Chloe Cole, a detransitioned 18-year-old woman, announced the first official lawsuit in the U.S. against the hospital and affiliated medical group that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/detransitioner-chloe-cole-announces-intent-to-sue-kaiser-permanente-for-experimental-hormones-and-surgery">facilitated her medical transition</a> as a minor. 
<a href="https://libertycenter.org/cases/chloe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Center for American Liberty</a>, along with the Dhillon Law Group and LiMandri &amp; Jonna LLP, have filed a lawsuit against the Permanente Medical Group, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, alleging medical negligence in providing chemical and surgical sex change interventions to Chloe Cole when she was a minor between the ages of 13-16.
“Chloe’s family sought medical treatment for her at Kaiser,&#8221; said Harmeet K. Dhillon, attorney and CEO of the Center for American Liberty. &#8220;Her physicians and other medical professionals violated the first norm of the profession, the Hippocratic Oath, when, instead of caring for her and providing medically competent diagnoses and treatment, they permanently disfigured her for profit.&#8221;
&#8220;What happened to Chloe at Kaiser should never happen to any child in America, and the Center for American Liberty is committed to protecting children like Chloe,” Dhillon added.
Despite receiving a Notice of Intent to Sue on November 9, 2022, the defendants neglected to respond for over 90 days, which left Cole with &#8220;no choice but to seek justice from a court of law,&#8221; the press release states. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants coerced Cole into pursuing irreversible chemical and surgical interventions between the ages of 13 and 16 while &#8220;concealing less invasive treatments and by lying to her about her condition.&#8221;
A press conference was held in front of Kaiser Gender Pathways Clinic in Oakland, California, on Thursday afternoon — the same clinic where Cole received part of her treatment as a minor. Cole, alongside Dhillon, gave an impassioned speech accusing Kaiser of &#8220;victimizing thousands of children&#8221; with &#8220;Mengele-style experiments.&#8221;
&#8220;I was fifteen when you cut into my body, ripped out my breasts and stitched me back up like I was your rag doll,&#8221; Cole charged. &#8220;You are on the wrong side of history and will always be remembered as child butchers.&#8221;
&#8220;Once I announced my intention to seek justice, I have not stopped receiving call after call, email after email, of parents and patients that have been harmed by these same practices, some of them even were butchered in the same building I was,&#8221; she added.
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Charles LiMandri, a partner at LiMandri &amp; Jonna LLP, believes that Cole was a victim of &#8220;ideological and profit driven medical abuse&#8221; that included indoctrination into transgender ideology, the off-label use of puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones, and a double mastectomy surgery that resulted &#8220;in excruciating pain and suffering, permanent disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, and extreme emotional distress.&#8221;
&#8220;We are proud to represent this courageous young woman who is trying to help other young people from also being victimized in this horrible manner,” said LiMandri.

IMG_5634

Detransitioner Chloe Cole Announces Official Lawsuit Against Kaiser Permanente For ‘Medical Negligence’

Detransitioner Chloe Cole Announces Official Lawsuit Against Kaiser Permanente For 'Medical Negligence'

California

Courts

Lawsuit

Puberty blockers

Transgender

transgender surgery

U.S.

Proposed legislation in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/florida" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Florida</a> would hold businesses responsible for the cost of detransition care if they offer coverage for chemical and surgical sex change treatments.
<a href="https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/952" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Senate Bill 952</a>, known as the &#8220;Reverse Woke Act,&#8221; filed by Republican Senator Blaise Ingoglia on Monday, would make employers accountable for the full cost of detransition care, even if an individual has left their employment.
&#8220;Woke businesses need to be held accountable when offering to pay for gender-affirming surgeries in other states, such as California because they are nothing more than political decisions masquerading as healthcare and human resource decisions,&#8221; Ingoglia said.
Ingoglia claims the legislation aims to prevent Floridians from being &#8220;used as political pawns to advance a leftist agenda for the Governor of California,&#8221; in reference to California law SB 107 that provides legal protection for families with minors who travel to California for chemical and surgical sex change services.
The proposed bill applies to employees who receive health insurance coverage through their employer, including any individual, partnership, corporation, or association with at least two employees.
Under the bill, if an employer provides coverage for gender dysphoria treatment, defined as any “surgery, hormone replacement therapy, or any other procedure or treatment that assists persons with gender dysphoria in transitioning to their self-identified gender,” the employer must also cover the full costs associated with treatments to reverse the treatment.
The bill outlines that if an employee, who has undergone gender dysphoria treatment through their employer&#8217;s insurance coverage, determines later that the treatment was not suitable for them, they are entitled to full coverage by their employer for the total costs of reversing the gender dysphoria treatment. This applies regardless of the employee&#8217;s current employment status with the employer.
In short, the proposed legislation requires employers to cover the costs of reversing any gender dysphoria treatment or gender transition treatment that an employee receives through their employer-provided health insurance.
Under the proposed legislation, patients who initiated gender transition outside of Florida can still request coverage for the treatment, provided they received the initial treatment while being insured by their employer. If the employer refuses to comply with this requirement, the employees have the right to take legal action to recover the costs and damages from the employer who fails to comply with the law.
The enforcement of the &#8220;Reverse Woke Act&#8221; is yet to be determined, and if approved by the Florida state legislature, it would go into effect on July 1. In August, the state <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pediatric-medical-body-subpoenaed-to-provide-florida-with-documentation-on-child-sex-change-policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">adopted rules</a> that prohibit Medicaid coverage of elective sex change treatments. In November, the Florida Board of Medicine and Board of Osteopathic Medicine <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/florida-medical-boards-vote-to-ban-medical-transition-for-minors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">voted to ban</a> chemical and surgical sex change services for minors statewide.

