President Donald Trump has cracked down on transgender procedures for kids since returning to office. But that hasn&#8217;t stopped the federal government from funding a radical doctor&#8217;s $3 million study on puberty blockers.
The National Institute of Mental Health approved $728,119 in February 2026 for a <a href="https://reporter.nih.gov/search/06tsrMfvqUOi2mTIvah-OA/project-details/11090506" target="_blank" rel="noopener">project</a> on puberty blockers based out of the Research Institute Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. One of the principal investigators of the project, Dr. John Strang, is <a href="https://wpath.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/WPATH-GEI-Neurodivergence-in-Adults-WS-Final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">closely affiliated</a> with the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. WPATH has faced criticism over its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/leaked-files-from-transgender-medical-org-show-medical-malpractice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shoddy science</a> and accusations that its recommendations are driven by ideology.
Strang’s project entails 132 “transgender adolescents” at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., and Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, according to its description. Half of the kids would be on puberty blockers while the other half would not, according to researchers. Researchers leading the project hope to “clarify its potential protective and risk effects to support optimization and personalization of treatment protocols.”
The Department of Health and Human Services has determined that puberty blockers are not safe for gender-confused children, and has issued several directives going after hospitals and doctors that push transgender procedures on kids. But HHS downplayed the radical nature of the grant in a statement to The Daily Wire, saying that the project in question does not involve giving puberty blockers to kids, but recruits patients from gender clinics considering going on puberty blockers.
“HHS continues to fight to protect America&#8217;s children from irreversible harm outlined in the Department&#8217;s peer-reviewed report,” an official told The Daily Wire. “These detrimental procedures do not meet professionally recognized standards of health care, and practitioners who perform sex-rejecting procedures on minors would be deemed out of compliance with those standards.&#8221;
In total, the project has been awarded $3,741,119 in federal funding between 2021-2024 and 2026. The project did not get funding in 2025, a decision that appears to have been made in March 2025, <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_R01MH123746_075" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to spending records.
The American Accountability Foundation, which <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/woke-government-bureacrats-witholding-data-on-blockbuster-trans-study-watchdog-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has sued</a> the NIH for more information on its transgender experiments, said that the funding shows the need for increased oversight.
“DOGE did some great work, but I&#8217;ve been around Washington long enough to know that if you don&#8217;t keep your eyes on the deep state they&#8217;ll resume the same bad behavior the moment you look away,&#8221; Tom Jones, the organization&#8217;s president, told The Daily Wire.
The Trump administration <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/890/880607.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suspended</a> 1,800 NIH grants determined to be related to DEI or other radical topics between February 2025 and June 2025. The NIH later agreed to review grants on a standardized case-by-case basis in a <a href="https://www.aclu.org/documents/apha-v-nih-stipulation-agreement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">settlement</a> after a lawsuit from a number of organizations that lost federal funding. Many of the projects impacted were kept sealed from the public record, making it difficult to determine exactly which grants were involved.
Nothing in the agreement &#8220;diminishes or enlarges NIH’s discretion over the decision to award funding, or creates a final agency action where a final agency action would not otherwise exist,&#8221; the settlement agreement said.
The puberty blocker project’s public description notes that puberty blockers are “endorsed” by WPATH and claims that initial studies show “mental health benefits for transgender youth” put on puberty blockers. Puberty blockers can seriously impact bone density, sexual development, and fertility, and can cause vision issues and lead to brain swelling. Many medical experts have rejected the claims of advocates for transgender procedures that puberty blockers are fully reversible.
Strang <a href="https://research.childrensnational.org/people/john-strang" target="_blank" rel="noopener">runs</a> the gender and autism program at Children’s National and is on faculty with the Global Education Institute for WPATH. The gender program at Children&#8217;s National currently <a href="https://www.childrensnational.org/get-care/departments/gender-and-autism-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener">does not</a> provide so-called &#8220;gender-affirming care&#8221; medical treatments because of &#8220;escalating legal and regulatory risks,&#8221; but it does offer &#8220;mental health&#8221; services. Before Trump took office, the hospital performed multiple transgender surgeries and had 47 patients on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, <a href="https://stoptheharmdatabase.com/hospital/childrens-national-medical-center/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Stop the Harm database.
Throughout 2025, Strang <a href="https://wpath.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/WPATH-GEI-Neurodivergence-in-Adults-WS-Final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">participated</a> in a <a href="https://wpath.org/gei/upcoming-gei-courses/wpath-gei-online-neurodiversity-workshop/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">number</a> of WPATH workshops for health care professionals “committed to advancing affirming care for transgender and gender-diverse” patients.
Additionally, Strang <a href="https://wpath.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/SOC8-Full-Contributor-List-FINAL-UPDATED-09232021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contributed</a> to the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/26895269.2022.2100644" target="_blank" rel="noopener">standards of care</a> produced by WPATH that recommended that doctors tell adolescents about “chest binding and genital tucking,” put girls on “menstrual suppression agents” if they don’t want to go on testosterone, and leave the door open for doctors to recommend “puberty suppression, hormone initiation, or gender-related surgery for gender diverse and transgender adolescents.”
Other researchers on the project include Dr. Diane Chen and Dr. <a href="https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/find-a-doctor/profiles/eric-e-nelson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eric Nelson</a>, who is listed as the project leader.
Nelson is a principal investigator at Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Center for Biobehavioral Health and is a professor at Ohio State University College of Medicine. He is the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39196327/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">co-author</a> of a study on mental health concerns for gender-confused youth.
Chen is a researcher and doctor with the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children&#8217;s Hospital of Chicago and Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, where she has focused on transgender issues. At Lurie, <a href="https://research.luriechildrens.org/en/researchers/diane--chen/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">she</a> “has worked clinically with transgender, nonbinary, and gender-diverse young people and youth and young adults with differences of sex development/intersex variations since 2013.”
Chen was <a href="https://reporter.nih.gov/search/06tsrMfvqUOi2mTIvah-OA/projects" target="_blank" rel="noopener">involved</a> with a seperate expansive <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/mcclain-probes-9-7-million-taxpayer-funded-study-buried-by-activist-researcher-on-puberty-blockers%EF%BF%BC/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$9.7 million</a> NIH-funded study that experimented on kids by giving them puberty blockers. In February 2023, Chen published a <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2206297" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> based on research funded by another NIH grant <a href="https://news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2023/02/02/gender-affirming-hormones-improve-mental-health-in-transgender-and-nonbinary-youth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claiming</a> that giving kids cross-sex hormones improves their “mental health.”
“Our results provide robust scientific evidence that improved appearance congruence secondary to hormone treatment is strongly linked to better mental health outcomes in transgender and nonbinary youth,” she said at the time.
That assessment contrasts directly with the conclusions reached by the Trump administration in May 2025 that medical interventions for minors experiencing gender confusion are not supported by science and that the risks of the procedures are high.

