<div>America&#8217;s most powerful group of pediatricians, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), has called denying children puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries harmful.</div>
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<div>Denying a child so-called &#8220;gender-affirming care&#8221; was labeled a form of &#8220;medical neglect&#8221; and &#8220;emotional abuse&#8221; in <a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/153/1/e2023064292/196236/Prohibition-of-Gender-Affirming-Care-as-a-Form-of?autologincheck=redirected">a December 2023</a> paper published in the AAP&#8217;s medical journal, Pediatrics. Parents across the country have had children <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-sends-new-guidance-to-all-50-states-on-trans-kid-disputes">removed</a> by child protective services for affirming their child’s natural sex.</div>
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<div>Buried in this <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-477/323964/20240903155151548_23-477%20tsac%20Brief%20of%20Amici%20Curiae%20AAP%20et%20al..pdf">belief</a> is an open secret: pediatricians who embrace gender ideology view parents as harming — and possibly abusing — their children if they refuse to support the child&#8217;s transition to another sex.</div>
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<div>While the AAP suggests that not affirming a child&#8217;s <a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/132/1/e297/31402/Office-Based-Care-for-Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual">transgender</a> identity causes emotional and psychological <a href="https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/aap-voices/why-we-stand-up-for-transgender-children-and-teens/?srsltid=AfmBOop1hSO_tAwdoxX9YOW4JyRl7y77MgcUBAFmT1kaPzFdmk6a73l4">harm</a>, it has failed to clarify how this belief impacts parents and parental rights.</div>
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<div>The Daily Wire asked the AAP outright if it believes parents who affirm their child&#8217;s natural sex and refuse to provide so-called “gender affirming care” are abusing their children. The AAP did not respond to multiple requests for comment.</div>
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<div>Given the AAP’s extensive reach — the organization claims <a href="https://www.aap.org/en/about-the-aap/">67,000 members</a>, while there are an <a href="https://www.abp.org/dashboards/general-pediatricians-us-state-and-county-maps">estimated</a> 60,000 active pediatricians in America — its views on gender ideology and non-affirming parents impact how medicine is practiced in pediatric offices across the country.</div>
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<div>A review of the group&#8217;s public statements and policies suggests the group views parental non-affirmation of gender identity as a form of child abuse — something doctors should actively look for.</div>
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<div>&#8220;<a href="https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/lgbtq-health-and-wellness/a-pediatricians-guide-to-an-lgbtq-friendly-practice/">A Pediatrician’s Guide to an LGBTQ+ Friendly Practice</a>&#8221; gives pediatricians a road map to discover if a family “accepts” the gender identity of their “LGBTQ+” child and recommends that doctors routinely ask teens about their gender identity in private, without parental knowledge.</div>
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<div>“Normalize confidential, one-on-one discussions with adolescents and young adults as part of routine adolescent medical care,” states the guide. “Explore whether your [electronic health record] can ‘hide’ sensitive information.”</div>
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<div>The guide gives doctors a series of scripted questions to use when having confidential conversations with teens about gender identity and family dynamics, including:  ​</div>
<div></div>
<div>“Identities grow and evolve over time. Do you want to talk more about your gender or sexuality today?”</div>
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<div>“Do you need support or have any questions as you navigate your gender identity, sexual orientation, or relationships?” ​</div>
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<div>“How much do your caregivers know about your identity? How does their behavior toward you/your friends reflect that? How safe do you feel at home?”</div>
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<div>Family acceptance of gender identity is viewed as a critical safety issue within several <a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/132/1/198/31354/Office-Based-Care-for-Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual">AAP policies,</a> and the guide encourages doctors to ask teens, “How does your family accept and support you?”</div>
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<div>The AAP’s gender medicine <a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/142/4/e20182162/37381/Ensuring-Comprehensive-Care-and-Support-for">policy</a> has an entire section devoted to the <a href="https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/gradeschool/Pages/Gender-Diverse-Transgender-Children.aspx?_gl=1*1dvwhgh*_ga*MTM0NDM4NDI5LjE3NzMxNjcwNzQ.*_ga_FD9D3XZVQQ*czE3NzU4Mjg2MjQkbzM3JGcxJHQxNzc1ODMxMjY3JGo2MCRsMCRoMA..">importance</a> of &#8220;family acceptance&#8221; and warns pediatricians to look out for families that deny their child sex-change medical interventions, saying this could raise “safety” concerns.</div>
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<div>&#8220;Some families may take issue with providers who address gender concerns or offer gender-affirming care,&#8221; states the policy. &#8220;In rare cases, a family may deny access to care that raises concerns about the youth’s welfare and safety; in those cases, additional legal or ethical support may be useful to consider.&#8221;</div>
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<div>The Family Acceptance Project (FAP), an intervention claiming to reduce &#8220;health risks&#8221; for &#8220;LGBTQ&#8221; youth by increasing family affirmation of a child&#8217;s gender identity, is listed as a resource on the AAP <a href="https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/lgbtq-health-and-wellness/?srsltid=AfmBOooX5ne3OrGOQMhAhgFhiqQ4yn4VLGpiFyAPS179O6nKlJYVd_EK">website</a>. ​</div>
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<div>The program has identified more than 50 harmful &#8220;rejecting&#8221; family behaviors and 50 &#8220;accepting&#8221; behaviors that create safety, according to its <a href="https://lgbtqfamilyacceptance.org/about/">website</a>. Harmful parental &#8220;rejecting&#8221; behaviors include not allowing children to cross-dress, not using a child&#8217;s chosen name or pronoun, and denying participation in LGBTQ support groups, <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/FAP_English-Rejection-Poster_8.5x11_2023.pdf">documents show</a>. Helpful parental &#8220;accepting&#8221; behaviors include connecting a child with an LGBTQ adult role model, using a child&#8217;s chosen pronouns, and participating in family LGBTQ support groups, <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/04/FAP_English-General-Acceptance-Poster_18x24_2023.pdf">documents show</a>.​</div>
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<div>The Family Acceptance Project did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s request for comment.</div>
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<div>FAP&#8217;s documents were taken offline after The Daily Wire viewed them.</div>
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<div>Kurt Miceli, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Do No Harm, says pediatricians should not be pushing vulnerable kids towards medical transition.</div>
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<div>&#8220;Loving parents should not be treated as welfare risks requiring legal intervention; instead, they should be included as partners in supporting their child’s well‑being, helping their son or daughter navigate distress, and fulfilling their responsibility to protect their child from irreversible harm,&#8221; Miceli told The Daily Wire.  ​</div>
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<div>The AAP co-sponsored an event in October 2024 focused on expanding the use of &#8220;family acceptance&#8221; interventions, which try to convince skeptical parents to affirm their child&#8217;s transgender identity. Hosted by the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inside-the-biden-administrations-speed-dating-event-for-trans-activists-and-megadonors?author=Megan+Brock&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Biden+Admin+Hosted+%E2%80%98Speed+Dating%E2%80%99+Event+For+Trans+Activists+With+One+Rule">Biden administration</a>, the event brought together government officials, philanthropists, and transgender activists, with the common goal of furthering the impact of gender ideology in child welfare systems. ​</div>
<div></div>
<div>Biden officials viewed “family acceptance” of so-called gender identity as an <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221204062339/https://mchb.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/mchb/programs-impact/edc-parental-acceptance.pdf">important</a> step in “preventing” LGBTQI+ children from entering foster care.</div>
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<div>Representatives of the AAP were invited to take part in a special breakout session with government officials and child welfare leaders to discuss &#8220;big ideas&#8221; for the &#8220;cross-sector&#8221; promotion of family acceptance programs that re-educate parents to embrace gender ideology, records show.</div>
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<div>“We know that family support around LGBTQI+ identity, as early as possible, is a key protective factor against … entry into the child welfare and juvenile justice systems for LGBTQI+ youth,” Julie Kruse, a contracted senior advisor for the LGBTQI+ Initiatives, wrote in an <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-.pdf">email</a> describing the event. “These programs are critical to preventing LGBTQI+ youth homelessness and entry into foster care.”​</div>
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<div>The Daily Wire inquired about the AAP&#8217;s role in this event and whether it believes pediatricians should encourage parents to be re-educated through &#8220;family acceptance&#8221; programs to prevent a child from being removed from their home. The AAP did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s requests for comment.</div>
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<div>“The American Academy of Pediatrics claims to be a reliable guide for pediatricians and families, yet its misguided approach to children experiencing gender distress is harmful and unsupported by the evidence. Its embrace of &#8216;family acceptance&#8217; frameworks — and its promotion of the Family Acceptance Project as a community resource — only heightens these concerns,&#8221; Miceli told The Daily Wire.</div>

