual with the condition. However, helping that person to ignore reality and basic biology and assisting them in harming their otherwise healthy body with medical treatments is not the answer. We certainly shouldn’t be using public funding to pay for those treatments! In fact, Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital and its current Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry, said that transgenderism is a “mental disorder” that merits treatment, that sex change is “biologically impossible,” and that people who promote sexual reassignment surgery are collaborating with and promoting a mental disorder. As a nation, we shouldn’t be promoting gender transition and the denial of biological reality, we should be helping those individuals struggling by getting them counseling.

Just over half (14 of 27) of Florida’s Congressional delegation voted against the amendment to bar funding for gender transition treatments, with the exception of mental health counseling. Especially disappointing are the three Florida Republicans who voted against the amendment in defiance of conservative principles. FFPC reached out to each of those three Republican offices and asked them to vote yes on Hartzler’s amendment and ensure that you and I aren’t paying for treatments we believe to be fundamentally wrong. Below is a list of every member who voted to allow the use of your tax dollars to pay for service members’ gender transition:

Congressman’s Name	Party	District
Al Lawson	D	5
Stephanie Murphy	D	7
Darren Soto	D	9
Val Demings	D	10
Charlie Crist	D	13
Kathy Castor	D	14
Brian Mast*	R	18
Alcee Hastings	D	20
Lois Frankel	D	21
Ted Deutch	D	22
Debbie Wasserman Schultz	D	23
Frederica Wilson	D	24
Carlos Curbelo	R	26
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen	R	27

*Rep. Brian Mast asked that his vote be changed after the fact due to a mistake in voting

Already the Army is instructing women soldiers to accept sharing public showers, restrooms, and barracks with transgenders, including men who call themselves “women” yet remain fully anatomically male. This is absolutely outrageous! Now, we are going to further perpetuate the myth that one can change one’s gender by paying for gender transition treatment.

This issue is only going become more prominent in Florida and cities throughout our state in the coming days, weeks, months, and years, so we all need to educate ourselves. For that purpose, I’m including some resources on transgenderism:

Florida Family Policy Council is committed to continuing to educate individuals on the transgender issue and to fight for common-sense public policy, but we need your help!

If conservative principles and being aware of this kind of information is important to you, please consider giving a gift today. Your gift will help us continue our work throughout the state of Florida and ensure that our shared values are being heard in the public square. You can donate by clicking this link.

Thank you for your prayers and support as Florida Family Policy Council works to build a state and a nation where God is honored, life is cherished, families thrive, and religious liberty flourishes.

The post Congress Voted Against Banning Taxpayer Funding of Gender Transition Benefits for Military appeared first on Florida Family Action.

Urgent Alert: DCF Rule Change to Put Safety, Privacy, and Security of Young Girls at Risk

Admin — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 01:10:20 +0000

Did you get a chance this week to contact Governor Rick Scott regarding this critical issue to protect girls in foster care? He is directly and ultimately responsible for whatever rule is produced by his agency. Please contact him now, it will only take a minute, but it could make a huge difference. Thanks, John Stemberger

PS- The DCF phone hearing took place yesterday but it was typically unfair. The first LGBT noticed hearing weeks ago went over a total of 4 hours to accomodate all the callers. This hearing noticed by faith based groups ended “on time” and precluded many from speaking, including myself and other major leaders, who did not get an opportunity to testify–while LGBT leaders just blurted out and spoke out of turn.

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URGENT ACTION ALERT:

Florida Governor Rick Scott’s office is about to oversee a DCF rule change requiring minor girls in foster care group homes to live in rooms with and sleep right alongside of boys who “feel” like they are girls.

Contact Governor Scott immediately and ask him to stop this madness and protect children in foster care by requiring only ACTUAL biological girls to be housed in girls’ group homes.

TAKE ACTION NOW:

1. Contact Governor Rick Scott and ask him to protect the safety, privacy, and security needs of all of Florida’s children in foster care.

Call: Main Line: 850-717-9337, Select Option 1 to speak to live person; Select Option 2 to leave a message

Email: rick.scott@eog.myflorida.com or use the contact form: http://www.flgov.com/contact-gov-scott/email-the-governor/

Write:

The Honorable Rick Scott, Governor of Florida, The Capitol, 400 S. Monroe St., Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

2. Attend the next DCF rule hearing by phone on Thursday, Aug 4 (11am-12:30pm EST) and express your opposition to these changes.

Call-In Information: Dial 1-888-670-3525 Passcode: 312 614 9586 #

3. Or Attend the DCF rule hearing in person on this Thursday, Aug 4 (11am-12:30pm EST).

Meeting Location: Florida Department of Children and Families, 1317 Winewood Boulevard, Building 1, Room 301G Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0700

(Note: Seating may be limited, please plan to arrive early to receive your visitor pass from the front desk and secure your seat)

TALKING POINTS:

Governor Scott appointed the head of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) Secretary Mike Carroll. Little happens in DCF without the Governor’s office being aware of or having the power to influence decisions.

