<p class="p1">Preschool is no place to teach three- and four-year-olds to choose their own gender, but in Colorado, families choosing schools that share this belief are denied the state funding that all other families receive.</p>
<p class="p1">“I don’t subscribe to this ideology of choosing a child’s gender,” one father said, “but because of that, you’re excluding my family from education that they deserve.”</p>
<p class="p1">Colorado must soon defend this discrimination before the Supreme Court this fall.</p>
<p class="p1">When the state rolled out its Universal Preschool Program in 2023, Colorado provided up to $6,300 a year toward the preschool of a family’s choosing. Parents who couldn’t afford it suddenly had options — except Catholic ones.</p>
<p class="p1">To participate, a preschool must sign a nondiscrimination agreement on sexual orientation and gender identity, treating a child’s gender assertion as something adults should defer to, not something the school might otherwise decline to reinforce. Catholic preschools won’t sign it because it conflicts with church teaching on human sexuality and identity, so the state won’t let them participate.</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M1xhPt49ijE?si=tculPl5hWarINNiT" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p class="p1">The math is not abstract. Colorado has excluded roughly 1,500 children across 30 schools from a program their families&#8217; tax dollars support. Enrollment at Catholic preschools has dropped one-fifth; at least two have closed. Families wanting a preschool that teaches their kids about Jesus now pay full freight, or give up altogether.</p>
<p class="p1">Dan and Lisa Sheley are one such couple. They have seven children, five enrolled at St. Mary’s in Littleton. The family pays out of pocket rather than give up a preschool they love. St. Mary’s, the Archdiocese of Denver, and the Sheleys sued and lost at both the district court and the Tenth Circuit, which held Colorado’s rule to be a neutral law of general applicability. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, <a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https://becketfund.org/case/st-mary-catholic-parish-v-roy/___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6ODY4YjNkMGY3YzE0YzJmZmIwMWRjZDQ4OWRkN2YxYjE6NzphZmQ4OjIzZWNjMTNmMmI3NWE5M2JjZGExY2EyN2YyZWNjZGJkNjc2NmI5NjgzYTAxZjU1NDVlMDRiOTVjNDJiYjFiZDc6cDpUOkY"><span class="s1"><i>St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy</i></span></a>, to settle how far a state can go before a rule that looks neutral on paper counts as targeting religion in practice.</p>
<p class="p1">That question traces to <i>Employment Division v. Smith</i>, the 1990 decision holding that neutral, generally applicable laws don’t get special scrutiny for burdening religious exercise. States have learned to write rules that look neutral on paper but function as a religious sorting mechanism.</p>
<p class="p1">The Court has pushed back before: in <a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/15-577_khlp.pdf___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6ODY4YjNkMGY3YzE0YzJmZmIwMWRjZDQ4OWRkN2YxYjE6Nzo1YzYwOjdlZjdkOThhYjc1ZWFlZGEyMDNiZmYwMjI0NmY3MWNkNTNjNzc2YzQ1OGMxOTg5NWJkM2E5YjRkYWMwYzQ3MDg6cDpUOkY"><span class="s1"><i>Trinity Lutheran v. Comer</i></span></a>, <a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/18-1195_g314.pdf___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6ODY4YjNkMGY3YzE0YzJmZmIwMWRjZDQ4OWRkN2YxYjE6NzpjOGNjOjM1ZDFiMDk3Yjk1NWJkOWIxOWFmZjA0OWZiOWU3NTcxNTYzMGRmN2JkYTY1ZjBiMzk3ZGJkNDk2ZjIxNmQ0ODM6cDpUOkY"><span class="s1"><i>Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue</i></span></a>, and <a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-1088_dbfi.pdf___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6ODY4YjNkMGY3YzE0YzJmZmIwMWRjZDQ4OWRkN2YxYjE6NzowZDk1OjMxNDhiZmI2OWNlMDA3NTgyZjQwMTA3MWUyODhiNDE3NzE3N2I4ZjFkZWJhMGE5YjFlMWI1Njg0MGZlMzIyN2Y6cDpUOkY"><span class="s1"><i>Carson v. Makin</i></span></a>, it held that once a state opens a public benefit to private options, it can’t slam the door on religious ones. Colorado’s program does what those cases forbid: it hands out public money for private preschool choice, then carves out certain religious choices.</p>