A girl holds the Transgender Pride flag during the pride

Is Denying ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ Child Abuse? Your Kid’s Doctor Might Think So

American Academy of Pediatrics

family

Gender Identity

Academics who do not know what a woman is should not be the taxpayer-funded gatekeepers of women’s history. But ever since Congress authorized the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum in 2020, the Smithsonian Institution has made it clear that gender ideology matters more than biological truth in its version of women’s history.
Congress’s next move on the project is to grant the Smithsonian federal land on the National Mall for the museum. In a House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing last month on the subject, Congressman Tom Tiffany (R-WI) pressed a Smithsonian Institution representative with a simple question: “How can we be sure that the women celebrated in the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum are not men?”
The Smithsonian staffer dodged the question, and subcommittee members ripped the congressman for what they deemed a baseless inquiry. But the question hit the nail on the head: the Smithsonian pretends that men can be women.
While the brick-and-mortar Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum has yet to earn a permanent building, the Smithsonian’s mobile exhibits prove Rep. Tiffany correct. In its 2023 exhibit “<a href="https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/girlhood/gallery">Girlhood: It’s Complicated</a>”, the Smithsonian exhibited <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-troubling-case-of-jazz-jennings-the-medias-first-transgender-child">Jazz Jennings</a>, a trans-identifying male reality TV star.
Jazz was <a href="https://www.eviemagazine.com/post/jazz-jennings-was-transitioned-at-2-and-had-surgery-at-17-my-new-vagina-fell-apar">socially transitioned</a> by his parents at age two, pumped with puberty blockers at eleven, and surgically mutilated at eighteen.
<div id="attachment_566557" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-566557" class="size-large wp-image-566557" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1138982204-864x576.jpg" alt="BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Jazz Jennings attends the 30th Annual GLAAD Media Awards at Beverly Hills Hotel on March 28, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1138982204-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1138982204-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1138982204-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/06/GettyImages-1138982204.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images</div>
Here’s what the Smithsonian has to say about Jazz:
<blockquote>For many, the rigid rules about what it means to be a girl are too small and too simple. Jazz Jennings is one of those girls. She shares her girlhood with millions of Americans on television and reminds us that girls can be assigned male at birth and that girlhood comes in many forms. Jazz always knew she “was a girl trapped inside a boy’s body.” As a toddler, she felt a roar of emotions at not being able to communicate what she was experiencing. But Jazz was lucky because her family listened, learned, and supported her.</blockquote>
First, Jazz is not a girl. He was deceived at just two years of age. Second, girls cannot be “assigned male at birth.” Girls are young human females; sex is immutable, not “assigned.” Finally, no toddler is &#8220;a girl trapped inside a boy’s body.” 
If the Smithsonian flunks a single-room exhibit, how can they be trusted with an entire building? The Smithsonian’s feature of Jazz in its “Girlhood” exhibit is flagrantly disqualifying.
The institution’s problem boils down to its own academics and advisors. On the website’s featured “Biographies: Every Woman Has a Story” page, Smithsonian-associated scholars hail men and historical “women.” First in the list is Roderick “Lavergne” Cox, a trans-identifying male actor described by the Smithsonian as “assigned male at birth,” and “the first openly transgender person nominated for an Emmy.” The Smithsonian made a distinct choice to acknowledge “Lavergne” as simultaneously male and “woman.”
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/what-is-a-woman?elementPosition=7&amp;row=7&amp;rowHeadline=Featured&amp;rowType=Portrait+Show+Carousel">WATCH: Matt Walsh&#8217;s groundbreaking documentary &#8220;What Is A Woman?&#8221; on DailyWire+</a></h3>
The Smithsonian also features seven other males: United States Congressman Timothy “Sarah” McBride and Biden-era Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Richard “Rachel” Levine, “the highest-ranking openly transgender government official in U.S. history,” <a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/cecilia-chung">Cecilia Chung</a> (a California based advocate for sex-rejecting procedures), <a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/marsha-p-johnson">Marsha P. Johnson</a>, <a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/andrea-jenkins">Andrea Jenkins</a>, <a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sylvia-rivera">Sylvia Rivera</a>, and <a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/janet-mock">Janet Mock</a>. It is unacceptable that eight men are hailed as historical women on a taxpayer-funded “.gov” website.
<div id="attachment_1069997" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1069997" class="size-large wp-image-1069997" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2252864900-864x576.jpg" alt="Visitors outside the Smithsonian Institute's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Dec. 26, 2025. The White House is raising the pressure on the Smithsonian Institution to turn over extensive internal records as part of a broader effort to assert control over how US history is presented - and threatening to withhold congressionally authorized funding if it doesn't comply by Jan. 13. Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2252864900-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2252864900-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2252864900-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/GettyImages-2252864900.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
If the Smithsonian Institution — with its hordes of PhD-clad ideologues — cannot acknowledge that a woman is an adult human female, it should not be trusted to narrate women’s history, especially with the taxpayer’s dime on federal soil.
The Smithsonian’s demonstrated radicalism must be top of mind as Congress works to authorize the construction of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. On March 18, the House Committee on Administration held a markup to advance the authorization, this time, however, with <a href="https://x.com/CWforA/status/2034336481561502017?s=20">an amendment</a> offered by Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) to prohibit the new museum from portraying men as women. The bill passed in committee, but Democrats uniformly voted “No.”
How ironic. Democrats care more about transgender ideology than a long-awaited women’s museum.
The Smithsonian Institution cannot be trusted with women’s history. If the Women’s History Museum goes up, Congress must do its due diligence to ensure that it operates under a strict, brazenly explicit federal authorization requiring that no male be presented as a “woman” in its exhibits — no exceptions. Better to have no museum at all than one that presents males as “women.”
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Hannah Lape is Legislative Strategist for <a href="https://concernedwomen.org/">Concerned Women for America</a>, the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization. On X: @CWforA

35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards New York – Arrivals

Should Taxpayers Fund A Women’s Museum That Features Jazz Jennings?

