Viral story misrepresents 'This Book Is Gay' controversy
Also: Texas hospital caught secretly transitioning minors
👋 Good morning. A highly explicit book led middle school parents to file a report. Now, they’re being called book burners. Today, we’re covering:
🏥 Texas hospital caught secretly transitioning minors,
📚 Viral story misrepresents This Book Is Gay controversy,
🇿🇦 South Africa tries to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia,
➕ And everything else you need to know.
LGBT
Texas Children’s Hospital caught secretly transitioning underaged patients
Texas Children’s Hospital
What’s going on? In March 2022, Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH)—the largest children’s hospital in the U.S.—announced it would halt sex-change treatments for minors after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered investigations into the medical procedures. New whistleblower documents obtained by the City Journal show that the hospital continued to perform such procedures secretly rather than halting them. A spokeswoman for the hospital said she had “no comment” when asked about the allegations.
Secret procedures: According to the documents, doctors at TCH continued medically treating underaged patients for “gender dysphoria” and “gender identity.” Endocrinologist Richard Roberts treated 12- to 17-year-old patients, with his schedule showing a recent appointment to discuss hormone replacement therapy with a patient. Surgeon Kristy Rialon inserted and removed “non-biodegradable drug delivery implants” used to administer puberty blockers to numerous 11- to 15-year-old patients with gender dysphoria.
The hospital’s guidance: In January, TCH and their partner Baylor College of Medicine held a presentation on the care of “gender-diverse youth.” The presentation encouraged physicians to treat adolescents with puberty blockers and hormonal therapy and perform sex-change surgeries for adults. It also stated that surgery is appropriate for some minors on a “case-by-case basis.”
What now? With Gov. Abbott’s stance on the topic and a state-wide ban on sex changes for minors likely to become law soon, an investigation into the hospital’s conduct is expected. The revelations come at a time when opposition to medically transitioning minors seems to be on the rise: Numerous states have passed or are considering bans; whistleblowers and de-transitioners are exposing the risks and harms of these procedures, and recent polls show that most Americans believe children shouldn’t have access to sex-change treatments.
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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
Vladimir Putin and Cyril Ramaphosa, 2018
🇺🇦 Putin and Zelenksyy will meet with African leaders to discuss a proposed peace plan. After speaking with the two presidents over the phone, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says they have agreed to separately meet with African leaders in Moscow and Kyiv for a discussion that will be mediated by African leaders. Details of the proposed plan or the timeline of the discussions are not yet public. The White House says it “would support any third-party peace proposal” that is “credible, enforceable and sustainable.”
💻 Top tech companies are hiring low-paid foreign workers this year after mass layoffs. Upward News previously covered how some of America’s top tech firms hired tens of thousands of foreign workers for coveted jobs under the H-1B visa program in 2022 while dumping American workers in droves. New data from the Department of Labor show that the trend is continuing this year as Google, Meta, Amazon, and others have hired dozens of foreigners just weeks after laying off tens of thousands of employees.
🚌 Judge stops New York City from transporting migrants upstate. For now, Mayor Eric Adams cannot continue busing hordes of migrants to the neighboring Orange County due to a state Supreme Court ruling. The ruling resulted from a lawsuit by the county, which has protested the move ever since Adams began sending migrants to suburbs earlier this month. The city is not required to move the migrants it has already dropped off.
🧑🌾 Bipartisan House bill would prevent foreign adversaries from buying American farmland. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Rep. Dale Strong (R-Ala.) have proposed banning individuals and companies connected to the governments of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea from owning U.S. farmland and participating in certain Department of Agriculture programs. The legislation is mainly intended to counter Chinese influence. Three Republicans and a Democrat also introduced a companion bill in the Senate.
MAINSTREAM MEDIA
Viral NBC story misrepresents controversy over a sexually explicit book shown to middle schoolers
What happened: A teacher in Illinois encouraged middle school students to read This Book Is Gay, an illustrated book that graphically describes “the ins and outs of gay sex” and promotes risky hookup apps. Parents filed a police report against her for alleged child endangerment.
Legacy media’s version of the story: NBC-affiliated outlet TODAY wrote a sympathetic feature story about the teacher, portraying the allegations as simply an attack on an “LGBTQ-themed book” without any description of its sexual content that has outraged parents across the country.
Warning: The following paragraph contains graphic content.
What’s really in the book: This Book Is Gay contains explicit passages on oral sex, anal sex, and masturbation, encourages seeking out orgies with strangers, and explains fetishes such as giving a “golden shower.” It also promotes adult dating apps such as Grindr, which has a weak age-verification system that has allowed adult predators to solicit and traffic children on several occasions. One paragraph in the book acknowledges that child users will encounter “grown-up adult types” through these apps, saying that it’s “fine as long as you’re honest and always use a condom.”
via TODAY
Why it matters: Other NBC outlets have republished TODAY’s disingenuous coverage of the story all over the internet, leading some online to condemn the parents involved as “book-burners” who have no valid reason to want the book restricted from their children. This follows a trend of legacy media refusing to cover book-banning controversies fairly or informatively, often describing challenged materials with vague phrasing like “books containing LGBTQ+ topics.”
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SEE YOU TONIGHT?
In tonight’s Upward+, we're diving into the complex political dynamics where Washington's global liberalism and Israel's growing right-wing perspectives converge, while exploring the actions of Israel's liberal elites that are transforming the country into a vassal of the U.S.
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IN THE LOOP
🇨🇳 Four Republican governors sent a letter to Vanguard asking it to create an investment fund that isn’t connected to China.
📃 The Minnesota state Legislature passed gun control legislation that the governor is expected to sign, including a “red flag” measure.
📺 Fox News will give Tucker Carlson’s former time slot to Sean Hannity, an anonymous source told The Drudge Report. Fox says that "no decision has been made.”
📈 Bud Light will reportedly start selling camouflage beer bottles in a campaign for wounded veterans, in an attempt to boost sales.
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GLOBAL
🛰️ North Korea might be launching a new military spy satellite soon.
🇲🇽 A bipartisan Senate bill would label fentanyl trafficking a national security threat and order the U.S. military to cooperate more with Mexico.
🪖 The U.S. suggested to Israel “the idea of engaging in joint military planning concerning Iran,” Axios reported, citing officials from both nations.
🤝 The Biden administration is reportedly seeking a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel by the end of 2023.
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POLL
Should LGBT-themed books be allowed in public schools?Poll results will be in tomorrow’s newsletter. |
POLL RESULTS FROM YESTERDAY
Do you think Republicans are better on crime than Democrats?
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 👍 Yes (92.8%)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 👎 No (2.4%)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤔 Unsure (4.8%)
“Yes. Just look at the crime rates in Democrat-controlled cities, such as New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Chicago, etc.”
“Yes, but it's encouraging to see Democrat candidates challenging the woke captivity of their party.”
“Unsure. It is easier to assert that Democrats, with their compassion, are worse on (most) crime than Republicans. It seems the only crimes they are ardent in prosecuting is to make us pay taxes and obey regulations.”
✍️ Today’s newsletter was written by Ari, Hudson, and Joanna and edited by Alyssa.
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