scalpel

Florida Introduces ‘Reverse Woke Act’ That Would Force Employers To Cover Detransition Care

Florida

Health

Senate

An op-ed article in The New York Times has expressed support for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jk-rowling" target="_blank" rel="noopener">J.K. Rowling&#8217;s</a> views on transgender issues, following the publication of two open letters on Wednesday alleging the paper&#8217;s past coverage of child sex changes was biased against transgender people.
The New York Times published an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/opinion/jk-rowling-transphobia.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">op-ed</a> titled &#8220;In Defense of J.K. Rowling&#8221; by columnist Pamela Paul one day after nearly 200 of the newspaper&#8217;s contributors signed a joint <a href="https://nytletter.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> accusing The New York Times of &#8220;anti-trans bias&#8221; and aligning their views with &#8220;far-right hate groups,&#8221; which was followed by a <a href="https://www.glaad.org/new-york-times-sign-on-letter-from-lgtbq-allied-leaders-and-organizations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second letter</a> led by LGBT advocacy group GLAAD and signed by activists and public figures.
&#8220;Our journalism strives to explore, interrogate and reflect the experiences, ideas and debates in society — to help readers understand them. Our reporting did exactly that and we&#8217;re proud of it,&#8221; said Charlie Stadtlander, a spokesman for the Times, adding that on the subject of transgender issues, the consideration that went into their reporting was done &#8220;deeply and empathetically.&#8221;
The New York Times has found itself embroiled in a heated debate on transgender issues after publishing articles in recent months that attempted to take a fair and balanced approach on the subject of pediatric social and medical transition.
Backlash from the reporting culminated in two open letters that were published on Wednesday, one from 200 New York Times staff and contributors to Philip B. Corbett, associate managing editor for standards at the Times, and the other from GLAAD, an LGBT advocacy organization, signed by celebrities and activists.
The first letter accused the paper of “editorial bias” in its reporting on &#8220;transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming people,&#8221; while the second letter accused the NYT of &#8220;irresponsible, biased coverage of transgender people.&#8221; The signatories of the GLAAD letter include several campaign groups, along with celebrities including Jameela Jamil, Lena Dunham, Gabrielle Union, Judd Apatow, and Tommy Dorfman.
A few of the &#8220;problematic&#8221; articles the letters mentioned were Emily Bazelon’s &#8220;The Battle Over Gender Therapy,&#8221; &#8220;When Students Change Gender Identity and Parents Don’t Know&#8221; by Katie Baker, and &#8220;How to Make Sense of the New L.G.B.T.Q. Culture War&#8221; by Ross Douthat.
The publication of the pro-Rowling article indicates that The New York Times is still willing to share a range of opinions on the debate, despite criticism. In her op-ed, Paul argued that the abuse faced by the author of the &#8220;Harry Potter&#8221; series is unfounded and that her statements do not qualify as transphobic. She denounced Rowling&#8217;s detractors as a &#8220;noisy fringe of the internet and a number of powerful transgender rights activists and L.G.B.T.Q. lobbying groups.&#8221;
Paul argues that Rowling is not disputing the existence of gender dysphoria and has never voiced opposition to allowing adults to transition under evidence-based medical care, but her defense of biological women&#8217;s spaces, skepticism of self-declared &#8220;gender identity,&#8221; and support for detransitioners and feminist scholars have been interpreted by some as &#8220;transphobic.&#8221;
Paul references the new <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/the-witch-trials-of-jk-rowling" target="_blank" rel="noopener">podcast</a>, &#8220;The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling,&#8221; set to launch next week by Megan Phelps-Roper, a former member of the notorious Westboro Baptist Church, which includes nine hours of interviews with Rowling that explore her views and the backlash faced by the author.
Paul argues that those who accuse Rowling of punching down against her critics ignore the fact that she is sticking up for those who have silenced themselves to avoid job loss, public vilification, and threats to physical safety that other critics of recent gender orthodoxies have suffered.
“The pushback is often, ‘You are wealthy. You can afford security. You haven’t been silenced.’ All true. But I think that misses the point,&#8221; Rowling says in the podcast. &#8220;The attempt to intimidate and silence me is meant to serve as a warning to other women” with similar views who might want to have their opinions heard.

