Derick Dillard Lashes Out After Jazz Jennings Rebuffs Anti-Trans Attacks

Former Counting On star Derick Dillard seems unable to stop his bigoted social media attacks on trans teen TV star Jazz Jennings.

Fortunately, Jazz doesn’t care what Derick thinks, which is what the kids call a big mood.

But even though Jazz is doing her level best to ignore his hate, Derick is firing back and doubling down on his claim that Jazz’s very existence is some form of child abuse.

Derick Dillard still doesn’t have a job, and some wonder if that might be why he has so much extra time to tweet hateful things about Jazz Jennings and the trans community.

In a recent interview, Jazz, who underwent gender confirmation surgery known as bottom surgery in June, said that she has a don’t-feed-the-trolls approach to Derick’s vitriolic tweets.

She says that he’s just trying to elicit a reaction, and that she’s not going to give him what he wants.

A Twitter account that appears to primarily exist to attempt to engage with various celebrities asked Derick if he has a response.

Derick, seemingly thirsty for the attention, was only too happy to reply.

“I just speak out against child abuse, and especially those who promote it, because it’s the right thing to do,” Derick claims in a tweet.

“It’s just absolutely awful,” he has decided. “And should not be celebrated.”

Obviously, parents supporting their trans children are doing the literal opposite of child abuse.

But if you think that it’s hypocritical for a member of the extended Duggar family to make Derick’s statement, you’re not alone.

Fans laid into Derick on the subject of child abuse.

Fans had some serious questions for Derick.

“Do you think blanket training is child abuse?” asked on person on Twitter.

Blanket training, a practice of teaching months-old babies to obey their parents by using pain and fear, is advocated by Michael and Debi Pearl.

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are tied to this abusive practice.

“You should speak out against Michael and Debi Pearl. Children have actually died at the hands of parents upholding the Pearls view of ‘child rearing.’ That’s child abuse,” says another tweet.

“Teaching parents how to physically abuse infants and children,” the tweet continues. “Speak out against them.”

But the practice of hitting babies to break their will at a young age isn’t the only child abuse scandal in the Duggar family.

“You seemed to have no problem appearing on a TV show of a family that forced their sexually abused daughters to appear on Fox News,” accused another tweet.

The tweet went on that the girls were forced “to say that none of them even knew what their brother was doing to them because they were all asleep, when the police report told a different story.”

Another tweet also brought up Josh Duggar, asking: “So, when are u gonna speak up about your in laws promoting child abuse by protecting ypur brother in law?”

That tweet continued: “Or does that not matter because they believe in God? You’re a hypocrite and a hateful man. You don’t get to hide behind god as a way of disguising that.”

Child abuse is an extremely upsetting subject. Countless children every day live in fear of a family member or supposed “caregiver.” The world does not do enough to protect its children. 

Fortunately, Jazz, who will be 18 on October 6, 2018, has a loving and supportive family who have cheered her on as a girl and as an advocate.

We only wish that more transgender children received love and support instead of responses like Derick’s.

While Derick’s anti-trans attacks on Jazz saw him booted off of Counting On, the good folks over at The Ashley note that I Am Jazz begins airing its fifth season in 2019.

It sounds like she’s right to ignore Derick’s social media vitriol. She doesn’t need it to stay relevant — but he does.

View Slideshow: Jazz Jennings Dismisses Derick Dillard: Who Cares What He Says?!?

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Derick Dillard: Jazz Jennings" Gender Confirmation Surgery is CHILD ABUSE!

Does anybody else get so emotionally and spiritually exhausted by hearing all the absolute garbage that Derick Dillard spews whenever he opens his dumb mouth?

Because hey, same.

It’s just … he’s so awful. He’s an exceptionally terrible person.

And on top of that, it always seems like he really tries so hard to be that way, you know?

Like he puts a ton of effort into being the worst.

If you don’t know what we’re talking about, just take a moment to consider the way he’s treated Jazz Jennings.

His weird obsession with the transgender teenager began nearly a year ago when he commented on a Twitter post about her reality show, I Am Jazz, that TLC had shared.

He said that “‘transgender’ is a myth,” and that “gender is not fluid; it’s ordained by God.”

And he was just warming up.

A few months after that, when his comments were brought up again, he tweeted “I pity Jazz, 4 those who take advantage of him in order 2 promote their agenda, including the parents who allow these kinds of decisions 2 be made by a child.”

“It’s sad that ppl would use a juvenile this way. Again, nothing against him, just unfortunate what’s on tv these days.”