American History

Federal Government

Girls

Opinion

Smithsonian Museum

Transgender

Woke Culture

Women

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has alerted all 50 states that affirming &#8220;biological reality&#8221; does not constitute child abuse or neglect under federal law.
&#8220;We sent letters to every state reminding them that children may not be removed from their home solely because parents declined to support a child&#8217;s self-identification as the opposite sex,&#8221; said Alex Adams, the Assistant Secretary for the ACF, in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWhuT4EHHdQ&amp;t=2s">video</a> published by HHS.
&#8220;Removing a child from their home must be based on objective evidence or imminent risk of serious harm. So a state&#8217;s decision to break up a family cannot be based solely on a parent&#8217;s objection to radical gender ideology or irreversible sex rejecting medical interventions,&#8221; Adams stated.
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President Trump highlighted the importance of protecting families from being labeled as abusive for rejecting gender ideology at last week&#8217;s State of the Union <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-do-you-not-stand-the-jaw-dropping-moments-democrats-remained-seated-at-sotu?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=7&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98How+Do+You+Not+Stand%3F%E2%80%99%3A+The+Jaw-Dropping+Moments+Democrats+Remained+Seated+At+SOTU">address</a>. He told the story of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/maryland-refused-to-give-back-a-virginia-runaway-because-her-parents-misgendered-her-then-she-was-sex-trafficked-mother-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sage Blair</a>, whose parents were denied custody of the Virginia teen for not affirming her transgender identity, as reported by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/maryland-refused-to-give-back-a-virginia-runaway-because-her-parents-misgendered-her-then-she-was-sex-trafficked-mother-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a> in 2023.
<div>&#8220;HHS is sending a clear and unequivocal message to all 50 states about cases like that of Sage Blair, acknowledging biological reality and exercising sincerely held religious beliefs should not constitute child abuse or neglect under federal law,&#8221; Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Brian Christine stated in the HHS video.</div>
Parents across the country, including <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/murdered-by-gender-ideology-mother-whose-daughter-committed-suicide-blasts-child-protective-services" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California</a>, <a href="https://becketfund.org/case/m-c-and-j-c-v-indiana-department-of-child-services/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana</a>, and <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2024/10/17/exclusive-gender-confused-kids-taken-non-affirming-parents-one-family-fight-son-back/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Maryland</a>, have had their children taken away by child welfare services for affirming their child’s sex.
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During the State of the Union address, President Trump called for further federal action to protect families from the harms of gender ideology.
“Surely we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents’ will. Who would believe that we’re even talking about it? We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately,” Trump said.
The <a href="https://acf.gov/media/press/2026/acf-defends-biological-reality-parental-rights-letter-50-states">letter</a> from the ACF appears to be an initial step in answering President Trump&#8217;s directive.
The letter reminded states that child welfare systems are supported by federal funding, noting the ACF has a &#8220;vested interest and duty in ensuring funds are used appropriately.&#8221;
&#8220;States have a duty to protect children from abuse and neglect while safeguarding parental rights and federal resources. Recently, ACF has received reports of certain states removing children from their homes because the parent disagreed with the rejection of the child’s sex, including sex-rejecting interventions,&#8221; the letter states. &#8220;States receiving federal child welfare funding are obligated to ensure that investigations and removals are grounded in objective evidence of harm or imminent risk, and that parents are afforded their full procedural and substantive rights.&#8221;
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The ACF encouraged states to clearly define the terms &#8220;abuse&#8221; and &#8220;neglect,&#8221; saying these definitions should clarify that affirming a child&#8217;s sex and &#8220;refusing to condone sex-rejecting interventions&#8221; does not constitute abuse.
Several states have already taken steps to legally clarify that affirming a child’s sex is not abuse, including <a href="https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2025/house/bills/HB1412/HB1412.06.ENRS.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana</a>, <a href="https://iga.in.gov/pdf-documents/124/2025/house/bills/HB1412/HB1412.06.ENRS.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">North Carolina</a>, and <a href="https://www.childwelfare.gov/resources/definitions-child-abuse-and-neglect-texas/#:~:text=Exceptions,A%20child's%20expressed%20sexual%20orientation">Texas</a>.

Trans Protest

Trump Admin Sends New Guidance To All 50 States On Trans Kid Disputes

HHS Tells All 50 States That Affirming 'Biological Reality' Is Not Child Abuse

radical gender ideology

As a lawyer who represents detransitioners like Chloe Cole in medical malpractice cases and parents fighting for the right to notice and consent before public schools may socially transition their children, I am all too familiar with how bad science gets laundered in pediatric gender medicine. For the record, a detransitioner is an individual who medically transitioned but now identifies and presents as their natal sex.
Activists take over medical associations (most notably, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health or WPATH) and use the imprimatur of those organizations to justify providing children with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and even irreversible surgeries. The unreliability of much of the medical literature on pediatric gender medicine makes the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ recent report, <a href="https://opa.hhs.gov/gender-dysphoria-report">Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices</a>, a necessary development in the field. 
Here are ten key takeaways from the review.
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Children who receive puberty blockers to keep them in a pre-pubescent state longer have marked deterioration of bone health. One-third of patients’ bone density scores exhibit osteoporosis of the hip, while one-fourth have osteoporosis of the spine. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A scientific review shows that the effect of puberty blockers on neurocognitive development is unknown, but there is “some evidence” that puberty blockers suppress children’s IQ scores. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Females who receive testosterone experience vaginal atrophy and other concerning medical symptoms, including one study showing “100% of vaginectomy specimens contained abnormal prostatic tissue growth.”</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">There is moderate and high certainty evidence of some incidence of “cardiovascular events” in women under twenty-six who received testosterone.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">If a male starts puberty blockers at Tanner Stage 2 (the initial stage of puberty) and goes on to take estrogen, he will almost always have the genitalia of a pre-pubescent or early puberty male.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A Swedish study from 2011 found that adults who had medically and surgically transitioned had 19 times the rate of suicide deaths and nearly three times the rate of all-cause mortality and inpatient psychiatric care compared to peers of the same sex and age group.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">While the precise detransition rate is not known, a British study revealed that one-fifth of patients stopped hormone treatment within five years and that half experienced detransition or regret.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">American, British, Dutch, and Swedish researchers each examined the mortality rates among trans-identified individuals relative to the general population, and while the rates varied, each study found significant increases in mortality among trans-identifying people, with the Swedish study showing that a transgender individual faced a 2.8 times higher risk of death than their age- and sex-matched peers.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">The report concludes that it would be unethical to conduct a study on the effect of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones on fertility because the “mechanism [of how this treatment interferes with fertility] is well-understood” and does not have to be established in a clinical trial.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A 2025 JAMA Pediatrics study showed that between 2018 and 2022, one in one thousand (0.1%) of American seventeen-year-olds received cross-sex hormones. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is, in absolute terms, a large number of children.</li>
</ol>
The review’s key points put the risks children face when undergoing transgender medical interventions in sharp focus. Do doctors explain to their minor patients that they may experience significant negative health outcomes years or even decades in the future? When children are warned, are they mature enough to appreciate the risk of long-term consequences? Are children asked to consider the possibility that they may not identify as transgender in the future? Are children led to examine how they might feel about the interventions they received if they do indeed detransition? (My work as a lawyer in detransition cases tells me the answer to all these questions is often “no.”)
Debates about pediatric transgender interventions have largely been framed in terms of politics (what are the major parties’ stances?), law (does the Constitution permit states to prohibit transgender interventions for children?), and even philosophy (what is a woman?). But the central question we all should be asking is whether these interventions work. HHS’s exhaustive review of the medical literature makes a compelling case that the medical risk to minors posed by puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries significantly outweighs any benefits these interventions might confer.
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Jesse Franklin-Murdock is the Miles Visiting Fellow at the Center for American Liberty and a counsel at Dhillon Law Group Inc., where his practice areas include political law and civil rights.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
* * *
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Diverse people holding transgender flags

