#IT WAS AN UNDERCOVER IDENTITY?!?!

[meganechan05]

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Beth Bourne

Published: Feb 27, 2024

Kaiser gender specialists were eager to approve hormones and surgeries, which would all be covered by insurance as “medically necessary.”

On September 6, 2022, I received mail from my Kaiser Permanente Davis Ob-Gyn reminding me of a routine cervical screening. The language of the reminder stood out to me: “Recommended for people with a cervix ages 21 to 65.” When I asked my Ob-Gyn about this strange wording, she told me the wording was chosen to be “inclusive” of their “transgender” and “gender fluid” patients.

Based on this response, several thoughts occurred to me. Could I expose the medical scandal of “gender-affirming care” by saying and doing everything my daughter and other trans-identifying kids are taught to do? Would there be the type of medical safeguarding and differential diagnosis we would expect in other fields of medicine, or would I simply be allowed to self-diagnose and be offered the tools (i.e. hormones and surgeries) to choose my own gender adventure and become my true authentic self?

If I could demonstrate that anyone suffering from delusions of their sex, self-hatred, or identity issues could qualify for and easily obtain body-altering hormones and surgeries, all covered by insurance as “medically necessary” and potentially “life-saving” care, then maybe people would finally wake up. I certainly had.

I was prepared for failure. I wasn’t prepared for how easy success would be.

* * *

I am a 53-year-old mom from Davis, CA. My daughter began identifying as a transgender boy (social transition) and using he/him pronouns at school during 8th grade. Like several of her peers who also identified as trans at her school, my daughter was a gifted student and intellectually mature but socially immature. This shift coincided with her school’s sudden commitment to, and celebration of, a now widespread set of radical beliefs about the biology of sex and gender identity.

She “came out” as trans to her father (my ex-husband) and me through a standard coming-out letter, expressing her wish to start puberty blockers. She said she knew they were safe, citing information she had read from Planned Parenthood and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I was also confused because this announcement was sudden and unexpected. While others quickly accepted and affirmed my daughter’s new identity, I was apprehensive and felt the need to learn more about what was going on.

Events began escalating quickly.

During a routine doctor’s visit scheduled for dizziness my daughter said that she was experiencing, the Kaiser pediatrician overheard her father using “he/him” pronouns for our daughter. The pediatrician seemed thrilled, quickly asking my daughter about her “preferred pronouns” and updating her medical records to denote that my daughter was now, in fact, my son. The pediatrician then recommended we consult the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Proud pediatric gender clinic, where she could get further information and (gender affirming) “treatment.” Now I was the one feeling dizzy.

As I began educating myself on this issue, I discovered that this phenomenon—minors, most often teen girls, suddenly adopting trans identities—was becoming increasingly widespread. It even had a name: rapid onset gender dysphoria, or ROGD. Thankfully, after learning about the potential side-effects of blockers and hormones, my ex-husband and I managed to agree not to consent to any medical interventions for our daughter until she turned 18 and would then be able to make such decisions as an adult.

Over the past five years, my daughter’s identity has slowly evolved in ways that I see as positive. Our bond, however, has become strained, particularly since I began publicly voicing my concerns about what many term as “gender ideology.” Following my daughter’s 17th birthday family celebration, she sent me an email that evening stating she would be cutting off contact with me.

While this estrangement brought me sorrow, with my daughter living full-time with her father, it also gave me the space to be an advocate/activist in pushing back on gender identity ideology in the schools and the medical industry.

I decided to go undercover as a nonbinary patient to show my daughter what danger she might be putting herself in—by people who purport to have her health as their interest, but whose main interest is in medically “affirming” (i.e., transitioning) whoever walks through their door. I am at heart a mother protecting her child.

* * *

My daughter’s sudden decision to become a boy was heavily on my mind in early September of 2022, when mail from my Kaiser Permanente Davis Ob-Gyn reminded me of a routine cervical screening with “Recommended for people with a cervix ages 21 to 65.” I was told that the wording was chosen to be “inclusive” of transgender and “gender fluid” patients.

Throughout the whole 231-day process of my feigned gender transition, the Kaiser gender specialists were eager to serve me and give me what I wanted, which would all be covered by insurance as “medically necessary.” My emails were returned quickly, my appointments scheduled efficiently, and I never fell through the cracks. I was helped along every step of the way.

Despite gender activists and clinicians constantly claiming that obtaining hormones and surgeries is a long and complex process with plenty of safety checks in place, I was in full control at every checkpoint. I was able to self-diagnose, determine how strong a dose of testosterone I received and which surgeries I wanted to pursue, no matter how extreme and no matter how many glaring red flags I purposefully dropped. The medical workers I met repeatedly reminded me that they were not there to act as “gatekeepers.”

I was able to instantly change my medical records to reflect my new gender identity and pronouns. Despite never being diagnosed with gender dysphoria, I was able to obtain a prescription for testosterone and approval for a “gender-affirming” double mastectomy from my doctor. It took only three more months (90 days) to be approved for surgery to remove my uterus and have a fake penis constructed from the skin of my thigh or forearm. Therapy was never recommended.

Critics might dismiss my story as insignificant on the grounds that I am a 53-year-old woman with ample life experience who should be free to alter her body. However, this argument for adult bodily autonomy is a standard we apply to purely cosmetic procedures like breast implants, liposuction, and facelifts, not “medically necessary” and “lifesaving” treatments covered by health insurance. Or interventions that compromise health and introduce illness into an otherwise healthy body. And especially not for children.

My story, which I outline in much more detail below, should convince any half-rational person that gender medicine is not operating like any other field of medicine. Based on a radical concept of “gender identity,” this medical anomaly preys upon the body-image insecurities common among pubescent minors to bill health insurance companies for permanent cosmetic procedures that often leave their patients with permanently altered bodies, damaged endocrine systems, sexual dysfunction, and infertility.