“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald” UK Premiere – Red Carpet Arrivals

New York Times Publishes Op-Ed Defending J.K. Rowling’s Trans Views Amid Accusations of Anti-Trans Bias

New York Times Publishes Op-Ed Defending J.K. Rowling's Trans Views Amid Accusations of Anti-Trans Bias

Gender Pronouns

JK Rowling

Media

New York

New York Times

United Kingdom

The U.K.&#8217;s largest pediatric gender clinic has been accused in a new book of medicalizing teens with comorbidities, including more than a third of patients who showed signs of &#8220;moderate to severe&#8221; autism.
The <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tavistock-gender-clinic-puberty-blockers-nhs-investigation-fh7pngj0v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">book</a>, &#8220;Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children&#8221; by BBC Newsnight journalist Hannah Barnes, alleges that the the Tavistock Clinic, an NHS facility in the U.K. officially called the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), ignored evidence that 97.5% of children seeking chemical and surgical sex reassignment services had autism, depression, or other problems that may have explained their unhappiness. 
“Some staff feared they could be unnecessarily medicating autistic children,” Barnes wrote.
After conducting over 100 hours of interviews with clinicians and patients during research for the book, Barnes found that staff at the facility sought to push a pro-transgender policy and, as one whistleblower put it, treated children who might not have been transgender as “collateral damage.”
 According to the book, former staff said many children, including those with neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and ADHD, were unnecessarily prescribed drugs and even surgery. The book reports that less than 2% of children in the U.K. have an autism spectrum disorder, but approximately 35% of GIDS referrals “present with moderate to severe autistic traits.” 
Children and adolescents on the autism spectrum are disproportionately represented among the large, newly emerging cohort of children claiming to be transgender. Over the past 10 years, there have been at least <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zhanavrangalova/2017/11/15/growing-evidence-for-a-link-between-gender-dysphoria-and-autism-spectrum-disorders/?sh=6e3f4479153e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nine studies</a> connecting Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and transgender identities. Rates of autistic traits in these studies range from 5% to 54% among those with gender dysphoria, significantly higher than among the general population.
Some researchers believe the percentage of young girls with autism who believe they’re experiencing gender dysphoria is actually higher, and that many females who have autism go undiagnosed. Up until recently, autism was considered a “boy’s diagnosis,” affecting males-to-females by a ratio of 4-to-1. Experts now believe that girls’ autistic traits present differently, which may require a separate diagnostic criteria to detect. 
A recent <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35204992/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> published in 2022 used a mathematical model to predict the true male-to-female ratio, which they estimated as being closer to a 3-4 ratio. The study notes, “Eighty percent of females remain undiagnosed at age 18, which has serious consequences for the mental health of young women.”
Similar concerns among Tavistock staff were raised about unnecessarily medicating children who were gay. In 2012, GIDS surveyed adolescents who were referred to the clinic about their sexuality and found that over 90% of females and 80% of males identified as same-sex attracted or bisexual. As a result, some clinicians, including Anastassis Spiliadis, believed that GIDS was effectively providing &#8220;conversion therapy for gay kids,&#8221; and there was even a dark joke circulating amongst the team that there would be &#8220;no gay people left at the rate GIDS was going.&#8221; Barnes reports that when gay clinicians expressed their concerns to those in charge, they were dismissed as being too close to the work and therefore not objective. The clinic has disputed this claim. 
According to the book, children as young as 10 were referred to the clinic for a prescription of puberty-blocking drugs after as little as 20 minutes of consultation, and others were referred without adequate investigation of co-occurring psychiatric conditions. A social worker Barnes interviewed estimated that as few as “2 or 3%&#8221; of children treated at the clinic would have stayed transgender for life if they had not been given the controversial drug therapy.
Children referred to GIDS were ten times more likely than the national average to have a registered sex offender as a parent, while 42% had lost a parent through death or separation, and 70% had more than five “associated features” such as anxiety, depression, abuse, self-harm, bullying, eating disorders, or suicide attempts.
Barnes reports that some staff at GIDS felt that children who would have reconciled themselves with the bodies they were born with were being denied that chance by the use of drugs. Dr. Anna Hutchinson, a senior clinical psychologist at GIDS, stated that the service quickly began to &#8220;accept everyone.&#8221;
Although puberty blockers were intended to give children &#8220;time to think&#8221; about whether they wanted to transition fully, Dr. Hutchinson realized that almost all of them ended up taking cross-sex hormones such as testosterone and estrogen, which have irreversible effects. When she recognized this, it was a “holy f***” moment for her.
“Because what are the chances of 100% of people, offered time to think, thinking the same thing?&#8221; said Dr. Hutchinson. &#8220;If the service was getting this wrong, it was getting it wrong with some of the most vulnerable children and young people.” She now believes that “some of those kids would not have identified as trans had they not been put on the medical pathway.”
“Of course, that doesn’t mean to say that identifying as trans is a bad outcome,” she added. “But what is a bad outcome is creating a cohort of people who are medically dependent who’d never needed to be. And not only medically dependent, but perhaps — we don’t yet know — medically damaged.”
She now describes GIDS as “scandalous in its negligence and scale.”
Barnes also chronicled how the transgender charity Mermaids put huge pressure on the clinic to refer children for drugs at a younger age and to recommend surgery. One clinician said they would be “absolutely attacked by Mermaids for just trying to stop and think with children.”
In the wake of a highly critical interim report in February 2022 by Dr. Hilary Cass, a highly respected pediatrician who was brought in by NHS England to examine the clinic, it was announced that the Tavistock will close this spring. Dr. Cass&#8217;s conclusion was that services were “not a safe or viable long-term option” and a &#8220;fundamentally different service model&#8221; was required.