So not only did he use the wrong pronouns there, but he also called into question Jazz’s parenting skills.

Seriously, the guy who married into the Duggar family thinks he has any room to criticize someone else’s parenting?

After that, Derick felt the need to bring Jazz up in a conversation he was having about the Parkland shooting — it didn’t make sense then, and it sure doesn’t make any sense now.

The point he was trying to make was something about “liberal agendas” and that darn devil media, and at one point he tried to explain that “I criticized the media’s use of kids again … like @TLC uses Jazz.”

Was Jazz relevant to what he was talking about?

Obviously not.

But, for whatever reason, Derick just can’t help himself but run his mouth about her.

And since she has some pretty huge news this week … you know where this is headed.

In case you missed it, Jazz was able to get her gender confirmation surgery earlier this week, and she’s been pretty excited about it.

She hopped on Instagram yesterday to let her followers know that she’d doing well, and to thank them for all the love and support they’ve been giving her.

It’s a lovely, heartwarming story, but of course Derick didn’t see it that way.

Over on Twitter, he shared a news story about Jazz’s surgery and commented “This kind of thinking should not be encouraged by media. A system that allows this kind of child abuse is clearly broken.”

How wild is it that this guy is honestly trying to talk about “child abuse” when his own wife was molested by her brother and her parents did nothing about it?

Also, what does it say about him that after all this time, he still hasn’t learned that even if he wants to cling to his beliefs, he should maybe just keep his mouth shut about this one teenage girl?

It’s easy to get worked up over this kind of ignorance, and the poor souls that follow Derick on Twitter definitely did.

“Why is this ur business?!” one of those people asked him. “Not every1 agrees with how u raise ur kids or how the Duggars raise theirs, who in their right mind raise girls 4 breeding purposes only, does not encourage college or jobs, solely raises them 2 b dependent on men.”

The character limit on Twitter can sometimes get in the way, but a good argument is a good argument.

Another solid argument with way fewer characters: “Your thinking is clearly broken.”

“Come on Derick,” another person urged. “Does it really matter to you? It’s not your family or your business.”

Amazingly, even some people who share Derick’s belief are sick of him talking about this.

One of those people wrote “I agree with you, but why in the world do you need to tweet this? Our job, as a Christian, is not to point out people’s sins. Our job is to show the love of Jesus. Let Him work on peoples hearts.”

So far, he’s only made one response to all the backlash he’s been getting — and oh boy, you’re going to love this.

Several people pointed out the hypocrisy of Derick getting upset about the “child abuse” here but remaining silent on the Trump administration’s actual abuse of immigrant children.

His response?

“??”

How does he live? How does this man survive while being so painfully ignorant?

It’s a mystery for the ages, for sure.

View Slideshow: Derick Dillard Labels Transgender Movement as Form of Child Abuse

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Jazz Jennings: I"m Out of Surgery, I Have a Vagina, And I"m Doing Great!

Several weeks ago, transgender teen reality star and activist Jazz Jennings announced that she will finally have a vagina.

She has been waiting for this moment for her entire life, and it has arrived.

Jazz celebrated by sharing a post-op photo with her fans.

She had to lose 30 pounds before undergoing surgery, but she did it!

And now, Jazz can wipe away her dysphoria by having the body that she deserves.

Fans knew that she would be undergoing surgery on June 26, and she took to Instagram in the afternoon of June 28 to update them, writing:

“I’m doing great, thanks for all of the love and support!”

She followed that with a shining heart emoji.

Take a look at the hospital bed selfie that she shared along with her message:

Awww!

Honestly, it speaks to how seriously she takes her role as an activist who works to raise awareness for the trans community that she left such an earnest message.

She’s a Gen Z kid, and even older Millennials these days tend to announce recoveries from surgery with bed selfies that read: “I lived b–ch.” It’s a meme.

Not all trans folks experience dysphoria with relation to their genitals. Gender, after all, is not defined by genitals.

But for those like Jazz who do experience dysphoria, living in a body that doesn’t match their identity — a body that constantly encourages society to view them in a certain way — can be agonizing.

Jazz is extraordinarily fortunate that, with the love and support of her family, she was able to undergo bottom surgery — that is what it is called when a trans person gets confirmation surgery on their genitals — at 17.

Her fans are overjoyed for her.

Jazz’s surgery was not without its challenges. Her efforts to lose weight were only part of that.

See, Jazz has been on puberty blockers — a good first step for any trans child who doesn’t want to see their body transformed by puberty hormones.