<p class="p1">Colorado has a track record of running roughshod over conscience. The state tried forcing a baker to design cakes for a same-sex wedding, and lost at the Supreme Court in <a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-111diff2_e1pf.pdf___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6ODY4YjNkMGY3YzE0YzJmZmIwMWRjZDQ4OWRkN2YxYjE6NzpiMTY3OjBlMTc1YWQ4NjQ5YmE4NTdhZWQ1ZjNlOTU1ZDVjOWRmZDIxMTM1ZmMyZWI0YWRiMDljMGVmMDc0M2RlYjk3NTQ6cDpUOkY"><span class="s1"><i>Masterpiece Cakeshop</i></span></a>. It tried forcing a website designer to build sites celebrating same-sex marriage, and lost again in <a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-476_c185.pdf___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6ODY4YjNkMGY3YzE0YzJmZmIwMWRjZDQ4OWRkN2YxYjE6Nzo3YjlmOjJkY2YwNGUxZDE4MjVjNzI3ZTViM2I5OTZmM2JkMjczNDcyN2QwYTZjMzRlYjFiNDg3MTYyOGZkMGM4Y2E5MzI6cDpUOkY"><span class="s1"><i>303 Creative</i></span></a>. It tried compelling a Christian counselor to affirm gender transition in therapy rather than decline to counsel toward it, and lost again in <a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-539_fd9g.pdf___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6ODY4YjNkMGY3YzE0YzJmZmIwMWRjZDQ4OWRkN2YxYjE6NzoyNWQ0OmFhNzFlN2JhMTY2OTNkN2ZiNDNkOTExNzYyODgyZmU1Mzg1ZGFiZDAwNGVkN2RkYTkxZDJhZTY5ZDk2NThiNWI6cDpUOkY"><span class="s1"><i>Chiles v. Salazar</i></span></a>. Colorado keeps drafting rules that burden religious objectors, and the Court keeps saying no. <i>St. Mary’s</i> is the preschool sequel.</p>
<p class="p1">Colorado isn’t fighting this quietly. One brief argues a religious exemption would create <a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25-581/419878/20260824113348636_25-581%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6ODY4YjNkMGY3YzE0YzJmZmIwMWRjZDQ4OWRkN2YxYjE6Nzo5MTgyOjEwZTFhNjgyZDhjYzg4NTNlOTRmZTQxMWRlZmUyMGFkY2QzZjkzOTYyMzVhNDJmYmJlMmViMTNhZTBjNTBjOWE6cDpUOkY"><span class="s1">bureaucratic chaos</span></a>, as if paperwork should outweigh a constitutional right. Another, from legal scholars, claims <a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25-581/419893/20260824122657325_Amicus%20Brief.pdf___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6ODY4YjNkMGY3YzE0YzJmZmIwMWRjZDQ4OWRkN2YxYjE6NzoyNzllOjA1NTA5OGQ0NjE1NTE1NGNhMDQ4MGI2ODc4ZDgxNTVmMjdkODgwNTVmNWI1OWYzMWZjNTVjNWZiMzgzNjVmMzE6cDpUOkY"><span class="s1">four-year-olds already carry LGBT identities</span></a> fragile enough to be wounded by a parish preschool’s teaching and treats toddlers as fully formed adults only when it helps the state’s case. A brief from congressional Democrats prioritizes <a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25-581/419938/20260824142544979_2026-08-24__Brief-of-179-Members-of-Congress-as-Amici.pdf___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6ODY4YjNkMGY3YzE0YzJmZmIwMWRjZDQ4OWRkN2YxYjE6NzpkZjdkOjVmMTcyZGFiNmMzMjEzOWFkNzE2ZGVhYzM3NzMyYWEyMjdkMzliNmFlMDc3YjhhZTE2NzkwOWEzN2I2MTczMDQ6cDpUOkY"><span class="s1">deference to the legislative branch</span></a> over families&#8217; wishes. Colorado’s defenders insist the program isn’t an individualized-exemption scheme, even as it carves out categorical priority for low-income kids and kids with disabilities — and the program&#8217;s own director explicitly said that schools serving only LGBT-identified kids, trans children, or children of a single race could take part. Those exemptions disappear the moment the preschool asking is Catholic.</p>
<p class="p1">Colorado’s own <a href="https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/r01/___https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25-581/399725/20260302153848466_2026.03.02%20St.%20Mary%20v.%20Roy%2025-581%20Brief%20in%20Opposition.pdf___.YXAzOmNyY2E6YzpvZmZpY2UzNjVfZW1haWxzX2F0dGFjaG1lbnQ6ODY4YjNkMGY3YzE0YzJmZmIwMWRjZDQ4OWRkN2YxYjE6NzozM2I1OjFhODVhODJiYjVkMGJkODFjMDc4YzViMjcyNGMxOTI0MDdjMGM4MmI3NGNkYzFjMDMxNGM1MmY2YTk3ODY3MzU6cDpUOkY"><span class="s1">brief</span></a> adds a few claims of its own. The state calls its equal-opportunity rule a health-and-safety standard in the same category as fire codes and immunizations, so no preschool can be excused from it. It dismisses any comparison between the exemption it claims St. Mary’s wants and the carve-outs already granted to low-income and disabled children, quoting a lower court that called it “farcical,” without explaining why Catholic faith deserves less accommodation than a diagnosis or a tax bracket. And the state’s own expert witness testified during trial that you never know when a child will embrace a gender identity different from their biological sex.</p>
<p class="p1">One doesn’t have to agree with Catholic teaching on human sexuality and identity to see the problem. A public benefit program is supposed to be neutral among ideas and identities, not a lever a state uses to pressure religious institutions into changing what they teach preschoolers about who they are. Conditioning public support for a child’s education on abandoning faith commitments isn’t neutrality. It’s a price tag on religious belief.</p>
<p class="p1">The Supreme Court will hear arguments later this fall. Given the Court’s recent Free Exercise rulings, Colorado should expect the same answer it’s gotten before: the Constitution doesn’t let government dangle a public benefit, then ask families to choose between taking it and keeping their faith.</p>
<p class="p1">***</p>
<p class="p1"><i>Andrea Picciotti-Bayer is director of the Conscience Project. She filed an </i><a href="https://conscience-project.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/25-581-Brief.pdf"><span class="s1"><i>amicus brief</i></span></a><i> with the Supreme Court on behalf of several Catholic families in Colorado.</i></p>


