It's the Brian Larry Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone.

It's Pride Month, so we will take this time now to learn more about a group whose existence has been made into a polarizing

culture war issue, transgender children for our latest Pride Month segment. In previous years,

Pride Month has been a time of more simply perhaps celebrating diverse expressions of gender and

sexuality. But this year, for a lot of LGBTQ people, things feel

particularly tense. Where in a national election year, the existence of the most vulnerable

members of the LGBTQ community has been weaponized for political gain, just the existence

of trans people and trans children. Last month, Donald Trump

promised to roll back Title IX protections for transgender children on day one of his presidency,

a move that would, quote, prohibit federally funded schools from preventing transgender students

from using bathrooms, locker rooms, and pronouns that align with

their gender identities. So while intense transphobic rhetoric comes from the top of the Republican

Party, we've seen states put forth bills that seek to stigmatize and in some cases outlaw

crucial aspects of transgender life and care.

The news isn't all bad, though, from that perspective.

Yesterday, a federal district judge in Florida, maybe heard this, struck down that state's law

banning gender affirming care for trans youth.

In a 105-page decision, the judge ruled that gender, this is, quote, gender identity is real, unquote,

and Florida had unlawfully banned puberty blockers and hormone treatments, ignoring, quote,

widely accepted standards of care.

Now, there is seemingly endless debate about how to care for transgender children, what kinds of care are performed in the best interest of children, and ultimately whether they should exist at all.

Rather than further politicizing this issue, though, and making children the center of our red versus blue battles, let's discuss what life is like for transgender children and their families.

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