* * *

Detailed Timeline of Events

On October 6, 2022, I responded to my Ob-Gyn’s email to tell her that, after some thought, I’d decided that maybe the label “cis woman” didn’t truly reflect who I was. After all, I did have some tomboyish tendencies. I told her I would like my records to be changed to reflect my newly realized “nonbinary” identity, and that my new pronouns were they/them. I also voiced my desire to be put in touch with an endocrinologist to discuss starting testosterone treatment.

Fifteen minutes later I received an email from another Kaiser doctor informing me that my medical records had been changed, and that once my primary doctor returned to the office, I’d be able to speak with her about hormone therapy.

I responded the following day (October 7, 2022), thanking her for changing my records, and asking if she could connect me with someone who could help me make an appointment for “top surgery” (i.e., a cosmetic double mastectomy) because my chest binder was rather “uncomfortable after long days and playing tennis.”

She told me to contact my primary care MD to “get things rolling,” and that there were likely to be “preliminary evaluations.”

Six days after contacting my primary care MD for a referral, I received an email from one of Kaiser’s gender specialists asking me to schedule a phone appointment so she could better understand my goals for surgery, so that I could get “connected to care.” This call to review my “gender affirming treatment options and services” would take 15-20 minutes, after which I would be “booked for intake,” allowing me to proceed with medical transition.

This wasn’t an evaluation of whether surgical transition was appropriate, it was simply a meeting for me to tell them what I wanted so that they could provide it.

On October 18, I had my one and only in-person appointment in preparation for top surgery. I met in Davis with my primary care physician, Dr. Hong-wen Xue. The assessment was a 10-minute routine physical exam that included blood tests. Everything came back normal. Notably, there was not a single question about why I wanted top surgery or cross-sex hormones. Nor was there any discussion of the risks involved with these medical treatments.

The following week, on October 24, I had a phone appointment with Rachaell Wood, MFT, a gender specialist with Kaiser Sacramento. The call lasted 15 minutes and consisted of standard questions about potential drug use, domestic violence, guns in the house, and whether I experienced any suicidal thoughts. There were no questions from the gender specialist about my reasons for requesting a mastectomy or cross-sex hormones, or why I suddenly, at 52, decided I was “nonbinary.”

After the call, Kaiser emailed me instructions about how to prepare for my pre-surgery intake video appointment to evaluate my mental health, scheduled to take place on November 15. The email stated that prior to my appointment, I should research hormone risks on the WPATH website, and to “research bilateral mastectomy and chest reconstruction surgery risks and recovery” on Kaiser’s website.

I decided to request a “gender-affirming” double mastectomy and phalloplasty. Kaiser sent me a sample timeline for gender transition surgery preparation (see below) that you can use as a reference for the process. I also asked for a prescription for cross-sex hormones (testosterone) as needed and recommended by Kaiser.

[ Source: Kaiser Permanente, Top Surgery - EXPLORING YOUR SURGICAL OPTIONS ]

Pre-Surgery Mental Health Video Appointment, Part I

This “Mental Health Visit” assessment was conducted over Zoom. The Kaiser gender specialist started with questions addressing my marital status, race, gender identity, and other demographics. She asked whether I was “thinking of any other surgeries, treatments in the future.” The list she read included “gender-affirming” hysterectomies, bottom surgeries such as metoidioplasty and phalloplasty, vocal coaching, support groups, and body contouring. “Anything else you might be interested in doing?” she asked. I said that I’d perhaps be interested in body contouring. I was also assured that all the procedures would be covered by insurance because they were considered “medically necessary.”

I dropped in several red flags regarding my mental health to see the reaction, but all were ignored. For instance, I revealed that I had PTSD. When the therapist asked me about whether I had experienced any “childhood trauma,” I explained that I grew up in Mexico City and had been groped several times and had also witnessed men masturbating in public and had been grabbed by men in subways and buses. “I was a young girl, so [I had] lots of experiences of sexual harassments, sexual assault, just the kind of stuff that happens when you are a girl growing up in a big city.” “So, you know,” I finished, “just the general feeling that you are unsafe, you know, in a female body.”

The therapist did not respond to my disclosure that trauma could be the cause of my dysphoria. Instead of viewing this trauma as potentially driving my desire to escape my female body through hormones and surgery, she asked whether there is anything “important that the surgery team should be aware of” regarding my “history of trauma,” such as whether I’d be comfortable with the surgeon examining and marking my chest prior to surgery.

When asked about whether I had had any “psychotic symptoms,” I told her that while I had had no such symptoms, my mother had a delusional nervous breakdown in her 50s because she had body dysmorphia and became convinced she had a growth on her neck that needed to be removed. I told her that my mother was then admitted to an inpatient hospital for severe depression. I asked her whether she ever sees patients with body dysmorphia and whether I could have potentially inherited that from my mother. She told me that psychosis was hereditary, but that it was “highly unlikely” that there was any connection between body dysmorphia and gender dysphoria.

I enthusiastically waved more mental health red flags, waiting to see if she would pick up on any of them.

I’m just wondering if my feelings, or perseverating, or feeling like these breasts make me really unhappy and I just don’t want them anymore!...I’m just not sure if that’s a similar feeling to body dysmorphia? How do you decide which one is gender dysphoria and general body dysmorphia, and just not liking something about your body? Feeling uncomfortable with your body? And I did have an eating disorder all through college. I was a distance runner in college so I had bulimia and anorexia, you know. So I don’t know if that’s related to gender dysphoria?

The therapist replied, “I completely appreciate your concerns, but I am going to ask you questions about your chest, about your expectations. And then I’ll be able to give you an assessment.” She also said the main difference between my mom’s situation and mine was that my mom didn’t really have a growth on her neck, whereas it’s “confirmed” that I actually have “chest tissue.” Furthermore, she said that while “historically there has been all this pressure on patients to be like ‘Are you really, really sure you want hormones? Are you 100% sure?’ We are a little more relaxed.” She continued, “As long as you are aware of the risks and the side-effects, you can put your toe in the water. You can stop ‘T’ [testosterone], you can go back and do it again later! You can stop it! You can stop it! You know what I mean?”