Here Are My Ten Takeaways From The HHS Pediatric Gender Medicine Review

Children

Gender

Puberty blockers

Teenagers

transgender surgery

Medical professionals are exploiting medical records and privacy laws to push children into transgenderism without their parents&#8217; knowledge, a watchdog organization warned Tuesday. 
A new report from Do No Harm first obtained by The Daily Wire says that parents can be kept in the dark about whether their children are undergoing transgender procedures and treatments under the guise of medical privacy. This is especially worrisome, the report notes, because the two companies responsible for the majority of electronic medical records in the United States have embraced transgender ideology.
&#8220;Confidentiality regulations are being used to hide aspects of pediatric medical transition, such as social transitioning and preferred pronouns of the child, as well as medications, from parents and guardians,&#8221; Do No Harm’s Michelle Havrilla writes.
Do No Harm says that the risk stems from hospitals interpreting federal and state health privacy laws to deny parents access to their child’s medical records once they turn 13. HIPAA — the federal law that mandates medical records be kept private — was meant to maintain parents&#8217; access to their children&#8217;s medical records. Traditionally, HIPAA has only been used to conceal minors&#8217; medical treatments from their parents in instances where it encouraged minors to seek treatment, for things like substance abuse and STDs.
Now, providers are exploiting those exceptions to hide information about transgender procedures, Do No Harm warns. 
“It appears that healthcare systems are using sexually transmitted infections, mental health concerns, and drug and alcohol exceptions to remove parental access to their child’s entire medical record – well beyond the limits of the law,” Havrilla wrote. 
At Lakeland Regional Health in Florida, parental proxy access to medical records <a href="https://www.mylrh.org/cerner-proxy/">goes away</a> at the age of 13. At age 13, the child has to call the system and authorize parental access to their medical records. 
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-991969" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-4.44.41-PM.png" alt="" width="1706" height="439" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-4.44.41-PM.png 1706w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-4.44.41-PM-300x77.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-4.44.41-PM-1024x264.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-4.44.41-PM-768x198.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-4.44.41-PM-1536x395.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1706px) 100vw, 1706px" /></div>
At the same time, companies like Epic and Oracle Health have enabled hospitals to incorporate questions about gender identity into their patient systems, Do No Harm says. Epic and Oracle control over 60% of the electronic medical record industry in the United States. 
Electronic medical records dictate “how physicians, nurses, deliver care from implementing clinical practice guidelines to methods used for billing and documentation,” Do No Harm medical director Kurt Miceli says.
Epic <a href="https://www.epic.com/epic/post/inclusive-care-transgender-patients-using-epic/">boasts</a> on its website about creating “more inclusive care for transgender patients.” It says that it has assisted its clients in incorporating “questions about patients’ preferred pronouns, sex assigned at birth, and gender identity into each patient’s chart in Epic.”
“The information a patient provides in response to these prompts can give providers a more nuanced understanding of a patient’s sex, gender identity, and healthcare needs, helping to prevent unwarranted assumptions and improve care,” Epic says. “For example, a transgender patient’s sex assigned at birth—along with the patient’s current anatomy — might inform clinical decisions, while their legal sex might be relevant to identifying them in billing workflows.”
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center <a href="https://lgbtqprimarycare.com/chapter-9/section-3-documenting-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity-information/">appears</a> to use a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity SmartForm developed by Epic, according to a screenshot posted by an LGBT advocacy group. 
The form asks a patient to fill in their gender identity and takes an organ inventory where it can be designated what genitalia the patient has or what faux genitalia have been constructed. 
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-991975" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-4.46.31-PM.png" alt="" width="1791" height="1308" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-4.46.31-PM.png 1791w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-4.46.31-PM-300x219.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-4.46.31-PM-789x576.png 789w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-4.46.31-PM-768x561.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-4.46.31-PM-1536x1122.png 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1791px) 100vw, 1791px" /></div>
Epic <a href="https://www.mychart.org/Help/proxy">notes</a> that parents using its MyChart software may not have access to their child’s records because “proxy access to a child’s account changes as they get older.&#8221;
&#8220;Because each organization has their own interpretation of federal legislation that guarantees privacy rights to adolescents, each organization determines the ages at which proxy access might become limited or removed,&#8221; the group writes.
An Epic spokesman told The Daily Wire that the company designs its software to comply with state law, and that health systems determine the format of electronic health records.
&#8220;Each healthcare organization configures Epic’s software to align with its specific needs, including compliance with state and local laws. This includes settings for proxy access and documentation in children’s medical records. These decisions are determined by each organization, not by Epic,&#8221; the spokesman said. 
Oracle also <a href="https://www.oracle.com/europe/health/continuum-care/3-ways-organizations-can-advance-gender-affirming-healthcare/">pushes</a> for “more inclusive” electronic health records and encourages organizations to “advance gender-affirming health care.” This includes the promotion of adding gender identity, “sex assigned at birth,” and pronouns to electronic health records charts.
The company also <a href="https://docs.oracle.com/en/industries/health/health-patient-portal/pp-release-notes/solution-changes-oracle-health-patient-portal-administrative-console.html">highlights</a> how 13 is the default age at which parents are restricted from viewing the vital signs and results of minor patients. 
“When a minor reaches the protected status age, an option becomes available to them from the Settings menu in the Patient Portal, and they can select what category of information they want to restrict. When a proxy tries to access restricted information, they receive an error message,” Oracle <a href="https://docs.oracle.com/en/industries/health/health-patient-portal/hppag/confidentiality.html">notes</a>. 
Other health systems that keep parents in the dark <a href="https://mychart.wellstar.org/MyChart/en-us/docs/tipsheets/MyChart_TeenGuide.pdf">include</a> Wellstar Health System in Georgia, which limits parents&#8217; access to their children&#8217;s health records after age 12. The child must authorize access for parents to get a full picture of what is going on with their health care. 
“While these institutions make a questionable attempt to be transparent with their proxy access policies, the concept of allowing a 13-year-old decision-making capacity is counter to what we understand about a developing adolescent brain,” Havrilla writes. “Adolescents simply do not have the cognitive capacity to make these difficult decisions.”
Miceli says that Do No Harm&#8217;s report is a call for both electronic health record platforms and health systems to put patients over ideology. 
“When you&#8217;re dealing with a child, it&#8217;s the child, as well as their parent or guardian who is going to help them, support them, and guide them through,” he told The Daily Wire. “That&#8217;s the key message to underscore the importance of what is truly patient centered in this regard.”
Some health systems are reportedly already surveying young patients about their &#8220;gender identities.&#8221;
Do No Harm included screenshots from a survey reportedly given to a 13-year-old emergency room patient at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C.
According to screenshots, the survey included questions like “What sex were you assigned at birth, on your original birth certificate?” and “In your entire life, what, if any kind of sexual contact have you had?” with the options “Penis in vagina; Vagina on vagina; Anal; Oral; I have never had sex; I prefer not to answer.”
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-991979" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-12.19.13-PM.png" alt="" width="994" height="381" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-12.19.13-PM.png 994w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-12.19.13-PM-300x115.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Screenshot-2025-10-27-at-12.19.13-PM-768x294.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 994px) 100vw, 994px" /></div>
Parents in Oregon and Florida were asked to fill out surveys about gender identity and sexual preferences for children as young as one.
“What&#8217;s concerning is that these identity focused questions are being introduced at an age when children are developing basic sense of self awareness, prompting confusion and promoting an ideology,&#8221; Havrilla said. &#8220;A pediatric visit should prioritize medical care, not an ideological exploration.&#8221;
The push for extreme privacy has in part come from groups like the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, which <a href="https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(14)00053-6/fulltext">contends</a> that “the design, implementation, and use of [electronic health records] need to take into account the special needs of adolescents for access to health information and the vigorous protection of confidentiality.”
One of the authors of that position is Dr. Ryan Pasternak, an advocate of transgender procedures for gender-confused children. 
“Ensuring access to confidential care can be really a serious safety issue for some adolescent patients, just depending on how their parents feel about some of the behaviors that they might be engaging in,” Pasternak <a href="https://scholarlyexchange.childrensmercy.org/cme_podcast/15/">said</a> on a podcast while discussing “confidential” health care for young people. 
Instead of pushing for more restrictions on what parents can know, Do No Harm argues that states and the federal government should step in to protect parental rights and clarify medical privacy laws.
Miceli told The Daily Wire that it was important for parents to know if their child was experiencing gender confusion so they could “have the opportunity to help their child and not allow them to continue deeper and deeper into an ideology that will only result in more harm to them.”
“Regulations and laws must be enforced to stop [electronic health records] and health systems from unlawfully denying parental access and prioritize their children&#8217;s health, and allow parents to exercise their rights and responsibilities as parents for these young minors,” Miceli says.

