Why don’t our real problems get solved?

For instance, I’ve yet to meet someone who doesn’t want to do what’s best for kids. Whether it’s their own kids, or the kids of a relative/friend/neighbor/colleague, the vast majority of people generally care about the next generation. Regardless of their political affiliation, most people want to protect kids, keep them safe, make sure that they’re physically and mentally healthy. Right?

That’s what many Republican politicians say is their goal, too. So why then, here in Wisconsin, was one of the first acts of our newly elected state legislature to propose legislation that, if passed, would deny kids access to the healthcare their parents and doctors say they need? If the GOP here truly cared about keeping kids safe (as well as safeguarding the rights of parents to determine what’s right for their own kids), why would they propose laws that would negatively impact the mental and physical health of kids, even prompting increased suicide attempts?

If they really wanted to keep as many kids safe as possible, why are these politicians spending time on legislation which would impact a tiny minority of kids (fewer than 0.1% in the entire country) when the number one killer of our kids goes unaddressed?

If we unpack the “whys,” it becomes easier to see the pattern and strategy they’re using over and over again, regardless of the issue.

So why this issue, and why now?

Wisconsin Republicans (as well as those in other states) recently proposed legislation to ban hormone blockers for transgender kids. A hormone blocker does exactly what it sounds like. It temporarily stops the production of sex hormones like testosterone or estrogen. And by the way in which Republicans talk about it, you’d think hormone blockers are like candy at Halloween—broadly and easily given out to any kids who want them. In fact, that’s completely false.

Hormone blockers are generally prescribed by pediatric endocrinologists, or specialists in hormones and puberty. The fact is, these specialist physicians work in concert with parents, sometimes for years, to treat kids who suffer from gender dysphoria, which happens when a person’s gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. The condition causes some kids to feel anxious and depressed, even to the point of suicide, or to develop other mental health conditions. Use of hormones as a treatment option to help these kids is supported by a wide variety of major American medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The total number of youth who have had any diagnosis of gender dysphoria is less than 18,000 in the entire U.S., according to a recent study by Harvard and Folx Health, which looked at private insurance claims from 2018-2022. According to the study, fewer than 0.1% of teenagers in the U.S. are transgender and receive gender-related medicines. So at best, we’re talking about a few thousand kids in the entire country. Keep in mind that the use of hormone blockers is temporary, and that it’s also reversible when stopped. And the treatment has no long-term or consequential health impacts, other than potentially impacting adult height.

But do you know what does have actual long-term and consequential health impacts for our kids? Guns. They’re the number one killer of kids in the U.S. Of the 5,100 kids shot last year, more than 1,400 died.

So, you have to wonder: why aren’t Republicans tackling the problem that is actually causing the greatest harm to our kids? And who asked them to come up with legislation to block hormones in the first place, given that so few adolescents access this treatment, and when they do, they actually achieve better mental health outcomes, including suicide prevention?

Why would Republicans pass new laws that take away the rights of parents to determine what kind of health care their kids need? Except when it comes to vaccines, that is. Because according to some Republicans (including RFK, Trump’s pick to head up the Department of Health and Human Services), the decision about whether or not to vaccinate should be completely left up to parents—including and especially the right of parents NOT to have their kids vaccinated against life-threatening diseases like measles, mumps and polio, a decision which puts entire communities at risk. Just recently, an unvaccinated child in Texas died of the measles, and hundreds more, mostly unvaccinated, are sick there. There’s also been another outbreak in New Mexico.

So parents can decide not to vaccinate their kids, jeopardizing the health of the public, but politicians in our state legislatures, and not parents, are the ones who get to decide whether kids can get the physical and mental healthcare their parents and doctors say they need?

Again, why? Well, in the case of the real danger posed to our kids, which is guns, too many Republicans have decided to sacrifice our children on the altar of the Second Amendment. They believe that the right to bear arms trumps our kids’ rights to be safe. And if some kids have to die to ensure that right, so be it. These are the same politicians who fight against common sense gun safety laws, like requiring that guns be stored in locked cabinets to which only parents have the code. Or requiring background checks for gun purchases. In fact, in Wisconsin, it’s easier to buy a gun (no ID needed) than it is to vote.

So why aren’t they addressing the real danger to our kids? Instead, why are they trying to pass laws impacting only a tiny minority of kids that, if they’re successful, will have dire consequences for all of us, including taking away parents’ rights?

The answer is to continue to divide and conquer us. To keep front and center an issue that most of the country doesn’t understand, or have much, if any, experience with. They want to create fear and encourage misinformation, to divert our attention and direct our manufactured outrage to a nonexistent problem while the real dangers go unaddressed and our real problems don’t get fixed. It’s the equivalent of a magician’s trick, to distract us from something they don’t want us to see. But if we stay blind to actual solutions for our very real problems, soon, we may wake up and find we live in a country we don’t recognize or like.

If GOP legislation to outlaw hormone blockers in Wisconsin or other states passes, the rights of parents and doctors to provide health care for kids will be taken away. It will increase the rate of suicide for kids. And it will prevent kids from living healthy lives in communities that accept and support them. That’s the real danger.

If the GOP really cared about our kids, they’d trust parents and health care professionals to do what we do: to make decisions that keep our kids safe and healthy. And they’d address the real reason—guns—that actually impact the safety of our kids.

I have no right to tell someone how to parent their transgender kid. I have no right to tell transgender kids’ doctors what kind of treatment they should provide them. And neither do you. So why would anyone support giving that right to politicians, who have no experience or expertise in transgender healthcare?

Don’t fall for any of it. Look for the pattern—it’s there on every issue, like DOGE, which has absolutely nothing to do with increasing government efficiency. We’ll discuss this common pattern and the strategy they’re using again and again in future posts.

Until then: Take the time to look closer. And don’t stop asking why.

Image by Alexander Lesnitsky from Pixabay