For years, it's been a tradition for some families to wake up on Sunday mornings and head out the door to hear some great music and listen to a man in a dress say a few words. And no, we're not talking about the Sunday morning service at your local parish... we're talking about a dedicated family-friendly drag brunch at Hamburger Mary's in Orlando.
That's gone now. Once Florida passed a law threatening criminal charges for exposing children to "adult live performances," the restaurant canceled its all-ages shows rather than risk legal trouble.
They weren't going to go down easy, though, and promptly sued the state. This week, there was a major update in the case as a divided federal appeals court told the state it can continue to enforce that law while the underlying case drags (sorry, we couldn't help it) on.
What The Law Actually Does
The law is Florida's 2023 Protection of Children Act. On paper, it bars venues from admitting minors to shows involving nudity, sexual conduct, or lewd exposure, regardless of whether a parent consents. Off paper, Governor Ron DeSantis and the bill's sponsor have both described it, on the record, as a response to drag shows and "Drag Queen Story Time" events specifically.
Hamburger Mary's sued in 2023, arguing the law was too vague for any venue to know when it was breaking it, and a federal judge agreed, blocking enforcement statewide. On August 4, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit reversed that block in a 8-5 vote. The case now returns to a trial court in Orlando, and the restaurant says it isn't done fighting.
Is This Really Just About The Children?
The majority of the bench seems to think so. Writing for the court, Judge Andrew Brasher described the law as a plain regulation of obscenity. Preventing kids from seeing sexual content onstage, the majority reasoned, is a rational way to protect their well-being, whatever a parent might otherwise decide. It's a serious argument, and eight judges signed onto it.
Five judges did not. Judge Robin Rosenbaum's dissent compared the law to a guessing game, since a venue can only learn whether its show is illegal by staging it and waiting to see if law enforcement agrees.
A separate dissent from Judge Nancy Abudu dug into the bill's legislative record. She found DeSantis and its sponsor naming drag shows as the target well before the law passed, undercutting the idea that this was ever a neutral obscenity statute.
What Does The Research Actually Say?
There's less hard science here than either side claims. Most relevant research doesn't study drag shows specifically. It has studied children's exposure to LGBTQ+ people and topics more broadly, and the mainstream consensus, backed by the American Psychological Association, has found no evidence that exposure causes harm.
Ashleigh Yule, a Calgary psychologist who specializes in child and adolescent mental health, argues that kids already hold a fluid, developing understanding of gender, and that age-appropriate conversations about it tend to help rather than hurt.
The loudest opposing voice, the "American College of Pediatricians", disagrees, and says this kind of exposure carries real psychological risk. It's worth knowing what that group actually is, though. Watchdog organizations including the Southern Poverty Law Center, along with mainstream medical bodies, describe it as a small, explicitly conservative advocacy group, not the 67,000-member American Academy of Pediatrics it's frequently mistaken for.
The Cost Already Being Paid
Melissa Stewart, the attorney representing Hamburger Mary's, put the practical effect bluntly. Even without a single prosecution, she said the law still works by making the state's queer community "afraid to speak, to perform" in public.
That fear carries a price tag. Drag performer Miss Bouvèé has said Florida's climate around these laws has already cost her more than $10,000 in canceled bookings, with some remaining venues blacking out windows and taping paper over doors so a passerby won't risk corruption should they accidentally glimpse a show from the street. Literally forced to hide in the shadows, supporters argue that the community has already been broken.
Hamburger Mary's own filings say it lost 20 percent of its Sunday reservations once it was compelled to ban families from attending together.
This isn't the first time Florida has aimed at pro-drag families directly, either. Back in 2022, a state lawmaker floated felony charges and the termination of parental rights for any parent who brought a child to a drag show, and Governor DeSantis said his administration was looking into whether Florida Child Protective Services could get involved.
Nobody has actually lost custody of a kid over a Sunday brunch. But the message to parents was clear: your own judgment about your own child doesn't count for much here.
Not every performer is backing away, though. Qommittee, a national group supporting drag artists facing legal pressure, updated its guidance for Florida after the latest ruling with a blunt reminder: the law doesn't ban drag itself, only content in front of minors, so performers should stay cautious but continue to book shows.
Where Do The Faith Voices Land?