Puberty blockers are simple and reversible and safe, but gender confirmation surgeons have found that they mean that there is less tissue for them to use when performing bottom surgery.

Or, to be blunt: a trans girl who never went through puberty might have an otherwise easy time with her body, but she won’t have enough penile tissue for surgeons to use to make her new vagina.

“They didn’t have enough material to construct the entire vagina,” Jazz described to her followers in the weeks leading up to her surgery.

Jazz explains the solution: “So they’re using a special procedure to extract my peritoneal lining.”

The peritoneal lining is a membrane that lines the abdominal cavity and covers most of the intra-abdominal organs.

The membrane, as Jazz notes, is regenerative. You can think of it like an internal skin graft.

“They take that out laparoscopically through my bellybutton or whatever,” Jazz explains. “They use that and harvest that and use that to make the vaginal canal.”

And, as she explains, there are some definite benefits to using this method to perform the surgery.

“It’s better,” Jazz says. “Because it looks like real vagina tissue and it feels more like real vagina tissue.”

Jazz will of course have to recover from her surgery and become accustomed to her new anatomy.

Her fans are happy for her and showered her with congratulatory messages.

Unfortunately, Jazz has to contend with more than her share of trolls, even though she’s a teenage minor.

We’re not just talking about Derick Dillard’s transphobic attack. There are a lot of these people.

Just glancing at her post-op selfie, we could see multiple harassing messages from an Instagram account with no posts of its own that follows only Jazz — meaning that someone created it specifically to leave her nasty comments.

But Jazz explains why she puts up with the hate and vitriol instead of quietly transitioning and living her life outside of the spotlight.

“The reason why I’m being so open and documenting my journey with this procedure,” Jazz explains on her YouTube channel.

“Is because I feel like education is super important,” Jazz says. She’s right.

“If I put out this information for people to see,” Jazz continues. “They won’t need to ask any more questions.”

“And also,” Jazz adds. “It’s educational within the community, as well.”

Like we said, not all trans kids come from such loving and supporting families. But those parents who do support their kids might have questions.

“A lot of parents who have transgender kids are like, ‘what do I do? I don’t know much about this process!"” Jazz explains.

“And seeing our show kind of helps them realize what steps they could take to help their kids and what the journey might look like in the future,” Jazz concludes.

View Slideshow: Jazz Jennings: 13 Things to Know!

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Jazz Jennings Previews Upcoming Surgery: "I Can"t Believe I’m Gonna Have A Vagina!"

Forgive the rather obvious pun, but…

… Jazz Jennings is rather jazzed about her upcoming surgery.

(We’re very sorry, but the terrible play on words was just sitting right there, you know?)

The TLC reality star, who anchors a series titled “I Am Jazz,” used her personal YouTube account late last week to preview a rather giant procedure currently scheduled for June 26.

It will officially, technically, medically turn her from a male to a female.

“I am so looking forward to it. I have been ready for this my entire life,” the transgender 17-year says in her video, speaking, of course, about gender reassignment.

This has been a major theme on her aforementioned series, which debuted in July of 2015.

In this same video, Jennings explains that she has decided to be open about the surgery in hopes that it will educate people both inside and outside of the transgender community.

And she’s very explicit in talking about what it will entail.

“I’m gonna have new genitalia,” she says. “Like penis to vagina! That’s some serious sh-t, y’all! I can’t believe I’m gonna have a vagina!”

Jennings has long been an advocate in the LGBT community.

She has found herself in the headlines over the past few months because Derick Dillard, who appeared on Counting On but who has since been fired by TLC, has often mocked and slammed Jennings for the way she lives her life.

“I pity Jazz, 4 those who take advantage of him in order 2 promote their agenda, including the parents who allow these kinds of decisions 2 be made by a child,” Dillard randomly said last fall, adding at the time:

“It’s sad that ppl would use a juvenile this way. Again, nothing against him, just unfortunate what’s on tv these days.”

Jennings never invited this sort of critique and is certainly not interested in Dillard’s pity.

She’s living her best life, thank you very much!

“What an oxymoron… a ‘reality’ show which follows a non-reality,” Dillard previously said, piling on an entire community of people by adding:

“‘Transgender’ is a myth. Gender is not fluid; it’s ordained by God.”

SIGH.

But, hey, if Jazz can take the high road and basically ignore Dillard throughout this nonsense, so can we.

We’ll just focus on her latest video and the surgery about which she can’t stop talking.

“I have been looking forward [to the surgery] forever,” Jazz told us. “Even at a young age, I knew.”

She also says she’s excited for the procedure – but, as you might expect, also a bit frightened.