NHS Gender Identity Development Service In London To Close

U.K.’s Largest Pediatric Gender Clinic Ignored Autism Connection In Teens Seeking Sex Changes, New Book Claims

Tavistock Ignored Autism Connection In Teens Seeking Sex Changes, New Book Claims

Gender Identity

Social Issues

World

Five adults who formerly identified as transgender and sought medical transition services argue the process was &#8220;mutilation.&#8221;
A new <a href="https://damaged.dailycaller.com/optin1675083880633" target="_blank" rel="noopener">documentary</a> from The Daily Caller, “Damaged: The Transing of America’s Kids,” features the stories of five detransitioners who were harmed by sex reassignment hormones and surgeries. The 56-minute film includes commentary from a gender-affirming doctor and a renowned expert on transsexualism.
“This documentary details the abuse that minors and adults suffered at the hands of a medical establishment that seemingly couldn’t care less about the outcomes of these people so long as their pockets are adequately lined,” said Chrissy Clark, a journalist for The Daily Caller who conducted the interviews and produced the film. 
“‘Damaged’ gives an insight into stories that are suppressed and underreported by mainstream news outlets,” Clark added.
“Damaged” follows the stories of Chloe Cole, who chemically and surgically transitioned as a teenager; Abel Garcia, Cat Cattinson, and Xandra, who sought medical transition services in early adulthood; and Walt Heyer, a man who spent much of the 1980s living as a transgender woman.  
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/detransitioners-medically-harmed-by-gender-affirming-care-speak-in-favor-of-tennessee-ban" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Abel Garcia</a>, 25, was introduced to gender ideology through YouTube, which made him question whether he was male or female. Garcia felt that he didn’t measure up to other boys growing up, and he noted the added pressure of the “machismo” culture of his Mexican heritage contributed to his belief that he might be transgender. 
At 19, during his first appointment with a gender therapist, Garcia was “affirmed” as a transgender woman and provided with a letter of support to seek medical interventions. He spent several years taking estrogen and presenting as a woman, which ultimately led to him obtaining breast augmentation surgery.
Garcia said he realized he made a mistake just three months following his breast implant procedure and recounted that when he told his therapist he planned to detransition, she tried to talk him out of it. Now he suffers from urinary tract problems and genital atrophy as a result of hormone therapy.
Xandra, now 31, decided to transition when she was 18 years old after she was introduced to gender ideology through YouTube influencers. As a lesbian, she thought she would be happier living as a boy and was prescribed testosterone without ever seeing a therapist. 
“I wish the doctor had stopped me, I wish they had required therapy – because I need a lot of it,” admitted Xandra, who opened up about being sexually assaulted by a teenage relative when she was 4 years old. Now married to her spouse Sara, the two plan to homeschool their future children out of concern that activist teachers may try to indoctrinate them. 
Walt Heyer, who spent eight years living as a transgender woman in the 1980s, has authored several books and articles about his experience detransitioning and now coaches people through the detransition process. Heyer believes that unresolved issues like childhood trauma and sexual abuse may lead some people to want to change genders. His own experience being sexually molested by a non-blood relative when he was a child led to his realization that he was not a woman, but was simply trying to escape his male identity.
Heyer said that the current “affirmative” model of care is “medical malpractice” and “child abuse.” He believes that if people struggling with gender distress seek therapy that does not “affirm” their chosen trans-identity, but instead helps them understand why they feel the way they do, they will no longer reject their bodies. The widespread adoption of transgender identities has less to do with gender and more to do with a “broken identity,” he explained.  
Heyer revealed that 70-80% of the clients he coaches show traits of autogynephilia, a paraphilic disorder in which a male becomes sexually aroused by the thought of himself as a female. “So it’s a sexual arousal disorder, it’s not transgenderism,” said Heyer. 
Chloe Cole was 11 when she was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/detransitioner-chloe-cole-gives-powerful-testimony-against-gender-affirming-care-at-white-house" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduced</a> to gender ideology on social media, which led to her self-identification as a transgender boy at 12 years old. She was 13 when she was prescribed puberty blockers and testosterone, and received a double mastectomy to remove her breasts at 15, all at the behest of “gender affirming” medical professionals. 
Cole said it was a psychology and child development course she took when she was 16 that caused her to realize she regretted her transition. 
“I had a lesson on maternal bonding and that was the first time I really thought about being a parent and what that might look like for me,” said Cole. “There was a big emphasis on breastfeeding, not only as the means of feeding your child but it’s also the way mothers bond with their children. After finding this out, I felt like a monster. I felt like I took something away from my future children, and I knew I would never be able to get that back. It shook me.”
