The Vanderbilt University Medical Center is pausing so-called "gender affirmation surgeries" for individuals younger than 18 years old, deputy CEO and chief health system officer Dr. C. Wright Pinson noted in a letter to GOP Tennessee state Rep. Jason Zachary.
The October 7 letter was issued in response to a September 28 letter signed by Zachary and other state House Republicans.
"We, the elected representative body of the state of Tennessee, ask members of the VUMC Board of Directors to take immediate action by halting all permanent gender transitioning surgeries being performed on minor children," the lawmakers' letter said. "Additionally, we ask VUMC, Vanderbilt University's School of Medicine, School of Nursing and its affiliates, to honor all conscientious objectors whose religious beliefs prohibit their engagement in certain medical procedures."
\u201cThis is a time in which elected leaders must boldly lead and speak on behalf of the people. \nI\u2019ve been joined by my esteemed @tnhousegop colleagues in formally requesting that Vanderbilt Medical halt all gender transition surgeries on minors. \n1/\u201d— Rep. Jason Zachary (@Rep. Jason Zachary) 1664383620
Pinson noted in his response letter that the institution's transgender clinic was started in 2018, and that an average of five individuals per year below the age of 18 have had "gender-affirming surgical procedures." He added that "all were at least 16 years of age, none have received genital procedures and parental consent to these surgeries was obtained in all cases."
"You have asked that VUMC halt permanent gender affirmation surgeries being performed on minor children. On September 6, 2022, WPATH published a new version of its recommendations to health care professionals for treatment of transgender persons, known as SOC-8. In light of these new recommendations, and as part of completing our internal clinical review of the SOC-8 guidance in patients under 18, we will be seeking advice from local and national clinical experts. We are pausing gender affirmation surgeries on patients under age 18 while we complete this review, which may take several months," Pinson's letter noted.
"VUMC's policies and practices allow employees to request an accommodation to be excused from participating in surgeries or procedures they believe are morally objectionable. We do not condone discrimination against employees who choose to request accommodations," the letter also stated.
\u201cPlease see Vanderbilt Medical\u2019s response to the @tnhousegop. \nVUMC has agreed to pause gender transition surgeries on minors as well as honor religious objectors.\u201d— Rep. Jason Zachary (@Rep. Jason Zachary) 1665172632
The kickoff is one of the most violent plays in football, so much so that some of the sport's modern day wise men believe it should be removed from the game altogether because of the number of injuries it induces in the most Gladiator-like of men.
Speed, strength, courage, willpower, and chaos are all maxed out on the table. It is an all-in, high-stakes pursuit demanding every bit of oneself just in order to survive, let alone thrive.
That's football for ya. And it's one of the main reasons we love it. Masculine meritocracy unfiltered. Go big or go home.
The squib kick, on the other hand, is the opposite of that. In fact, it really isn't football at all. It's one of the rare moments in the game where the rules are kind of suspended and a truce of sorts is called. Almost nothing is risked. There is nearly zero chance of either team really gaining anything resembling glory.
The violence inherent to the real thing is forfeited for a very temporary safety. We all get what is going on in terms of strategy, but it is a cheat against the purity of the sport, and we know it.
Which brings us to Sarah Fuller, the Vanderbilt women's soccer player who last weekend made fake history by suiting up for the university's football team when COVID kept the team's usual kickers from answering the call of duty.
Never mind the fact that she apparently went full Greta Thunberg and tried to give the team a pep talk at halftime on their way to a 41-0 drubbing — even though she never saw a second of play by that point. Never mind the fact Vanderbilt's coach was fired after the game for adding insult to his winless record via a desperate act of woke theatrics.
Focus on the absurdity that Fuller was named Southeastern Conference special teams "'player of the week" for stepping on the field just one time, to begin the second half of play, and purposefully doing the least football thing possible.
She squibbed it.
In other words, at no point was she at any risk of any actual football breaking out while she was on the field. No need to tackle. No chance of being decleated on a block. But, of course, all of this nonsense was sung to the headline of “Perfectly executed kick sailed 30 yards."
It's such an obvious lie to spin an obvious gimmick: Sarah Fuller didn't really play football and absolutely zero barriers were broken for women because of her. Which is why you will never see other headlines like “Woman plays nose tackle with gusto" or “Woman runs suicidal slant route across the middle" or “Woman suffers concussion after being sacked five times."
All of this, every last bit of it, is a squib. A time-out from actual football used to virtue signal at the price of utter detachment from reality. But does anyone honestly feel their daughters' lives are now somehow filled with greater possibility and renewed optimism because of any of this? Does anyone feel women planted their flag in ground that they have actual potential and plans to conquer for their own?