Students at Catholic school.

Colorado Keeps Waging War On Religious Freedom. Now It’s Attacking Preschools.

catholic church

colorado

gender identity

religious freedom

school choice

supreme court

<p class="p1">For nearly 30 years, the WNBA has operated under the once-unremarkable assumption that the “W” in its name meant something. But in our enlightened, post-biological era, the Women’s National Basketball Association has found itself in a peculiar existential crisis: What, indeed, is the W?</p>
<p class="p1">Instead of simply stating its position, the WNBA has presented what could best be described as a masterclass in semantic evasion.</p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><a href="https://www.wnbpa.com/_files/ugd/8121a3_675911316ca142178932adc1e56519ac.pdf">Article XIII</a></span> of the league’s collective bargaining agreement states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.” Simple enough. Unfortunately, the agreement never explains what qualifies someone as a woman. Anatomy? Chromosomes? Hormone levels? Gender identity? Jar-opening ability? Throw-pillow-to-couch ratio? The league has yet to say.</p>
<p class="p1">And so the WNBA finds itself in the remarkable position of maintaining a women-only professional sports league while refusing to clearly define the one characteristic every player is required to possess.</p>
<p class="p1">Cue the mischief-makers with a point.</p>
<p class="p1">Former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White decided to stress-test the league’s eligibility criteria and both announced that they identify as women and intend to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft. <a href="https://x.com/EnesFreedom/status/2085772139869696032"><span class="s1">Freedom’s</span></a> argument was straightforward: &#8220;If simply declaring who you are is all that’s required, then I meet every single requirement necessary to compete in the WNBA.&#8221; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/yeidadprops/videos/im-transgender-im-a-woman-i-identify-as-sometimes-identifying-as-a-woman-for-pur/2473553663151419/"><span class="s1">White</span></a> followed suit, announcing, &#8220;I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purposes of basketball … so I&#8217;ll be declaring for the WNBA.”</p>
<p class="p1">The WNBA, understandably, would prefer not to RSVP to this particular circus. Representatives have dismissed the declarations as “<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2026/08/24/enes-kanter-wnba-draft-eligibility-royce-white/91446929007/"><span class="s1">publicity stunts</span></a>” and declined to be dragged into what they see as an ideological spectacle. But dismissing the stunt doesn’t resolve the question the stunt was designed to expose.</p>
<p class="p1">If Freedom and White are <i>not</i> women for the purposes of the WNBA, then there must be some objective criterion by which the league knows that. And if such a criterion exists, it shouldn’t require Sherlock Holmes, three philosophers, and a team of lawyers to locate it.</p>
<p class="p1">Because definitions still matter, even when they become politically inconvenient.</p>
<p class="p1">This debacle is the fruit of years of indulging the “your truth” and “my truth” language so long as the consequences are mostly inconsequential. For example, your coworker’s “truth” may be that he’s a gifted singer, while the rest of the team considers his karaoke performance a violation of the Geneva Convention. Civilization continues.</p>
<p class="p1">But shared institutions require shared definitions and shared standards by which they are evaluated.</p>
<p class="p1">A society can entertain one person insisting “up is down” while another insists “down is up” right up until both approach a staircase. That is why the question popularized by Matt Walsh’s 2022 documentary “What Is a Woman?” remains so culturally explosive. The difficulty isn’t that humans spent several thousand years unable to distinguish men from women until documentary filmmakers arrived. The difficulty is that answering the question clearly forces us to confront whether biological categories describe something objectively real or whether individual identity can override them.</p>
<p class="p1">Freedom and White have simply transported that philosophical dispute onto a basketball court, where abstractions suddenly acquire height, weight, muscle mass, eligibility requirements, and the occasional jump shot.</p>
<p class="p1">The WNBA now has to decide where it plants its flag: biology or self-identification? Reality or ideology? There is no neutral position hiding comfortably between the two. If personal declaration determines who a woman is, the league needs to explain why Freedom and White don&#8217;t qualify. If biological sex determines eligibility, it needs to say so. Refusing to answer may postpone the controversy, but not the contradiction.</p>
<p class="p1">Of course, taking a clear position carries a cost. But the league’s reluctance reflects a broader cultural problem: definitions draw boundaries, boundaries necessarily exclude, and “exclusion” now ranks somewhere between using a plastic straw and murder in the modern American list of cardinal sins.</p>
<p class="p1">This is how words like “inclusion” and “tolerance” mutate into something much stranger. Instead of meaning, “I will treat you with dignity even though I disagree with you,” tolerance begins requiring everyone else to affirm your description of reality. And once institutions accept that bargain, definitions become dangerous things.</p>
<p class="p1">Perhaps that explains why the WNBA reportedly doesn&#8217;t want to “<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2026/08/24/enes-kanter-wnba-draft-eligibility-royce-white/91446929007/"><span class="s1">give oxygen</span></a>” to Freedom and White’s stunt. But oxygen is not the problem. Reality does not suffocate when we refuse to discuss it.</p>
<p class="p1">The WNBA can decline the interview, ignore the stunt, avoid the politics, and leave “woman” conspicuously undefined in its eligibility rules. What it cannot do is operate a professional league exclusively for women without eventually deciding what the word means.</p>
<p class="p2"><b>***</b></p>
<p class="p3"><i>Phoenix Hayes is coauthor of</i> “<a href="https://thewaronreality.com/"><span class="s2">The War on Reality: Recovering Truth in a World that Celebrates Lies</span></a>,” <i>alongside Frank Turek. She equips Christians to think clearly about culture and politics while defending their faith.</i></p>


WNBA: AUG 23 Indiana Fever at Chicago Sky

Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes: Will A Man Be The WNBA Rookie Of The Year?

enes kanter freedom

opinion

royce white

transgender in sports

wnba

<p>Canada&#8217;s only WNBA franchise, the Toronto Tempo, unveiled two new official mascots this week, including a DJing snapping turtle that uses she/they pronouns.</p>
<p>Dot the Arctic Hare and Dez the Snapping Turtle made their debut Tuesday night during halftime of the Tempo&#8217;s game against the Indiana Fever. The timing was particularly notable because Fever star Sophie Cunningham has emerged as one of the WNBA&#8217;s most outspoken critics of biological males competing in women&#8217;s sports.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">The Tempo have officially unveiled their mascots. Yes, two!</p>
<p>Welcome Dez, the turtle and Dot, the hare. <a href="https://t.co/WRbSdu5vxm">pic.twitter.com/WRbSdu5vxm</a></p>
<p>— Zulfi Sheikh (@zulfi_sheikh) <a href="https://x.com/zulfi_sheikh/status/2089865052757127311?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2026</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>&#8220;Dez and Dot have completely different personalities, but they&#8217;re better together,&#8221; said Whitney Bell, chief marketing officer for the Toronto Tempo. &#8220;One knows when to slow things down, the other knows when to turn the energy all the way up.&#8221;</p>
<p>According to the Tempo, Dez uses she/they pronouns and is a Borealis Blue Snapping Turtle from Muskoka, Ontario, who DJs in their spare time.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">“Leave the mascots alone!” 😭</p>
<p>Come behind the scenes of our Official Mascot Reveal on our YouTube channel: <a href="https://t.co/RrmRh3fg1j">https://t.co/RrmRh3fg1j</a> <a href="https://t.co/prKESxar58">pic.twitter.com/prKESxar58</a></p>
<p>— Toronto Tempo (@TempoBasketball) <a href="https://x.com/TempoBasketball/status/2090848079742488675?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2026</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>&#8220;Their name is inspired by <em>decibel</em>, a nod to their love of music and role as the more measured half of the duo,&#8221; the team <a href="https://tempo.wnba.com/news/meet-the-official-tempo-mascots-dez-and-dot">said</a>. &#8220;Dez is calm, clever and always thinking a few steps ahead. A Taurus who spins the 1s and 2s in their spare time, Dez&#8217;s secret talent is snapping &#8211; they also have a particular fondness for soft shell tacos.&#8221;</p>
<p>The Tempo&#8217;s other new mascot, Dot, goes by she/her pronouns, loves cotton candy, and the team describes her as &#8220;the undisputed hype woman of the pair.&#8221;</p>
<p>Many have speculated that Dez identifies as &#8220;nonbinary,&#8221; which could be true, but the Tempo has not referred to it that way.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">WNBA team Toronto Tempo unveils new non-binary mascot with She/They pronouns.</p>
<p>Dez the mascot, who uses She/They pronouns, identifies as a “borealis blue” snapping turtle from Muskoka. <a href="https://t.co/i1lFdfzWPO">pic.twitter.com/i1lFdfzWPO</a></p>
<p>— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) <a href="https://x.com/OliLondonTV/status/2090773357751144856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2026</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>&#8220;The WNBA is virtue signaling so hard they&#8217;re going to break a wrist,&#8221; one social media user wrote.</p>
<p>LGBTQ-focused outlet Them also took notice, describing Dez as &#8220;butch&#8221; and saying the Tempo&#8217;s <a href="https://tempo.wnba.com/news/meet-the-official-tempo-mascots-dez-and-dot">press release</a> introducing the mascots &#8220;reads like a novella &#8211; a very queer novella.&#8221;</p>
<p>The outlet went a step further, speculating that Dez and Dot might be romantically involved. Them asked the Tempo to clarify both the mascots&#8217; relationship status and Dez&#8217;s gender identity.</p>
<p>A Tempo spokesperson told Them that Dez and Dot are &#8220;besties,&#8221; prompting the outlet to update its report.</p>
<p>Dez&#8217;s gender identity, however, remains a mystery.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