Trans procedures

Despite Trump Pledge, Taxpayer Money Is Still Funding Leftist Scientists’ Puberty Blocker Study

Puberty blockers

Transgender

Trump Administration

Like many young American girls, when I was a teenager, I hated myself and my body. I was unhappy and anxious. Eventually, I was diagnosed with depression and anorexia. 
It goes without saying that I was no stranger to feeling like I wasn’t “me” in my own body. No one told me to get liposuction for my anorexia. But when I went to the counselor’s office for my first appointment for gender dysphoria, I left with a letter of approval for testosterone.
Since I’ve detransitioned, life has felt like a roller coaster. The physical distress I experienced going through hormone “therapy” and surgery that drastically changed my body is only one portion of how horrific it truly is to not only attempt something impossible by supposedly transitioning from one gender to another, but to return to identifying with reality.
I was called a patient, but from start to finish, I was never treated like one.
Being a patient requires informed consent and the exhaustion of all avenues of care before resorting to the most drastic option. And yet, from the start, doctors were ecstatic to accelerate my so-called transition without once suggesting mental health treatment. Instead, a counselor suggested almost immediately that I needed to be put on wrong-sex hormones. When I raised any suspicion that this was not the right choice for me, the doctors were far from supportive and made me feel like my voice didn’t matter anymore. I was praised for raising my voice and embracing who I thought I was, but only when I identified as trans. Yet when I voiced a dissenting opinion on the same topic, the response was underwhelming and even shame-inducing.
For years, gender clinics, medical associations, and activist groups have driven the conversation around so-called “gender-affirming care,” but there has never been any long-term testing done to see what the implications of these treatments are on minors, especially the ones still going through puberty. Any time a question was raised as to whether this was safe, or if there could be a possibility of trans-identifying minors changing their minds down the road, it was diminished as “rare” and accused of putting politics over the mental health of these children.
The Trump administration has been the first presidential administration to sound the alarm on these harmful practices. For the first time, federal agencies started to ask the questions that detransitioners had been trying to warn the public about: are these “treatments” actually safe, or are they doing more harm than good?
In his first year back in office, President Trump has elevated the voices of detransitioners like me. Last summer, I had the honor of testifying <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/GAC-RFI-FINAL.pdf">in front of the Federal Trade Commission</a>, sharing my experience of how I was essentially forced into “gender-affirming care,” instead of the mental health care and therapy I desperately needed. Only a few years ago, my voice would have never been heard in the federal landscape.
Gender medicine has thrived in a system with zero accountability. I am proud to be at the forefront of a movement that is finally asking for the kind of accountability that is long overdue.
Detransitioners like me have been gaslit into believing we are anomalies, and that if doctors hadn’t taken action, we would’ve been suicidal or worse, dead. What the mainstream doesn’t want you to know is that my mental health issues didn’t magically disappear overnight once I began transitioning — they actually got worse. Yet the doctors who led me down this path have faced zero opposition and zero accountability — until now.
President Trump and his administration have been a disruptor to the system of gender ideology since day one. His administration has led the charge to make sure that the doctors, experts, and gender-ideology apologists finally answer the questions that have been stamped down, argued as ridiculous, and smeared by those who chose ideology over reality.
One of the first actions President Trump took upon being back in the Oval Office was <a href="https://www.independentwomen.com/2025/01/28/president-trump-protects-americas-children-from-chemical-surgical-mutilation-in-latest-executive-order/">signing an executive order</a> to protect minors from receiving any sex-changing surgery or procedure. This executive order also directs the Department of Health and Human Services to prevent taxpayer dollars from being used to subsidize irreversible medical harm to children. HHS’s proposed guardrails bar hospitals that perform “gender-affirming care” from participating in Medicare and Medicaid.
Late last year, HHS also <a href="https://www.independentwomen.com/2025/12/18/hhs-takes-historic-action-to-ban-body-mutilating-medical-procedures-targeting-gender-confused-youth/">released a peer-reviewed, evidence-based review</a> concluding pediatric gender interventions lack long-term safety data and do not meet professionally recognized standards of care. Secretary Kennedy formally declared that these dangerous procedures were far outside acceptable medical practice. This bold move was the nail in the coffin of the claim that “the science is settled” and got gender medicine back on track based on evidence, ethics, and informed consent.
Detransitioners like myself are grateful for the actions taken by the Trump administration that will ensure the safety and well-being of the next generation.
While my detransitioner friends and I may not have been protected, I know that the work we have put in — in speaking out, standing up, and tirelessly testifying across the country — will have a meaningful impact in protecting kids who are struggling with their mental health. I will continue to fight for the childhoods of every gender-confused kid out there so that they are protected from fear, coercion, and medical harm.
* * *
Prisha Mosley is an Independent Women ambassador and detransitioner. Independent Women Features, the storytelling platform of Independent Women, featured Prisha’s story as part of its “Identity Crisis” docu-series, which highlights the irreversible harms of gender ideology. Prisha’s story, including her pregnancy journey, was documented in two parts, which can be found <a href="https://www.iwfeatures.com/documentary/mentally-ill-teen-betrayed-by-health-professionals-who-recommended-testosterone-and-top-surgery/">here</a> and <a href="https://www.iwfeatures.com/documentary/a-detransitioners-pregnancy-journey/">here</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
This article has been edited for clarity.