She now experiences complications from the double mastectomy and is concerned she may not be able to have children. When she reached out to her surgeon, Cole said he was dismissive of her and gave her advice that seemed to worsen the complications.
“That was one of my many experiences with a doctor or a therapist that has made me lose all my trust in my healthcare providers,” said Cole. In November 2022, she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/detransitioner-chloe-cole-announces-intent-to-sue-kaiser-permanente-for-experimental-hormones-and-surgery" target="_blank" rel="noopener">submitted</a> a letter of intent to sue Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, the hospital that facilitated her medical transition.
“If I were to go back in time to speak to the girl that I was, I would say ‘Just wait. I know it sucks but it only gets better from here. This distress is not forever,’” Cole reflected.
Cat Cattinson was introduced to gender ideology when she was 13 and is grateful now that her parents did not affirm her male transgender identity at the time. When she was 17, her parents took her to a gender therapist thinking it would help resolve her distress, but instead the therapist “affirmed” her trans-identity on the first appointment. 
Cattinson was 28 when she followed through with medical transition, and she said she received a prescription for testosterone from Planned Parenthood after just a 30-minute phone call — without a blood test or mental health assessment. Cattinson said she had scheduled a double mastectomy surgery, but changed her mind after experiencing complications from testosterone, which included liver and gallbladder damage, heart palpitations, incontinence, and a permanent change to her voice.
“Almost none of this was brought up as potential side effects,” said Cattinson. “Taking high amounts of cross-sex hormones is a lot riskier for your health than just any other psychiatric medication.”
Dr. Joshua Safer, the executive director of Mt. Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery and longtime proponent of the “gender-affirming” model of care, made an appearance in the documentary. Safer co-authored <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/102/11/3869/4157558?login=false" target="_blank" rel="noopener">guidelines</a> recommending chemical and surgical sex change services for minors for the Endocrine Society in 2017, which rated its own <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-medical-groups-get-the-science-wrong-on-pediatric-gender-affirming-care" target="_blank" rel="noopener">evidence</a> in support of medical transition as “very low.”
Safer said that new patients are “taken at their word” and provided with the puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, and gender-related surgeries that they seek. 
“We take you at your word, if you come and you tell us that you are transgender and there’s nothing else going on, most people who come and tell us that they understand ‘gender identity’ and they are transgender and they are looking for treatment, that is really true and we go with that,” explained Safer. 
Safer said that mental health issues being mistaken for gender dysphoria is “mostly not a thing” – at least not that he’s encountered. He is a proponent of the theory of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/transgender-organization-cancels-publication-of-brain-sex-article" target="_blank" rel="noopener">brain sex</a>,” a belief that transgender people possess regions of the brain that resemble their “gender identity.” As a group of neuroscientists has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/no-biological-evidence-for-gender-identity-exists-group-of-scientists-researchers-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a>, studies on the “transgender brain” failed to account for important confounding variables, such as sexuality, rendering the results unreliable. 
Dr. Stephen B. Levine, a psychiatrist who has spent his career studying human sexuality and transsexuals, was able to lend his expertise in the documentary. He explained the “tsunami” of teenage girls who have adopted a transgender identity can best be explained by social contagion.  
All five detransitioners interviewed were introduced to gender ideology through some form of social contagion, which caused them to begin questioning their own gender. Additionally, Cole, Cattinson, and Garcia believe they may have undiagnosed Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism without an intellectual impairment. When asked, they all agreed that fast-tracking children and young adults into chemical and surgical sex change procedures without proper mental health assessment is a form of “mutilation.”
“Part of the definition of mutilation is destroying the function of a body part and that’s exactly what we’re doing with these surgeries, we’re removing healthy body parts and destroying their function,” said Cattinson.
“They removed my organs,” said Cole. “Perfectly healthy functioning organs and that is mutilation.”
&#8220;Damaged&#8221; is now <a href="https://damaged.dailycaller.com/optin1675083880633" target="_blank" rel="noopener">available</a> to stream on The Daily Caller website.

