Georgia State Lawmaker Proposes Making Gender Transition Surgery for Minors and Puberty Blockers a Felony
Rhode Is. state officials introduce new protocol
to tackle child pornography
by LYNZI DELUCCIA, NBC 10 NEWS
BY MATT MARGOLIS
Republican State Representative Ginny Ehrhart from Georgia wants to make it a felony for doctors to perform gender transition procedures on minors, including mastectomy, vasectomy, castration, and other forms of genital mutilation, and ban the prescription of puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormone therapy.
State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, said the legislation aims to protect children from having irreversible procedures done when they are young. Current law requires a parent to consent to surgery or for a minor to be prescribed medication.
While the bill is still being drafted, Ehrhart said Georgia medical providers who perform surgeries or administer or prescribe medications that assist minors with gender transition could be charged with a felony. The legislation would not affect doctors working with adults who seek to undergo gender transition.
“We’re talking about children that can’t get a tattoo or smoke a cigar or a cigarette in the state of Georgia but can be castrated and get sterilized,” she said.
While this seems like common sense to most people, Jeff Graham, the executive director of Georgia Equality, an LGBT rights group in the state, blasted the proposed legislation. “This legislation would criminalize decisions that are made carefully within families in consultation with medical professionals and mental health professionals. Supporting children in recognizing their gender identity is not only humane, it saves lives and strengthens families.”
In America's medical system medical professionals benefit financially from transition procedures.
Doctors & drugs FOR LIFE: Big Pharma’s profit on the transgender craze
Mental health professionals often ignore underlying mental health issues - 80% of children who seek to transition sexually display signs of mental illness. Paul McHugh, a psychiatrist from Johns Hopkins University, believes that the increase in gender confusion is mostly caused by the “psychological and psychosocial problems these people have.” One reason why so many people who opt for gender surgery remain unhappy following the procedure, McHugh hypothesizes, is that they discover too late that “they did not address the primary problem,” which was some unaddressed mental health issue.
It is against medical protocol in the USA to treat transgenders for mental illness. See link just above. Children who believe they were somehow born in the wrong bodies, however, is that they will not be provided with any psychiatric counseling to address their youthful beliefs. Why not? Because current medical protocol demands it.
The child’s self-diagnosis that he or she is the opposite sex must be accepted at face value by the medical practitioner, who is strongly advised by leading medical and psychological organizations that “transgender identities and diverse gender expressions do not constitute a mental disorder.”
This non-interventionist approach, known as the ‘gender-affirmative care model’ (GACM), is arguably the primary cause for so many children entering into a lifetime of expensive treatment. - Community and Primary Research Care Group
Supporting children in recognizing their gender identity is neither humane, nor does it save lives and strengthen families. 35-51% of transgenders attempt suicide. In the UK that's 100 to 150 times the rate in the whole of society. So either there is an inherent mental illness or the transitioning causes mental illness. How do mental health professionals ignore these statistics? And Why? At the very least it proves that a great number, if not a majority of trans regret their lives.
Ehrhart was motivated to draft this bill because of the James Younger case in Texas, and says the final bill may include language that makes parents liable as well as doctors. “There may be some implication for the responsibility of the parent to subject the child to this sort of dangerous medical intervention,” Ehrhart said.
This legislation sounds like a great model for national legislation to protect young children who are being brainwashed by the LGBT lobby into believing themselves to be a different gender. It's time to stop pretending that young children are mature enough or capable of making such life-altering decisions that they are bound to regret later in life and will be unable to reverse.
Further, the LGBT lobby should be willing to recognize when reasonable, compromise legislation is proposed and to support it. There is nothing to gain by pretending that young children can handle such decisions. It's been demonstrated that the vast majority of kids who pretend to be the opposite sex grow out of those behaviors.
85-90% of prepubescent children with gender dysphoria will revert to their biological sex after puberty when the natural hormones kick in. Puberty blockers should be illegal.
Forcing gender transition upon them is child abuse. Like I've been saying for a few years now!
See also:
to tackle child pornography
Since 2008, law enforcement has been working with local partners on a project to tackle the growing child pornography epidemic.
On Monday, they all came together to introduce one uniform protocol handling child exploitation crimes.