“Because I started the [testosterone] blockers so early that I never went through puberty…basically the blockers block testosterone in my body so I don’t develop as a male and get a beard, a mustache, a deep voice,” Jennings says.

“That’s why I’ve been able to be so feminine. Because of that, it caused me to be so suppressed that I didn’t have growth in ‘that’ region.”

In conclusion, Jazz goes over what’s about to happen in pretty fascinating detail, even if it may gross out some folks out there:

“Because there was a lack of tissue [down there] they didn’t have enough material to construct the entire vagina, so they’re using a special procedure where they extract my peritoneal lining.

“It’s regenerative, so it will regrow and what not.

“They take that out laparoscopically through my belly button or whatever. They use that and harvest that and use that to make the vaginal canal.

“It’s better because it looks like real vagina tissue and it feels more like real vagina tissue.”

View Slideshow: Jazz Jennings: 13 Things to Know!

Science, huh?

Pretty amazing.

We wish Jazz Jennings the best of luck.

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James Harden Smacks Jazz Fan"s Phone Over Light Heckling

Talk about an overreaction — James Harden reached out and smacked the crap out of a Jazz fan’s cell phone Wednesday all over some harmless heckling … and the cops were involved.  But get this … despite the fact the fan was on the…

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Mitt Romney Heckles Russell Westbrook at Jazz Game

Mitt Romney … talking crap?! Yep — it all went down at the Jazz game Monday night where man running for senator in Utah sat on the court to watch his  team take on the OKC Thunder in Game 4 of their playoff series.  When Russell…

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Derick Dillard Just... Asked Jazz Jennings and Emma Gonzalez to Coffee?!?

Derick Dillard must have just been hacked.

That’s the only explanation we can come up with for what the former TLC reality star wrote this week on Twitter.

As anyone who follows Dillard on social media knows well by now, the guy is not a fan of transgender individuals – or, apparently, high school students who manage NOT to get shot to death by crazed gunmen.

No, really:

Earlier this month, Dillard labeled survivors of February’s horrific Parkland, Florida shooting as “ridiculous.”

He wrote that networks are using these teenagers to push for a “liberal agenda” because the kids have been outspoken about their desire for nationwide gun reform.

Along with this criticism, Dillard has taken every available opportunity to slam Jazz Jennings, a transgender reality star who anchors her own series on TLC.

Just this week, Dillard referred to Jennings as a male, pissing off many Internet users, which was merely the latest time Derick went off on the Jazz for no real reason at all.

Except for his intolerance of the LGBT community, that is.

Jazz Jennings is a role model for other transgender teenagers. For Derick Dillard? Not so much.

It all started last August when Dillard bashed the entire concept of a transgender person as a myth.

“What an oxymoron… a ‘reality’ show which follows a non-reality. ‘Transgender’ is a myth. Gender is not fluid; it’s ordained by God,” he Tweeted at the time.

Then there was this comment left by Dillard in November:

“I pity Jazz, 4 those who take advantage of him in order 2 promote their agenda, including the parents who allow these kinds of decisions 2 be made by a child.”

TLC eventually fired Dillard for these insensitive and inappropriate remarks, much to the delight of people who don’t have hate in their heart and do have open minds.

So that’s how we arrived at this point.

That’s all the preamble to a Tweet from Dillard that we never expected to read.

Emma Gonzalez cried tears of anger and pain over her fellow students getting killed. Derick Dillard wasn’t very moved, however.

On February 24, Jennings re-Tweeted a video of Gonzalez speaking out at an anti-gun rally.

It was the speech that made Gonzalez into a true American hero, in the minds of many, at least.

“This is so powerful. I’m so proud of my community,” wrote Jennings in response to the footage, which evidently prompted Dillard to… agree?

At least kind of? To some extent?

Tagging both Jazz and Emma in a March 6 Tweet (below), the controversial star wrote:

“Thinking about and praying for all those across the country, and especially in your community, who this horrific tragedy has affected.

“Let me know if you’re ever in Northwest Arkansas and I’d love to grab coffee and visit. #MSDStrong #neveragain.”

Wait… what?!?!?!?

In the slightest defense of Dillard, he never did slam Gonzalez or her fellow students directly.

Instead, he’s been saying that the mainstream media has been exploiting them to push for an anti-second amendment agenda.

You can agree with this belief or disagree with it, but we suppose it can still be possible that Derick can state it while still having sympathy for Emma and her classmates.

Then again, Dillard has since deleted the message above, perhaps because he had regrets about posting it… or perhaps because he really was hacked!