HQC1OQXWEAA6Z5w

WNBA Team’s New She/They Mascot Is A Taurus DJ Who Loves Tacos

mascot

sophie cunningham

sports

toronto tempo

<p>Was a public school counselor in Oregon participating in hate speech when he displayed two kids&#8217; books about the gender binary? That&#8217;s what a federal appeals court ruled last month.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The court determined Roderick E. Theis II violated hate speech legislation by showcasing the books “</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">He is He”</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and &#8220;</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">She is She.” </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">It also ruled that displaying these books, which af</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">firm the gender binary, was not protected under the First Amendment.</span></p>
<p>In the wake of the unreasonable ruling, the books&#8217; co<span style="font-weight: 400;">author, Ryan Bomberger, spoke to The Daily Wire about the case and the work conservative Christians must do to save the country. He didn&#8217;t hold back.</span></p>
<p><strong>The gender binary isn&#8217;t evil</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bomberger said “</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">He is He”</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and “</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">She is She,” which he cowrote with his wife Bethany, </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">are rooted in love.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We wanted to take this insane pronoun issue and just make something that spoke truth about the human condition and celebrate what it means to be a boy, and celebrate what it means to be a girl,” he said. “It celebrates motherhood, fatherhood, the means by which all of us exist. So, what&#8217;s more inclusive than a book that speaks to the &#8230; heterosexual self-identity of more than 90% of Americans? How is that not inclusive?”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bomberger rejects the idea that the books could be seen as harmful in any way. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The books are so beautifully illustrated. They are diverse. As someone myself, I&#8217;m mixed white, black, part Asian, part Native American. I&#8217;m a mixture of all things,” he said. “It&#8217;s laughable that the school sees these books as being hostile in any way, shape, or form.” </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The school district isn&#8217;t just being unreasonable here. It&#8217;s hypocritical. Bomberger pointed out that many of the teachers showcased BLM or LGBT propaganda, which he called “highly discriminatory against the nuclear family, against fatherhood, against black conservatives” and “anti-science,” respectively.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“What&#8217;s laughable to me is this is the same school district that pushes things like &#8216;</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">How To Be An Anti-Racist</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">,&#8217; which has an animus toward white people, [and says] in fact, the only way to deal with past discrimination is present discrimination,” Bomberger said. “So that book violates Oregon&#8217;s law.”</span></p>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/DbGcUbSPRjf/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14">
<div style="padding: 16px;">
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div>
<div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div>
<div style="padding-top: 8px;">
<div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;">
<div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 8px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: auto;">
<div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"></div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div>
</div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DbGcUbSPRjf/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Ryan Bomberger (@ryanbomberger)</a></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p><script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script></p>
<p><strong>Battling in court</strong></p>
<p>The fact that a scuffle over his commonsense books made it to court, he says, was by design. <span style="font-weight: 400;">Reports said Theis, who worked for the InterMountain Education Service District for over 15 years, was fired after a teacher recorded him showing the books to some eighth graders. Bomberger says that the whole situation was a setup.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“There was one complaint from a teacher who only saw the covers. This teacher never even read the books — only saw the covers and objected to the covers,” Bomberger explained. “That teacher is the one that set up the two 8th graders who came and insisted on reading the books. It was not genuine interest. It was set up. That was the teacher that actually recorded the whole interaction, where Rod allowed them because they kept pressing him to read the books.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bomberger expressed sorrow about the recent ruling, arguing that it will set a bad precedent in the West Coast.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“My hope is that Alliance Defending Freedom does appeal it,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They have a very strong case.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Though Theis’ appeal was rejected by the court, ADF lawyers have <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/fired-school-counselor-loses-again-after-free-speech-fight-over-gender-themed-books-his-office">promised</a> to “continue to defend Rod’s First Amendment freedom to express his views like other employees.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bomberger said the lower court misunderstood the case <em>Kennedy v. Bremerton School District</em>, in which the Supreme Court ruled that public schools could not stop a football coach from kneeling midfield to say a quiet prayer.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“They said that [Kennedy’s prayer] was a private, personal thing. It wasn&#8217;t private. It was very public,” Bomberger said. “It was during his duty and his role. So simply based upon that, I think they have a case and the fact that the First Amendment doesn&#8217;t get stripped from government employees when they walk onto taxpayer-funded property.”</span></p>
<p><strong>When woke fights back</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bomberger also argued that the recent case shows that wokism is not dead, but simply has been rebranded, hiding in the shadows while it grows stronger.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We need to be forever vigilant about where this stuff goes,” Bomberger said. “The public school system is so deeply rooted in ideologies that are anti-American, that are anti-science, and certainly in many cases that are anti-truth. So, we have to be aware that this is not something that&#8217;s going away anytime soon.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Left’s goal is to fake outrage, foster ignorance, and silence dissension, Bomberger said.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Well, honestly, we hear the phrase all the time: &#8216;Ignorance is bliss,&#8217; and apparently, it&#8217;s a goal. It&#8217;s a virtue of the woke Left,” Bomberger said. “They want to pretend that they are in some sort of fascist society where they can&#8217;t get [their favorite] books.”</span></p>
<p>While Democrats hand-wring about book bans, they don&#8217;t seem to care when librarians make explicit material available to kids.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“They&#8217;re feigning outrage about fake book banning, but [they&#8217;re fine] when it comes to completely inappropriate content for children that is sexually explicit, that is violent and violent and gory, I mean the list goes on and on,” he said. “But it&#8217;s perfectly fine if it could be categorized as a diversity book — diversity being LGBTQ/DEI.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bomberger ended by calling on his fellow Christians to stand up and not be afraid to speak the truth.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The most important thing, as a Christian, I see this first and foremost as a spiritual battle, not just this book battle, but the battle for objective truth,” Bomberger said. “First of all, don&#8217;t despair. There is always hope, but we have to be vigilant. We cannot leave the major influence of our children up to &#8230; the education establishment. We can&#8217;t leave it up to Hollywood, and we often do.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We&#8217;re called to love every human being, not every human doing,&#8221; he added. &#8220;So as Christians, we have to see the world differently, and we have to react differently.”</span></p>
<p>***</p>
<div class="css-1kja2d9">
<div id="post-body-text" class="css-1tho4p7">
<div class="eu6cqno0 css-jpqt6g" data-narration-container="true">
<p><i>This article is part of </i><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>Upstream</i></a><i>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.</i></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>