"Often times there's a misconception that child pornography is just pictures and that no one is getting hurt," Rhode Island State Police Superintendent James Manni said. "That's the furthest thing from the truth."
State police were joined by members of the FBI, state attorney general's office, and local sexual assault and trauma center Day One.
"Over the last 20 years, with the advance of the internet and the lack of real holding tech companies accountable, it's just increased exponentially," Day One Executive Director Peg Langhammer said.
The statistics are staggering. In 1998, there were 3,000 national reports of child sex abuse imagery.
Those reports surpassed one million in 2014 and just last year, the country saw 18.4 million reports of child pornography.
Plot this on a graph and it becomes a bell-curve pointing straight up in the last few years.
"What is that?" Langhammer questioned.
Enter the Rhode Island First Responder Protocol - a two-step solution.
"It's a collaborative tool to assist in criminal investigations and to ensure that victims have access to care," Sen. Jack Reed said.
These crimes are broken down into categories: production, which includes the creation and manufacturing of child pornography, and non-production, which is the possession of it.
The protocol specifically maps out what to do in each case and involves the training of law enforcement, educators, and community leaders, and making sure the appropriate authorities are contacted.
"Everyone being on the same page to respond in the same way streamlines that process and makes it a lot faster for them," Director of RI Children's Advocacy Center Arianna Weatherley said.
Not to mention a lot easier on the victims. Good step forward.
Leaders say training will continue, and they say much of this is thanks to a grant from the National Children's Alliance and more recently, more than $75,000 from the Rhode Island Foundation.
North Carolina lawmakers pass bill to extend statute of limitations for child sex crime victims
CAPE TOWN – In its continued effort to fight against the exploitation of children on the internet, MTN Group yesterday announced the launch of its Child Online Protection initiative by signing a partnership with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).
MTN is the first Africa-wide Telecommunications Company to partner with the IWF.
MTN believes that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life, and that all users of our products and services have the right to freely and safely enjoy the digital solutions we offer. Our Child Online Protection programme is in line with the MTN “We’re good together” initiative that was launched in October aimed at demonstrating how, through partnerships we can help to accelerate digital inclusion for the good of society.
MTN has a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of abuse and exploitation, including that of children. We are guided in our efforts by the work of global organisations and law enforcement authorities dedicated to managing this complex matter. We are a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact as well as the GSMA Mobile Alliance Against Child Sexual Abuse. Our partnership with the IWF builds on our commitment to ensure the safety of children online.
“The free, open nature of information and communication technologies, while benefitting society, unfortunately also creates opportunities for people to develop online relationships with vulnerable children, join communities that harm children, and share sexually-abusive material on children. As MTN is expanding the digital sphere, both on the continent and globally, it is important to us that we ensure that all who are touched by our products and services are impacted positively, including children.,” said Rob Shuter, MTN Group CEO and President.
NONTHABURI, Thailand — The Southeast Asian bloc has agreed to boost efforts, including legal frameworks and law enforcement, to protect children from all forms of online exploitation and abuse.
Ten leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed the declaration to keep children safe amid the digital age following their plenary summit in Thailand.
“The rapid advances in and proliferation of Internet and evolving communications technologies have led to the emergence of unforeseen and unintended consequences that put children’s safety at risk and will likely continue to do so,” the leaders said in the declaration.
They have expressed concern with the global threats that make more children vulnerable to online sexual abuse material and other forms of online exploitation.
In the declaration, the ASEAN leaders have committed to promote, develop, and implement comprehensive national legal frameworks and work towards improving child protection standards and policies against online exploration and abuse.
They also pledged to enhance law enforcement, judicial and legal professional capabilities through regular, relevant and updated trainings and sharing and exchange of best practices in the protection of children.
A national specialized unit will also be established to lead, support and coordinate investigations on online abuse of children.
The regional leaders also committed to increase effectiveness of rights-based and gender-responsive child protection and support services, social welfare programs.
Data collection and monitoring, reporting and referral mechanisms, through hotlines to report suspected illegal online materials will also be strengthened.
The leaders have likewise agreed to promote a national education program and school curricula to raise awareness of sexual, and other forms of exploitation of children to empower children, young people, parents, guardians, caregivers, practitioners and community.