How Doctors Exploit Privacy Laws To Push Transgenderism On Kids

gender ideology

medicine

There’s this mic-drop line in the trailer for Leonardo DiCaprio’s new film, “One Battle After Another”: “It’s not that hard, they/them.” 
When my husband and I heard it in theaters, we couldn’t help but shoot one another a look. We weren’t outraged; frankly, we were exhausted.
That zinger was clearly written to earn brownie points from a woke crowd, but it landed like a prepackaged corporate slogan. Any potential hype from the action movie trailer tanked the way an advertisement does when it tries too hard to sound like a movement.
But that’s where we’re at now. Even Hollywood trailers have a virtue-signal quota that writers type into scripts as proof that the studio has passed ideological inspections.
We’re not the only ones tired of it, apparently, since the whole notion of non-binary identities appears to be collapsing in on itself.
Sociologist Eric Kaufmann recently published data on <a href="https://x.com/epkaufm/status/1978074195767480659">X</a> that went viral, showing that the number of young people identifying as a non-binary “gender identity” — and even those identifying sexually as “queer” — has dropped dramatically.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
1/ NEW: trans identification is in free fall among the young
(h/t <a href="https://twitter.com/fire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FIRE</a> data in particular) <a href="https://t.co/i0Z1BNcWG8">pic.twitter.com/i0Z1BNcWG8</a>
— Eric Kaufmann (@epkaufm) <a href="https://twitter.com/epkaufm/status/1978074195767480659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Credit: @epkaufm/X.com
Meanwhile, heterosexual identification quietly, and unfashionably, has seen a rebound.
That’s not political backlash, however. People are fatigued by a fading trend.
For years, “gender identity” meant more than personal exploration. Frankly, it felt like a public performance. The internet made it oh-so-contagious; Hollywood made it fashionable. Then corporations made it profitable.
But the more that identity became a virtue to pander or a brand to adopt, the less authentic it felt.
I can think of no better example than actress and singer Demi Lovato, as her story shows the emotional cost better than any statistic. Her struggles were, as many child stars’ are, very public and very difficult to watch: childhood trauma, addiction, near-fatal overdoses, long stretches of recovery, and then a relapse. But in 2021, amidst all that turmoil, Lovato “came out” as non-binary and deemed her pronouns “they/them.”
At the time, she described her new identity as freeing, one that made sense. But let’s be honest, freedom built on instability isn’t lasting. By the next year, she quietly started using “she/her” pronouns again and told interviewers she had become “exhausted” by constantly explaining herself. Focus on that word. She wasn’t just fatigued by correcting strangers, she was clearly weary of trying to rebuild her life through a faulty label based on fiction.
Kaufmann’s research suggests that Lovato’s identity arc clearly mirrors what’s happening on a larger scale. The boom in “trans” and “non-binary” identifications also happened to coincide with historic spikes in depression, anxiety, and loneliness — especially during COVID-19 lockdowns. But now, as self-reported mental health appears to have improved, those identities appear to be declining.
One may not have directly caused the other, but the overlap is worth pondering. For many, that “non-binary” label could have been a survival mechanism of sorts, a way they could name their inner chaos and get it off their chest in a culture that began looking down on traditional anchors like family and even faith. And once Lovato returned to “she/her,” she signaled to the public she was in recovery. This summer, she even <a href="https://www.eviemagazine.com/post/demi-lovato-s-case-study-and-why-women-are-more-prone-to-mimetic-desire">married</a> her Canadian beau, looking absolutely stunning in a traditional white wedding dress to boot.
<div id="attachment_988273" style="width: 843px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-988273" class="size-large wp-image-988273" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2171634394-833x576.jpg" alt="HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 12: Jordan Lutes and Demi Lovato attend the Los Angeles premiere of Hulu's 'Child Star' at NeueHouse Hollywood on September 12, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)" width="833" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2171634394-833x576.jpg 833w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2171634394-300x207.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2171634394-768x531.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2171634394.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 833px) 100vw, 833px" />Kevin Winter/Getty Images</div>
Even Hollywood gets the picture that the magic is wearing off. For years, Netflix and other leading platforms turned representation into their marketing strategies. They inserted gender lessons into everything from teen dramas to children’s cartoons.
The 2021 children’s animated show “Ridley Jones,” for example, had a talking bison come out as “non-binary” and ask his grandma to use “they/them” pronouns. The show was “quietly dumped” two years later, as <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11863181/Netflix-quietly-dumps-Ridley-Jones-bison-comes-non-binary-grandma.html">Daily Mail</a> put it, once that novelty wore off.
This show, and many other forms of pandering media, are storytelling failures. Audiences don’t want to watch a sermon or get lectured. They just want entertainment, and they instinctively recognize when something that once felt radical is now conventional.
So, we’re witnessing the rise and fall of a trend cycle. A movement went viral, institutions codified it, corporations co-opted it, and then … many followers moved on. It started as “liberation,” but it became the branding du jour, which always collapses under its own fickle weight.
Between the data points, I see something hopeful happening. People are quietly rediscovering that they don’t need to reinvent themselves to feel or be whole. To them, I say, “Welcome home.”
For years, authenticity was socially measured by how fluid you were willing to be, but now it matters more how anchored you can stay in the storm. We’ve spent a decade being told that “normal” is oppressive, but normalcy is looking hotter than ever.
And maybe people won’t want to admit they were wrong — I get it. No one likes to admit they had it all mixed up. But when my husband and I heard that “mic-drop” in the movie theater, we didn’t react with cynicism. We recognized that culture has reached a point where even the symbols of rebellion have become clichés.
That’s why this new data is less like a regression and more like a release. After years of confusion, people aren’t running backward, I promise. They’re running home to simplicity and to the peace of saying, “I’m fine with being me.”
* * *
Andrea Mew is the managing editor of IW Features, the grassroots storytelling arm of Independent Women, and a contributing writer for Evie Magazine.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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London Premiere Of “One Battle After Another”