Gemini_Generated_Image_zbdmj8zbdmj8zbdm

How This Conservative Author Is Fighting A Real Book Ban

alliance defending freedom

book bans

first amendment

ryan bomberger

<p class="p1">Imagine you are a parent concerned about your child viewing inappropriate content. You rely on the usual parental guidelines, such as “TV-MA,” to select age-appropriate shows. But what if those apparently age-appropriate shows essentially promote gender ideology and transgenderism without any warning?</p>
<p class="p2">You might be forgiven for worrying that this is part of a plot to “trans the kids”—a component of a leftist agenda to undermine traditional family roles as it tills the ground for the coming neo-Marxist revolution (see, e.g., <a href="https://populistpolicy.org/the-marxist-roots-of-trans-rights/"><span class="s1">here</span></a> and <a href="https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/marxism-and-the-gender-revolution"><span class="s1">here</span></a>), specifically leveraging media’s influence on <a href="https://dn790007.ca.archive.org/0/items/critical-and-cultural-theories-of-mass-communication/Cultural_marxism-WhoStoleOurCulture_ByWilliamS.Lind-6.pdf"><span class="s1">culture</span></a>. But such a conspiracy is certainly not required to conclude that parents should be warned about sexual orientation and gender transition themes in programming. But is this ratings system, long a tool, if an imperfect one, compelled speech or censorship?</p>
<p class="p2">Most parents do not realize that <a href="https://transition.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Cable/Orders/1998/fcc98035.html"><span class="s2">television ratings</span></a> warning of violence, crude or suggestive language, and sexual situations operate through a quasi-private, quasi-public system that was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1997. Through the<b> </b>Telecommunications Act of 1996, <a href="https://transition.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Cable/Orders/1998/fcc98035.html"><span class="s1">Congress authorized the FCC</span></a> to permit the media industry to develop a ratings framework intended to help parents make informed decisions about what their children watch. Although private media sector leaders proposed the ratings guidelines, the framework expressly depended on FCC approval, as well as input from parents, children’s advocates, and the medical community.</p>
<p class="p2">The original purpose of the TV Parental Guidelines was not to dictate values or control programming. <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1998-04-23/html/98-10742.htm"><span class="s1">Section 551</span></a> was designed to give parents clear information about mature content so they could make decisions consistent with their own judgment and the needs of their children. To carry out that purpose, the <a href="https://www.tvguidelines.org/aboutUs.html">TV Parental Guidelines Oversight Monitoring Boar</a>d (TVOMB), composed primarily of media industry representatives and members representing children’s, medical, and educational viewpoints, proposed the ratings system that was established in 1997 and remains in place today.</p>
<p class="p1">Following feedback from parents, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, TVOMB added the content descriptors we know and use today. For example, TV-MA (V) indicates violence, while TV-MA (S) indicates sexual situations. TV-MA is the age-based rating, and V and S are content descriptors.</p>
<p class="p2">Despite all this apparent collaboration, parents seeking notice about gender identity content are frequently dismissed as unreasonable or intolerant. The <a href="https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-392A1.pdf"><span class="s1">question</span></a> today is whether the existing ratings framework still provides parents with meaningful, reliable information in today’s media environment. Specifically, the FCC has sought related comments and organizations such as <a href="https://aflegal.org/press-release/america-first-legal-urges-the-fcc-to-push-childrens-tv-ratings-board-to-reform-require-clear-warnings-for-gender-ideology-and-lgbtq-themes-in-childrens-programming/"><span class="s1">America First Legal</span></a> have submitted comments. While the comment period is closed, the issue deserves ongoing attention.</p>
<p class="p2">Certain groups <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/10522661623022/1"><span class="s1">argue</span></a> that the FCC’s request for comments regarding content descriptors is an “expansion of federal supervision over how programmers describe their own expressive work.” They assert that, by requesting comments from concerned parents regarding gender-transition themes in children’s shows, the FCC is compelling speech through disclosure.</p>
<p class="p1">In other words, they argue that additional content descriptors informing parents that sexual orientation descriptions or discussions of gender transition appear in youth programming would amount to unconstitutional editorial categorization of expressive content because “age-based ratings and content descriptors are evaluative judgments rather than purely factual reports.”</p>
<p class="p1">This argument overextends its own logic. Age-based ratings and content descriptors have always required some degree of editorial judgment. Determining whether a program contains “violence,” “sexual situations,” “suggestive dialogue,” or “coarse language” is not a purely mechanical exercise; it requires classification, context, and judgment. But this has never meant the ratings system is unconstitutional, nor has it meant that every descriptor amounts to compelled editorial speech.</p>
<p class="p1">The better question is not whether descriptors involve judgment, but whether the government is requiring programmers to adopt a viewpoint-based characterization of protected expression. A neutral descriptor that informs parents that certain content is present in a program is different from a federally mandated label declaring content indecent.</p>
<p class="p1">Additional content descriptors would not ban programming, restrict viewpoints, or silence writers and producers. Broadcasters would remain free to create and air the content they choose, and families would remain free to decide what they watch. If TVOMB chooses to heed parents’ concerns, the result would simply be that parents receive more information before making those decisions.</p>
<p class="p1">Censorship restricts choice by suppressing speech. Transparency expands choice by allowing families to make informed decisions for themselves.</p>
<p class="p2">The question is not whether certain ideas should appear on television. The question is whether parents deserve clear notice when they do. If not, parents may be surprised to find their children watching “<a href="https://www.fatherly.com/entertainment/the-best-kids-shows-with-transgender-characters"><span class="s1">The Best Kids’ TV Shows With Transgender Characters</span></a>.”</p>
<p class="p2">***</p>
<p class="p1"><i>Stefan Padfield, JD, is a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a principal in its Free Enterprise Initiative. Esther Bouquet is a senior associate in the Initiative.</i><i></i></p>