We may never know.

But it’s probably safe to go back to hating Dillard and his hate-filled view of a world he doesn’t ever try to fully understand.

That’s what we’re gonna do.

View Slideshow: Derick Dillard Labels Transgender Movement as Form of Child Abuse

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Derick Dillard Attacks Jazz Jennings AGAIN, Gets Torn Apart on Twitter

If you’re a fan of the Duggar family, then you’re probably already aware that Derick Dillard has been fired from Counting On as a result of his decision to berate and harass fellow TLC star Jazz Jennings.

Back in November, Dillard directed an unprovoked social media tirade at Jennings, a transgender teen who also stars in a reality show on the network.

In the months since, neither Derick nor his wife, Jill Duggar, has filmed any scenes for her family’s popular series, and it doesn’t look as though they’ll be returning to the spotlight anytime soon.

These days, it seems that Derick is trying his best to make amends, but as usual, he’s just digging himself a deeper hole.

The latest Derick dust-up has had to do with the former reality star’s views on the national gun control debate.

Last week, Dillard attacked the survivors of the Parkland school shooting for behaving in a “ridiculous” fashion.

Needless to say, his comments were not well-received.

Yesterday, he tweeted a link to an article in which he was criticized for being critical of traumatized teens.

“No, I criticized the media’s use of kids again…like @TLC uses Jazz,” Derick tweeted in his own defense.

“My heart goes out to the victims, but all ideas should be heard, and subjected to criticism.”

He probably would’ve been better off not bringing up Jazz up again, but ultimately it was a pretty tame comment by Derick standards.

Unfortunately, when fans responded to the tweet, Derick chose to engage with them in offensive fashion:

When one Twitter user accused Derick of bullying Jazz, Dillard responded:

“Hi, please realize that I never said anything against him.

“If you read that in a tabloid, I encourage you to be extremely skeptical of anything put out by any opinion or gossip publication.”

Yes, while claiming that he can’t understand why people think he’s being unkind to Jazz, Derick once again misgendered the girl.

Not surprisingly, fans weren’t having it:

“If you are uncomfortable or against using the pronoun ‘her’ you could just use the name ‘Jazz’,” wrote one follower.

“You don’t have to go out of your way with the ‘he’ and ‘him.’ It would be the kind thing to do. Just sayin.”

“You are a hypocrite and a child abuser and a bully,” tweeted another.

A third slammed Derick as an “ignorant piece of sh-t.”

Dillard has yet to respond to the latest round of criticism against him.

As for the Parkland issue, however, Dillard is sticking to his guns – literally.

He recently tweeted a link to a post about a conspiracy theories and alleged anti-gun media biases with this description:

“True; I think it’s pretty obvious.  My wife has over 200,000 followers and still hasn’t been verified.”

Well Der, if it’s any consolation, now that you’ve gotten her kicked off her show, Jill probably won’t have that many followers for long!

Watch Counting On online to relive better times for the Dillards.

View Slideshow: Derick Dillard Labels Transgender Movement as Form of Child Abuse

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Derick Dillard Continues Attacking Parkland Shooting Survivors, Also Slams Jazz Jennings

Derick Dillard must be going for some kind of world record lately.

If there’s a world record for “most poorly timed, poorly worded, horrifically offensive tweets,” that is.

And hey, if there’s not, maybe Guinness can make a special new category, just for him.

Because seriously, the things he’s been thinking up in his little head and then typing up on Twitter are that bad.

He’s been doing this for a long, long time now: he’ll hop on Twitter, say something super ignorant and/or offensive, act like he said it from a place of love, then tweet some bible verses to get some easy likes.

It’s never really worked out all that well for him — TLC did fire him from Counting On for his tweets about Jazz Jennings (more on that in a bit).

He also made himself extremely unlikable, to the point that even some actual Duggar fans can’t stand him.

But, wouldn’t you know it, he still hasn’t learned.

A few days ago, Derick got quite a bit of criticism for a tweet he made about the Parkland shooting survivors.

As you surely know, 17 people were killed in a school shooting last month in Parkland, Florida, and many of the survivors have been speaking out about the need for stricter gun control laws.

Derick retweeted a story about the subject, writing “This has gotten a little ridiculous; at least 2 networks are now using kids to push their liberal agendas.”

“It’s obviously not all about the kids when voices like @KylieKashuv aren’t as elevated. Liberal Media… at least be consistent so you can hide your biased tactics better.”

It wasn’t great.