Trump Executive Orders

A Year Of Action To Protect Kids From Child Mutilation

Children

Donald Trump

gender ideology

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Teenagers

transgender surgery

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

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

Gender

Gender Identity

A conservative watchdog accused federal bureaucrats of &#8220;hiding&#8221; key data from a government-funded study that would expose the questionable &#8220;science&#8221; behind putting gender-confused kids on puberty blockers. 
The American Accountability Foundation filed a <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/NIH-FOIA-Complaint-to-file.pdf">suit</a> on Wednesday, alleging that the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health are withholding the release of data expected to significantly undermine transgender ideology. The data is from a government-funded study that the author admitted in an interview with The New York Times would hurt the case for placing young children on puberty blockers. 
&#8220;For over a year, HHS has been hiding a bombshell study that confirms what we&#8217;ve known all along: transgender therapy is a failure,” American Accountability Foundation President Tom Jones told The Daily Wire. “The lead researcher herself admitted that the findings challenge the effectiveness of these drugs. HHS bureaucrats are playing woke political games, ignoring science and common sense.”
The American Accountability Foundation first requested the data from the $9.7 million project after the Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/science/puberty-blockers-olson-kennedy.html">published</a> a story on October 23, 2024, that featured researcher Johanna Olson-Kennedy admitting that she had delayed publishing the effects of puberty blockers on children due to political concerns. Olson-Kennedy told The Times that the data did not show better mental outcomes for children placed on puberty blockers. 
Five days later, the American Accountability Foundation submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to get the data. However, the response came with significant redactions that obscured important data points, the suit filed in the District of Columbia said.  
“Though the NIH sent a response and produced some records in November 2024, NIH’s production appeared incomplete, as it didn’t include Dr. Olson-Kennedy’s data and contained redactions throughout. NIH’s response also appeared incomplete and insufficient because it didn’t justify any of the redactions, nor did it explain how the search was conducted to find responsive records pertaining to the data set,&#8221; the suit said. 
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Jones filed an appeal of the redactions on January 6, 2025, but says that the issue has not yet been resolved. The suit says that HHS and the NIH have violated federal records laws in their handling of the request. 
Specific records that have been redacted include the names of researchers who aided in the project, their background, and information on the compensation they received from the government. 
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-989261" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-04-52-PM-4977.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1440" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-04-52-PM-4977.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-04-52-PM-4977-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-04-52-PM-4977-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-04-52-PM-4977-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-04-52-PM-4977-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-04-52-PM-4977-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></div>
Also redacted are demographic information and other data points about the kids who were put on puberty blockers. That data is redacted for “proprietary info,” while some is left out with the reason, “redacted by agreement.”
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-989279" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-05-06-PM-5619-1.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1440" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-05-06-PM-5619-1.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-05-06-PM-5619-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-05-06-PM-5619-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-05-06-PM-5619-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-05-06-PM-5619-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/MixCollage-21-Oct-2025-05-06-PM-5619-1-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></div>
The suit said that the AAF opposed the vague redactions and “objected to the adequacy of NIH’s search. Specifically, AAF requested a copy of the data to which Dr. Olson referred. The FOIA coordinator’s response said nothing about how the search was conducted, whether such data are being withheld, and, if they are being withheld, why they are being withheld.”
HHS Press Secretary Emily Hilliard told The Daily Wire the agency does not comment on pending litigation, but that it was &#8220;committed to protecting children from being harmed by puberty blockers.&#8221;
A <a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.14.25327614v1.full-text">preprint version</a> of Olson-Kennedy’s study appears to be available, but it has not yet been peer reviewed. Olson-Kennedy and her co-authors claim in that version that their research shows that “youth demonstrated both stability and improvement in emotional and mental health over 24 months.”
The American Accountability Foundation believes that all the data documenting the study should be made available so it can be independently analyzed.
“We&#8217;re fighting back, suing HHS to force them to follow the law and release this truth,” Jones said. “The American people deserve to know what&#8217;s being hidden by the radical left!&#8221;

Supreme Court Considers Tennessee’s Ban On Treatments For Transgender Minors

‘Woke’ Government Bureaucrats ‘Hiding’ Crucial Data On Blockbuster Trans Study, Watchdog Says

'Woke' Government Bureaucrats Withholding Data On Blockbuster Trans Study, Watchdog Says

Department of Health and Human Services

A doctor offered up by the American Medical Association as an expert on transgender health care claimed that kids as young as 3 years old have a “stable” view of gender identity and that puberty blockers are reversible, according to footage <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2268-bombshell-taylor-swift-engaged-plus-other-stuff-happens-but-nobody-cares?elementPosition=3&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">published</a> Wednesday by The Ben Shapiro Show. 
Dr. Jesse Krikorian, a transgender-identifying woman, argued during a conversation with Michigan State Rep. Brad Paquette that kids can identify as transgender from a “very young age” and that puberty blockers don’t have permanent impacts on their development. The conversation was arranged by the American Medical Association President Bobby Mukkamala, who referred Krikorian to Paquette after the lawmaker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/im-not-an-expert-at-all-damning-video-exposes-medical-org-over-support-for-trans-procedures?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Leaked+Footage+Exposes+Top+Med+Org%E2%80%99s+Support+For+Trans+Procedures+On+Kids%3A+%E2%80%98I%E2%80%99m+Not+An+Expert+At+All%E2%80%99">asked</a> the medical association to point him to an expert on transgender procedures. 
Video footage of Mukkamala’s conversation with Paquette was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2267-trump-protects-the-american-flag-plus-we-break-a-major-story?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=The+Ben+Shapiro+Show&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">published</a> on Tuesday by Shapiro. In that conversation, Mukkamala said his organization endorsed transgender procedures on kids because that was what the experts told them. When asked for a more detailed explanation on the alleged expert science in support of transgender procedures, Mukkamala connected Paquette with Krikorian. 
Throughout the conversation, Krikorian downplayed the impacts of puberty blockers, claimed young teens are able to make informed decisions about their future fertility, and dismissed studies from England and the Department of Health and Human Services critical of transgender procedures. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/im-not-an-expert-at-all-damning-video-exposes-medical-org-over-support-for-trans-procedures?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Leaked+Footage+Exposes+Top+Med+Org’s+Support+For+Trans+Procedures+On+Kids%3A+‘I’m+Not+An+Expert+At+All’">READ PART ONE: Leaked Footage Exposes Top Med Org’s Support For Trans Procedures On Kids: ‘I’m Not An Expert At All’</a>
“Developmentally, kids generally have a pretty sense, a pretty stable sense of gender identity starting around age three,” Krikorian told Paquette, according to footage obtained by Shapiro. “They may not tell us unless we asked, but it’s generally there around that age just developmentally. That’s when that comes in.”
Krikorian is a family medicine doctor who told Paquette that she was currently thinking about moving to Canada because of laws being passed in the United States to ban transgender procedures on kids. She told the Republican lawmaker that she has worked with many transgender identifying kids before, including one 7-year-old boy who identified as a girl, whose biggest concern was the “appearance of a bulge in her ballet leotard.”
While discussing the American Medical Association’s designation of Krikorian as an expert, Shapiro said that with no other medical issue, you could be cited as an expert because of your personal experience.
“But suddenly with ‘gender-affirming care’ the most prominent expert the [American Medical Association] could offer is a trans person who is a family physician. That is not expertise, that is projection,” Shapiro said on his Wednesday show. 
When Paquette questioned the wisdom of placing kids on puberty blockers, Krikorian argued that puberty blockers were just needed to “buy time” for a child to figure out their gender identity.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
6/ Krikorian claims:
&#8211; Parents know if their 5yo is trans.
&#8211; Doctors are transing kids to appease their concerns about how other people perceive them.
&#8211; A 13/14yo is ready for permanent decisions after their pubertal (and brain) development has been blocked for a couple of… <a href="https://t.co/13gtfQC2zg">pic.twitter.com/13gtfQC2zg</a>
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1960779391887163798?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“There’s nothing about starting puberty blockers that means that you have to continue them. There’s nothing about starting hormones. That means you have to continue them,” she said. “It’s only if you like the results that you’re getting, if you’re happy, if you’re feeling good, if you’re feeling better about yourself and more able to function in society, that you keep going with them.”
When asked about potential side effects of puberty blockers, Krikorian acknowledged that bone density would be impacted, but argued that kids can “catch up” once they are taken off the blockers. “Every drug has side effects for sure. Puberty blockers are very reversible,” she said. 
Despite Krikorian’s claims, studies have shown that puberty blockers can have irreversible impacts on bone growth and cause sexual dysfunction, voice damage, and infertility.
At a different point, when discussing putting males on estrogen and females on testosterone, Krikorian said that “most of the side effects are things that people are looking for.” 
“You know, they’re looking for beard growth if they’re taking testosterone. They’re looking for a deepening voice if they’re taking testosterone. Or they’re looking for that softer skin, they’re looking for the more feminine distribution of fat if you’re taking estrogen,” she said. 
She later claimed that, because “being transgender is really hard,” she doesn’t “worry too much about these patients” since they are not doing it to have fun, but to address their identity issues. 
When discussing the impacts that transgender treatments can have on fertility, she said that “a lot of people are willing to make this trade off.” She said that 13 and 14-year-olds had some “insight” into the possibility of not being able to have kids if they underwent transgender procedures. 
“In other words, according to Dr. Krikorian, cross-sex hormones don’t sterilize kids, but even if they do, it’s okay because these kids can plan to adopt or buy someone else’s sperm one day,” Shapiro said on his show. “That is of course insanse and dystopian. My kids don’t even know what they want for lunch let alone make a decision about adopting a child of their own in 20 years.” 
She also suggested that males wanting to identify as female should save up their sperm before starting estrogen if they wanted to have kids. 
“If your life plan involves genetic children, go ahead and bank sperm,” she said. “Sperm is not that hard to come by. You can buy it. You can access it. If you’ve got a partner who can carry a pregnancy, you guys can make it happen.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
4/ That doesn’t seem to bother Dr. Krikorian much though, because if a boy suffers one of the extremely likely outcomes — such as permanent sterilization — from pumping estrogen into his body, “sperm is not that hard to come by. You can buy it.” <a href="https://t.co/cQw9o6FDWA">pic.twitter.com/cQw9o6FDWA</a>
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1960779387780952205?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Paquette asked Krikorian if she had reviewed the Cass report or the recent Department of Health and Human Services <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/gender-dysphoria-report-release.html">study</a> that documented the flaws with many of the problems with transgender medicine. 
She said that the Cass Report, a British report that criticized transgender medical procedures for kids, was not good evidence and that the HHS report was “politically motivated” and not “sound science.” Krikorian admitted that she had not read through the entire HHS report, only portions of it. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
12/ In fact, Dr. Krikorian hadn’t even read <a href="https://twitter.com/RobertKennedyJr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RobertKennedyJr</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/HHSGov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HHSGov</a>&#8216;s Report on Gender Dysphoria — the most extensive US report on the topic she is an alleged specialist in, authored by our nation’s top health agency.
Krikorian, the AMA’s choice-expert calls it “politically… <a href="https://t.co/IzlR5v71cq">pic.twitter.com/IzlR5v71cq</a>
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1960779407041421645?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Paquette ended the conversation with Krikorian by suggesting that they could possibly have a future call to discuss the HHS report in more depth. 
“At this point the AMA is now indistinguishable from other leftist activist organizations like the Human Rights Campaign or the ACLU. They don’t engage in science,” Shapiro said. “They’re not interested in protecting patients. They are a lobbying arm for quacks and a mouthpiece for leftists who prey on children.”
Paquette supports shielding kids from transgender procedures and introduced a bill in May that would have banned them in Michigan. He joined Shapiro on Wednesday to discuss his conversation with the American Medical Association and Krikorian.
The more he pushed back on transgender ideology, the more Paquette said he was told to “trust the experts.”
“A lot of folks said, ‘well, you’re not a doctor Brad,’ even though I talked to a lot of them. And ‘well the AMA supports this,’ and so I went to the AMA. I started to talk to their experts and came to find that they have no idea what they’re talking about,” Paquette said.
He said he wants to expose the “no understanding, no grounding in evidence-based medicine”
WATCH THE FULL CONVERSATION: 
<iframe loading="lazy" title="The AMA’s Dr. Jesse Krikorian on “Gender Affirming Care”" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vjKIkqdVlEs?start=1&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