Religious voices back the law's supporters too, and not from the sidelines. Mat Staver, a pastor and constitutional lawyer who runs Liberty Counsel, personally filed the brief backing Florida in this exact case. Reacting to the ruling, he said the shows at issue are "becoming more sexually explicit, more pervasive, and more specifically targeting young people."
But his isn't the only Christian voice in Florida. Progressive clergy, including pastors within the Metropolitan Community Churches network that has ministered to LGBTQ+ Christians since 1968, have organized against this same wave of state legislation.
Rev. Craig Cranston, whose Fort Myers congregation is more than half LGBTQ+, has argued that "telling anyone 'you don't belong' is antithetical to the Gospels."
Is This About Protection or Punishment?
This case sits alongside a string of recent fights over how much room religious objection can claim from LGBTQ+ public life, from a Louisiana pastor fired over a pronoun who is now suing in federal court, to an L.A. County employee who sued after simply seeing a Pride flag on his way into work.
Each asks a version of the same question this one does: when "protecting" someone requires pushing another group out of public view, who gets to decide that trade is worth it?
For now, Florida has its answer, and it's an 8-5 answer, not a unanimous one. Hamburger Mary's says their fight continues. So does the queer community they serve.
What do you think: does the state have a legitimate interest in restricting where children encounter drag or wider LGBTQ+ culture? And where should that line sit when even judges can't seem to agree on where the law itself draws it?
93 comments
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Rev. BH
The law bans "venues from admitting minors to shows involving nudity, sexual conduct, or lewd exposure." Which one of these applies to dress-ups reading to kids?
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Justin Adam Kalm
None, but the Florida legislature and prosecutors don’t see it that way, unfortunately. And often the threat of malicious prosecution is more than enough to stop an innocent activity.
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ServantOfJudgement
I'm assuming they're wanting to avoid the dude in a dress version of sharon stone's famous 'accidental exposure' I've heard of. Mr Eric Posely out west had such an 'accident'.
"Oh, I'm sorry, did I accidentally show the kiddos my man junk.....again....'
Hard pass, stop the pervs before they pervert.
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Rev Ned
I dunno why people are so TERRIFIED of LGBTQ+ people, also rainbows on stuff. Is FLA gov Rhonda Santis behind this?!?
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Douglas Robert Spindler
Rev Ned,
People, especially young adults are the ones who are terrified of the Christians who molest and rape women in the name of God.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
@Vernon Dale Shanas
Are you pure and a true follower of God?
Deuteronomy 23:1-3 1 “If a man’s testicles are crushed or his penis is cut off, he may not be admitted to the assembly of the LORD . 2 “If a person is illegitimate by birth, neither he nor his descendants for ten generations may be admitted to the assembly of the LORD . 3 “No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants for ten generations may be admitted to the assembly of the LORD . When your parents or you got married was rape involved? Deuteronomy 28:30 states: 'You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her”
Do you do as you are instructed to by God in Numbers 31:17-18 and kill on the little ones while keeping all the young girls to yourself?
Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him keep alive for yourselves."
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James Edward Baker
Milton Berle, Harvey Korman, Flip Wilson, The Three Stooges, Bugs Bunny, and many others performed in drag. They were on stage, in theaters, in movie, and on tv. We all laughed and never gave it a second thought.
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Marie Gore
Come on people. You don't know the difference between right and wrong?
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Douglas Robert Spindler
@Marie Gore Not everyone knows the difference between right and wrong. Would you care to explain? Members of the clergy have no problem molesting children and raping women ad do or elected officials from the President of the United States on down.
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Rev.Dr.Dennis Chevalier, Ph.D
Marie,
They know the difference. They choose to ignore it. This is a choice they had made and in the end, that choice has to be answered too by the creator of the universe.
Dr. D
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Justin Adam Kalm
Have you considered that this might be a situation where instead of it being a choice between right and wrong it might simply be a choice between one preference and another? For instance, if we went to a pizzeria, you might get a pizza with pepperoni and olives, while I might get one with mushrooms and roasted garlic. Neither of us is making an objectively bad choice. And even if I were to choose anchovies and pineapple, and you felt that was a crime against nature, it wouldn't be wrong if I wasn't forcing you to eat it, would it?
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Vernon Dale Shanas
If you are a true follower of God, you keep the laws and principles He gave us to follow. Specifically stated in Lev. A man having sexual relations with another man as one does with a woman is detestable, and Paul speaking as God's apostle calls this sexually immoral, and they will not enter the kingdom of Heaven. We can still live our own lives, with a live and let live attitude, without judgment on others as long as the beliefs of others are not forced upon us.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Vernon,
If you take all of Lev. and Paul as "Gospel," then I assume, you:
Stone your children when they talk back.