A young boy watching television

The Quiet Way Gender Ideology Reaches Children

DW Opinion

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Telecommunications Act of 1996

Television Oversight Monitoring Board (TVOMB)

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The YMCA deleted a pledge recognizing “gender identity” as one of its priorities for inclusion after a watchdog warned that girls may be forced to share cabins with gender-confused boys at camps across the country. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The website scrubbing took place after The Daily Wire </span><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/is-your-childs-summer-camp-safe?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=What+Your+Child%E2%80%99s+Summer+Camp+May+Not+Be+Telling+You"><span style="font-weight: 400;">reported</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> on a campaign by the American Parents Coalition urging parents to research their local YMCA’s transgender policies before sending their child to camp. YMCA camps across the country from Colorado to Michigan have policies in place allowing boys who identify as girls to stay in female cabins and use female intimate spaces. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Before the campaign, the YMCA had a “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260520192855/https://ds.ymca.org/aboutus">section</a> on its website that highlighted how it worked “to ensure that everyone” regardless of a variety of personal identifiers including “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” had the opportunity to “reach their full potential with dignity.”</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1126429" style="width: 2275px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1126429" class="size-full wp-image-1126429" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-6.45.22-AM.png" alt="" width="2265" height="517" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-6.45.22-AM.png 2265w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-6.45.22-AM-300x68.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-6.45.22-AM-1024x234.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-6.45.22-AM-768x175.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-6.45.22-AM-1536x351.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-6.45.22-AM-2048x467.png 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2265px) 100vw, 2265px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1126429" class="wp-caption-text">YMCA page prior to Daily Wire report</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now the words “diversity, equity, and inclusion” have been removed, as have all the references to various personal identities.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div id="attachment_1126431" style="width: 2071px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1126431" class="size-full wp-image-1126431" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-6.45.48-AM.png" alt="" width="2061" height="416" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-6.45.48-AM.png 2061w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-6.45.48-AM-300x61.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-6.45.48-AM-1024x207.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-6.45.48-AM-768x155.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-6.45.48-AM-1536x310.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-01-at-6.45.48-AM-2048x413.png 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2061px) 100vw, 2061px" /><p id="caption-attachment-1126431" class="wp-caption-text">Updated YMCA page</p></div>
<p>A spokesman for the YMCA told The Daily Wire that the digitial services page featuring the DEI statement &#8220;was no longer in use and expires at the end of the year&#8221; and that it reviewed &#8220;<span style="font-weight: 400;">all language/content and programs&#8221; based on an executive order from the Trump administration targeting DEI. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The spokesmean added that &#8220;we revised the language to match existing content across our other channels.&#8221;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Last year, the YMCA </span><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ymca-scrubs-transgender-guidance-after-parent-group-raises-alarm?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=YMCA+Scrubs+Transgender+Guidance+After+Parent+Group+Raises+Alarm"><span style="font-weight: 400;">scrubbed</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> guidance from its website saying that its campers should have access to bathrooms and cabins based on their gender identities after a similar campaign from the American Parents Coalition. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&#8220;The YMCA continues to get caught embedding gender ideology into its national infrastructure and is desperately trying to scrub the evidence and rebrand overnight. Hiding the language doesn’t erase the policies they are promoting,” Alleigh Marré, the group’s executive director, told The Daily Wire. “Parents deserve the truth, not deletions.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Local YMCA camps still have posted “gender inclusive” policies disclosing that they will house campers based on gender identity and appear to say they will keep a child’s so-called gender identity a secret from parents. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“If a camper shares information about their identity while at camp, we respect their privacy and autonomy,” the Sherman Lake YMCA in Michigan </span><a href="https://www.shermanlakeymca.org/safety-equity-at-sherman-lake-ymca"><span style="font-weight: 400;">details</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> online. “We will only share this information with caregivers if the camper gives express consent, unless there is a concern related to the health or safety of the camper or others.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Similarly in New York, Camp Gorham </span><a href="https://rochesterymca.org/ymca-camp-gorham-overnight-summer-camp"><span style="font-weight: 400;">offers</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> “girl+” cabins as a “space for girls, trans and non-binary campers who feel most comfortable living with girls” and “Boy+ Cabins” for “boys, trans and non-binary campers who feel most comfortable living with boys.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Marré told The Daily Wire her organization would “continue to highlight the Y for pushing an ideology that compromises fairness, privacy, and safety.”</span></p>