Because we ran out of time, I scheduled a follow-up phone meeting on December 27, 2022 with a different gender specialist to complete my mental health assessment for top surgery.

Pre-Surgery Mental Health Video Appointment, Part II

During this meeting, Guneet Kaur, LCSW, another Kaiser gender specialist (she/her/they/them pronouns) told me that she regretted the “gatekeeping vibe” of the meeting but assured me that since I have been “doing the work,” her questions are essentially just a form of “emotional support” before talking with the medical providers.

She asked me about what I’d been “looking into as far as hormones.” I told her that I’d be interested in taking small doses of testosterone to counterbalance my female feelings to achieve “a feeling that’s kind of neutral.”

When she asked me about me “not feeling like I match on the outside what I feel on the inside,” I dropped more red flags, mentioning my aversion to wearing dresses and skirts.

I don’t own a single dress or a skirt and haven't in 20 years. I think for me it’s been just dressing the way that’s comfortable for me, which is just wearing, jeans and sweatshirts and I have a lot of flannel shirts and, and I wear boots all the time instead of other kinds of shoes. So I think it’s been nice being able to dress, especially because I work from home now most of the time that just a feeling of clothing being one of the ways that I can feel more non-binary in my everyday life.

She responded, “Like having control over what you wear and yeah. Kind of that feeling of just, yeah, this is who I am today. That’s awesome. Yeah.”

She then asked me to describe my dysphoria, and I told her that I didn’t like the “feeling of the female form and being chesty,” and that because I am going through menopause, I wanted to start taking testosterone to avoid “that feeling of being like this apple-shaped older woman.” “Good. Okay, great,” she responded, reminding me that only “top surgery,” not testosterone, would be able to solve my chest dysphoria. (Perhaps it was because all these meetings were online, they didn’t notice I’m actually fit and relatively slender at 5’-5” and 130 pounds, and not apple-shaped at all.)

She told me that we had to get through a few more questions related to my medical history before “we can move on to the fun stuff, which is testosterone and top surgery.”

The “fun stuff” consisted of a discussion about the physical and mood changes I could expect, and her asking me about the dose of testosterone I wanted to take and the kind of “top surgery” technique I’d prefer to achieve my “chest goals.” She told me that all or most of my consultations for surgeries and hormones would be virtual.

The gender specialist told me after the appointment, she would submit my referral to the Multi-Specialty Transitions Clinic (MST) team that oversees “gender expansive care.” They would follow up to schedule a “nursing call” with me to review my medical history, after which they’d schedule my appointment with a surgeon for a consultation. Her instructions for this consultation were to “tell them what you’re wanting for surgery and then they share with you their game plan.”

[ Decision-making slide to help me identify my goals for top surgery–flat chest, nipple sensation, or minimal scarring. Source: Kaiser Permanente, Top Surgery - EXPLORING YOUR SURGICAL OPTIONS ]

She told me that Kaiser has a team of plastic surgeons who “only work with trans and nonbinary patients because there’s just so much need for them.” She asked about my priorities for chest surgery, such as whether I value flatness over nipple sensation. I learned about double incision top surgery with nipple grafts, as well as “keyhole,” “donut,” “buttonhole,” and “Inverted-T” top surgeries.

By the end of the hour-long appointment, I had my surgery referral and was ready for my “nursing call” appointment.

Nursing call with Nurse Coordinator from the Transgender Surgery and Gender Pathways Clinic at Kaiser San Francisco

On January 19, 2023, I had my nursing call with the Nurse Coordinator. He first said that “the purpose of this call is just for us to go through your chart together and make sure everything’s as accurate as possible.” Once that was done, my referral would be sent to the surgeon for a consultation.

He asked me about potential allergies and recreational drug use, and verified that I was up to date on mammograms, pap smears, and colon cancer screenings, as well as vaccines for flu and COVID. I verified my surgical history as well as my current medications and dietary supplements.

He told me about a “top surgery class” available for patients where one of the Kaiser surgeons “presents and talks about surgical techniques and options within top surgery,” and includes a panel of patients who have had top surgery. I signed up for the February 8th class.

Within 10 minutes he told me that he had “sent a referral to the plastic surgery department at Kaiser Sacramento,” and that I should be hearing from them in the next week or two to schedule a consultation.

Appointment for Testosterone

On January 27, I had a 13-minute online appointment with a primary care doctor at Kaiser Davis to discuss testosterone. The doctor verified my name and preferred pronouns, and then directly asked: “So, what would you like to do? What kind of physical things are you looking for?”

I told her I wanted facial hair, a more muscular and less “curvy” physique, and to feel stronger and androgynous. She asked me when I wanted to start, and I told her in the next few months. She asked me if I was menopausal, whether I had ovaries and a uterus, although that information should have been on my chart.

The doctor said she wanted me to come in to get some labs so she could check my current estrogen, testosterone, and hemoglobin levels before starting hormones. Then “we'll set the ball in motion and you'll be going. We’ll see you full steam ahead in the direction you wanna go.”

That was it. I made an appointment and had my lab tests done on February 12. My labs came back on February 14, and the following day, after paying a $5 copay at the Kaiser pharmacy, I picked up my testosterone pump. That was easy!

Top Surgery Consultation

On the same day I received my labs, I had a Zoom surgery consultation with Karly Autumn-Kaplan, MD, Kaiser Sacramento plastic surgeon. This consultation was all about discussing my “goals” for surgery, not about whether surgery was needed or appropriate.

