Republican lawmakers call UA nurses ‘groomers’ … ah, wrong
If you spend time online (and who doesn’t) you know there are entire websites dedicated to taking out of context any small nugget of information and twisting it into something gullible readers will be outraged over.
That’s disturbing enough.
Even worse is that among those gullible readers are members of the Arizona Legislature.
It happened this week when the Libs of TikTok, a far-right anti-LGBTQ account, posted a photo of a slide that involved talking with kids about their gender identities shown at a University of Arizona College of Nursing class.
The slide said, in part, when speaking to children about gender identity one might ask things like, “Some kids feel like a girl on the inside, some kids feel like a boy on the inside, and some kids feel like neither, both, or someone else. What about you? How do you feel on the inside? There’s no right or wrong answer.”
Flipping their lids, but not in order to find the truth
Almost immediately pearls were clutched. Heat permeated from under collars. Lids were flipped, fuses blown.
There were reports of people being driven up walls, bending out of shape and – as happens in cases like this – crying out loud.
And it came from Arizona Republican lawmakers.
Like state Sen. Justine Wadsack, who said, “This is a disgusting use of your taxpayer dollars. Every single parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle or anyone with a heart for children should be infuriated that this is happening at one of our prestigious universities.”
And Sen. Ken Bennett, who called it an “extremist agenda that continues to target minors in a predatory fashion.”Adding, “I’m looking forward to seeing what action President (Robert) Robbins takes to ensure that this immoral curriculum being taught, with the use of state funding, never reaches another classroom again.”
Questions not part of training or curriculum of UA college
And Sen. T.J. Shope, who promised that “Senate Republicans will weigh all options to make certain tax dollars are no longer used in such an egregious fashion.”
Within a short time, the dedicated professionals at the UA nursing school were getting all manner of nasty comments and threats.
All before anyone bothered to ask about … context.
Pam Scott, a spokeswoman for the university, told the Arizona Mirror that the College of Nursing does not recommend that practitioners ask young children gender-related questions during wellness checks.
Seminar was for doctorial candidates, not nursing students
She added, “The college does not have a policy or position on this issue and does not integrate this type of training or education into its curriculum. The college teaches that practitioners should always work with the parents and guardians and with their permission, within their scope of the practice, and in alignment with the employing organization’s guidance when treating pediatric patients.”
In addition, Scott pointed out that the slide shown online wasn’t for a class of nursing students but part of a seminar for 31 doctor of nursing practices students. These are professional nurses in the final semester of their doctoral program.
Scott said. “The sessions are designed to give students the opportunity to engage with professionals on a wide variety of topics they may encounter in the field.”
GOP strives for white noise instead of common sense
In other words, let’s say a nurse is approached by parents who say their child is displaying gender dysphoria, which means expressing a conflict between the sex assigned at birth and the gender with which they identify.
Would not it be reasonable, even vital, for a health professional to ask the questions like those presented at the seminar?
That’s not how it works in the virtual world, however. Or even in the real world, these days.
We don’t look to take something we hear out of context and try to make sense of it. We would rather take what we hear and make nonsense out of it.
In another era, elected officials would fight that tendency. These days, they promote it. We get examples every day.
In Arizona, and nationally, what had been a Grand Old Party is now a collection of crybabies, enormous chips on their shoulders, entire hives of bees under their bonnets, ceaselessly seeking the next grievance.
Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: GOP lawmakers smear UA College of Nursing over gender-identity seminar