MixCollage-27-Aug-2025-12-52-PM-8956

LEAKED FOOTAGE: Top Med Org’s Trans ‘Expert’ Claims Toddlers Have ‘Stable’ Sense Of Gender Identity

American Medical Association

medicine

The Ben Shapiro Show

An Illinois medical school that rakes in millions of taxpayer dollars operates a gender clinic that peddles suspect treatments to minors.
The Southern Illinois University School of Medicine has been <a href="https://taggs.hhs.gov/Detail/RecipDetail?arg_EntityId=PlNjsfJ%2FhuFyRnIQqjoNjQ%3D%3D">issued</a> nearly $3 million in federal funds this year and received another $6.4 million in 2024. The school <a href="https://www.siumed.edu/centers-family-medicine">owns</a> and <a href="https://www.siumed.org/treatment/gender-equity-and-transgender-clinic">operates</a> a the Gender Equity and Transgender Clinic, which offers “gender affirming hormone therapy” and provides referrals for the surgical removal of breasts and other genital surgeries.
“The clinic provides trauma-informed, gender-affirming health care services to transgender and gender-diverse individuals,” the clinic’s <a href="https://www.siumed.org/treatment/gender-equity-and-transgender-clinic#Services_offered">website</a> says. “The team values each individual person and their unique needs and characteristics.”
The website also claims that puberty blockers and cross-sex homes can be reversed, but should be administered to “give a child time to decide what treatments are right for them in addressing their gender presentation moving forward.”
“Puberty blockers are not permanent. When they are stopped, puberty continues normally,” the website says. 
Dr. Jared Ross, a senior fellow with Do No Harm, told The Daily Wire that the claims about puberty blockers being reversible were “absurd.” He said that there was data showing that bone density, especially in the hip and spine, were permanently decreased because of the procedures. 
“Puberty doesn&#8217;t just continue normally,” he said. “There are only so many years of pubertal development. And if you interfere with puberty during that time, you don&#8217;t get to make it up later.  Those are lost years of growth and development.”
The clinic also claims that putting men on estrogen and women on testosterone causes “changes in the body that would reverse upon stopping the treatment.”
Ross said that cross-sex hormones will often cause changes that don’t reverse. For example, men on estrogen will develop breasts and have body fat redistribution while females on testosterone will often have changes to their voice that can’t be undone.
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine takes millions in federal funding every year. This year, the school has taken $1.2 million in National Institutes of Health funding and $2.5 million in Health Resources and Services Administration funding. 
Sample grants <a href="https://taggs.hhs.gov/Detail/RecipDetail?arg_EntityId=PlNjsfJ%2FhuFyRnIQqjoNjQ%3D%3D">awarded</a> from 2025 include $1.6 million to fund its health center as a whole and specific funds to research topics like opioids, behavioral health, and drug abuse. 
Since 2009, the institution has taken at least $3.6 million per year in grant funding. 
<div id="attachment_947763" style="width: 2585px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-947763" class="size-full wp-image-947763" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-10.23.31%E2%80%AFAM.png" alt="" width="2575" height="1072" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-10.23.31%E2%80%AFAM.png 2575w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-10.23.31%E2%80%AFAM-300x125.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-10.23.31%E2%80%AFAM-1024x426.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-10.23.31%E2%80%AFAM-768x320.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-10.23.31%E2%80%AFAM-1536x639.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-10.23.31%E2%80%AFAM-2048x853.png 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2575px) 100vw, 2575px" />USASpending.gov</div>
The SIU Family Medicine Center, where the gender clinic is housed, is also a Federally Qualified Health Center, a designation that allows it to take money from Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. 
In January, President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-children-from-chemical-and-surgical-mutilation/">directed</a> his cabinet to take “appropriate steps to ensure that institutions receiving Federal research or education grants end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children.” The administration has since pressured hospital officials across the country to stop performing transgender procedures on children. 
Southern Illinois School of Medicine did not respond to requests for comment on how many minor patients it has in the gender clinic or whether it has been impacted by the executive order.
The clinic also promote a series of radical activist organizations, including one group that distributes free “trans needles” on the basis of race. 
The <a href="https://transneedles.org/">organization</a>, Trans Needle Exchange, is a “mail-based service providing free HRT needle supplies for trans folk who cannot access or afford their own.” Currently, the organization only sends needles to transgender-identifying people who are black. 
There are two separate Google request forms on the organizations’ website: one for black people, and one for everyone else. The form for black people says that it is “for BLACK TRANS FOLKS ONLY” and asks what kind of needle supplies are needed. The form also has checkbox where you can mark if you are black. 
<div id="attachment_947775" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-947775" class="size-full wp-image-947775" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-16-Jul-2025-11-00-AM-3932-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1280" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-16-Jul-2025-11-00-AM-3932-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-16-Jul-2025-11-00-AM-3932-300x150.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-16-Jul-2025-11-00-AM-3932-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-16-Jul-2025-11-00-AM-3932-768x384.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-16-Jul-2025-11-00-AM-3932-1536x768.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-16-Jul-2025-11-00-AM-3932-2048x1024.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />Trans Needle Exchange</div>
The form for white people currently doesn’t allow anything to be filled out, but says, “we are currently on hiatus and not taking new submissions.”
Point of Pride, another<a href="https://www.pointofpride.org/free-femme-shapewear"> organization</a> promoted by the clinic gives out free “chest binders” devices to compress the female chest to make it more masculine and distributes so-called “femme shapewear.”
A third organization promoted by the clinic is <a href="https://translifeline.org/microgrants/gender-affirming-hair-removal/">Trans Lifeline</a>, which give grants for transgender-identifying people to pay for hair removal — 60% of which are reserved for black people.
The clinic also promotes WPATH, a radical organization that has promoted transgender procedures on kids. A review from the Department of Health and Human Services condemned the reliance of many American health care providers on WPATH.
The gender clinic also notes that it is partnered with the Transgender and Gender Diverse Wellness and Equity Program, operated by the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago. 
A previous Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/med-school-caught-rejecting-white-and-asian-applicants-with-better-scores-than-minorities-it-accepts">report</a> revealed that the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine admits black and Hispanic students with lower average MCAT scores and GPAs than the average scores of white and Asian students it rejects despite the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action.