Logo or sign for the YMCA in the downtown district

YMCA Scrubs ‘Gender Identity’ Pledge After Daily Wire Report

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

summer

transgender

YMCA

<p><i>This article is part of </i><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>Upstream</i></a><i>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.</i></p>
<p><i>***</i></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As a freshman in high school, my friends and I didn’t avert our eyes in the hallways when the jocks or seniors walked by; we averted our eyes from the tail-wearing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/michael-and-ep-39-furry">furries</a>. By no means was I considered “cool” — my friends and I were nerdy kids who took art and theater classes — but even we were made uncomfortable by the aggressive, antisocial behavior of our school’s small population of self-identified “furries.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">High school is already a confusing time, and adding in the anthropomorphic obsession didn’t help. Traveling in small packs, they usually had tails pinned to their sweatpants and whiskers drawn on their cheeks with eyeliner, and they sometimes yipped like dogs. At late-night parties, we gathered around to tell stories about what </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">they</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> did at parties, in the full fursuits that they hid from their parents. They would post videos of themselves working on their fursuits or acting out their “fursonas” to trending TikTok songs. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you think that furries are rare, you’d be wrong. My average-sized, suburban Wisconsin high school was rooted in a generally conservative community. Despite this, there were several very progressive student groups, a large LGBT club, and, of course, quite a few furries. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Once a fringe subculture, dressing like animals has in recent years exploded into the mainstream. Many people join the furry fandom through social media sites, initially engaging with fan art or role-playing in their newfound fursonas. Finding hard data on the number of people who identify as furries is difficult because the community is extremely private, primarily interacting online under the guise of anonymity. However, furry conventions offer some insight into how populous the subculture has become. In 2025, the largest furry convention, Anthrocon in Pennsylvania, set a record of </span><a href="https://en.wikifur.com/wiki/List_of_in-person_furry_conventions_by_attendance"><span style="font-weight: 400;">18,300</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> attendees. That same year, Furry Weekend in Atlanta had 17,700 attendees, and Midwest Fur Fest near Chicago had 16,900 attendees. Additional conventions in Florida and Texas have seen their attendance peak at around 10,000. Smaller, regional meetups are also becoming increasingly common, with new events being introduced each year. Furry communities have also been arranging meetups at music festivals, comic cons, and Renaissance fairs.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Some self-reporting from these conventions and online polling has revealed a lot about furry demographics. Unsurprisingly, <a href="https://furscience.com/whats-a-furry/">almost</a> </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">75%</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> are under the age of 25, 84% are male, and 83.2% are white.  Furry culture — which involves dressing up and role-playing as an anthropomorphic creature — appeals to a very specific demographic. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s almost impossible to talk about the people behind the fursuits without talking about the sexual stigmas surrounding furries. This is the extent of most people’s understanding of furry culture, and it’s not entirely unwarranted: A </span><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30806867/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">survey</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of 334 male furries found that 84% identified as “non-heterosexual” and 99% stated that there was “some degree of sexual motivation involved” in their interest in furry culture. The survey also discovered that participants felt some degree of both attraction and arousal toward other anthropomorphic characters. Other studies have found that <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-furries-debunking-myths-about-kids-identifying-as-animals-and-litter-boxes-in-schools-193908">more than</a></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> 70%</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of furries are members of the LGBT community and as many as 25% may be “gender diverse.” The growth in furry culture is tied to the growth in the LGBT community. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Gen Z is </span><a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/719685/american-adults-who-identify-as-homosexual-bisexual-transgender-by-generation/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">overwhelmingly more likely</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to identify as LGBT, indicating that young people are increasingly open to alternative lifestyles. In the case of furries, the subculture is slowly becoming normalized. When I graduated from high school, I was friendly with two kids who were both members of the furry fandom, one of whom identified as transgender and one of whom was bisexual. Neither of them ever mentioned it, and I only knew about it from lunchroom gossip and Snapchat screenshots of their fursuits. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, in the few years since I graduated, the furry trend has become more socially acceptable. Faux-fur fashion has become incredibly popular, with a </span><a href="https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/searches-real-faux-fur-spike-fashion-week-1237045531/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">220%</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> increase in searches for faux-fur styles (not all of this is tied to furries, of course). Around the same time, animal tail styles began appearing on runways, with high-fashion brands such as Chloe selling clip-on fur tails for nearly </span><a href="https://www.bloomingdales.com/shop/product/chloe-treasure-tails-bag-charm?ID=5700644&amp;pla_country=US&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds&amp;cm_mmc=Google-PLA-ADC-_-S21+High+Opportunity+Brands-_-Chloe-_-7626222197170USA-_-go_cmp-12731782004_adg-124409719401_ad-513824168575_pla-1217100611997_dev-c_ext-_prd-7626222197170USA&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=12731782004&amp;gbraid=0AAAAAD0PCJQYCAzqSfyYSr8nj12vca5tT&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAwqHIBhAEEiwAx9cTeUNNHl5II07FoViM1XKrt4W5XRdrALz7MOZsfBnTVbu8hARDqMujZhoCw_IQAvD_BwE"><span style="font-weight: 400;">$700.</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Other accessories, such as cat ears and cartoonish paws, have also become more common in alternative stores like Hot Topic. Furry-inspired styles are </span><a href="https://dogpatch.press/2018/02/05/furry-fashion-magic/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">increasingly</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> being found in clubs and at raves. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The uncomfortable truth is that furries are becoming normalized. Most young people who are interested in furry culture probably initially approach it as a fun alter ego. They’re primarily quirky kids who feel like they don’t fit in, with </span><a href="https://furscience.com/whats-a-furry/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">large numbers</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> claiming to have been bullied as adolescents. However, it’s a kind of escapism incompatible with reality. Normalizing furry culture allows people to remove themselves from their bodies. Similar to how transgenderism lets people deny their biology, fursuits and fursonas allow people to deny their biology, too. Pretending to be another species will not solve kids’ problems. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Furries aren’t as fringe as they once were. They’re in schools across the U.S., and they’re increasingly going to be your coworkers, customers, and acquaintances. Our culture pretends that human bodies don’t matter, but they do. The people I went to high school with weren’t anthropomorphic wolves; they were self-conscious teenagers who needed guidance. Underneath all of the fur, we are still just dealing with people.</span></p>
<p>***</p>
<p><em>Brooke Brandtjen is a writer and journalist from Wisconsin who focuses primarily on culture, politics, and religion. She is a senior contributor at New Guard Press, a publication she joined while attending Hillsdale College.</em></p>


Attendees wearing large furry character heads walk in the

The Furry Movement Is Bigger Than Most Parents Realize

furry fandom

lgbt

lifestyle

social media

youth culture

<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<div>“Do you need support or have any questions as you navigate your gender identity, sexual orientation, or relationships?” ​</div>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<div>The Family Acceptance Project did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s request for comment.</div>
<div></div>
<div>FAP&#8217;s documents were taken offline after The Daily Wire viewed them.</div>
<div></div>
<div>Kurt Miceli, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Do No Harm, says pediatricians should not be pushing vulnerable kids towards medical transition.</div>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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>
<div></div>
<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