He apparently can’t consider the idea that the survivors aren’t kids being used to “push liberal agendas,” they’re people who have their own ideas and who have been through something that he couldn’t imagine.

There have been many, many survivors sharing the same ideas and voicing the same opinions about gun control, because that’s what they believe — why wouldn’t a media outlet cover such a huge story?

After that tweet, Derick got quite a bit of attention, and tried to defend himself, but, well …

It didn’t go as well as he may think it did.

For example, he actually wrote “My heart goes out to the victims, but how does being a victim of a tragedy suddenly make you an expert on how to solve the problem of stopping mass shootings?!”

Because you have to be an expert to believe in something and to voice those beliefs you formed based on a significant experience you had, right?

Someone made an excellent point by responding to his nonsense with “Doesn’t your family use children to push your conservative agenda as well?”

She even added that alarming old photo of a bunch of Duggar kids posing together with t-shirts that read “I Survived Roe Vs. Wade.”

“No,” Derick argued, “because we couldn’t wear those while filming. I’m talking about what the media allows and doesn’t allow.”

Sure, but he’s also talking about using kids to push agendas, which the Duggars have obviously done.

At one point, he even shared a story about his tweet with a headline about how he slammed the survivors — which he definitely did, even if he doesn’t think so.

He tried to correct the headline by explaining “No, I criticized the media’s use of kids again…like @TLC uses Jazz. My heart goes out to the victims, but all ideas should be heard, and subjected to criticism.”

For one, that’s twice that Derick used the phrase “My heart goes out to the victims, but …”, and that’s two times too many.

For two … is he seriously bringing Jazz up AGAIN?!

He first started attacking Jazz, a 17-year-old transgender girl with her own show on TLC, last year, saying that he pitied her “4 those who take advantage of him in order 2 promote their agenda.”

Oh, and he called her a “him” because “‘transgender’ is a myth,” apparently.

Since then, he’s brought her up again and again, out of nowhere, really, and it really does seem like he has some kind of bizarre fixation on her.

In his own defense, when someone advised him to get over the Jazz thing already, he wrote “I was only addressing it because it was brought up again in the article, and I wanted to clarify so people aren’t misled.”

“I agree, I wish people would get over that already.”

Later, he wrote “I seek to live in a way that pleases Jesus Christ. I realize that some people will be turned off by that, but it is actually the norm throughout history.”

“I only want to reflect Christ, and I don’t apologize for that.”

You don’t apologize for anything, huh, Derick?

Even though you really, really should.

View Slideshow: Derick Dillard Labels Transgender Movement as Form of Child Abuse

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Jazz Jennings: I Have to Lose 30 Pounds Before My Bottom Surgery!

Jazz Jennings has real problems that have nothing to do with Derick Dillard attacking her on Twitter. Besides, unlike Derick, Jazz is still on TV.

On the latest episode of I Am Jazz, she has a meeting to discuss the gender confirmation surgery that she’s wanted for all of her life.

Unfortunately, she’s told that she needs to lose weight first. 30 pounds, to be exact.

Back when we talked about the I Am Jazz trailer that teased this entire season, we mentioned issues that Jazz would be shown tackling.

One was dating. Jazz came out as pansexual a couple of years ago, but she hadn’t actually dated a girl before, which was a huge step.

Another was her continuing activism, which has involved Jazz facing off against some serious bigots over the years.

One huge thing (also specifically addressed in the new episode) was the devastation wrought by Hurricane Irma.

But another, which really stole the show in the new episode, was that Jazz’s weight gain — though normal for a growing teenager — could prevent her from getting bottom surgery.

A quick aside, folks, because bottom surgery is not about your butt.

So, there’s top surgery — when someone gets surgery to essentially obtain or lose their breasts.

Not all trans people end up getting top surgery, because trans people experience body dysphoria to varying degrees, and some do not experience it at all.

(Some younger trans folks, thanks to the medical miracles of hormones and puberty blockers, don’t need top surgery because they were either able to grow their own breasts or avoid having them grow)

Many trans people don’t get bottom surgery. It’s expensive, potentially dangerous, and imperfect. And, again, gender isn’t synonymous to genitals and not every trans person has a problem with their anatomy.

However, this is a procedure that Jazz Jennings has wanted for her whole life. 

Now that Jazz is 17, and with the support of her parents, she could be a rare case of a trans person receiving the surgery as a minor.

The trouble is that, as she learned on this new episode, hospitals aren’t going to budge about things like her body mass index.

Basically, because she’s a minor, she needs to be a “perfect” case for surgery if the hospital is going to go through with it.