I told the surgeon that I wanted a “flatter, more androgynous appearance.” She asked me some questions to get a better idea of what that meant for me. She said that some patients want a “male chest,” but that others “want to look like nothing, like just straight up and down, sometimes not even nipples.” Others still wanted their chest to appear slightly feminine and only “slightly rounded.” I told her that I’d like my chest to have a “male appearance.”

“What are your thoughts about keeping your nipples?” she asked. “Are you interested in having nipples or would you like them removed?” I told her that I’d like to keep my nipples, but to make them “smaller in size.” She asked me if I’d like them moved to “the edge of the peck muscle” to achieve “a more male appearance.” I said yes.

I was asked to show my bare chest from the front and side, which I did. Then she asked me how important it was for me to keep my nipple sensation. I replied that it was important unless it would make recovery more difficult or there were other associated risks. She highlighted the problem with the free nipple graft, saying that removing the nipple to relocate it means “you're not gonna have sensation in that nipple and areola anymore.” However, some nipple sensation could be preserved by keeping it attached to “a little stalk of tissue” with “real nerves going to it,” but that would require leaving more tissue behind. I told her I’d go for the free nipple graft to achieve a flatter appearance. It was also suggested I could skip nipple reconstruction entirely and just get nipples “tattooed” directly onto my chest.

She told me I was “a good candidate for surgery,” and put me on the surgery wait list. She said that the wait time was between three and five months, but a cancellation could move me up to a sooner date. Also, if I wanted surgery as soon as possible, I could tell the surgery scheduler that I’d be willing to have any of the other three surgeons perform my mastectomy. Outpatient top surgery would cost me a copay of $100.

They contacted twice, in February and March, notifying me of cancellations. If I had accepted and shown up on those dates, they would have removed my breasts. This would have been less than five months from the time I first contacted Kaiser to inform them of my new “nonbinary” gender identity.

How Far Can I Go?

I decided to see how easy it would be for me to get approved for a phalloplasty. Known euphemistically as “bottom surgery,” phalloplasty is the surgical creation of an artificial penis, generally using tissue from the thigh or arm.

I sent an email on March 1, 2023, requesting to have a phalloplasty and concurrent hysterectomy scheduled alongside my mastectomy.

Two weeks later, on March 16th, I had a 16-minute phone call with a gender specialist to discuss my goals for bottom surgery and obtain my referral.

During the call, I explained to the specialist that I wasn’t sure about taking testosterone anymore because I was already quite athletic and muscular, and that taking testosterone didn’t make much sense to me. Instead, I wanted bottom surgery so that I wouldn’t feel like my “top” didn’t match my “bottom.” I told her:

But what I really wanted was to have bottom surgery. So this way when I have my top surgery, which sounds like it could be very soon, that I’ll be aligned, that I won’t have this sense of dysphoria with one part of my body and the other part feeling like it matched who I am. So yeah. So I just did a little bit more research into that. And I looked at the resources on the Kaiser page for the MST clinic and I think I know what I want, which is the hysterectomy and then at the same time or soon after to be able to have a phalloplasty.

I told her that I wanted to schedule the top and bottom surgery concurrently so that I wouldn’t have to take more time off work and it would save me trips to San Francisco or Oakland, or wherever I had to go for surgery.

None of this gave the gender specialist pause. After a brief conversation about some online resources to look over, she told me that she would “submit the referral now and we’ll get this ball rolling.”

Bottom surgery would cost me a copay of $200, which included a couple of days in the hospital for recovery.

Phalloplasty Surgical Consultation with Nurse Coordinator

On May 16, 2023, I had a short surgical consultation with a nurse coordinator to go through my medical history. This was similar to the consultation for top surgery but included information about hair removal procedures for the skin on my “donor site” that would be fashioned into a makeshift penis. They also went over the procedures for determining which donor site—forearm or thigh—was more viable.

After only 15 minutes, she submitted my referral to the surgeon for another surgical consultation.

On May 25 I received an email from my phalloplasty surgeon’s scheduler, informing me that they have received my referral and are actively working on scheduling, but that they are experiencing delays.

I ended my investigation here once I had the referral for the top and bottom surgery. I never used my testosterone pump.

Final Thoughts

In fewer than 300 days, based on a set of superficial and shifting thoughts about my gender and my “embodiment goals” triggered by the mere mention of “gender” in a form letter from my primary care physician, and driven by what could only be described as minor discomforts, Kaiser Permanente’s esteemed “multi-disciplinary team” of “gender specialists” was willing, with enthusiasm—while ignoring mental health concerns, history of sexual trauma, and rapidly escalating surgical requests—to prescribe life-altering medications and perform surgeries to remove my breasts, uterus, and vagina, close my vaginal opening, and attempt a complex surgery with high failure and complication rates to create a functionless representation of a penis that destroys the integrity of my arm or thigh in the process.

This describes the supposedly meticulous, lengthy, and safety-focused process that a Kaiser patient must undergo to embark on a journey to medically alter their body. No clinician questioned my motivations. No one showed concern that I might be addressing a mental health issue through radical and irreversible interventions that wouldn’t address my amorphous problems. There were no discussions about how these treatments would impact my long-term health, romantic relationships, family, or sex life. I charted the course. The clinicians followed my lead without question. The guiding issue was what I wanted to look like.

No other medical field operates with this level of carelessness and disregard for patient health and welfare. No other medical field addresses issues of self-perception with surgery and labels it “medically necessary.” No other medical field is this disconnected from the reality of the patients it serves.

Kaiser has traded medicine for ideology. It’s far beyond time we stop the ruse of considering “gender-affirming” interventions as anything approaching medical care.

This isn’t the first time Kaiser Permanente has been in the news for completely disregarding medical safeguards in the name of “gender-affirming care.” As girls, Chloe Cole and Layla Jane became convinced that they were born in the wrong body and were actually boys on the inside. Doctors at Kaiser ignored their underlying conditions and instead prescribed testosterone and removed their breasts. Both Cole and Jane have since detransitioned and are currently suing Kaiser.