Eat a purely Kosher diet.
Treat your slaves well.
I also suggest you pay attention to what Jesus said, about loving your neighbor as yourself, feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, visiting those in prison, clothing those without, and housing the homeless.
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Rebecca L Tice
I've been a Southern Baptist since I was about 7 years old. I was Baptized when I was 12. I am a Christian. That said, I bought all the garbage about homosexuality or bisexuality or transsexuality the church was spewing. I bought that it was a choice.
Innocently I married a bisexual human. I had no clue until after we were married. This was in the late 60's. I came home early from work one day and found him doing things I didn't know men did!!!
I swore he chose. My mom said I was married to the man, and divorce was not an option. She also believed it was a choice.
Well, while I was pregnant with my third baby, he didn't want, he decided to beat it out of me.
I finally left.
My grandchildren were not raised near this man. Two of my grandchildren went to Catholic School. They were raised halfway across the nation from this man. They had no contact with homosexuality or bisexuality in the home they grew up in.
One of my grandchildren is gay. She's just gay. No one taught her. No one coerced her. She just is. I love her to pieces but because I'm a Christian.... she doesn't think I do.
Gay is not a choice.
Oh, sure some do choose to act Gay. Some humans rob banks and steal cars too.... they choose to do that.
BUT, as Jesus told us in Matthew 19:12, some humans are born Gay.
I've been to gay bars and a tranny sang "you're having my baby" to me..... because I was married to a bi and pregnant. I was married to the man and in order to "save" my marriage, I needed to learn more about the culture, according to his psychiatrist.
There is a strong community in Florida. I can see why this argument is gaining traction....
Just know this.... some humans are just born Gay. It's just a fact.
I used to ask Gays if they kissed they moms with "the same" mouth.
Now I know better. Please remember....
Matthew 19:12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
Can't you accept it?
I have learned.
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Doctor Loyal
Matthew 19:12 is about Celibacy, not being Gay.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
Matthew 19:12, like every verse in the Bible can be twisted in any way a Christian wants.
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Doctor Loyal
I see. On which Recognized Theological Expert did you base your conclusion?
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Douglas Robert Spindler
Christian clergy. You know the Christians who think it's fine to molest young children and rape young girls and women in the name of God.
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Doctor Loyal
At first, I thought that you were OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), but I may be incorrect and you actually have ODD (Obsessive Defiance Disorder). Please enlighten me, and let me know which description would be correct.
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ServantOfJudgement
Douglas, here ya go bearing false witness again.
If you'd have said Islam rapes for Allah then yep. It's in their holy texts.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Rebecca,
I'm so sorry that this happened to you. Unfortunately your experience is what happens when a person's identity or gender expression is suppressed, denied and dehumanized. I hope and pray that you and your children, along with your ex-husband have gotten the help they need to recover from this horroble experience. Before anyone says I'm just making excuses for him, his "choice" was to beat you, which is reprehensible and he deserves whatever punishment he got for it. I hope you understand that now.
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Rev.Dr.Dennis Chevalier, Ph.D
Rebecca, I am so sorry. That trauma has happened to you? And I am praying for you.
Dr. D.
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Justin Adam Kalm
I'm sorry that your granddaughter doesn't think you love her. I wonder what signals you might be inadvertently sending that make her feel that way. Have you said anything that might make her feel only partially accepted, along the lines of "hate the sin, love the sinner"? You might not have said it to her. You might have said it to others, who then relayed it to her.
In any case, I recommend reaching out to a pastor at a United Church of Christ affiliated congregation. They are Christians who are very welcoming of LGBTQ+ individuals, and I bet they could help you to find a way for you and your granddaughter to heal the rift between you. I wish you all the best.
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Susan Patricia Gold
When our local Barnes and Noble had a speaker who was one of the original gay men to try to get gay rights my husband and I took our daughters to hear him speak. Unfortunately we were the only ones who showed up. We taught our daughters to respect and love someone who is different than they are. The power of God's love surpasses the hate. If someone does not want their children to participate than don't go. The shows are harmless.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
Now that your daughters heard this gay men speak did that make them gay, lesbians or cross dressers? That’s what Christians tell us will happen.
