Look, for people who distant from the issue of transsexualism, the politically correct use of pronouns is confusing. I used "his" because s/he hasn't had surgery yet. I take it that this is not the accepted usage?

"to help transgender people accept their assigned genders"

You say "transgender identity," as if it is a separate thing from "male" or "female". Are you saying that no matter what body people with transgender identity are born with, they will feel the opposite? Seriously asking.

I wasn't thinking of "acceptance" so much from a social acceptance standpoint (as in, "acceptable by society's standards") as from a SELF-acceptance standpoint. Some people are born without limbs or with other abnormalities or have serious body-changing accidents, but usually they learn to live life to the fullest in…

I'm not trolling, but I hope someone could please explain to me: how is sex reassignment surgery medically necessary? His body is fully functioning; his sex is not causing him illness, and sex itself is not an illness.

I WANT THAT FOYER!

At some point a couple of years ago, SOME people in the news media decided not to cover her every whim, sigh, and fart. That was the beginning of the end. Finally, they realized that if they ignore her, eventually she'll go away.

Even outside of regular health care, though, she should have been eligible for workman's compensation to take care of it, right?

Yeah, I agree. Her appeal was limited from the start and has only steadily gone downhill since the 2008 election. She's made a mockery of her own brand with her coyness about whether she's going to run, her and her family's reality TV shows, and complete inability to make anyone take her seriously.

As I already explained to you, a doctor should advise obese patients about their weight. Talking about their weight, dieting, and exercise are not fat shaming. Refusing to treat people *is* fat shaming.

She didn't say, "stop eating junk food," she refused to treat them. Giving medical advice is well within her purview. There is nothing wrong with her giving advice on diet, exercise, and encouraging patients to reach a healthy weight. There is something wrong with treating fat people as if they are some kind of…

The doctor in question is a PRIMARY CARE doctor, not someone with a specialty. Over 30% of Americans are overweight, and yes, every primary care doctor needs to be able to treat this not-at-all-rare disease. You are the one saying it's some sort of special malady by saying it needs special equipment. A bigger blood…

A physician who cannot treat obese people should not be a physician. Obesity is not some rare, mysterious disease that requires special equipment. My primary care doctor treats plenty of obese people, and she and her staff are all women in their 50's or older who aren't exactly hauling fat people onto the examining…

But neither smoking nor alcohol are *you*. Fat shaming means shaming a person.

Exactly. They are mad at him for letting the cat out of the bag.

Why all the upset from Republicans about Akin's remarks when the Republican platform is essentially the same? There is no exception whether the rape is "legitimate" or "illegitimate".

Never in the history of human civilization has anyone ever prevented women from having pre-marital sex. In modern times, we've simply stopped lying about it.

I think you're missing the thrust of the story. They *aren't* saying that there are exceptions for rape or incest. They are saying it doesn't matter the circumstances of your pregnancy, you will never be allowed to have an abortion. Even if you are 12 years old and your dad is the father of the baby. Even if carrying…

The maddening thing is that the Sarah Palin-esque legislators benefit from, use the language of, and espouse the tenets of feminism when it suits them, but rarely to the benefit of all women. Republican women are generally the breadwinners and pants-wearers in their marriages, but denigrate other women who are the…

Yep. At the very least, married women drink more because, damn it, they need help to RELAX at the end of the day after taking care of everyone and everything from dawn until bedtime. How else are they supposed to wind down after cooking dinner, cleaning the kitchen, listening to the husband, helping the kids with…