The fact that children and vulnerable adults are being exploited in this massive ideological experiment is not just tragic; it’s deeply disturbing, especially considering it has evolved into a billion-dollar industry.

I hope that by sharing my story, I can bring more focused scrutiny to the medical scandal unfolding not just at Kaiser but also at medical centers and hospitals across the Western world. These institutions have completely abandoned medical safeguards for patients who claim to be confused about their “gender,” and I aim to awaken more parents and assist them in protecting their children.

--

==

This is completely insane.

Apologists online are running around saying, but she didn't mean it, she was lying, she was pretending...

It doesn't matter.

Any kind of security, penetration or integrity test is insincere too. When security researchers compromise Microsoft's operating system or Google's browser or whatever, "but they didn't mean it" is not a defence to a discovered security flaw. It doesn't matter that the security researchers didn't plan to steal data or money or identities. The flaw in the system is there regardless.

It doesn't matter that it was insincere. Because the workers didn't know that. They never checked, never asked questions, never tested. They had been taught and instructed to never ask any questions. They did what they were supposed to. And the system failed spectacularly. Because that's what "gender affirming care" means.

Additionally, the claim that Beth Bourne committed fraud is an outright lie. A patient cannot bill. They do not have the authority. The medical clinic is the only one that can bill, and they must supply a diagnosis and a medical necessity.

If they didn't diagnose her and just wrote down what she said, then they committed fraud. If they claim they did diagnose her, then they committed fraud, because the diagnosis they concocted was bogus. This, by the way, is actually going on. Clinics are reporting fake endocrine and other disorders to get blockers, hormones and other interventions. Jamie Reed and other whistleblowers have documented evidence of this. Beth Bourne is not responsible for what the clinic does. They have medical licenses and legal responsibility. Not her.

Additionally, anyone who actually read the article would know how she tested the system. She said things like, "I've always been not that feminine. So, maybe I get my boobs removed." And they said, "sure." Instead of saying, "wait, why do you think that?" Framing it as her lying is itself a lie. They violated their ethical obligations. That much is incontrovertible. And it's directly the result of "gender affirming care," where clinics and clinicians rubber-stamp anything deemed "trans" based entirely on ideological, not medical, grounds.

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompts in Memes 7

[constant-book-hangover]

Vis: no one could ever figure out that I am the prince of Suss it is impossible. My backstory is rock solid.

Also Vis: openly admits he knows many dead languages, has the swordsmanship capabilities of the elite and shows off in front of the whole school, gets taken back to his home land with his friend and is having traumatic flash backs the whole time, admits to Idol that he is from Suss and spent time in the castle, is recognized by many of the people in Suss, names his fucking wolf friend DIAGO AFTER HIMSELF.

[feraltwinkseb]

November 18, 2023 - Las Vegas, Nevada Source: Song Haiyuan/MB Media/Getty Images

[mauveberries]

therapist!voldemort x patient!harry, but instead of helping Harry recover from trauma, Voldemort somehow manages to make it much worse.

[webshood]

batfam x spider-man crossover

Gotham and New York are literally border to border, so Peter lives in Gotham, but works and does vigilante work in NYC, because he doesn't want to get in trouble with the bats and there's like nine of them in the city at all times, while there's not that much heroes in NYC and once a new yorker, always a new yorker.

the thing is, since he doesn't actually spend that much time on Gotham's side, only there because the rent is cheap, he's kinda out of the loop of who's dangerous and who's not.

so when he starts to become friends/flirt with Red Hood's second in command, he has no idea whatsoever and his neighbors are always like "do you really think Jason is a good partner/company for you?"

He's always sooo confused, because what's wrong with Jason? He's a cute guy that likes to read classics, is getting his degree in medicine, likes to hold Peter's waist/use his shoulders as arm support, yes, he smells like gunpowder and blood under his body wash and lotion, but almost everyone in Gotham does! Jason even sends Peter homemade pastries every week, he's dreamy!

so the only conclusion Peter can come up with is that his neighbors are homophobic

[finemealcreates]

Superbat Week 2024!

I took on the momentous task of doing a fanfic and fanart for each day of Superbat week! All of my fics are up here on ao3 (i put 'em in a series together), but here is all of the fanart I did as well!

Day 1: Identity Shenanigans | Costume Swap

Day 2: Ordeals on the Road | Traveling Together

Day 3: Xenobio Extravaganza | Alien Biology

[Oops! Sorry, too NSFW for Tumblr, but you can view it here]

Day 4: This is a Love Story/Detective Story | Undercover

Day 5: We are Family | Tired Dads™️

Day 5: It’s an AU Kind of Day | 18th Century

Day 7: FREE DAY!!! | Superbat?

Thank you everyone for all the kind words and supportive of me throughout this week! It was a blast, and I hope you all had a great Superbat week too! Already excited for what next year holds 💙

And huge thank you to the folks at @superbatweek2024 for hosting this event, you gave such wonderful prompts and did a great job!

[aroacettorney]

crack theory:

john doe's appearance shown in aup is not his true appearance. he just happened to learn about his idol's real appearance via the power of extreme simping and decided to cosplay as him when posing as prof. ludger cherish for his blackdawn mission, which is why heathcliff and john doe looked and acted alike enough to cause the case of mistaken identity and allow him to fool literally everyone who once knew of john doe.

[lets-try-some-writing]

Hi!! I just wanted to say that I love the way you write Optimus in your AU’s❤️❤️❤️ And I specially love the concept of your \\Decepticon Optimus AU\\ PLEASE PART 2 PLEASE PART 2 PLEASE PART 2 PLEASE PART 2

I’ll start drawing fanarts :D

Congratulations. You have bought my services with the offer of fanart. Here you go mate, more Decepticon Optimus (～￣▽￣)～ I've actually been wanting to write this for a REALLY long time, but I just never thought anyone was interested. That said, take a bit of a Starscream POV in preparation for a proper continuation of this thing.