The private sector and other relevant stakeholders will also be mobilized to help in the “monitoring prevention and response measures through regulations, corporate social responsibility, and collaboration for the development of effective measures to detect, take down and report illegal content related to child sexual abuse and exploitation.”
ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Wow! This is great! Although the use of the word 'keep' children safe sort of implies that they are safe now, which is not the case, not even close. I expect it is just a translation issue. The group clearly sees this a a major issue, more than most western countries.
God bless them in their efforts, may they make their commitments happen.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) — For years, advocates have pushed for stricter safeguards against child abuse or neglect.
Failure by officials to report suspected abuse or neglect as required by law now carries jail time and fines.
The change comes in the wake of a notorious case of a former teachers aide in Prince George’s County, who in 2016 was indicted on 270 counts related to the sexual abuse of more than a dozen children at Judge Sylvania Woods Elementary School.
Deonte Carraway is now serving 75 years in prison for sexually exploiting children. Some students had reportedly gone to teachers about it, but nothing would be done.
“Two years ago, (then-county state’s attorney) Angela Alsobrooks testified on these hearings in Annapolis that when the Deonte Carraway case came up in Prince George’s County, she had no remedy to hold those professionals accountable,” said Adam Rosenburg with the Baltimore Child Abuse Center.
That changed in October. Maryland law now holds adults, including teachers, youth workers, healthcare personnel and others, responsible for filing written reports under penalty of law.
Failure to comply carries a penalty of up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
“The child would say ‘This just happened to me,’ and the adult in authority wouldn’t do anything about it there,” Rosenburg said. “By not reporting the abuse, children continued to be abused and bad people continue to get away with it.”
It has long been a pervasive problem throughout the state.
“Along with prosecutors, there were a number of child advocates, lawmakers, individuals who cared about these issues that saw fit to bring Maryland into alignment with the rest of the nation. Forty-eight states up until now had held their professionals accountable when they failed to report abuse. We saw it necessary to make that same statement.” Rosenburg said.
OK, so who's the last holdout?
For years, these advocates had been making changes to strengthen the mandated reporting system, and this was the last gap to close to enforce accountability.
In 2016, Maryland passed Erin’s Law, which teaches students, teachers and parents to recognize signs of child sex abuse.
“We trust that they’re going to watch our kids and look out for them to make sure they’re not hurt on the playground, that they’re getting the best education possible,” Rosenburg said.
By Ann McAdams
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - A bill passed the State House and Senate Thursday would extend the statute of limitations for child sex crime victims. Victims would now have until the age of 28 to file a civil lawsuit, up from the current cap of 21. The bill also expands the duty of adults to report suspected abuse to law enforcement, and gives women the right to revoke consent.
The bill, which is awaiting the governor’s signature, could significantly impact a lawsuit filed against New Hanover County Schools by expanding the number of victims eligible to sue. Former NHCS high school science teacher Michael Kelly recently pleaded guilty to dozens of sex crimes. Many of those crimes happened at school against his own students. The reports date back to the 1990s, and under the previous rule of law, some of the victims had waited too long to seek justice in civil court.
“This is an extraordinary day for victims throughout North Carolina as well as in New Hanover County,” said Joel Rhine of the Rhine Law Firm, one of two firms suing the New Hanover County Board of Education and other defendants for assaults committed by Kelly.
“In our lawsuit, all of the defendants who have answered the Plaintiffs’ complaint – Defendant Rick Holliday, Timothy Markley and the Board of Education – have alleged the statute of limitations as a defense in the case," Rhine’s co-counsel in the lawsuit, Jim Lea noted. "Today’s legislation, if signed by the Governor, will allow for all of these victims and others to come forward and have their day in court.”
Lumberton Senator Danny Britt was one of the bill’s primary sponsors. Wilmington Senator Harper Peterson advocated for the bill, and although he would have liked to have seen the civil statute of limitations extended even further, he said this was “a start."
So would I, raising the age limit from 21 to 28 may make a difference in the NHCS case, but it still leaves hundreds, if not thousands of child sex abuse victims out in the cold. The Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts of America, and their insurers will breath a big sigh of relief that this change did not go as far as it should have.