Jazz’s surgeon, Dr. Marci Powers, puts it as delicately as she can:

“Your surgery will be very difficult in terms of what even the most experienced surgeons have encountered.”

She explains why:

“Not to bring up the bad news first, but you gained in your BMI.”

Most people don’t like that kind of news, but for Jazz, it could be get in the way of her living her best life.

Her surgeon continues:

“If we’re going to get a hospital to say, ‘we’re going to allow a surgery at age 17,’ you’re going to have to be at a lower BMI.”

And there’s no fudging it, unfortunately.

“Literally, they won’t approve it if your BMI is one dot over. When it translates to pounds, it’s about 30 pounds.”

30 pounds is a lot to lose, especially when you’re a growing teenager. And especially when you’re as tiny as Jazz Jennings is.

Jazz speaks in the confessional, revealing:

“I’m absolutely horrified.”

It probably didn’t help that she was on camera, either.

“I knew that my weight was a problem, but I didn’t realize that it could affect something that I’ve been waiting for my entire life.”

Jazz tweeted about the experience as the episode aired:

“My confidence constantly wavers & some days I love my new larger figure & other days I beat myself up about it. Even though I appear so strong, I’m still human and learning to love myself undeniably.”

We know that Jazz makes a lot of effort to lose weight.

And fans have noted that she appears to have lost some weight in her more recent photos. But … will it be enough?

Perhaps only time, and subsequent episodes of I Am Jazz, will tell.

View Slideshow: Jazz Jennings: 13 Things to Know!

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I Am Jazz: Season 4 Trailer: Jazz Jennings Tackles Dating, Weight Gain, and Haters

Despite Derick Dillard"s worst efforts, I Am Jazz returns next month, continuing to document the life of well-spoken trans teen, Jazz Jennings.

We"ve seen a lot about her, her family, and her activism. It looks like this season is going to focus on some personal decisions and struggles: getting a tattoo, dating a girl for the first time, her weight, activism, and being in the path of Hurricane Irma.

In the first trailer, which we have for you below, you"ll see that and more as Jazz 

Jazz Jennings" hit reality series is continuing to succeed where Caitlyn Jenner"s failed. Why?

Well, probably because Jazz is a better representative of the LGBT+ community. I Am Cait lost a lot of viewers, and you can"t help but wonder how much her affection for people like Ted Cruz and Donald Trump had to do with that.

Also, Jazz is in many ways more relatable to viewers, whether they"re trans or cis. Most of us can"t relate to being a millionaire Olympian. But a teenager with a teenager"s struggles?

We"ve all been there.

So, the first thing that we really get to see in the trailer is Jazz getting a tattoo.

Jazz only turned 17 last October, so we imagine that for at least most of this upcoming season of I Am Jazz, she"ll be 16.

For those of you concerned about a 16-year-old getting a tattoo, Florida law is fine with a 16- or 17-year-old getting a tattoo so long as it is with the permission of a present.

Here"s the tat!

Jazz shared that photo in November, so she may have only gotten it when she was 17 — we"re not sure.

It"s of a mermaid (and it"s beautifully colorful!), and we should note that mermaids — in addition to being, you know, neat in general — are sometimes symbolic for members of the LGBT+ community (particularly for trans folks).

In fact, when Hans Christian Andersen wrote The Little Mermaid, it was apparently symbolic of his desire to transform himself to be with the man whom he loved but did not love him back (Edvard Collin).

So a mermaid is an appropriate symbol for her.

And speaking of romantic feelings, the next item covered in the trailer is Jazz Jennings" love life.

In the video below, you"ll see her get set up with another girl and even go on what looks like a double-date.

Though Jazz came out as pansexual in 2014, revealing that she"s attracted to people regardless of their gender, she"s previously dated boys. This will be a big, exciting step for her!

(There is an awkward line about "now is a good time to experiment with bisexuality." While some people use bi and pan as interchangeable labels, it"s rude to use one label for someone who prefers another. Common courtesy, folks)

The next topic is a little tricky, because it"s Jazz"s weight.

It looks like she"s put on a few pounds (really just a few!); you"ll have to see for yourself in the video below if you agree with some of the voices describing Jazz as "fat."

While weight fluctuation is normal, especially for teens, it"s not a bad time to start getting into the habit of a daily exercise routine (we know that it"s hard at first and it"s never fun, but life is full of suffering anyway so you might at least be healthy while you suffer).

The line about Jazz"s unhealthy relationship with food is going to be almost painfully relatable to some viewers.