Previous part here.

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Starscream served Megatron because it was what was best for his people. There was indeed a lot of personal investment in the choice as well. After all, with how high he was in the ranks, if Megatron fell, he would have a solid chance to take control of the army so long as Tarn or Overlord didn't fight him too much for it. It was simply the best decision when the alternative was following the Autobots and having to deal with their roots in the Senate. While it was a difficult decision to join up with a rebel force, after Vos burned, it was only right.

War was a torment, one that Starscream only endured because he had his trinemates and fellow citizens of Vos by his side. Despite the comfort Skywarp and Thundercracker offered, there was always something missing for Starscream as the war dragged on. All his fellows were focused on the goal to the point of everything else being drowned out. They stopped seeing the point of it all for the most part and largely fell into the haze of conflict with no regard for the place where it all began. The common soldiers just wanted to survive, the officers wanted to rise through the ranks, and the rest were loyal to Megatron more so than what they fought for.

Admittedly Starscream fell amongst them when things got stressful and his place became threatened. However aside from those moments, he was contemplative, often trying to remember WHY they fought rather than focusing himself too much on the conflict itself. That was not to say he held no grudges, no he held them close to himself with a degree of glee. But he desired companionship from someone more... neutral in a sense. He wanted someone to understand where he was coming from and preferably be in a position that Starscream would still have influence over. He couldn't have his greatest fears and insecurities being held but just anyone after all.

Then as if answered by Primus himself, Starscream stumbled upon a fascinating mech who was quick to catch his attention. Right off the bat he looked the part of a Decepticon. Black plating with red tinted windows and optics, a huge axe and blaster as his weapons of choice, and a reputation for valuing logic over emotion. Even his designation matched the embodiment of Decepticon values. Nemesis was quite the name for a mech who hardly managed to rise above the rank of a private. However those traits were not what caught Starscream's attention. Rather it was the fact that Nemesis's behavior was so out of the ordinary and yet perfectly in line with Decepticon standards as to be concerning in a sense.

There were pages upon pages of reports detailing Nemesis's presence being crucial for morale. Never did the mech win any ground for the Decepticons, but he also never lost any. He was supposed to be a mid-ranked ground officer just there to keep the troops in line. And yet he was beloved by countless soldiers, as shown in their written reports. How did such a cold mech with such an intimidating frame and name get so popular amongst the troops? Mecha on opposite ends of the planet knew his designation, at least amongst Vehicons. It was strange, so strange in fact that Starscream found himself paying the mech a visit during a routine check of the area.

Visiting out of pure curiosity yielded increadible results as Starscream observed Nemesis in action. The mech forever wore his mask and seemed almost unsure how to reply when presented with a situation that required emotions. However he somehow managed to be a comfort to those he served with while battling with ferocity that Starscream found vaguely familiar but more so striking. Nemesis was fascinating, and more than that, he was kind. It was silly and a spur of the moment decision, but he stole Nemesis away from his division and had the mech placed under his direct supervision.

Nemesis for his part took the change with grace, but Starscream quickly noticed more and more oddities surrounding him as time passed by. Often the emotionally unstable mecha Nemesis took to comforting simply vanished a short while after his conversations with them. On records they were labeled as deserters, but Starscream saw that they were being aided by the far too kind Decepticon he'd taken under his wing. Nemesis was quiet, he didn't cause any trouble and largely kept to himself. And yet so many odd things happened around him that Starscream couldn't help but keep him around and not report him. Why would he turn in this great source of potential entertainment and comradery? Was it a risk? Yes. But he had his trine and he was sure he could blast one mech into oblivion if need be. Besides, the mecha who vanished were never of importance. If Nemesis had a thing for killing a few foot soldiers every now and then, he certainly wouldn't be the first of his kind.

One by one more oddities became clear and Starscream had a grand time watching them unfold. It was like his personal reality holodrama as he observed Nemesis wandering around befriending every last Vehicon and seemingly unknowingly earning their collective loyalty. He didn't seem to be aware of the fact that half of the Decepticon army regarded him fondly due to his association with the Vehicons, but if he did, he certainly never abused it. He learned the names of every Vehicon, treated them kindly, and in his gruff way even helped them get out of trouble. It was... a welcome relief from the cruelty Starscream saw regularly. The desire that led him to search out someone more neutral for companionship only grew as he continued to keep an optic on his little pet project.

Such an interesting mech he was. Eventually Starscream couldn't help but ask.

Starscream: Why do you bother with the Vehicons? They are clones, expendable soldiers.

Nemesis: No one is expendable. Every life is sacred. Is that not why we fight for freedom? So that all might enjoy their right to life?

Starscream: But why do you not try and rise through the ranks? You have the combat and strategic skills to do so, and yet you have never once tried to rise above the rank your service under me gave you.

Nemesis: I have personal reasons for wishing to not garner the attention of Megatron and his inner circle. But aside from that, I simply do not care.

Starscream: And why is that? You fight for us, you have bled for us. How can you say it does not matter?

Nemesis: My history is long and complicated my Lord. I have seen horrors and I have no desire to be the one giving the order to inflict more upon others. I am here to protect those I care about. That is all.

Starscream: And here I thought you were known for being cold and calculating.

Nemesis: There is a time and a place for all things.

After their conversation, Starscream only became more fascinated by the mech who embodied the Decepticons in frame and reputation and yet seemed more and more like an Autobot the more time passed. Nemesis was, in his own strange way, a bit like a stray cyber-feline. Starscream had to earn his trust, and he did so by simply not ratting Nemesis out when he finally caught the mech smuggling younglings across enemy lines. Whether Nemesis knew he was there or not was up for debate, but watching the cold and gruff mech run younglings into neutral territory and pass them off to mecha preparing to go off world had Starscream confirming that Nemesis was a good individual at spark.