A girl holds the Transgender Pride flag during the pride

Taxpayer-Funded Medical School Promotes ‘Reversible’ Puberty Blockers For Kids

Illinois

Freedom of speech has won a decisive victory in Australia. On Tuesday, a Melbourne tribunal <a href="https://adfinternational.org/news/free-speech-victory-in-australia-for-billboard-chris-as-x-post-censorship-overturned">overturned</a> the Australian government’s censorship order against Canadian street advocate Chris “<a href="https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&amp;rls=en&amp;q=support+billboard+chris+adf+international&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;oe=UTF-8">Billboard Chris</a>” Elston for an X post critical of gender ideology.
Back in 2024, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner had ordered X to remove Chris’ post, claiming it constituted “adult cyber abuse” under the country’s Online Safety Act. The post linked to a Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13119521/Sex-secrets-trans-kinky-Australian-bondage-bestiality-nudism-drugs-sex-change.html">article</a> about a WHO appointee and referred to the individual using biologically accurate pronouns. No threats. No private information. Just public facts and an opinion the government didn’t like. X initially resisted, but eventually geo-blocked the post in the country while filing its own appeal.
Billboard Chris, who travels the world engaging in conversations exposing the truth about gender ideology prompted by his wearable signs, refused to bow down to the order. With legal support from ADF International and the Human Rights Law Alliance, he challenged the eSafety Commissioner, and won in a decisive victory not just for himself, but for everyone who values the right to speak freely.
The Administrative Review Tribunal found what should have been obvious from the beginning — the post wasn’t intended to cause harm, wasn’t likely to be seen by the complainant, and was consistent with Chris’s well-known public message — namely, that children are never born in the wrong body. It ruled clearly that this did not constitute a form of abuse and revoked the takedown order.
The Tribunal recognized what the eSafety Commissioner refused to acknowledge, which is that this isn’t about harassment of any kind. The protection of Chris’ expression is about upholding the basic right to participate in a public conversation, one that touches on some of the most urgent questions of our time. To silence that conversation under the guise of “cyber abuse” is both intellectually dishonest and dangerous.
The absurdity of the government’s case was exposed in the hearing itself. Chris had merely reposted a widely read article that included publicly available information about the transgender activist appointed to a WHO panel of “experts” — information the activist had willingly shared on social media. Instead of defending public transparency, the government claimed those details were irrelevant and demanded censorship.
<h3><a href="https://get.dailywire.com/freedom/">JULY 4 SALE: Get Six Months Of DW+ Free</a></h3>
The Tribunal’s written decision was clear: “The post, although phrased offensively, is consistent with views Mr Elston has expressed elsewhere in circumstances where the expression of the view had no malicious intent. For example, his statement placed on billboards that he is prepared to wear in public ‘children are never born in the wrong body’ expresses the same idea about the immutability of biology that he expresses, albeit much more provocatively, in the post”. Further, it held that, “an ordinary reasonable person would not conclude that that it is likely that the post was intended to have an effect of causing serious harm to Mr Cook”.
This case is about more than just one post or even one country’s speech laws. Not only will this decision likely shape future enforcement decisions, but also Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has just been <a href="https://x.com/k_mahlburg/status/1939872951895302531">named</a> in a U.S. congressional investigation for colluding with foreign governments and corporate cartels to suppress speech worldwide — including in the United States. The U.S. House Judiciary Committee <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/2025-06/Exporting%20Censorship%20Final.pdf">released</a> a 100-page report detailing how Grant worked with GARM — a World Economic Forum-linked advertising consortium — to push platforms like X into silencing disfavored views. She demanded global takedowns of lawful content. She participated in pressure campaigns against X after Musk’s takeover. And she allowed so-called “brand safety” coalitions to influence her regulatory decisions.
This is coordinated censorship. The report lays out how GARM and other WEF-affiliated coalitions, working with officials like Grant, sought to blacklist voices they disagreed with under the pretense of maintaining a “safe” internet. In reality, they were constructing a global censorship machine — one that’s ideologically aligned, politically unaccountable, and willing to cross borders to silence dissent. Billboard Chris&#8217; case is living proof of what this looks like.
If the Tribunal had sided with the Commissioner, it would have emboldened this aggressive censorship campaign and reinforced the idea that a government can suppress the speech of any person on any platform, even beyond traditional jurisdictional boundaries. And make no mistake — that’s exactly what the eSafety Commissioner and its allies are trying to do.
Fortunately, Billboard Chris’ free speech victory is a warning to the censors. He stood up to a system designed to silence him, and he won. But the same people trying to censor speech in Australia are working to do the same everywhere else. 
On the same day of Chris’ victory, the European Union took a significant step toward strengthening online censorship, beefing up its censorial Digital Services Act by enforcing the accompanying &#8220;Code of Conduct on Disinformation&#8221;. The DSA enables Brussels bureaucrats to control online speech at scale — both in Europe and globally — under the guise of “safety” and “protecting democracy”. Platforms that fail to remove content ambiguously deemed “illegal” face massive financial penalties and even suspension. Coupled with the framework’s approach to “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “hate speech,” the DSA could lead to the sweeping removal of online content.
Threats to free speech online are evidently immense and growing, but Billboard Chris’ successful challenge shows that this tide can be turned. Courageous individuals, armed with principle and the law, can stand up to the censorship industrial complex — and win. And their victories protect not just their own speech, but those too who would come after them. Others must be emboldened by the lead of this Canadian father and vigilantly defend against censorship if we are to see free speech prevail.
* * *
Robert Clarke is a barrister and director of advocacy for ADF International, which coordinated the legal defense of Billboard Chris in Australia. Follow him on X at <a href="https://x.com/Rob_ADFIntl?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">Rob_ADFIntl</a>
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