Fuller may very well be an adequate to excellent placekicker, and get a chance in a future game to prove it to us by launching the ball through the uprights for points on the scoreboard. Should that occur, that will be something to commemorate with our daughters like the two I'm blessed to have and adore. But this silly squib kick gimmick is not that day. It's a farce, which is why you're called sexist by Leftists who loathe the masculine meritocracy of football for saying so.
Oh, by the way, what's a woman?
One story utterly dominated the sports world Saturday: A goalie for the Vanderbilt University women's soccer team joined the school's football team as its placekicker after specialists on the squad were out with COVID-19.
Factually speaking, Sarah Fuller made history when she stepped on the field against Missouri to start the second half, becoming the first woman to play in a Power 5 football game. The Southeastern Conference called her kickoff "perfectly-executed" noting that it "sailed 30 yards and was downed at the Missouri 35-yard line."
Vanderbilt's Sarah Fuller Becomes First Woman To Play In Power Five Football Gameyoutu.be
But everything else surrounding her stint with the football team, according to a number of sports commentators, seemed just a tad over the top.
For starters, Fuller actually blasted her brand-new teammates in a halftime speech. Now, it's not uncommon for players to get vocal with each other in the locker room when the chips are down — but a player who just joined the team? And given that kickers' workloads are quite light, typically they're the last players who will rip into teammates covered in mud, blood, and sweat.
But Fuller told reporters that's just what she did.
"I just went in there, and I said exactly what I was thinking," Fuller recalled, according to ESPN's Courtney Cronin. "I was like, 'We need to be cheering each other on. This is how you win games. This is how you get better is by calling each other out for stuff, and I'm going to call you guys out. We need to be supporting one another.'"
Fuller added that she "was a little pissed off at how quiet everybody was on the sideline. We made a first down, and I was the only one cheering, and I was like, 'What the heck? What's going on?' And I tried to get them pumped up."
I just got off a Zoom call with Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller, who detailed the halftime speech she gave and the r… https://t.co/vBUh74szRf— Courtney Cronin (@Courtney Cronin)1606671547.0
And believe it or not, Fuller said after her speech she "had coaches come up to me and say, 'I've been wanting to say that for awhile now.'" Vanderbilt lost the game 41-0.
Oh, and after her single kickoff, Fuller was named the SEC's co-special teams player of the week.
And a number of folks just couldn't get enough of the growing legend surrounding Fuller.
Uber-woke NBA superstar LeBron James praised Fuller on Instagram. ESPN's Linda Cohn gushed on camera, calling Fuller a "rock star" during a recent interview.
Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller on becoming the first woman to play in Power 5 game | SportsCenteryoutu.be
Alex Scarborough, also with ESPN, penned a feature article totaling more than 2,000 words on Fuller.
Nashville-based radio commentator Chad Withrow said that a fellow local host likened Fuller's efforts to Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier.
"I'm thinking, 'Are you kidding me?'" Withrow told Outkick's Clay Travis on Monday. "I mean the insanity of some of this drives me crazy."
Broadcasters Compare Sarah Fuller To Greats Like JACKIE ROBINSON- Clay And Chad Are NOT Ok With It!youtu.be
Travis — a Vanderbilt alum — has been following the story closely and suggested that the whole thing may have been a publicity stunt pulled off by head coach Derek Mason to save his job. (If so, it apparently didn't work; Mason was fired the day after Fuller's game, having tallied an 0-8 season.)
Fuller is well aware of the negativity pointed at her.
"I've been trying not to look at the comments, but it's hard not to see them sometimes when they're talking crap about you, and I'm just like, at this point, what are you doing?" she told ESPN in a separate story. "I am a D-I soccer player, I go to Vanderbilt University, I am going to get my degree from here, I've done amazing things I've set out to do, and so they can talk crap all they want. This is something I believe I've earned, and I was at the right place at the right time, so yeah, I'll take on the hate."
Fuller also said she wants to keep playing for Vanderbilt's football team, even if other specialists return to the squad.
Oklahoma Republicans claim to have prevented their children’s hospital from using funds for trans procedures, but there is no enforcement or oversight.
Sixty-two members of the Tennessee House of Representatives sent a letter to Vanderbilt University Medical Center on Wednesday urging its Pediatric Transgender Clinic to immediately halt all gender-bending trans surgeries performed on minors. “It is deeply troubling that Vanderbilt University Medical Center appears to be motivated by profits in its practice of recommending such radical […]
'Matt Walsh is inciting a terror campaign against a hospital,' one blue-checkmark raged on Twitter. 'He will get people hurt or killed.'
When patients turn 13, they can hide their health records and schedule private appointments with doctors who can begin the process of gender transition.
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