Reporting child abuse
Previously, public employees were required to report suspected crimes against children, but under Senate Bill 199, all adults would be required to report crimes against children to law enforcement.
“Any person 18 years of age or older who knows or should have reasonably known that a juvenile has been or is the victim of a violent offense, sexual offense, or misdemeanor child abuse under G.S. 14-318.2 shall immediately report the case of that juvenile to the appropriate local law enforcement agency in the county where the juvenile resides or is found,” Senate Bill 199 reads. Failure to report would be a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Withdrawing consent
“This is a sweeping bill that expands protections for victims of sexual assault,” North Carolina Senate Minority Leader Jeff Jackson said. “North Carolina has been the only state in the country where a woman cannot revoke consent to have sex once sex has begun. That means if a woman initially consents and sex turn violent, the man cannot be prosecuted for rape – even if he admits that she had withdrawn her consent.”
Statutes of Limitation
There is no statute of limitations in North Carolina for sex crimes from a criminal standpoint, but victims trying to obtain monetary compensation previously had a short window of three years after they turned 18 to pursue civil relief. If it could be proven that the crime had been concealed, it would theoretically extend the statute of limitations to ten years, but when that exception could be applied was up to interpretation.
Other elements of Senate Bill 199 ban high-risk sex offenders from communicating online with people under the age of 16, and require training related to child sexual abuse and sex trafficking for school personnel.
Like Senator Britt says, 'It's a start!'
Speed Skater, child sex abuse survivor speaks out
after Arizona passes new SoL law
after Arizona passes new SoL law
TUCSON – Bridie Farrell opened up about the sexual abuse she suffered as a child in front of Southern Arizona advocates at a town hall on Wednesday evening.
It first happened more than 20 years ago.
“I didn’t tell my story for the same reasons so many folks don’t,” said Farrell. “I felt scared, doubting myself, not aware that I had been abused. I didn’t come forward for 15 or 16 years.”
Farrell was a nationally recognized speed skater who set three American records and went to four Olympic trials.
The abuse began when she started training for the Winter Olympics in 1998.
Farrell said her abuser was a teammate more than twice her age. She made the decision to go public with her story in 2013.
“I took seven years off the sport,” said Farrell. “I made a comeback for the 2014 Olympic trials. I walked into the arena in Milwaukee and saw a little girl that reminded me of myself and that was enough of a reason to come forward and speak out.”
This past spring, Farrell came to the state capitol and helped pass the Child Protection Act, extending the statue of limitations for child victims to go after their abusers in court by ten years, until those young men and women are 30-years-old.
Farrell believes this legislation is a huge victory.
“I never thought people would come together and listen on the topic,” said Farrell. “It just proves communities across the country and across the state are ready to help survivors heal and also the community heal.”
We can always hope. But there are still far too many people who refuse to listen to or discuss the issue, and until they do, it will continue to get worse. Kudos for Arizona for raising the statute of limitations. 30 years is still much too low, but, it's a start.
Africa's MTN partners with IWF
to make the internet safer for children
MTN Group announced the launch of its Child Online Protection initiative by signing a partnership with the Internet Watch Foundation. Photo: Pete Linforth/Pixabay
CAPE TOWN – In its continued effort to fight against the exploitation of children on the internet, MTN Group yesterday announced the launch of its Child Online Protection initiative by signing a partnership with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF).
MTN is the first Africa-wide Telecommunications Company to partner with the IWF.
MTN believes that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life, and that all users of our products and services have the right to freely and safely enjoy the digital solutions we offer. Our Child Online Protection programme is in line with the MTN “We’re good together” initiative that was launched in October aimed at demonstrating how, through partnerships we can help to accelerate digital inclusion for the good of society.
MTN has a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of abuse and exploitation, including that of children. We are guided in our efforts by the work of global organisations and law enforcement authorities dedicated to managing this complex matter. We are a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact as well as the GSMA Mobile Alliance Against Child Sexual Abuse. Our partnership with the IWF builds on our commitment to ensure the safety of children online.
“The free, open nature of information and communication technologies, while benefitting society, unfortunately also creates opportunities for people to develop online relationships with vulnerable children, join communities that harm children, and share sexually-abusive material on children. As MTN is expanding the digital sphere, both on the continent and globally, it is important to us that we ensure that all who are touched by our products and services are impacted positively, including children.,” said Rob Shuter, MTN Group CEO and President.