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Roy S. Thorpe
Reading comments from both sides of the aisle, I realize that stupidity exists in large concentrations among the masses! Intelligent communication between people does not exist in the evil one's playground! Sad! Very sad!
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Colleen McAllister
Men in drag are often simply performers in costume. The have little to do with LGBTQ+ people. Get over yourselves. It says more about your mindset that your thoughts go there.
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ServantOfJudgement
Except they're gay men.....
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Ari Joseph Bertine
Not all drag performers are gay men. There are straight men who are drag queens. I found several examples in a very short google search without any serious effort.
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ServantOfJudgement
Sure Ari, there are exceptions to every rule. Pound for pound, drag queens are gay brothers. We all know that as a truth.
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Patricia Ann Gross
But...... if it is a truth, then how can exceptions exist? If you ever watched RuPaul's Drag Race, you would have seen several straight men in DRAG, both as contestants and as straight men willing to participate in a DRAG make-over. The only science that maintains absolute truths is mathematics. Physical sciences have exceptions all over the place, to what is considered "normal," and therefore "the truth" becomes "the truth, except for the times it's not."
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Justin Adam Kalm
There are all sorts of different drag performances, and it's true that many drag performers identify as straight, but I don't think it's accurate to say that drag queen story hours have little to to with LGBTQ+ people. On the contrary, they are all about playfully subverting gender norms and allowing children increase their love of reading while getting exposure to the LGBTQ+ community in a non-threatening, age appropriate way, so that they won't grow up to be bigots.
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ServantOfJudgement
Overwhelming support for this madness from the lgbtqia++ is an absolute necessity for their future acronym lgbt2qia++map.
Shes-a-coming whether ya like it or not. If ya don't think a kid at a drag show is creepy, ya won't think it when they start getting busy with adults either.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
ServantOfJudgement Didn't you make a post about your up bringing where you wore women's clothing and dressed like a transvestite?
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ServantOfJudgement
Here you come bearing false witness Douglas.
My thoughts gravitate towards all the antichrists who say they don't need the Bible to help them be good people. They claim they're morally superior to the mindless Christian then continue in moral depravity with false witness, baby killing, anarchy, riots, assassination, getting kids in front of creepy dudes and everything else godless animals will do with a clear conscience of their own standard inherited from an ancient lungfish.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
I thought you your thoughts gravitate towards following the word of the Lord and following what it says in the Bible. You claim to be a morally superior Christian and bear witness of what it says in the Bible…. baby killings, anarchy, riots, assassination, getting kids in front of creepy religious leaders who rape and molest women in Children. And you seen to do it with a clear conscience of that this is what God commands you to do. Do you and your partner do as God commands in the pornographic books in the Bible?
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Doctor Loyal
Now you have my interest, could you list the pornographic Books in the Bible for me please?
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Patricia Ann Gross
Dr. L.
Try starting with Song of Songs.
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Justin Adam Kalm
Song of Solomon. There's some hot stuff in there. Highly recommended.
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ServantOfJudgement
Haha, no Douglas, I'm not a morally superior Christian by any stretch. You're confusing me stating biblical principles as if they're my actions. I cuss too much and drink more than I should but not as much as I'd like to. I accept Gods standards as truth yet can't meet them. Some I do well with but nobody can meet God's standard to the letter. Not even close. This is the struggle of the Christian life. My conscience is far from clear friend.
The Bible is an absolute moral compass. It tells a story of the total depravity Man will sink into when he denies Gods morality is superior to his own. God has given us examples of deplorable behavior and it's end so we might avoid it.
Pornography is specifically created to cause sexual arousal. Nothing in the Bible is written to cause sexual arousal. If a person is sexually aroused by a women raping her father, a mob of men sodomizing another man or any other account of our sexual depravity, then the Bible says that person's soul is in jeopardy of terrible loss and a culture that accepts, then promotes it will be destroyed.
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Patricia Ann Gross
SOJ,
I can say that about most of the movies that show in the cinema, and since you have obviously never been to a DRAG brunch, you don't have a leg to stand on. There are more skin, sex, curse words, and violence in a PG-13 movie than any drag brunch I've ever been to. Yes, the DRAG shows at the gay bars can get a little explicit, but they are also behind an "adult entertainment" wall that does not allow children to attend. I presume if you had a boy that wanted to dress as a wicked witch for Halloween, you'd pitch a fit. That type of response is more likely to cause him to want to explore it deeper than a drag brunch would.