MixCollage-07-Apr-2025-01-02-PM-8595

A Blow To Global Censorship: ‘Billboard Chris’ Wins In Australia

A Blow To Global Censorship: 'Billboard Chris' Wins In Australia

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

Australia

Censorship

European Union

Free Speech

Social Media Censorship

On December 4, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in the case for Tennessee Senate Bill 1. Today, the highest court in the land has spoken — and it got it right.
In a decision that will now set precedent throughout the entire country, the Supreme Court has upheld Tennessee’s right to protect our children from irreversible and unproven medical procedures under the guise of “gender-affirming care.” This is not just a victory for Tennessee, but for every state in the country seeking to preserve its duty to protect minors.
In today’s political climate, it’s more clear than ever that the Left has resisted so much that they now champion the mutilation of children. In their America, biology and truth are optional and children are subject to permanent, life-changing procedures.
Back in 2023 after Matt Walsh and the team at the Daily Wire uncovered disturbing details about so-called “gender affirming” care in our state, we said enough is enough. Now, two years later, that law was just affirmed by the United States Supreme Court.
To allow children – who cannot vote, get a tattoo, or enlist in the military – to permanently alter their bodies in the name of &#8220;affirming them” is not compassion, it’s exploitation.
As a State Senator, I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and protect Tennesseans – that’s why my colleagues and I passed this legislation. With this historic ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States – with Tennessee right by their side – took a stand and made a bold statement: our country will not stand by while children are preyed upon for profit.
Tennessee has become a haven for families fleeing the Left-wing chaos in blue states. Families are moving here seeking common sense and stability that frankly does not exist anymore in areas of our country. With this Supreme Court ruling, Tennessee continues leading the nation and solidifying itself as a state with a backbone and the interest of children in mind.
This ruling is more than a legal win; it’s the start of a cultural shift in our country. The Supreme Court has decided that states can make decisions for the people through their duly elected representatives – especially on matters as serious as the health of our children.
A day like today wouldn’t be possible without the remarkable dedication and fight from our outstanding Attorney General, Jonathan Skrmetti. His conviction and commitment to the rule of law are why we are celebrating this milestone. While some Attorneys General chase headlines, General Skrmetti chases justice.
President Trump’s recent executive orders — protecting women’s sports and restoring a biologically based definition of sex across federal agencies — are major victories for conservatives and for common sense. Today’s Supreme Court decision is another powerful affirmation of truth and actual leadership. I’m deeply encouraged by President Trump’s bold stand on this issue and pray his administration continues to lead with courage and conviction.
This historic decision gives new found hope and strength to every state bold enough to push back on these policies that prioritize money over children’s safety. The Supreme Court has only affirmed what we know all along: Senate Bill 1 is lawful, necessary, and is now the law of the land. This is only the beginning, Tennessee.
***
Jack Johnson represents Senate District 27 which consists of Williamson County. Jack Johnson serves as the Tennessee Senate Majority Leader.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Supreme Court

SCOTUS Says Tennessee Can Protect Kids From Trans Procedures. Other States Should Follow Our Lead.

gender-affirming care

Hospitals

Matt Walsh

minors

SCOTUS

Skrmetti

Tennessee

As the human costs of selling “gender-affirming care” en masse continue to rack up, the zeitgeist has decidedly shifted against activist organizations like the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Only a few short years ago, the tenets of the HRC were considered an indispensable part of the conversation for any politician or corporation looking to claim the mantle of ‘inclusivity.’ 
“History will be brutal to those responsible [for gender ideology]. But almost certainly not brutal enough,” <a href="https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/will-big-trans-be-held-to-account-3ad">wrote</a> Andrew Sullivan last year, in a withering assessment of how sharply the cultural tides turned on the extremes of the transgender movement. He’s right. Sullivan’s <a href="https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/will-big-trans-be-held-to-account-3ad">assessment</a> of the HRC now seems far more descriptive of many Americans’ perspective: a “morally bankrupt institution … using the scarred bodies of gender-dysphoric children to fundraise.”
But what’s to be our tactical response to organizations like the Human Rights Campaign, who focus much of their efforts on pressuring private companies to adopt radical activist agendas to avoid being deemed bigoted? The significance of the gender ideology debate is only growing — and the tides have mercifully turned away from narratives like the HRC’s, and back toward sanity and normalcy, President Trump’s recent executive <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-just-dealt-a-massive-death-blow-to-gender-ideology" target="_blank" rel="noopener">order</a> being one such example. It’s a huge win for the public sector — but how bad is it in the private sector, where activists have been hard at work implementing gender ideology for years?
It’s bad. The incursion of gender ideology into the workplace is perhaps most obvious in the healthcare sector. When it comes to the Human Rights Campaign, and their requirement that companies cover puberty blockers as part of their healthcare plans for a perfect score on their Corporate Equality Index, many of the biggest names in healthcare have bent the knee. <a href="https://www.hrc.org/resources/corporations/walgreen-co." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Walgreens</a>, <a href="https://www.hrc.org/resources/corporations/unitedhealth-group-inc." target="_blank" rel="noopener">UnitedHealth Group</a>, <a href="https://www.hrc.org/resources/corporations/novo-nordisk-inc." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Novo Nordisk</a>, <a href="https://www.hrc.org/resources/corporations/mckesson-corp." target="_blank" rel="noopener">McKesson</a>, and many more have perfect scores on the Index — in the absence of any information to the contrary, they’ve complied with activist demands and allowed gender ideology into their corporate policies.
And that’s not even addressing companies like AbbVie (a company my firm’s currently engaging with), that dodge scrutiny regarding the off-label use of their products as puberty blockers. Dodging scrutiny is a common pattern when it comes to the extent of corporate participation in the radical demands of gender ideology — but it’s a pattern we have the ability to break.
There’s no solution aside from a full-court press when it comes to corporations that kowtowed to gender ideology. The notion of ‘gender-affirming care,’ be it hormone blockers, cosmetic procedures, or sex ‘reassignment’ surgeries, performed on literal children, many of whom were not properly informed about the irreversible risks of their choices, is no longer culturally in vogue — and it’s a damnable shame that it ever was. Now is the moment to retake culture ground for sanity and morality in corporate healthcare policy. Shareholders and customers alike need to leverage their various influences to push companies who are involved with the Human Rights Campaign, or accepted WPATH guidelines, for answers: now that the most radical narratives of gender ideology have crumbled in the face of scrutiny, isn’t it far past time for the biggest names in business to ditch such discredited activist groups?
We cannot, and will not, settle for half-answers or dodgy responses. The tragic and irreversible bodily damage done to generations of Americans in the name of inclusivity and affirmation will one day be viewed as one of the great moral stains of the past century. In the name of good governance, business success, and the basic morality of not mutilating children to appease activist demands, it’s time for companies to not merely right the course on ‘gender-affirming care,’ but recommit to the path of political neutrality and activist-free corporate policies to ensure that such widespread corporate complicity can never happen again.
* * *
Isaac Willour is an award-winning journalist focusing on race, culture, and American conservatism, as well as a corporate relations analyst at Bowyer Research. His work has been featured at outlets including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Opinion, C-SPAN, and The Daily Wire. He is a member of the Young Voices contributor program and can be found on X <a href="https://twitter.com/IsaacWillour" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@IsaacWillour</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Dow Jones Average Falls Steeply, As Investors Doubt Future Interest Rate Cut After Surprise Jobs Report