Screen Shot 2023-02-14 at 11.53.31 AM

‘It Was Mutilation’: 5 Detransitioners Harmed By Medical Transition Speak Out In New Documentary

United States

A former case manager at a Missouri pediatric transgender clinic is blowing the whistle on the &#8220;morally and medically appalling&#8221; treatment resulting in &#8220;permanent harm&#8221; done to children. 
Jamie Reed, a self-described &#8220;queer&#8221; leftist woman married to a transgender man, worked as a case manager handling intake of patients at the Pediatric Transgender Center at Washington University School of Medicine at St. Louis Children&#8217;s Hospital for more than four years. In an <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/i-thought-i-was-saving-trans-kids" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exposé</a> for The Free Press, Reed confirmed all of the fears that have been raised in recent years about the fast-tracking of children into irreversible medical treatments.
&#8220;I left the clinic in November of last year because I could no longer participate in what was happening there,&#8221; penned Reed. &#8220;By the time I departed, I was certain that the way the American medical system is treating these patients is the opposite of the promise we make to &#8216;do no harm.&#8217; Instead, we are permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care.&#8221;
Reed, a St. Louis native who describes herself as &#8220;politically to the Left of Bernie Sanders,&#8221; took a job at the Transgender Center in the summer of 2018, where she was a case manager responsible for patient intake and oversight. 
&#8220;Soon after my arrival at the Transgender Center, I was struck by the lack of formal protocols for treatment,&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;The center’s physician co-directors were essentially the sole authority.&#8221;
During her four years at the Transgender Center, Reed said she noticed a significant increase in teenage girls seeking to transition to male with comorbidities such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, eating disorders, obesity, autism, or autism-like symptoms.
&#8220;Until <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/the-beginning-of-the-end-of-gender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2015</a> or so, a very small number of these boys comprised the population of pediatric gender dysphoria cases,&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;Then, across the Western world, there began to be a dramatic increase in a new population: Teenage girls, many with no previous history of gender distress, suddenly declared they were transgender and demanded immediate treatment with testosterone.&#8221; 
Reed and her colleagues recognized that the rapid increase in patients seeking transition could be a manifestation of social contagion — especially when clusters of girls arrived from the same high school — but their concerns were allegedly dismissed by the physicians. 
&#8220;Anyone who raised doubts ran the risk of being called a transphobe,&#8221; said Reed.
The process to begin medical transition, like other pediatric gender clinics all over the country, only requires a letter of recommendation from a therapist after one or two visits. Reed said the Transgender Center made this process simple with recommendations of gender-affirming therapists and offered a template letter of support. A single visit to an endocrinologist for a testosterone prescription followed. Reed came to believe that the long-term effects of testosterone, including infertility, are not fully understood by minors and that the current treatment system is failing to do no harm.
&#8220;Our patients were told about some side effects, including sterility,&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;But after working at the center, I came to believe that teenagers are simply not capable of fully grasping what it means to make the decision to become infertile while still a minor.&#8221; 
Reed detailed examples of negative physical and psychological effects experienced by patients, such as liver toxicity, vaginal laceration, and clitoral enlargement, and warned of the risk for long-term health problems from hormonal treatment like blood pressure issues, sleep apnea, and diabetes.
&#8220;But clinics like the one where I worked are creating a whole cohort of kids with atypical genitals—and most of these teens haven’t even had sex yet,&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;They had no idea who they were going to be as adults. Yet all it took for them to permanently transform themselves was one or two short conversations with a therapist.&#8221;
In 2019, Reed also become aware of an increasing number of minors who regretted their medical transition, called detransitioners. She and a colleague tried to bring attention to the issue and track the data but were met with resistance from doctors. Despite this, the author and colleague created the &#8220;Red Flag&#8221; list to track these patients. 
&#8220;We thought the doctors would want to collect and understand this data in order to figure out what they had missed,&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;We were wrong.&#8221;
Reed recalled a particularly sad case of a detransitioned teenage girl from an unstable family with a history of drug use who had undergone a double mastectomy to remove her breasts. After only three months, she regretted her decision. 
&#8220;Three months later she called the surgeon’s office to say she was going back to her birth name and that her pronouns were &#8216;she&#8217; and &#8216;her,'&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;Heartbreakingly, she told the nurse, &#8216;I want my breasts back.'&#8221;
When Reed and her colleague checked on the young girl, they found out she was pregnant. &#8220;Of course, she’ll never be able to breastfeed her child,&#8221; Reed lamented.
By the spring of 2020, Reed felt morally obligated to voice her growing concerns and began speaking up in the office and through email communications. As a result, she began receiving negative performance reviews for the first time, noting her &#8220;defensiveness and hostility&#8221; when she received direction from management. 
&#8220;Things came to a head at a half-day retreat in [the] summer of 2022,&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;In front of the team, the doctors said that my colleague and I had to stop questioning the &#8216;medicine and the science&#8217; as well as their authority. Then an administrator told us we had to &#8216;get on board, or get out.'&#8221;
Reed finally left the Transgender Center in November 2022 and decided to come forward after she felt &#8220;stunned and sickened&#8221; by comments made by Dr. Rachel Levine, the transgender Assistant Secretary for Health at the federal Department of Health and Human Services, who said that &#8220;clinics are proceeding carefully and that no American children are receiving drugs or hormones for gender dysphoria who shouldn’t.”
&#8220;Almost everyone in my life advised me to keep my head down,&#8221; said Reed. &#8220;But I cannot in good conscience do so. Because what is happening to scores of children is far more important than my comfort. And what is happening to them is morally and medically appalling.&#8221;
In a <a href="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0717/7420/8276/files/Jamie_Reed_s_Letter_to_the_AG.pdf?v=1675903809">letter</a> prepared for Missouri’s attorney general, Reed outlined the rapid medicalization of children, poor assessments of mental health prior to gender-altering treatment, lack of informed consent from parents and youth, and actual harm caused by the medical treatment. The letter also contained allegations of abuse and intimidation of parents who don&#8217;t fully support medicalization and misleading testimony before the Missouri Legislature.
&#8220;Given the secrecy and lack of rigorous standards that characterize youth gender transition across the country, I believe that to ensure the safety of American children, we need a moratorium on the hormonal and surgical treatment of young people with gender dysphoria,&#8221; Reed concluded.

