This is such an important point, and it can't be stated often enough. Rhetoric to support anti-trans legislation focuses heavily on the false notion that genital surgery on trans children is pervasive.

I get comments across social media every day, often every hour actually, castigating me for supporting "genital mutilation."

Medium isn't quite as bad, but just yesterday I got a comment from an apparently sincere person telling me they were all for gay rights, but "this genital mutilation of children has to stop."

Lawmakers use the argument because it's powerfully emotional. Most of them know genital surgery on minors doesn't actually happen, but that doesn't stop their rhetoric machine.

Influencers like Libs of Tik Tok (Chaya Raichik) have become quite famous for railing against a non-existent practice.

Meanwhile, trans kids and their families are struggling, wishing for the privacy and anonymity most of take for granted when making health care decisions guided by medical professionals.

As that judge in Florida noted the other day, "Gender dysphoria is real." He wrote in his decision the doctors and parents need to be at the forefront of deciding on treatment, not politicians.

This shouldn't be too hard to understand, but it's greatly complicated by false, inflammatory rhetoric about genital surgery.