Corporations That Pushed Gender Ideology Owe America An Explanation

Corporations

Human Rights Campaign

Opinion

The question of ‘how America’s biggest brands caved to political activists’ is one with a thousand different answers, from specific turning points like the post-George Floyd <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-fate-of-the-racially-furious" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DEI-ification</a> of the Fortune 250 to the gradual, institutional, <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/09/business-roundtables-failure-to-redefine-corporations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">redefinition</a> of business purpose via the term ‘stakeholder capitalism.’ Yet, as companies from Black &amp; Decker to Tractor Supply are saying no to corporate politicization, there are several major actors standing in their way, well-funded and properly entrenched organizations who’ve made destroying fiduciary duty their full-time mission. Perhaps the most effective of these actors? The Human Rights Campaign.
Formed in 1980, the HRC is one of the most prominent LGBTQ activist organizations in the country, and currently serves to advance a partisan, progressive agenda through the corporate policies of America’s most prominent brands. It does so through what’s called the Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a list of criteria that determine how worthy a corporation is of the ever-changing vacuous label of inclusive. What does a company have to do in 2024 to be considered perfectly inclusive? As per a recent HRC <a href="https://hrc-prod-requests.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/2023-CEI-Criteria-Toolkit-FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">criteria list</a>, the truly inclusive company provides employees with features such as: 
<ul>
<li>Health coverage for ‘medically necessary’ care for hormone replacement therapy, reconstructive gender reassignment surgeries </li>
<li>Puberty blockers for youth</li>
<li>Executive performance measures that include LGBTQ+ diversity metrics</li>
<li>Supplier diversity programs with special emphasis on LGBTQ+ suppliers</li>
</ul>
You’ll notice all of these have very little to do with confronting any real workplace bias, and even less to do with creating value for businesses and their shareholders, unless you truly believe that any business that doesn’t provide puberty blockers for children is actually transphobic. The increasing radicalism of the Human Rights Campaign’s business-scoring index, combined with the rhetoric of its leaders, increased media scrutiny, and pushback from the pro-shareholder side of the corporate world, led many brands to reevaluate their partnership with the activist organization. As the HRC declared 2023 a “state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people,” it would actually be the year that several big names decided to turn the page on the Index and the organization’s divisive, partisan, and non-business goals.
Fast forward to the present day, and the number of companies that have made public statements denouncing wokeness is only increasing: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tractor-supply-reverses-course-backs-out-of-woke-initiatives-following-conservative-backlash" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tractor Supply</a>, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/john-deere-is-latest-company-to-diminish-dei-says-it-wont-join-social-or-cultural-awareness-parades" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Deere</a>, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/08/28/dei-backlash-hits-ford/74982898007/">Ford</a>, <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2024/09/16/stanley-black-decker-nukes-corporate-diversity-robby-starbuck-craftsman-dewalt/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stanley Black &amp; Decker</a>, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/04/molson-coors-pumps-the-brakes-on-dei-practices.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Molson Coors</a>, and the list goes on. From a certain POV, this is an absolute conservative win: discriminatory DEI policies gone, a renewed focus on business purpose instead of employee groups based on racial/gendered characteristics, and in many cases a severing of ties with the Human Rights Campaign (Tractor Supply, Ford, and Black &amp; Decker, for example, explicitly said they would no longer partner with the group). Victory lap time?
Not so fast—corporate wokeness didn’t come about overnight, and it’d be naive to assume that it’d go away that quickly. Nor did the Human Rights Campaign take this slight lying down. HRC president Kelley Robinson slammed the decision as “short-sighted,” and the group made a very public show of <a href="https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/hrc-foundation-announces-record-participation-in-upcoming-2025-corporate-equality-index-docks-scores-of-seven-companies-in-current-ranking-following-their-pullback-from-workplace-inclusion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">demoting</a> the Index scores of 7 companies (Ford, Molson Coors, Tractor Supply Co., John Deere, Lowe’s, Harley-Davidson and Brown-Forman).
<h3><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH&#8217;S &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a></h3>
But then the HRC rolled out their next strategy, setting up anonymous tip lines for employees to document (1) experiences of discrimination and (2) what internal “inclusive” policies still existed at companies who’d ditched their partnership with the HRC. It’s a clever tactic—take inclusive policies behind closed doors, away from the prying eyes and meddlesome hands of shareholders and customers radical enough to believe that providing puberty blockers is not, in fact, an essential business function. But it also accomplishes a second objective that, for those of us combatting corporate bias, is similarly concerning: it allows companies to publicly back away from DEI to appease the anti-woke voices at their front door, whilst smuggling the same policies through the backdoor.
The HRC’s open scolding of companies that ditch wokeism highlights a final tactical lesson in the fight against business politicization: When ESG activists stop getting what they want from businesses, they stop pretending to be pro-business. As I <a href="https://x.com/IsaacWillour/status/1842022380643688486" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> on X several weeks ago, “People who actually care about businesses succeeding don&#8217;t solicit anonymous, non-verifiable &#8216;tips&#8217; on them. But the HRC does &#8211; they&#8217;re activists… with no incentive to preserve actual business function.” 
As someone in the trenches of the fight against ESG, the organizations and people pushing for political neutrality in business are doing it from a pro-business perspective. Of course they are — they’re investors and shareholders, who see the mavericks of the free enterprise system as good things, not convenient stepping stones for achieving radical social goals. The battle for political neutrality, shareholder primacy, and business success is one that extends beyond the election cycle. It behooves us, whether shareholders or investors or customers, to fight that battle with a realistic sense of scope. The activists we’re up against have spent years and countless sums of money to pressure businesses away from their fiduciary goals. We’re not getting rid of them overnight.
* * *
Isaac Willour is a corporate analyst at Bowyer Research, the leading shareholder-first proxy consulting firm. He is an award-winning journalist and political commentator, with work in outlets including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, C-SPAN, RealClearMarkets and the Daily Wire. He can be found on X at <a href="https://x.com/IsaacWillour">@IsaacWillour</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Tractor Supply Co.