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Samuel Tamayo
Sad 🫤. Court ruling seem like they don't care about the children up bring and safety in that community 😕
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Michael Hunt
" Most relevant research doesn't study drag shows specifically. It has studied children's exposure to LGBTQ+ people and topics more broadly, and the mainstream consensus, backed by the American Psychological Association, has found no evidence that exposure causes harm."
Nothing about drag shows will ruin a child's upbringing or risk their safety.
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ServantOfJudgement
Studies showed that the lobotomy was good for you along with smoking. Naturally doctors prescribed these.
If you torture the data long enough, it'll confess to anything.
Run as fast as you can from any doctor or association that says a dude in creepy makeup dry grinding the stage won't harm a child.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
Are you taking about the male Christian preachers who wear robes and dresses or clowns?
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ServantOfJudgement
Douglas, im talking about clowns in makeup wearing hooker garb.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
Oh, you mean priests and members of the clergy. They do wear dresses and robes, don’t they.
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Doctor Loyal
So, as a member of the Clergy, I should wear dresses or robes instead of a suit? Go Figure, in my humble opinion. I considered that was optional, along with the powdered wigs. What about the Religious offshoots that consider Nudity as being mandatory? My fundamental beliefs are unchanged.
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Rev. BH
SOJ, tell us about the "dry grinding" you've seen onstage.
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ServantOfJudgement
Id rather talk about something nice Rev BH and not so creepy.
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Doctor Loyal
The APA is a professional scientific and educational organization. It describes its work as nonpartisan. However, its public policy stances, diversity initiatives, and advocacy for social justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and progressive healthcare align closely with left-leaning or liberal values. The APA was also instrumental in de-classifying Gender Dysphoria as a Psychosexual Disorder.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Dr. L.,
AI answer, I presume since I saw this exact same wording elsewhere. Most people would consider what is in the DSM-5 as "woke" and "liberal leaning." After all, it gives the descriptions of all the psychological disorders, and acknoweldging they exist seems to be a partisan issue. If understanding the human psyche is left-leaning, then who is making it a partisan issue? It's science and born out of hours, and even years of scientific research. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being "left-leaning" or having "liberal values," however, I doubt that anyone on this board can give a definition of either one that we could all agree on.
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Doctor Loyal
Yes, it is my paraphrase of an AI statement. I view most AI "Conclusions" tongue-in-cheek as the original AI programmer's bias tends to show up at odd times. I also view the DSM-5 changes with the same skepticism. Although the DSM-5 isn't written in stone, I tend to view changes that conflict with the original context to be questionable until backed by the preponderance of evidence. In that respect, I suspect some would consider me to be Conservative.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Dr. L,
Like all medical handbooks, the DSM-5 is a living and breathig document that changes and is updated as research continues and we learn more about the human psyche. If it didn't we would still be abiding by medical and psychiatric practices that were done in the early 1900s, before antibiotics and chemotherapy. Science allows our society to evolve as we learn more about our environment, bodies, and minds.
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Doctor Loyal
Pardon the tongue in cheek response concerning the, "Bottle in front of me -vs- the frontal lobotomy... However as our Science evolves, the ones that consider change to be anathema to Science tend to be hung by their own petards. I am seriously pragmatic in that I prefer the preponderance of evidence -vs- the latest fad or smoke and mirrors. The popularity of a change doesn't always support step by step analytical and logical thought processes. Logical reasoning and analytical thinking is necessary prior to making sweeping changes to a process or school of thought. Changing definitions because of popularity is hardly logical, nor does it lead to growth.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Serious research that goes through peer review does not pass if an approved scientific method is not apparent in the manuscript. Research is NOT a popularity contest, and the harm through depression and suicidal ideation when a person's sexuality or gender is suppressed is well documented using scientific methods. Otherwise the DSM-5 would not have changed to remove homosexuality and gender dysphoria as mental illnesses that needed to be corrected. Gender dysphoria is a recognized disorder that can be treated by gender affirming care.
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Doctor Loyal
If I want to see a group of Mentally Ill folks parading all their particular forms of Insanity, I'll watch a Session of the Senate on CSPAN.
