Ric Tyler, host of WVOM Gorge Hale and Ric Tyler Show, questioned Maine’s legacy and corporate media outlets Tuesday morning over their decision to avoid covering the growing scandal in Damariscotta.
Last week, parent Amber Lavigne revealed that the Great Salt Bay Community School (AOS 93) had secretly begun to transition her 13-year-old daughter into a boy without her knowledge or consent. The social transition the school started without her permission included school staff providing her with a chest binder and referring to her using masculine pronouns.
As of Tuesday morning, more than a quarter of a million people have read The Maine Wire’s reporting or watched the video of Lavigne’s emotional address to the Great Salt Bay Community School board.
Yet not a single newspaper or television outlet in the state has covered the controversy.
Listen to Tyler here:
Age of consent for mental health treatment in Maine is 14. Since this minor child was already in treatment with another counselor, it would need to be presumed that the mother provided consent under the previous counselor. If a transfer were made to Roy I believe, although I am not certain, a new informed consent should have been completed. The mother said Roy never contacted her, so it would appear no informed consent was completed. That would be an ethical violation.
Some things are bad practice without being ethical violations. Providing counseling for gender change to a minor child, outside of the awareness of her parent, is definitely one of them. In good practice, the parents, child, and counselor would meet to discuss the diagnosis, options, and treatments. In my opinion, this conversation would occur for children of any age, even up to the point of young adult independence. Systems understanding makes these conversations paramount.
The social worker and supervisor should answer for their clinical decision-making.
This is an important clinical conversation for our professional community.
Patients are beginning to sue their therapists and doctors all over the world for moving too hastily to affirmation and gender change. I saw another case last night on Tucker Carlson in which the patient was emotional to the point she could not speak because she believed she had been harmed by these health professionals. They recommended a mastectomy, a permanent, life-altering medical procedure without doing the hard work of helping the patient think through a difficult mental state. It is the same mindset that has a doctor throwing Ativan at a nervous patient.
Therapists need to SLOW DOWN because children are being permanently damaged.
What appears to be happening in this case is a transfer to a gender affirming therapist, who had also transitioned to a new gender, and a rush to transition (2 weeks post). The gender affirming clinical clique is prone to over-identification and desire to justify their own beliefs and decisions. Schools and other contexts are scared to be perceived as not affirming, and they often fall prey to emotional blackmail. Here is some free advice for managing the emotional blackmail weapon. https://oldschoolcounselor.substack.com/p/the-trans-emotional-blackmail-weapon
I’ve listened to George Hale for what seems like a century .
Always wondered what he looked like .
He’s got a voice only a mother could love .
Rick Tyler on the other hand has a classic radio voice and is one of the best radio DJs anywhere .
Thanks for the picture .