syringe

‘Morally And Medically Appalling’: Gender Clinic Case Manager Blows The Whistle On ‘Permanent Harm’ Done To Kids

Gender Clinic Case Manager Blows The Whistle On 'Permanent Harm' Done To Kids

Missouri

Whistleblowers

Young adults who formerly identified as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/transgender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transgender</a> are testifying in favor of banning the chemical and surgical treatments for minors that medically harmed them.
Tennessee lawmakers are closer than ever to banning the practice of child sex change procedures in the state. The bill, <a href="https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0001" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SB 0001</a>, which would bar the use of puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, and gender-related surgeries on minors statewide, is quickly moving forward through various committees and is on its way to becoming law, with the help of <a href="https://tnga.granicus.com/player/clip/27434?view_id=759&amp;redirect=true&amp;h=c791494fa998173c0b146b6f92ade319" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testimony</a> from detransitioners.
&#8220;As a detransitioned adult I recognize the importance that civil action laws like this would provide in holding the people accountable who did this to me as a child and preventing other children from being harmed,&#8221; said Prisha Mosley.
Mosley, now 24, recalled being 15 when she was introduced to gender ideology from the transgender community and 17 when she was prescribed a &#8220;high dose&#8221; of testosterone. The following year, Mosley received a double mastectomy, which she described as having her &#8220;healthy breasts cut off.&#8221;
Mosley said that her myriad psychiatric conditions and trauma from a sexual assault were brushed aside as soon as she &#8220;uttered the word gender.&#8221;
&#8220;My therapist even attested that all of my problems were caused by being &#8216;born in the wrong body,’” said Mosley. &#8220;This wasn&#8217;t true, but I was medicalized anyway.&#8221;
Mosley described the &#8220;zapping pain&#8221; she feels on her chest, where two large scars remain, and the side effects from long-term testosterone treatment including having disproportionately large shoulders which cause her pain, hair loss on her head, unwanted hair growth on her body, a sore throat and voice she can no longer raise, and muscle and joint aches.
&#8220;I decided that I did not want to be a woman before I had ever gotten to be one,&#8221; said Mosley. &#8220;I was a little girl, now I will never know what it is fully like. I fully support a bill that protects youth from the undeniable harm caused by so-called &#8216;gender affirming care.’”
The state Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, held on Tuesday, only permitted one speaker in favor of the bill and three against it, each with 3 minutes to speak. Abel Garcia, a detransitioned man who had flown from Texas to testify, was not given the opportunity to speak, but <a href="https://twitter.com/OfficialAbelG/status/1623112678238560256?s=20&amp;t=fe6v2jfzUNwhnySaSDeTlg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> a clip of his prepared statement on social media.
&#8220;Looking at today&#8217;s climate, I am very worried and concerned because if I, as an adult, was led astray by the medical system and those who were supposed to help me, what hope do children have today?&#8221; said Garcia, who chemically and surgically transitioned as a young adult and now experiences urinary tract problems and genital atrophy as a result of hormone therapy.
Those testifying against the bill included a wealth of misinformation in their prepared statements, including the <a href="https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/pediatric-gender-medicine-and-the" target="_blank" rel="noopener">debunked narrative</a> that failing to affirm a child&#8217;s transgender identity with medical treatments increases the risk of suicide.