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Justin Adam Kalm
Nobody was being forced to go to drag performances. You’re entitled to your preferences, and if you don’t want to go, you don’t have to. What’s at issue here is that others who want to go to these performances and educate their children as they see fit are being forbidden to do so. It’s their rights that are under assault, not yours.
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Chris
If I wanted to see a group of mentally ill folks parading all their particular forms of insanity, I'd have watched Donnie Boy's 4th of July hootinanny, or anything with TPUSA, or a MAGA parade, or.... But since I wasn't FORCED to watch any of those, I didn't. Just like nobody was FORCING you to go to drag events. But fascist authoritarians love to tell others what they can or can't do.
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Brian Hand
Minors, with or without parental consent should NOT be subject to men dressed as women. Pretending this is normal & ok makes you a groomer & pedophile.
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Michael Hunt
Men dressed as women has nothing to do with being a pedophile. There have been plenty of church leaders and conservative politicians, the same who rant about liberals being groomers, who ended up being charged with pedophilia. I personally feel much safer taking a child to a drag show than a church after finding out just how rampant abuse is in some of these massive religious institutions.
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Elizabeth Jane Erbe Wilcox
Please become educated on this topic your opinion is so blatantly incorrect.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
What about women dressing as men?
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Rev. BH
Good question, Douglas. Is that drag? Grooming? High fashion? Policewomen? Pant suits? Rosie the Riveter? Scary?
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Elizabeth Jane Erbe Wilcox
The court has obviously never attended a drag story time for children nor a drag family brunch. The performers at these kinds of shows are much more clothed than the NFL cheerleaders or the toddler beauty queen pageants. Maybe that’s the real issue?
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Robert Gagnon
No one says they can’t perform for adults, why must children be exposed at all? The APA is totally in the pocket of WPATH which it refers to on this subject. If you read this correctly children are already fluid? That means easily influenced. How stupid do you need to be? Of course most of those parents arguing for this bought their kids at auction. Or have no children to risk.
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Stephanie A Willey
The APA and WPATH are in fact in the "pocket" of real medical science.
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Doctor Loyal
AI Overview:
The American Psychological Association (APA) and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) are not officially political parties, but both are frequently characterized as left-leaning due to their advocacy work and positions on social issues. Here is how their political alignment is generally viewed: American Psychological Association (APA): The APA is a professional scientific and educational organization. It describes its work as nonpartisan. However, its public policy stances, diversity initiatives, and advocacy for social justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and progressive healthcare align closely with left-leaning or liberal values.
World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH): WPATH is a medical and professional society. Because its core mission is the promotion of transgender health and the advocacy for "gender-affirming care," it frequently aligns with progressive social policies. As a result, conservative critics often describe WPATH as a heavily ideological and left-leaning organization.
As a Result of the polling, and being also a Mental Health worker as well, I do not consider either Organization to be unbiased in reference to their stance on LBTQ+ and TRANS.
Dr. Kuhn
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Ari Joseph Bertine
When the science itself leans toward supporting ethical decisions that support marginalized communities, it logically follows that organizations that rely upon that science to set policy will lean along with it. The fact that scientific accuracy is read as left-leaning says a lot about how ridiculous it is to politicize things that are medically based.
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Doctor Loyal
Unfortunately, it's not the science when an organization changes the definition and parameters to fit their personal and internal standards based on their preferences. Deviation from the norm is still deviation from the norm, no matter how you qualify the definition.
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Michael Hunt
What organizations are doing that? It's not like the science is a single study or multiple studies by the same organization. It's thousands of scientists and hundreds of organizations all coming to consensus based on hundreds of studies.
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Patricia Ann Gross
The APA would also have a thing or two to say about using AI for mental health issues, as there have been reports of it leading some to suicide. Just look back a week or two on this blog.
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Doctor Loyal
I realize that AIs, in general are programmed quasi-intellects which are quite often the product of their Programmer's personal viewpoint. An AI is NOT an Expert, Nor does it have the ability to gain a Degree based on it's intellectual capacity. It is, however, excellent at gathering , collating and correlating data.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Dr. L,
Yes, you described AI well, including being the product of the programmer's personal viewpoint (call that biased). Since it is NOT an expert, nor can it be cited (at least now) as an expert source academically, its use of gathering unbiased data for correlation is questionable at best, and requrires the researcher to constantly be second-guessing the results and digging through everything they would have in the first place. The only use I have found for it is helping to edit papers. Even then, it sometimes changes the context of what I am trying to say, so I often have to re-edit after AI is done. It does help with grammar, sentence structure, and other things like that, though.