Even Hollywood Is Growing Tired Of Pronouns

Cancel Culture

Demi Lovato

Entertainment

Hollywood

Non-binary

Pronouns

Today, the Supreme Court will hear <a href="https://adflegal.org/case/chiles-v-salazar/">Chiles v. Salazar</a>, a case about censorship in private counseling conversations regarding gender identity not sanctioned by Colorado state law. The results will have a lasting influence not only counselors, parents, and children in Colorado, but throughout the United States.
I know, because our family learned the hard way when our 11-year-old daughter went to her school counselors in Wisconsin for advice. 
So many times, just being able to talk about things with someone who knows how to listen can make a life-changing difference. What our family learned, however, was that these people did not know how to listen. They were interested in making a life-changing difference, yes, but mostly in changing my daughter’s life to suit their social sensibilities, not to do what was best for her.
COVID hit at just about the same time my daughter entered into a very real personal crisis. She was 11 years old and decided she hated herself. She hated her looks, hated her personality — everything. The isolation of the epidemic left her with too much time to think about all of that and too few people to talk to about what she was feeling.
Sometimes, as a kid, it can help to know that other kids around the same age are struggling with the same issues. But our daughter was mostly alone with all her growing worries, fears, and frustrations. She didn’t know how to talk to me about what she was feeling, and she started reading about kids who were &#8220;changing&#8221; themselves. That sounded like the answer to everything: changing herself.
Looking back, she says, she doesn’t think she was really feeling that much gender dysphoria. She wasn’t especially wanting to be a boy — she just didn’t want to be herself.
That turned out to be very easy to arrange. In fact, a teacher’s aide approached my daughter and said that, if she wanted to give the people in the front office a new name and new pronouns, they’d happily take care of the paperwork.
They might have suggested that she first talk a little more with her parents about what she was feeling and give us a chance to listen and help her work through these things. But no one — not the school officials, not the doctors she eventually talked to — ever suggested anything like that.
To them, what we as her parents thought and felt was irrelevant. Our love for our child and our authority to influence her life choices didn’t matter at all. All of these strangers just assumed they knew best and had the right to keep her parents out of the conversation.
For that matter, they didn’t include our daughter much, either.
At no time did anyone at school or in the medical facilities our daughter visited ever suggest that there might be a healthy alternative to her social transitioning. They never suggested that she might just be struggling with the kinds of things lots of boys and girls have trouble with — dealing with the pains and awkward changes of puberty and the problems of fitting into a sometimes-crazy teenage culture.
That’s why my husband and I <a href="https://adflegal.org/case/tf-and-bf-v-kettle-moraine-school-district/?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped">sued</a> our Wisconsin school district with the help of our attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom. As parents, we have had to really fight for what should be a given — our basic legal right to be involved in our child’s life. And — with our love and support — she had to find her own way out of the confusing jungle of emotions she was dealing with.
We’re glad she was able to do that, but we still wonder how much easier it might have been if someone with the right skills had just been there to help her find the trail — and if her school officials hadn’t tried so hard to block her from finding it.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="How Tammy&#039;s Bold Stand Saved Her Daughter from &quot;Social Transitioning&quot;" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z5le_6Qwe8o?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
That’s also why we’re so interested in another ADF client, Kaley Chiles, and <a href="https://adflegal.org/case/chiles-v-salazar/?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped">her case</a> being argued before the U.S. Supreme Court today. Ms. Chiles is a counselor who wants to offer help to young people like our daughter, who are going through the kinds of things she’s been going through.
We’ve read a lot about her. She does what it seems like a counselor ought to do. She listens. She asks thoughtful questions. She helps young people figure out where they want to go and how to get there. She’s there to walk with them — not push them through a pre-chosen door or force her own ideas on their disturbed minds and hurting hearts.
To me, that’s what every young person going through what my daughter went through needs. But in Ms. Chiles’ home state of Colorado, it’s actually against the law for a counselor to help a minor that way.
My own state has a similar law. And these laws allow counselors to point the way to transitioning and encourage it, but they can’t offer an alternative or do anything to support a young person who leans toward another conclusion.
That reminds me so much of what my daughter has experienced these last few years. People — professionals — with no interest in helping her, just in changing her.
Ms. Chiles’ attorneys will be making good arguments for why that’s a terrible approach … one that can be life-changing for children and teens in all the wrong ways.
I just hope the justices know how to listen.
* * *
Tammy Fournier and her daughter reside in Wisconsin.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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SCOTUS I

When My 11-Year-Old Daughter Began Hating Herself, The School Told Her To Change Her Pronouns