It looks like the brief montage of exercises that we see in the trailer are going to pay off, because recent photos of her show her having shed weight.

Her exercise isn"t just for the sake of a trim figure, however.

We see her nervously discussing gender confirmation surgery with her doctor. And apparently she needed to lose a few pounds in preparation for that.

It sounds like the doctors are discussing top surgery — what Jazz does or does not do to her genitals is absolutely none of our business (even if she weren"t a minor!).

After the surgery talk, we get to a much less comfortable subject: transphobes.

Facing bigots who think that you shouldn"t exist cannot be an easy task, but we"re glad that Jazz has a support system in place of family and medical experts.

Also, we should remember that Jazz first became famous at an extremely young age for being so well-spoken about her gender in an interview with Barbara Walters.

At 16 and 17, she"s been answering questions — some of them hateful — for almost all of her life. She shouldn"t have to face this kind of hate, but she"s totally got this.

The final portion of the trailer deals with Jazz dealing with her entire family being in the path of Hurricane Irma.

Jazz lives in Florida, folks. (Shall we joke and say that it"s her one big shortcoming, or is Florida too easy of a target?)

With all of the devastation in Puerto Rico — from which they are still recovering — and with fires raging in and around L.A. right at this very moment, you might almost forget about the damage and destruction wrought by hurricanes like Irma and Harvey.

It looks like we"re going to see the toll that Irma took, up close and personally.

At least we know that Jazz herself is okay.

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Derick Dillard Launches New Attack Against Jazz Jennings

Bill O’Reilly. Sean Hannity. Alex Jones. Derick Dillard.

Yes, Jill Duggar’s husband may not have earned a spot on the list of the far-right’s most emotionally unstable mouthpieces just yet, but he’s determined to get there some day.

And like any good professional bully, D-Dill has already chosen a sufficiently vulnerable target at which to direct all of his frustrations over his own intellectual shortcomings.

Yes, presumably acting on instructions issued to him when Jesus appeared in his Chick-Fil-A Hash Brown Scramble Bowl, Derick has launched a one-man war against his fellow TLC reality star Jazz Jennings.

Derick first attacked Jennings in an unprovoked Instagram tirade back in August.

Dillard was slammed on Twitter by folks from all walks of life who were put off by the idea of a grown man attacking a teenage girl, but the father or two carried on his quest to … teach a young girl how hateful the world really is?

We’re not really sure what Derick was hoping to accomplish.

In fact, we’re guessing Derick couldn’t tell you what Derick was hoping to accomplish.

But since his bigotry briefly earned the attention of people who hadn’t thought about the Duggars since Josh was exposed as a molester, Derick is carrying on with his attack.

In response to a fan who recently pointed out that many of Dillard’s tweets and blog posts come off as “hateful,” Dillard replied:

“I pity Jazz, 4 those who take advantage of him in order 2 promote their agenda, including the parents who allow these kinds of decisions 2 be made by a child.”

He added:

“It’s sad that ppl would use a juvenile this way. Again, nothing against him, just unfortunate what’s on tv these days.”

Replying to those who have pointed out that Derick appears to be relentlessly harassing a girl he’s never met who did nothing to provoke him, Dillard added:

“Never bullied anyone, just said I didn’t agree with what is being propagated on my TV.”

You would think he was talking about the fact that there’s a TLC series about a family who harbored a child molester (It’s true ! We looked it up!) but no, Derick is still going in on Jazz.

He went on to argue that Jazz is simply too young to make decisions for himself.

In fact, he argues that all minors are incapable of making decisions, which is why he doesn’t send his children to school–they might get a head full of ideas and start making decisions without his supervision!

We wish we were joking:

“Jazz is being taken advantage of, as part of a larger agenda,” Derick argues.

“I hate seeing him used this way,” he adds. “Is it good for the government to force kids to go to school before they are old enough to decide how they feel about it?”

Dontcha see? The guv’mint’s sending kids to school and brainwashing them with Caitlyn Jenner proaganda!

And don’t get Derick started on the moon landing!

For her part, Jennings has yet to reply to Dillard’s latest bid for attention, which is typically the best way to deal with bullies.

Besides, she already said everything she needed to in response to his earlier tweets:

“Every day I experience cyber-bullying, but I keep sharing my story. Today was no different,” she wrote.

View Slideshow: Jazz Jennings: 13 Things to Know!

Further evidence that at 16, Jazz Jennings has attained a level of maturity that Derick Dillard can only dream of.

Watch Counting On online for more of Derick’s desperate attempts to attain relavance.

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