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Doctor Loyal
Correct, I see AIs as corruptible data gathering and handling artifices. I am still surprised at some AI conclusions as I hate the tedium of gathering pertinent information, and have learned to phrase questions for AIs in a manner that has no ambiguity, and avoids sloppy AI conclusions most of the time. The best approach seems to be the use of Boolean logic in questions to AIs.
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Elizabeth Jane Erbe Wilcox
Robert, your assertions are false with regard to parents buying their children at auction. The adoption industry is the human traffickers along with the cis, white, male christian nationalists.
It would be a good idea to educate yourself. Maybe go to a drag story time or a drag family brunch and see the truth of what those entail.
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Najah P Tamargo
Najah Tamargo-USA
Are we really still making this a thing??? If parents do not want their child to NOT see a drag show, then DON'T take them. As an adult, I have seen many drag shows and found them very fun and entertaining. Let us adults decide what is or isn't appropriate for our kids!! This appears to be just another attack on the LGBTQ+ community.
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Justin Adam Kalm
The state has no legitimate interest here whatsoever. Basically, the state has seen that drag shows are enjoyable, family friendly fare, and the state is worried that children who are exposed to gender nonconforming individuals is such a setting may start to see those individuals as human beings worthy of love and respect. The state sees that as a dangerous possibility, which is a pretty deranged way to see things.
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Perry N Nash
You sound like the true woke that you are. Shame on you!
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Justin Adam Kalm
If I am awake to the suffering of others, good for me. I wonder if you have any sense of the history of oppression that has been visited upon people who have not conformed to gender norms.
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Doctor Loyal
It's hard to support others that just plain ignore the Norms, Ethics, and Mores of the Society of which they profess to be a part.
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Bishop William Dusenberry, DD
Meanwhile, Florida continues to do nothing— to ameliorate the most serious type of preventable child abuse in the USA — which is “the religious brainwashing (indoctrination) of naive’ little children.” Once a gullible little toddler, can recite and knows the meaning of the Christian God’s prayer (Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray to the Christian Lord my soul to keep, if I were to die, before I wake, I pray to the Christian Lord, my soul to keep.) Those now opposed to drag queens and the like— should join in efforts to prevent little kiddies in Florida, from being religiously brainwashed — until they’re at least 18.
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ServantOfJudgement
I recall how my public school indoctrinated me into thinking I was an animal. It didn't seem right because there aren't any animals like us today nor have there ever been. Once the school convinced me, they punished me for behaving like an animal. That really blew my mind.
Some people still think they're animals and they might be right.
No matter what you think, you're right.
Thank God I came across his owners manual and found out what the real deal is.
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Brian Hand
Men dressing as women is not family friendly. It’s sick, mentally deranged garbage.
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Stephanie A Willey
Drag is a legitimate art form that has existed for thousands of years in every culture on this planet.
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ServantOfJudgement
Stephanie, they call hardcore porn art too.
Soon we will all see im right. Soon it'll be lgbtq2qia++MAP and all's all y'all will defend with vigor.
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Michael Hunt
No, we won't, because sexually engaging with a child is damaging to the child's health. Being LGBTQ+ harms nobody.
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Douglas Robert Spindler
Men dressing as women has been happening in the US for over 70 years in the movies and TV. Tom Hanks did as as di Milton Berle, Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby and many other huge TV and movie stars. Heck one of the most popular Christmas movies, “White Christmas” has Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in drag.
Why do Christians want to ban one of the best Christmas movies of all time? What jerks.
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Lynnea Urania Kaylor
Not to mention military people doing it for entertainment. https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/drag-performances-wwii.html
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Susan Patricia Gold
Even President Trump and Rudy Giuliani did a comedy sketch with Giuliani in drag.
https://www.facebook.com/HistoryInPictures/videos/in-2000-donald-trump-appeared-in-a-comedic-sketch-alongside-rudy-giuliani-who-wa/1182598090075578/
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Patricia Ann Gross
Brian,
DRAG (the acronym for dressed-as-a-girl) started with Shakespere when actors were (by law) all men, and therefore anyone who played a woman character did so in DRAG.
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Justin Adam Kalm
On the contrary, it’s monocultures that are sick, and boring.
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Politicians in FL must be also TERRIFIED of 🌈s on stuff!