At times, it seems the effort to protect young children from the trans agenda is an insurmountable challenge. With far-left progressives controlling America’s major institutions and using them to push this agenda, it can often seem like a hopeless battle.
However, developments that have occurred in recent years have given plenty of reason for hope, with medical entities finally pushing back against the lies progressives tell about “gender-affirming care” for children.
On Thursday, the American College of Pediatrics took a significant stand against the effort to trans children. The organization issued a declaration calling for a stop to the promotion of “gender-affirming care” on children suffering from gender dysphoria.
On the organization’s website, it lays out its stance on “gender-affirming care,” which typically involves prescribing puberty blockers and hormone treatments to kids. Sometimes, it can also include irreversible surgeries intended to “transition” the patient to the opposite sex.
In its statement, the American College of Pediatrics affirms that sex is a fundamental, biological trait determined by genes on the X and Y chromosomes and unalterable by medical or surgical interventions. The organization asserts that recognizing these differences is essential for effective medical practices and sound public policy.
The group criticizes progressive gender ideology as a belief system claiming that sex is insufficient and promotes categorizing people based on subjective feelings or “gender identity.” This ideology has led to harmful and irreversible medical procedures that ignore biological reality and cause immense levels of damage to those affected.
The statement highlights research studies revealing that the majority of children to experience gender dysphoria grow out of it after puberty without intervention. One of the studies the organization refers to is the Cass Review, which was conducted in the United Kingdom by pediatrician Hilary Cass. Her study motivated the government to abandon the use of these treatments on children.
Therefore, given the recent research and the revelations of the harmful approach advocated by WPATH and its followers in the United States, we, the undersigned, call upon the medical professional organizations of the United States, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, the Pediatric Endocrine Society, American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry to follow the science and their European professional colleagues and immediately stop the promotion of social affirmation, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries for children and adolescents who experience distress over their biological sex. Instead, these organizations should recommend comprehensive evaluations and therapies aimed at identifying and addressing underlying psychological co-morbidities and neurodiversity that often predispose to and accompany gender dysphoria. We also encourage the physicians who are members of these professional organizations to contact their leadership and urge them to adhere to the evidence-based research now available.
André Van Mol, MD, a family physician, also discussed the problems with “gender-affirming care” being used on children, explaining that “gender dysphoria is a diagnosis whereas transgenderism is an ideology.” He also affirmed that “The natural course of gender dysphoria is desistance by adulthood, conservatively, in 85 percent of the cases, unless it is affirmed.”
Van Mol went on to highlight how other countries have done research finding that the “gender-affirming” model is not only impotent to help children dealing with gender dysphoria, but that it also causes far more harm than good.
Systematic literature reviews done in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, and Germany show that so-called gender-affirming healthcare is out of step with the evidence base for gender dysphoric youth. Transition affirmation is not proven to be safe or effective long-term. It does not reduce suicides. It does not repair mental health issues or trauma. Minors cannot give truly informed consent.
The fact that a medical organization is willing to speak out against the trans agenda for children is a promising sign. Combined with the numerous studies that seem to come out every month showing the dangers of these treatments, it might show that the tide is turning in this battle more quickly than many of us would have predicted.
The fact that the U.K. and other European nations, which have been using these treatments for longer than the U.S., are turning away from the “gender-affirming” model is also welcome. It could show that more people are waking up to the reality that those pretending it’s a good idea to give puberty blockers and hormone treatments are not following the science and are only pushing these views for ideological and monetary reasons. Hopefully, more dominoes will fall, leading to an outright repudiation of this dangerous ideology.