Governor Scott can and should direct his appointee DCF Secretary Mike Carroll to protect the safety, privacy, and security needs of all of Florida’s children by requiring only girls to be housed in girls’ homes.

Many of the children in Florida’s foster care system come from troubled or abusive homes. Forcing a girl or boy to share a room with a person of the opposite sex, is not only inappropriate, but could also be physically or mentally traumatizing for victims of prior sexual abuse.

The state should be fiercely protecting children and not putting them at risk because of pressure from special interest groups with radical social policies.

The proposed rule change that treats a child’s “gender identity” as the child’s “sex” is deeply disturbing. Children with gender confusion issues need our help, care and counseling. We are not helping them by facilitating and promoting their confusion and gender dysphoria.

Group homes can make special arrangements to accommodate children with gender identity confusion issues without infringing on legitimate concerns about privacy and security on the part of the other young people in these homes.

This rule change is very similar to Obama’s recent bathroom mandate for public schools and does not even attempt to achieve this balance.

The rule would also apply to Florida Baptist Children Homes, Catholic Charities and other faith based group homes forcing them to violate their own religious and common sense convictions about separating children of the opposite sexes, thereby forcing them to place children in their care at great risk.

The proposed rule undermines parent’s rights, because there is no room for a parent (or even a foster-care agency) to determine what is in the best interest of a particular child in a specific situation.

This language would require foster care group homes to accommodate and in-practice encourage a child’s perception of their “gender identity.”

This language would also prohibit any ability for a foster-parent or organization to provide a child with help, assistance or counseling related to their “gender identity” even if they requested it.

One child’s confusion, desires or subjective feelings should not outweigh the privacy or safety and security concerns of all other children.

The state should not be experimenting on these kids with an untested and highly-controversial social agenda to appease left-leaning activist groups in the name of “equality.”

BACKGROUND: PROPOSED FOSTER-CARE RULE CHANGE TO INCLUDE “GENDER IDENTITY”

Earlier this year, the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) considered a proposed rule change to treat “gender identity” and “gender expression” the same as a child’s biological “sex.”

Such a change would allow biological boys who identify as girls, to live in the same bedroom as biological girls (and vice versa).

After numerous religious and conservative family organizations in the state shared their concerns about the proposed changes with DCF, the Department removed the language from consideration.

However, in July, after pressure from LGBT groups, DCF with the knowledge of Governor Scott and his office decided to reconsider the language. The proposed rule change being considered at DCF’s next public hearing on Thursday, August 4^th can be read HERE.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

We need your help! You have the power to influence our state government to make sound public policy decisions that will help equip our vulnerable foster-care children for life and encourage them to thrive.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

Thank you for partnering with us on this important issue facing our state. It is important that we continue to unite and make our voices heard on important social issues such as the proper role of government, and the traditional roles of marriage, family structures, and parenting that have served as the foundation of our society for centuries. Please consider supporting our ongoing efforts now with an online contribution HERE.

The post Urgent Alert: DCF Rule Change to Put Safety, Privacy, and Security of Young Girls at Risk appeared first on Florida Family Action.

URGENT: JAX Community Petition To Let the People of Jacksonville Decide on SOGI

Admin — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 17:24:02 +0000

URGENT COMMUNITY PETITION FOR THE CITY OF JACKSONVILLE
To Let the People of Jacksonville Decide Whether SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY & EXPRESSION Should Be Added as New Protected Classes

DOWNLOAD & FILL OUT PDF PETITION HERE

or SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION HERE: HERE

BACKGROUND:
The City Council of Jacksonville is currently moving to pass a so-called “Human Rights Ordinance” which will create new protected classes for the categories of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

These laws in other cities have been used as weapons to punish citizens for simply exercising their religious views and free speech within their own businesses and in private property ownership.

These same laws are also being used to allow fully biological men – who either cross dress or subjectively claim they feel they are women – to have complete access to women’s bathrooms, showers and locker rooms.

Another bill in the City Council proposes largely the same ordinance but would place it on the ballot to allow the peo-ple of Jacksonville to accept or reject.

One of these bills will pass out of the City Council. A similar bill was recently rejected in a referendum by the people in Houston, Texas.

PETITION:

As a citizen of Jacksonville, I want the City Council to allow the voters of Duval County to decide this controversial issue by a referendum and not to force this “Human Rights Ordinance” upon our community by a vote of only ten members of the City Council.

FILL OUT PETITION (PDF) HERE

Please return this petition as soon as possible to Florida Family Policy Council via: US MAIL: 4853 South Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL 32806 Scan/Photo & Email: Info@FLfamily.org FAX: 407-251-0023

For more information log onto www.DefendJaxFamilies.com

This petition has been reviewed by legal counsel and is safe for direct distribution and promotion within churches and other 501c3 non-profit organizations

The post URGENT: JAX Community Petition To Let the People of Jacksonville Decide on SOGI appeared first on Florida Family Action.