How Left-Wing Activists Are Trying To Save Corporate Wokeness

Business

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

LGBTQ

Woke Culture

Chicago Public Schools push kids toward “hardcore queer theory” in health <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/education" target="_blank" rel="noopener">education</a> classes, according to a new report on the district from parental rights group Parents Defending Education.
With all eyes on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/chicago" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chicago</a> for the Democratic National Convention, Parents Defending Education released a <a href="https://defendinged.org/incidents/chicago-public-schools-health-education-scope-and-sequence-includes-teaching-pre-kindergarteners-to-correctly-identify-body-parts-typically-considered-private-including-nipples-penis-anus-an/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> on Wednesday showing that first graders are taught about “gender identity” while fifth graders are instructed about “puberty blocker medications that transgender young people may use.”
Parents Defending Education researcher Rhyen Staley told The Daily Wire on Thursday that Chicago Public Schools&#8217; “Personal Health and Safety Education &amp; Sexual Health Education Scope and Sequence” <a href="https://www.ray.cps.edu/ourpages/auto/2024/3/3/28410632/Scope%20_%20Sequence%20of%20Sexual%20Health%20Education%20SY24.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">curriculum</a> appears to be designed toward pushing kids to question their gender.
&#8220;You can start to see the process where they just slowly inch the kids and nudge the kids in the direction of hardcore queer theory,” he said. “That’s why by the time you get to fifth grade, you see that they are starting to teach the kids about transgenderism and puberty blockers.”
When looking at the curriculum as a whole, Staley said that it was a “generative process that slowly moves” the students toward queer theory.
For example, pre-K students are taught to “name at least three different types of family structures” and explain “why no one type of family is better than another.”
First graders are then taught to “define gender, gender identity and gender role stereotypes” and “name at least two things they’ve been taught about gender role stereotypes, and how those things may limit people of all genders.”
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1724211156439000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2-L2DitSaIUj5wz8v0bgxx">Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you.</a>
In third grade, students are told to “explain the difference between sex assigned at birth and gender identity.” Students are also told to “expand their understanding of what it can mean to be transgender and the concept of gender expression.”
The curriculum defines “transgender” as “when a person’s gender identity (how they feel) is different from what doctors/midwives assigned to them when they were born (sex assigned at birth).”
The gender ideology is turned up a notch in fourth grade, where men are referred to as a “body with penis and testicles” while women are referred to as a “body with ovaries.”
They are taught the concepts of “gender identity, sexual orientation, sex assigned at birth, and gender expression” and given a handout on the “gender snowperson&#8221; to teach them about &#8220;gender expression&#8221; and &#8220;gender identity.&#8221;
By fifth grade, students in the system began to be taught about “puberty blockers,” which have been linked to myriad health issues, including fertility problems, lack of bone development, and heart issues. They are taught about the “connection between puberty and gender identity&#8221; and are &#8220;introduced to puberty blocker medications that transgender young people may use.”
The focus on gender ideology comes as only 31% of elementary students in the district are proficient in reading and 19% in math.
&#8220;When we talk about developmentally inappropriate content soaked in left wing ideology, Chicago Public Schools provides the perfect example,” said Erika Sanzi, the director of outreach for Parents Defending Education. &#8220;No one, regardless of their grade level, should be taught that sex is assigned at birth because that is pseudoscience. And talking to fifth graders — also known as ten- and eleven-year-olds — about puberty blockers? What exactly is the goal here? All of it is reckless and indefensible.&#8221;

School Bus Driver Shortage Complicates Beginning Of School Year

Report Shows Chicago Public Schools Pushing Kids Toward ‘Hardcore Queer Theory’

Chicago

Democratic National Convention

Education

Public Schools

U.S.

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/united-kingdom">British</a> high court on Monday upheld Britain&#8217;s ban on puberty blockers, hormonal drugs frequently given to pubescent children who express discomfort with their biological gender.
The judge noted puberty blockers were found to have “very substantial risks and very narrow benefits” by the Cass review, the landmark <a href="https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> commissioned by England&#8217;s National Health Service (NHS).
Transgender medical interventions on children are based on “remarkably weak evidence,” and young people have been caught up in a “stormy social discourse,” Justice Beverley Lang said in her ruling.
Last summer, the NHS issued an emergency ban on puberty blockers after the Cass review recommended halting the powerful drugs due to their effects on brain development and bone health.
“Outside of a research setting, puberty-suppressing hormones should not be routinely commissioned for children and adolescents,” the NHS said at the time.
A group called TransActual, along with an unnamed youth, sued over the government&#8217;s decision, <a href="https://transactual.org.uk/blog/2024/03/12/transactual-statement-on-nhs-englands-decision-to-stop-commissioning-puberty-blockers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">calling</a> it a &#8220;cruel new element of the war on trans youth.&#8221;
With Monday&#8217;s decision, however, the ban will remain in place.
“Children’s healthcare must be evidence-led,” said Health Secretary Wes Streeting, welcoming the ruling. “We must therefore act cautiously and with care when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people.”
However, Streeting added that he is setting up a clinical trial to establish the evidence on puberty blockers.
&#8220;I want trans people in our country to feel safe, accepted, and able to live with freedom and dignity,&#8221; he said.
Both puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones come with serious health risks. Puberty blockers can <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gender-dysphoria/in-depth/pubertal-blockers/art-20459075">affect</a> bone growth and density and cause sexual dysfunction, voice damage, and infertility, among other issues. Cross-sex hormones, which can be estrogen or testosterone can <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/transgender-young-people-in-u-s-have-nearly-doubled-recently-report-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cause</a> infertility, deadly blood clots, heart attacks, increased cancer risks of the breasts and ovaries, liver dysfunction, worsening psychological illness, and other serious conditions.
The Cass review also warned that children who are referred to gender services come with high rates of abuse and neglect, including sexual abuse and parental substance abuse.
England and several other European countries, such as Finland and Sweden, have pumped the brakes on transgender medical interventions for children.
In April, the Tavistock clinic, England’s only youth gender identity clinic, officially closed its doors after being dogged by controversy for years.
The clinic, the biggest in the world, <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/health/2024/03/inside-the-collapse-of-the-tavistock-centre" target="_blank" rel="noopener">referred</a> thousands of children for puberty blockers. In its last years, Tavistock began to see an increasing flood of young girls with gender-related distress asking for drugs despite having other mental issues like depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and histories of abuse.
At least 25 U.S. states have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nebraska-supreme-court-upholds-bans-on-abortion-transgender-surgeries-for-minors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> restrictions on transgender surgeries and hormone treatments for minors.

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