ASEAN leaders sign declaration to keep children safe from online abuse, exploitation
By Genalyn Kabiling - Manila BulletinNONTHABURI, Thailand — The Southeast Asian bloc has agreed to boost efforts, including legal frameworks and law enforcement, to protect children from all forms of online exploitation and abuse.
(L-R) Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo and Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith
(Photo by TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP)(Photo by TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP)
Ten leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed the declaration to keep children safe amid the digital age following their plenary summit in Thailand.
“The rapid advances in and proliferation of Internet and evolving communications technologies have led to the emergence of unforeseen and unintended consequences that put children’s safety at risk and will likely continue to do so,” the leaders said in the declaration.
They have expressed concern with the global threats that make more children vulnerable to online sexual abuse material and other forms of online exploitation.
In the declaration, the ASEAN leaders have committed to promote, develop, and implement comprehensive national legal frameworks and work towards improving child protection standards and policies against online exploration and abuse.
They also pledged to enhance law enforcement, judicial and legal professional capabilities through regular, relevant and updated trainings and sharing and exchange of best practices in the protection of children.
A national specialized unit will also be established to lead, support and coordinate investigations on online abuse of children.
The regional leaders also committed to increase effectiveness of rights-based and gender-responsive child protection and support services, social welfare programs.
Data collection and monitoring, reporting and referral mechanisms, through hotlines to report suspected illegal online materials will also be strengthened.
The leaders have likewise agreed to promote a national education program and school curricula to raise awareness of sexual, and other forms of exploitation of children to empower children, young people, parents, guardians, caregivers, practitioners and community.
The private sector and other relevant stakeholders will also be mobilized to help in the “monitoring prevention and response measures through regulations, corporate social responsibility, and collaboration for the development of effective measures to detect, take down and report illegal content related to child sexual abuse and exploitation.”
ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Wow! This is great! Although the use of the word 'keep' children safe sort of implies that they are safe now, which is not the case, not even close. I expect it is just a translation issue. The group clearly sees this a a major issue, more than most western countries.
God bless them in their efforts, may they make their commitments happen.
Adults Can Now Face Prison Time For Failing To Report Suspected Child Abuse In Maryland
By Pat WarrenANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) — For years, advocates have pushed for stricter safeguards against child abuse or neglect.
Failure by officials to report suspected abuse or neglect as required by law now carries jail time and fines.
The change comes in the wake of a notorious case of a former teachers aide in Prince George’s County, who in 2016 was indicted on 270 counts related to the sexual abuse of more than a dozen children at Judge Sylvania Woods Elementary School.
Deonte Carraway is now serving 75 years in prison for sexually exploiting children. Some students had reportedly gone to teachers about it, but nothing would be done.
“Two years ago, (then-county state’s attorney) Angela Alsobrooks testified on these hearings in Annapolis that when the Deonte Carraway case came up in Prince George’s County, she had no remedy to hold those professionals accountable,” said Adam Rosenburg with the Baltimore Child Abuse Center.
That changed in October. Maryland law now holds adults, including teachers, youth workers, healthcare personnel and others, responsible for filing written reports under penalty of law.
Failure to comply carries a penalty of up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
“The child would say ‘This just happened to me,’ and the adult in authority wouldn’t do anything about it there,” Rosenburg said. “By not reporting the abuse, children continued to be abused and bad people continue to get away with it.”
It has long been a pervasive problem throughout the state.
“Along with prosecutors, there were a number of child advocates, lawmakers, individuals who cared about these issues that saw fit to bring Maryland into alignment with the rest of the nation. Forty-eight states up until now had held their professionals accountable when they failed to report abuse. We saw it necessary to make that same statement.” Rosenburg said.
OK, so who's the last holdout?
For years, these advocates had been making changes to strengthen the mandated reporting system, and this was the last gap to close to enforce accountability.
In 2016, Maryland passed Erin’s Law, which teaches students, teachers and parents to recognize signs of child sex abuse.
“We trust that they’re going to watch our kids and look out for them to make sure they’re not hurt on the playground, that they’re getting the best education possible,” Rosenburg said.
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