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

LGBTQ

Parents rights

Schools

Supreme Court

So much of the conversation around gender ideology centers on de-transitioners, and rightly so. People who were manipulated and mutilated, especially as children, deserve to be heard — not only so they can receive justice, but so others can be spared what was done to them by a medical establishment that they should have been able to trust.
And yet the harm of gender ideology is not limited to medical malpractice. Just ask Simon Amaya Price, the subject of a recent <a href="https://www.iwfeatures.com/documentary/how-this-desister-broke-free-from-the-transgender-contagion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">documentary by IW Features</a>. His story shows us that the carnage that has been done is not just medical, but fundamentally human — and that our society will continue to crumble if we don’t attempt to understand what got us here in the first place.
Simon is a “desister,” which means that he identified as transgender but reverted to accepting his birth sex before doctors could drug him with cross-sex hormones or operate on him. Unlike so many others who had the misfortune of being entangled in gender ideology as children, he retains his physical health and his body parts.
Still, what’s obvious from his story is that the psychological and social elements of gender transition — which are what eventually lead transgender-identifying people to undergo medical transition — leave lasting damage.
Simon was the first boy at his school to start identifying as transgender — but not the last.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gAYCQB8qFL4?si=Y6iQt2K4lWEogNH6" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
“Between the time I left after 10th grade and the time my class graduated, one sixth of the boys in my grade identified as transgender, and a similar proportion continued in the grades below me,” he told IW Features. “In that way, I bear the responsibility as patient zero in my small private high school in a suburb of Boston, and some of these kids medicalized, and there&#8217;s a degree to which I bear some guilt for that.”
It’s understandable on an individual, human level why Simon might feel guilt, especially as he was able to escape gender ideology medically unscathed while many of his peers did not. Still, he was only 14 years old when he started identifying as transgender. A child who can’t even vote or buy a beer can’t be held responsible for this level of social breakdown.
So we have to ask ourselves as a society: who is responsible?
Simon’s story offers some answers.
He recalls being called anti-gay slurs and being sexually assaulted by an older boy in his early to mid-teens, which rendered him lonely. Unfortunately, he was not alone in this: a <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2792857" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 study</a> found that transgender-identifying children were two times as likely to have experienced sexual violence as their peers.
This pushed him to join his school’s Gay-Straight Alliance, as he had no friends but wanted and needed community to get him through his trauma. But instead of talking about homophobia and bullying, the Gay-Straight Alliance watched videos by a transgender-identifying YouTuber named ContraPoints, a man who identifies as a woman.
“This is where I learned about the concept of gender dysphoria and transition,” Simon recalled. His health class reinforced this, asking students to place themselves on the “gender unicorn.” And after these ideas were placed into his head, he began searches that led him down the rabbit hole of transgender identity. His therapist at Boston Children’s Hospital immediately affirmed him and referred him to the gender clinic.
This was a pattern among the adults he encountered.
“All of the medical professionals I saw, except when I moved to a new therapist, were explicitly affirming when I brought the subject up with them. Whenever I brought it up with a teacher or a professor, they were also affirming and caved [to] my requests,” he said.
In other words, the adults who should have known better enabled this madness. It was adults who were in positions of authority — in education, in medicine — who could have said “no,” but didn’t, either because they were true believers or because, more likely, they did not want to rock the boat.
But rocking the boat is the only way out of the grasp that gender ideology has on society today. In fact, much of the reason Simon desisted in the first place was because he was forced to start confronting questions about his “gender identity” head-on.
In addition to his father’s pushback, one event in particular helped Simon realize that progressives did not have his best interest in mind: he publicly opposed affirmative action in his freshman year of college, got canceled, and, in the wake of being labeled a “Nazi,” lost any social credit he got from identifying as transgender. This, he said, made him recognize the greater fallacy of gender ideology.
Simon&#8217;s story is a testament to what actual bravery looks like: a willingness to stick to one’s convictions — and, in the case of gender ideology, to reality itself. Every American who is willing, in the immortal words of Nancy Reagan, to “just say no” to an ideology that is so obviously false on its face can create a positive ripple effect, just like Simon did, and help restore sanity to this country.
Neeraja Deshpande is a policy analyst at Independent Women (<a href="http://independentwomen.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">independentwomen.com</a>) and a contributor to IW Features.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

He Was Almost A Victim Of The Transgender Cult. His Story Is A Warning.

Boston Children's Hospital

It is becoming clearer and clearer that we have an institutional problem in this country.
Not every crime in a country of 340 million people indicates an institutional problem. Sometimes you just have one-offs; sometimes you just have people who do things that are crazy or terrible, and there&#8217;s really no way of preventing or minimizing that particular crime.
But the Annunciation Catholic School shooting is not one of those cases, because what we are looking at here is symptomatic of a broader ideological ill that has afflicted our state institutions and our medical institutions and has massive downstream effects.
Those downstream effects aren&#8217;t always school shootings. In fact, only on rare occasions are they school shootings, but the effects are harming literally thousands of children across our country. 
There&#8217;s a bizarre transmission effect that happens when the media grants enormous attention to evil, mentally ill people who go and shoot a bunch of schoolchildren. But one of the factors here is that the transgender shooter, a biological male named Robert, who then legally changed it to Robin, confessed he was “tired of being trans” and wished he had “never brainwashed himself.”
“I&#8217;m tired of being trans,” he wrote. “I wish I never brainwashed myself. I can&#8217;t cut my hair now as it would be an embarrassing defeat, and it might be a concerning change of character that could get me reported. It just always gets in my way. I&#8217;ll probably drop it on the day of the attack.”
He was afraid that cutting his hair would show a red flag to the authorities, who might have said there&#8217;s something wrong. He felt that if he decided to detransition, the Minnesota authorities might take a second look at him.
But in the state of Minnesota, there was nothing wrong with a boy saying that he was a girl and his parents signing off on forms to transition him.
This was a person who was clearly suffering from gender identity disorder and was not satisfied with the solutions provided by the trans fake medical community. We&#8217;ve been told by that fake medical community that the only way to prevent terrible things from happening to and from people who identify as trans, is to pretend along with them that they are members of the opposite sex and that we are supposed to socially shame people who “detransition.”
If you listen to the media, the shooter was a woman. The headline from the New York Times — which was totally insane — read “Minneapolis suspect knew her target, but motive is a mystery.”
The amount of Orwellian doublespeak here is insane. Respect the killer’s preferred pronouns, but pretend that the “motive is a mystery.”
We know exactly what the motive was, because it is spelled out in all of the journals and the YouTube videos and on the guns themselves.
This is not a gigantic “mystery wrapped in an enigma.” This is the media trying to cover up the reality of the situation in which a mentally ill person was not given proper treatment and was told that his delusions were a reflection of the evil patriarchy and a terrible traditional society.
A person whose parents were told by medical and state institutions that the most important thing they could do to minimize the threat to their child and to others was to pretend along with him that he was a woman. A person who was told that any sort of corrective activity designed to alleviate gender identity disorder by saying, “No, actually, you are a boy and we need to deal with that in a rational, psychologically tested way,” was wrong.
Instead of doing that, they decided to play along.
And the consequences were murder.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2270-how-state-and-medical-institutions-promoted-the-trans-church-shooting?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
This implicates our institutions. It implicates our schools. It implicates our medical institutions. It implicates state legislatures.
The American Medical Association has been promoting exactly the kind of fake medicine that leads to the abandonment of people who are truly psychologically suffering. That fake medicine which masquerades as empathy is not, in fact, medicine.
It is, in fact, an ideologically-driven crusade to pretend that men and women are identical and can switch bodies at will.
And it is a lie.
If you wonder why trust has been completely undermined in “science,” it&#8217;s because the ideological Left infiltrated all of these organizations, took them over, and then wore their face around as a mask like Hannibal Lecter and said, “Why don&#8217;t you just trust the science?”
Here&#8217;s the answer: “Because you&#8217;re not interested in the science. You&#8217;re interested in the ideology.”
This is not a fringe thing happening at a few schools. It is happening at public schools across the country.
In 2023, Minnesota passed a law banning conversion therapy. When many people think of conversion therapy, they picture somebody who takes a gay kid, hooks the kid up to electrodes, then zaps them until they&#8217;re straight.
But that is not what these states now mean by conversion therapy. What they mean by conversion therapy is that you are not allowed as a psychologist, as a mental health care professional (as a parent, by the way), to bring your kid to a mental health care professional who tries to convince your boy that he is not, in fact, a girl.
So if the parents of the shooter had brought him to a mental health care professional or religious guidance professional, a priest, that could be illegal in the state of Minnesota because conversion therapy is banned in the state of Minnesota.
What this law says is that if your boy expresses gender confusion and says, “Mommy, I might be a girl” and you bring him to a psychologist and the psychologist says, “You&#8217;re a boy, you&#8217;re not a girl. You should stop trying to claim that you&#8217;re a girl because you&#8217;re not,” that would violate the law in the state of Minnesota.
It effectively makes any help for a “detransition” illegal in the state of Minnesota. If you, as a parent in the state of Minnesota, say no to transition procedures or you wish to fight the insanity that is this ideology, you could have your kid removed from you under Minnesota law.
That is horrifying. You have an entire delusion that is now being promoted by state legislatures, by governors across the country, particularly in blue states, reinforced by the lies of medical associations that are supposed to be all about “do no harm” and instead are actively promoting harm with an educational system completely honeycombed with members of the ideological Left.
The costs are very real. This happens to be an outsized cost, because it&#8217;s not just about the person who had the mental illness. It&#8217;s about all the people the person decided to harm.
This ideology is dangerous.
And we see it again and again.

