New Laws Start Tomorrow
What to know: New laws—including a ban on experimental “gender affirming” treatments and surgeries on minors—go into effect tomorrow.
The TPPF take: States such as Texas are right to prohibit surgical and chemical modification of children.
“’Gender-affirming care’ sounds harmless and even positive,” says TPPF’s Robert Henneke. “Yet it covers horrific medical procedures on children that result in a lifelong need for treatments, sterility, and the inability to orgasm. More and more research documenting risks to the health of children and irreversible side effects associated with these treatments has led several European nations to reverse course on providing such care to minors.”
For more on gender and medical care, click here.
Protesting Equality
What to know: Texas colleges and universities are scrambling to prepare for the closing of all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices and ending DEI policies as proscribed by Senate Bill 17 – the anti-DEI bill passed last session. Students at UT-Austin, now back on campus, wasted no time in protesting the new law.
The TPPF take: The battle to end DEI in Texas is just beginning.
“It would be hard to imagine anything that has been more harmful to minority and marginalized students than DEI,” says TPPF’s Sherry Sylvester. “The University of Michigan has the largest DEI program in the country. After a decade of DEI at Michigan, the largest university in the state, Michigan still has a student population that is less than 4% black even though African Americans make up 14% of the population.”
For more on DEI, click here.
China Aggression
What to know: China is increasing its military aircraft incursions into Taiwan’s airspace.
The TPPF take: A military jet flying at 900 mph would reach Taiwan’s coastline in only three minutes.
“China’s constant practice runs against Taiwan present a huge risk to this Taiwanese weakness and reluctance to increase its mobilization by potentially reducing warning time,” says TPPF’s Chuck DeVore. “Taiwan’s 2.2 million reservists look impressive on paper. But prior to 2022, they only drilled four or five days a year — mostly sitting around listening to lectures and filling out paperwork.”
For more on Taiwan, click here.