Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has maintained that he doesn’t support sex change surgeries on minors, but that he does support access to other so-called “gender-affirming” treatments, procedures that have been linked to negative health outcomes for children.
The issue has come to the forefront of the Kentucky gubernatorial race with Beshear saying in recent weeks that he doesn’t support transgender surgeries on kids, and that they don’t happen in the commonwealth. He has openly voiced support for non-surgical procedures. In his veto message of a bill banning all transgender procedures, including surgeries, on children, Beshear said that the bill would “cause an increase in suicide among Kentucky’s youth.”
This message is disputed by “detransitioners” and medical associations who say that transgender treatments on minors do not actually help mental health or reduce suicide rates, as well as medical groups that have warned of potential health risks from non-surgical gender procedures.
“There is not a single long term study to demonstrate the safety or efficacy of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries for transgender-believing youth. This means that youth transition is experimental, and therefore, parents cannot provide informed consent, nor can minors assent to these interventions. Moreover, the best long-term evidence we have among adults shows that medical intervention fails to reduce suicide,” the American College of Pediatricians says.
The American College of Pediatricians is a medical association group founded in 2002 that is composed of over 600 physicians and other health care workers across the U.S. “who are dedicated to the well-being of children.”
The group also points out that giving children cross-sex hormones, such as giving young girls testosterone, can be associated with an “increased risk of heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, blood clots and cancers across their lifespan.”
Dr. Miriam Grossman, psychiatrist who treats children, adolescents, and adults and the author of the new book “Lost in Trans Nation: A Child Psychiatrist’s Guide Out of the Madness,” spoke with The Daily Wire about the problems of giving young children with gender dysphoria puberty blockers.
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“Puberty is not a disorder, puberty is not a disease. It’s a necessary stage of development, and it’s the most important stage of development since the womb,” she said, pointing out how puberty is a necessary part of becoming an adult. “Puberty is not something that needs to be blocked.”
She added that if allowed to go through puberty, the “vast majority” of children will grow to be comfortable with their bodies and that preventing puberty may actually end up “cementing in the dysphoria” instead of allowing the child to grow out of it.
Beshear has accused Kentucky Republicans of lying about his record on the issue and said that cross-sex surgeries are not performed on children in Kentucky. However, a hospital affiliated with the University of Kentucky has done “a small number of non-genital gender reassignment surgeries on minors, such as mastectomies,” according to a letter first reported on by The Washington Free Beacon.
“Andy Beshear can’t stop lying about gender reassignment surgery for minors,” Kentucky Attorney General and Republican nominee for governor Daniel Cameron said in a statement. “We know for a fact that gender reassignment surgery for kids was taking place in Kentucky. Andy Beshear sided with his far-left allies and vetoed a bill to ban these procedures. Andy is lying in the middle of an election to mislead voters. Kentuckians are smart enough to see through his shameful lies.”
Beshear’s office did not reply to a request for comment.