Shooting At Annunciation School Church In Minneapolis Leaves Multiple Children Dead And Many Injured

How State And Medical Institutions Enabled The Trans Church Shooting

American Medical Association

Annunciation Catholic School

Ben Shapiro

Minneapolis

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School Shooting

Therapy

Tim Walz

Boston Children’s Hospital

The Broken Chain of Trust in Pediatric Gender Medicine

Hospitals

An MS-13 gang member currently serving time for murder is now demanding to be &#8220;recognized&#8221; as a woman — and is suing the President of the United States to make that happen.
According to a <a href="https://reduxx.info/exclusive-transgender-ms-13-gang-member-convicted-in-killing-of-14-year-old-boy-files-discrimination-suit-against-donald-trump/">report</a> published on Sunday by Reduxx Magazine, Oscar Contreras Aguilar was sentenced to serve 21 years in prison for the kidnapping and murder of a 14-year-old. He has <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.443587/gov.uscourts.flmd.443587.11.0.pdf">filed a lawsuit</a> against both President Donald Trump and the Bureau of Prisons, claiming that they have &#8220;refused to recognize&#8221; his gender identity.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨
A transgender ex-member of MS-13 is suing President Donald Trump for discrimination because the federal government &#8220;refuses to recognize&#8221; him as a woman.
Oscar Contreras Aguilar is serving a 21-year sentence for the murder of a teen boy.<a href="https://t.co/1ZGr4NUSA2">https://t.co/1ZGr4NUSA2</a>
— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) <a href="https://twitter.com/ReduxxMag/status/1954923420996784293?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Contreras Aguilar was a known member of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) — a transnational criminal gang known for ruthlessness and brutality — under the alias &#8220;Atrevido.&#8221; He was arrested in 2017 in connection with the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/ms-13-gang-members-charged-connection-murders-juveniles">2016 murders</a> of 17-year-old Edvin Mendez — who was believed to be a member of a rival gang — and 14-year-old Sergio Triminio, who Contreras Aguilar and other members of MS-13 believed was cooperating with law enforcement.
It was not until 2024 — after filing a number of complaints alleging attempts on his life and other issues — that Contreras Aguilar took on the name Fendi G. Skyy and claimed to identify as female. He then began filing complaints stating that trans-identifying prisoners were mistreated in comparison to other prisoners.
&#8220;Transgender women prisoners in men&#8217;s prisons,&#8221; he claimed, are often met with &#8220;harsher, more degrading treatment than their cisgender counterparts.&#8221;
Prior to changing his identity, Contreras Aguilar claimed that fellow MS-13 members had attempted to kill him on several occasions after discovering that he had been acting as an informant. He also filed a legal complaint against then Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022, claiming that he had been working as an informant in 2016 and 2017, and that his 21-year sentence had been issued as a result of a plea agreement.
&#8220;While in the community, [Contreras Aguilar] was working with the Suffolk County Police Department and the Long Island Gang Task Force of the FBI in New York as an informant,&#8221; the complaint read, in part.
That suit was dismissed in early 2024, and within months, Contreras Aguilar announced that he identified as a woman.

MS-13

MS-13 Member Serving Time For Murder Sues Trump To Be ‘Recognized’ As A Woman

MS-13 Member Serving Time For Murder Sues U.S. To Be 'Recognized' As A Woman

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A BBC presenter and transgender activist has launched a &#8220;transgender visibility&#8221; campaign that could include transgender adults asking young children to accompany them to the bathroom.
Dr. Ronx Ikharia, who&#8217;s described as a &#8220;black, non-binary, transmasculine emergency doctor,&#8221; calls the campaign &#8220;Safe With Me.&#8221; Individuals are asked to wear badges to make their trans &#8220;allyship&#8221; visible. Then, trans-identifying people can ask people wearing the badges to accompany them to the bathroom or other sex-segregated space that does not match their sex, out of hopes they won&#8217;t be asked to leave.
“I have often been kicked out of toilets because people don’t know where to place me,&#8221; the activist said. &#8220;But when I’m with someone, it happens less.&#8221;
Ikharia wants the campaign to be &#8220;everywhere,&#8221; including in schools.
“I want this to be everywhere. At schools, in NHS (National Health Service) settings, at festivals, in shops,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The trans community deserve to feel safe! Not just protected by law but actively welcomed and this badge is one small way we can all help make that happen.”
Ikharia says she launched the campaign in light of the United Kingdom’s highest court ruling in April that the legal definition of “woman” is based on biology and does not include trans-identifying men who say they are women.
The British Supreme Court ruled that the meaning of “woman” in equality legislation is a “biological woman and biological sex,” and the “concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man,&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/uk-supreme-court-rules-trans-identifying-men-are-not-women">The Daily Wire</a> reported at the time.
&#8220;Toilets are one of the most dangerous of these spaces,&#8221; Ikharia said, following the ruling.
The campaign has drawn criticism, specifically for how it could endanger children. Helen Joyce, who&#8217;s the director of advocacy at the human rights charity Sex Matters, called the campaign a &#8220;safeguarding catastrophe.&#8221;
&#8220;Asking children to approach adult strangers and take responsibility for their safety in toilet facilities puts children at obvious and serious risk,&#8221; Joyce told The Telegraph. “As for adults wearing ‘safe with me’ badges that children are supposed to believe, it’s hard to think of a more irresponsible idea.&#8221;
Charlie Kirk had a similar critique, posting on X, &#8220;A British government employee wants adult biological men approaching school-age girls to ask them for accompaniment to a women&#8217;s bathroom, on the grounds that this makes them less likely to be kicked out of them for not being a real woman because, as the thinking goes, they have a child vouching for their gender.&#8221;
&#8220;You have no idea how lucky we are to have won last November,&#8221; he added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A taxpayer-funded BBC employee in the UK is leading a campaign to distribute bright yellow badges to schoolchildren. These &#8220;ally&#8221; badges would invite transgender adult strangers to approach the children wearing them to ask the children to accompany them to a bathroom.
Let me…
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) <a href="https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1948529997553303802?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 24, 2025</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/health-care-puts-stop-to-trans-surgeries-on-kids">Health Care Provider Puts Stop To Trans Surgeries On Kids</a>

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BBC Employee Launches Creepiest ‘Trans Visibility’ Campaign You’ve Ever Heard

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