For vorns Nemesis served under him, trying and largely failing to be stealthy when smuggling younglings out and creating distractions for Vehicons to escape punishment. Such a kind spark hidden behind layers of a grim persona. Starscream couldn't help but assist every now and then. He made sure not to make his intervention obvious, but Nemesis started to treat him with greater familiarity the longer they worked together.

By the time Thundercracker and Skywarp fell in battle, what began as a simple attempt to be amused and to search for someone to remind him of the purpose of their war turned into a proper friendship. Nemesis covered for him and did a great deal of planning and order issuing on his behalf while he grieved. And when he was too out of sorts to do anything more than lay on his berth uselessly, Nemesis came by with an energon cube and took care of everything. The kind Decepticon warrior was there for him throughout all of it, even dealing with his rages and outbursts. Starscream would never say so aloud, but he appreciated the patience shown to him more than anything else. Nemesis never yelled at him, never so much as grabbed him harshly, and even when Starscream was breaking things in his grief and rage, Nemesis was there to calm him down with soothing words.

It was never meant to end with Nemesis becoming his dear friend, but by the time Starscream was at last able to handle the loss of his trinemates, there was no going back. Nemesis was his friend, his companion, and his stable foundation amidst the storm of war. It was almost impossible to tell how Nemesis really felt about him, but considering the mech never tried to climb the ranks or leave, Starscream assumed the feeling was at least somewhat mutual. It certainly helped that Nemesis's distractions kept Megatron's wrath from falling on Starscream's helm.

Once Starscream could confidently call Nemesis a brother, he did not care for the increasingly suspicious behavior the warrior engaged in. He trusted that if it were important, Nemesis would talk to him about it. Thus whenever his friend vanished for extended periods of time, Starscream allowed it to be. He was horribly anxious whenever Nemesis up and dropped off the map for stellar cycles at a time, but much like a stray cyber-feline, he always came back and always with something or other as a gift. Part of Starscream feared that Nemesis was a traitor who merely wanted his trust for information gathering purposes, but without his trine, he refused to think about it. Until Nemesis proved himself a traitor, Starscream would continue to treat him as a brother.

He covered for Nemesis's vanishing act, he helped the Vehicons in his absence, and whenever his brother returned, Starscream relished in the attention offered. Nemesis was never a very touchy mech, but soft shoulder touches, tender aid in wing cleaning, and gentle words were more than enough for Starscream. He cherished it all and fought to keep Nemesis with him viciously when it came time for the Exodus to begin.

But that of course was when everything fell apart.

Starscream had a plan. He already filed the paperwork, prepared appropriate documents, and convinced Megatron to allow him to keep Nemesis with him as they took to the stars. He was ready and fully willing to jump through whatever hoops were needed to ensure that Nemesis remained by his side. Then, just like that, Nemesis was gone. One sentimental conversation under the stars later, Nemesis dropped off the map leaving only a collection of files and a note at his desk. The world itself seemed to shatter around Starscream as he read the note and flew faster than he ever had before. He couldn't lose Nemesis, not after he lost everyone else.

Starscream wished it was just a horrible nightmare when he finally found what remained of his brother in arms. He screamed and begged as he tried in vain to fix the damage done to the lifeless frame before him. However when all was said and done, he could only hold Nemesis's body in his arms and weep. The note said that Nemesis was simply tired and that it was no one's fault. Starscream believed him, Nemesis was not one to outright lie. And yet he couldn't help but lament the fact that his brother never told him of his woes. Starscream would have helped, he would have made things better if Nemesis had only asked it of him.

He would have made things right.

He buried Nemesis's body under the open sky and stayed for a whole cycle just so that he could pretend that he and his brother were merely admiring the stars above in silence. When he returned to the Decepticons, his spark ached with loss, but was also hardened in certainty. The war had taken everything from him. His people, his trine, and now the kindest Decepticon he'd ever known. He wasn't exactly sure why his anger over the event came to be pinned on Megatron, but it was. Nemesis, his trine, and so many of his kind were dead because of a foolish war Megatron had yet to win. The competitive desire to take control for personal gain warped into a desperate need to have absolute authority. He needed to make things right, to ensure that the foolishness came to an end.

It hurt still, so his arrogance increased to cover for it. His spark wept, so he pulled away from others. The only one he ever really tolerated was Knockout, and that was merely because he was a neutral deep down. There was no loyalty in his spark, and Starscream appreciated that amidst the sea of diehard Megatron followers. He needed control and he needed it desperately. But of course that need led to punishment, and Starscream could only flounder to stay alive without anyone there to back him up.

Then things changed again.

Vorns spent grieving those he lost came back to haunt him one the battlefield when Optimus Prime of all mecha stood in front of him and stopped a hit from Megatron from reaching him. The Prime looked livid. Why though? Why did the other big player in the ridiculous war they were embroiled in care for one lone seeker, one who had the energon of thousands on his servos? It did not make sense, but pieces began to fall into place as time wore on and Optimus kept defending him. Aggression and anger never before seen in the Prime always showcased itself whenever Megatron tried to touch Starscream or the Vehicons. Optimus would even wield an AXE when he fell into the strange cold rages that always ended with the Prime changing his fighting style completely.

Starscream did not wish to believe it. He couldn't believe it. And yet as he observed more and more, he couldn't help but see the similarities. A bulky frame that had the indicators of magnetic attachments to allow for more armor to be installed. A thick battlemask and heavy set pedes that offered protection from any and all hazards. Large black servos covered in scars carrying a familiar red axe that Starscream knew like his very own wings. It shouldn't have been possible, and yet every time the Prime stopped a hit from landing on him, Starscream couldn't help but see it.