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> its version </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">of women’s history.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">) 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?”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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 “</span><a href="https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/girlhood/gallery"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Girlhood: It’s Complicated</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">”, 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.</span></p>
<p>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,<span style="font-weight: 400;"> pumped with puberty blockers at eleven, and surgically mutilated at eighteen.</span></p>
<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" /><p id="caption-attachment-566557" class="wp-caption-text">David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here’s what the Smithsonian has to say about Jazz:</span></p>
<blockquote><p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></em></p></blockquote>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">First, Jazz is not a girl. He was deceived at just two years of age. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Second, girls cannot be “assigned male at birth.” Girls are young human females; sex is immutable, not “assigned.” </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Finally, no toddler is &#8220;a girl trapped inside a boy’s body.” </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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 </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Roderick “Lavergne” Cox</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">, 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.”</span></p>
<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>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Smithsonian also features seven other males: </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">United States Congressman Timothy “Sarah” McBride </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">and Biden-era Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Richard “Rachel” Levine</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">, “the highest-ranking openly transgender government official in U.S. history,” </span><a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/cecilia-chung"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cecilia Chung</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (a California based advocate for sex-rejecting procedures), </span><a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/marsha-p-johnson"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Marsha P. Johnson</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/andrea-jenkins"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Andrea Jenkins</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, </span><a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sylvia-rivera"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sylvia Rivera</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and </span><a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/janet-mock"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Janet Mock</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">It is unacceptable that eight men are hailed as historical women on a taxpayer-funded “.gov” website.</span></p>
<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" /><p id="caption-attachment-1069997" class="wp-caption-text">Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">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 </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">) to prohibit the new museum from portraying men as women. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The bill passed in committee, but Democrats uniformly voted “No.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">How ironic. Democrats care more about transgender ideology than a long-awaited women’s museum.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.”</span></p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p><em>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</em></p>


35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards New York – Arrivals

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

American History

Federal Government

Girls

Smithsonian Museum

woke culture

women

<p>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.</p>
<p>&#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.</p>
<p>&#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.</p>
<div>
<div>
<p>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.</p>
<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>
<p>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.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p>During the State of the Union address, President Trump called for further federal action to protect families from the harms of gender ideology.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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;</p>
<p>&#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;</p>
</div>
</div>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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>.</p>


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

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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, </span><a href="https://opa.hhs.gov/gender-dysphoria-report"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices</span></i></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a necessary development in the field. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Here are ten key takeaways from the review.</span></p>
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.”</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">There is moderate and high certainty evidence of some incidence of “cardiovascular events” in women under twenty-six who received testosterone.</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">A 2025 </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">JAMA Pediatrics</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> 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.</span></li>
</ol>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.”)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></em></p>
<p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.</span></em></p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p><strong>Right now, DailyWire+ annual memberships are fifty percent off during our Black Friday sale. Join now at <a href="http://dailywire.com/blackfriday">dailywire.com/blackfriday</a>.</strong></p>


Diverse people holding transgender flags

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

children

Gender

puberty blockers

Teenagers

transgender surgery

<p>Medical professionals are exploiting medical records and privacy laws to push children into transgenderism without their parents&#8217; knowledge, <span style="font-weight: 400;">a watchdog organization warned Tuesday. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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 </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">guise of medical privacy. This is especially worrisome, the report notes, because the two companies responsible for the majority of </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">electronic medical records in the United States have embraced transgender ideology.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&#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.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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 </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">to their children&#8217;s medical records. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now, providers are exploiting those exceptions to hide information about transgender procedures, Do No Harm warns. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It appears that healthcare systems are using sexually transmitted infections, mental </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At Lakeland Regional Health in Florida, parental proxy access to medical records </span><a href="https://www.mylrh.org/cerner-proxy/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">goes away</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> at the age of 13. At age 13, the child has to call the system and authorize parental access to their medical records. </span></p>
<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>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Epic </span><a href="https://www.epic.com/epic/post/inclusive-care-transgender-patients-using-epic/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">boasts</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> on its website about creating “more inclusive care for transgender patients.” </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“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.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center </span><a href="https://lgbtqprimarycare.com/chapter-9/section-3-documenting-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity-information/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">appears</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to use a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity SmartForm developed by Epic, according to a screenshot posted by an LGBT advocacy group. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></p>
<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>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Epic </span><a href="https://www.mychart.org/Help/proxy"><span style="font-weight: 400;">notes</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> 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;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&#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.</span></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&#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. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Oracle also </span><a href="https://www.oracle.com/europe/health/continuum-care/3-ways-organizations-can-advance-gender-affirming-healthcare/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">pushes</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> 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.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The company also </span><a href="https://docs.oracle.com/en/industries/health/health-patient-portal/pp-release-notes/solution-changes-oracle-health-patient-portal-administrative-console.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">highlights</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> how 13 is the default age at which parents are restricted from viewing the vital signs and results of minor patients. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“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 </span><a href="https://docs.oracle.com/en/industries/health/health-patient-portal/hppag/confidentiality.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">notes</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Other health systems that keep parents in the dark </span><a href="https://mychart.wellstar.org/MyChart/en-us/docs/tipsheets/MyChart_TeenGuide.pdf"><span style="font-weight: 400;">include</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Wellstar Health System in Georgia, which limits parents&#8217; access to their children&#8217;s health records after age 12. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">The child must authorize access for parents to get a full picture of what is going on with their health care. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“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.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“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.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Some health systems are reportedly already surveying young patients about their &#8220;gender identities.&#8221;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.”</span></p>
<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>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Parents in Oregon and Florida were asked to fill out surveys about gender identity and sexual preferences for children as young as one.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“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;</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The push for extreme privacy has in part come from groups like the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, which </span><a href="https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(14)00053-6/fulltext"><span style="font-weight: 400;">contends</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> 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.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">One of the authors of that position is Dr. Ryan Pasternak, an advocate of transgender procedures for gender-confused children. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“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. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">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.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“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. </span></p>


How Doctors Exploit Privacy Laws To Push Transgenderism On Kids

gender ideology

medicine

Menu