Optimus Prime and Nemesis were related. Somehow they were tied together, and with every uttered word the Prime threw out on the battlefield when rushing to his defense, Starscream only became more certain. How? He did not know. But through whatever means, Optimus Prime had either acquired the attention of his brother while he still lived, or more likely WAS Nemesis in some form. It seemed so obvious looking back, but as Starscream fled the battlefield, he made a decision. In the quiet of his quarters, he opened a commlink to the one mech he thought he would have preferred to see eliminated in fire and smoke.

Starscream: I don't know how you did it or if it is even you... but if you knew Nemesis, or if he is in there somewhere... please let me hear him again.

Optimus: ...

Starscream: I stopped caring about this fragging war long ago. Just let me hear my brother's voice again. Let me know he's still there, if only as a memory.

Optimus: ...

Starscream: Please, just this once, let me hear him.

Optimus: ...

Optimus: I am here, and I am sorry I had to leave you for so long.

[parttimesarah]

Works every time…

[ragnarokhound]

For the au ask game!

OKAY I wanted specifically to get to the pokemon au from the ask you sent, it's been cooking a bit so it's time to see what comes out of the oven, so... @azol-otl ty for the ask!

Crossover au's are all about the fused worldbuilding for me and speculating on how characters from universe A would fit into universe B heehee hoohoo - and for Batfam especially it's fun to think about the equivalent of their roles as vigilantes! What kind of people have the same level of celebrity, the same sideways seeking of justice?

Naturally this leads you to the gym leaders because a) it's the most fun and b) they are like. Quasi-law enforcement/educators/professional athletes depending on how you try to translate the innate child's perspective on the pokemon universe into something that makes sense as an adult lol ilu pokemon. [insert 'compels me though' gif here]

SO with this in mind, here's 5 fun facts (that are mostly backstory lmao) from a jaytim pokemon au I would write

I'm deeply ill about pokemon so this one goes under the cut lol:

Jason Todd used to be the Champion. He won the role after Dick Grayson quit a year or two before (Dick had been getting older and chafing under the League rules - meaning he'd been chafing under how Bruce ran the League) and was a fierce competitor who didn't believe in going easy on anyone. His Houndoom was a force to be reckoned with, and despite running a mostly Dark-type team, his Honchkrow cleaned up anyone thinking their Fighting-types could sweep. He looked after the League and Gotham with a cocky, self-assured attitude and the win record to back it up. .

Jason disappeared suddenly at the age of 15. Many assumed him dead, after a Rocket (Or whatever Gotham themed gang name we want to go with lol could be Team Joker) bombing in the area he'd last been seen, but he's officially declared missing. Bruce Wayne took back the duties of interim Champion as he once did for Dick Grayson, but he's not quite the mentor he once was. It's obvious he's grieving, and that he doesn't want to mentor any more twelve year olds. Dick signed up to be a Gym Leader shortly after this, returning from his trip about a year early to help out in the chaos following Jason's disappearance. .

Enter Tim Drake. Tim's gym challenge wasn't all that interesting in the circuit at first; he had a rocky start and had to retake a few gym challenges. He wasn't exactly sweeping on his first try every time like Jason had done. He didn't have the meteoric rise that caught the Champion's attention early, didn't get one-on-one mentorship or face-to-face meetings, cautionary advice and congratulations all rolled into one from Bruce Wayne himself - but Tim had patience and grit, and he paid attention. He was gunning for the Championship, and it wasn't just so he could prove himself. Team Rocket/Joker was still out there, and Bruce needed all the help he could get. He was always better for Gotham when he had a Robin. .

Dick had been nicknamed Robin for his all-Flying-type team and especially his Natu-then-Xatu; Jason followed up with his Murkrow-then-Honchkrow; Tim's Rookidee was one among many (Robin-esque pokemon were popularized by Dick and the trend remains through Tim's day) so he wasn't considered a possible Robin successor until it was a Corvisquire and he was about to face Dick Grayson himself, a badge away from Victory Road. By then, Tim and his team were a well-oiled machine (he runs mostly Steel-types lol but also Normal-types for the unexpected adaptability and the 'underestimate my rattata i dare you it's in the top peRCENTAGE--' of it all. FEAR.), and his loss-record had all but frozen while his win-record ticked higher and higher. .

Shit finally goes down about three years after Tim has become Champion and all but bullied Bruce into mentoring him (he basically said 'if you don't watch me, i'll go find Team Rocket/Joker on my own' and triggers all of Bruce's child endangerment traumas simultaneously) and the mysterious Rocket/Joker leader Red Hood shows up, bringing the gang out of the shadows in pursuit of a hidden agenda. Identity shenanigans and "wait is that a Houndoom? But he's only been using Ghost-types, it CAN'T be..." and heel-face turns abound. .

(BONUS FACT: Something something, Jason went into deep cover with Looker or whoever he is, that Interpol guy from X & Y (WAIT. LOOKER MIGHT ACTUALLY BE TALIA AL GHUL IN THIS AU HOHOHO), infiltrating the Rocket/Joker gang and going public as Red Hood is the first step in the last phase of the sting. Cue a million tense Jaytim interactions in which Tim is legitimately trying to take Red Hood down and Jason desperately tries to shake him so that he doesn't do anything that forces Jason to blow his cover. There is at least one 'tugged into a tight space to hide them both from the actual bad guys, "wait, did you just HELP me...?" "Think whatever you want, babybird"' interaction because I am a slut for the first sprinkles of a redemption arc that is rife with UST fufufu)

[ululu-coyllur]

Spoilers cap78

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[ladyteldra]

It really is his own fault that I can say he once went by "Charlemagne Champagne" and invented fantasy world champagne and that be a relatively believable thing

[shoechoe]

I am so glad it's the end of the year I do not think I could stomach sitting through another episode of Undercover Boss in my business class

[sons-from-adam]

On a weekend break at the fortress