Studies that claim &#8220;trans&#8221; youth are at elevated risk of suicide are commonly compared with average mentally healthy teenagers, which is deeply misleading. When researchers <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33165650/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">compared</a> &#8220;trans&#8221; youth with teens suffering from similar mental health problems, there was little difference in suicide rates between the groups.
One of the speakers, Kathy Sinback, the executive director of the Tennessee chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), threatened to sue the state if the law succeeded in getting passed.
Senator Jack Johnson, who co-authored the bill, was able to clear up some of the misinformation before the vote was taken. The state Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill with a 7-2 vote on Tuesday, which proceeded to the state House Health Committee on Wednesday.
Two weeks ago, the Senate committee <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tennessee-legislators-move-ban-on-child-sex-changes-forward" target="_blank" rel="noopener">heard</a> from an 18-year-old detransitioner from California, who supported the ban on pediatric medical transition.
“From the very beginning, the doctors were negligent,” said <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/detransitioner-chloe-cole-announces-intent-to-sue-kaiser-permanente-for-experimental-hormones-and-surgery" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chloe Cole</a>, who is permanently scarred from having a double mastectomy surgery to remove her breasts at 15.
“They treated me as if I were an adult who was capable of making informed lifelong decisions that would affect every area of my life — from socialization and relationships to sexual function and my ability to have children.”

IMG_5395

Detransitioners Medically Harmed By ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ Speak In Favor Of Tennessee Ban

LGBTQ

Politics

Tennessee

Finland&#8217;s leading expert on pediatric gender medicine says &#8220;four out of five&#8221; children will grow out of their gender confusion. 
Dr. Riittakerttu Kaltiala, the chief psychiatrist at Tampere University, Finland&#8217;s largest pediatric gender clinic, recently had an <a href="https://www-hs-fi.translate.goog/tiede/art-2000009348478.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&amp;_x_tr_tl=en&amp;_x_tr_hl=en&amp;_x_tr_pto=wapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview </a>with the country&#8217;s top newspaper about her reluctance to recommend surgical and chemical sex change services for minors who identify as transgender.
Dr. Kaltiala explained that while it is &#8220;important to accept the child as they are,&#8221; it is also necessary to recognize that it is common for children to strongly identify with the opposite sex at some point in their lives, but four out of five children who identify as transgender will grow out of it during puberty.
&#8220;That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s wise to monitor the situation, give the child peace of mind and treat the family&#8217;s anxiety and possible related problems,&#8221; said Dr. Kaltiala.
Finland is considering a gender self-ID law for adults, and Seta, a transgender activist group, is pushing for the law to apply to minors. Dr. Kaltiala, who has evaluated hundreds of children and adolescents experiencing gender confusion, argues that the age limit should not be lowered. 
Dr. Kaltiala said it is common for young people to experiment with &#8220;different identities&#8221; and be &#8220;prone to suggestion.&#8221; She believes that in adolescence, the construction of identity is just underway and the final outcome is not known. According to Dr. Kaltiala, changing a legal sex marker in youth is not a simple formality, but a strong psychological and social intervention that guides the development of a young person. She said that this kind of intervention sends the message that this is the &#8220;right path&#8221; for the young person. 
Dr. Kaltiala said that when she began her work, cases of &#8220;gender identity&#8221; issues among children and young people were scarce. However, since 2015, the number of patients has risen tenfold, and the profile of the patient population has shifted.
Previously, most patients were young boys struggling with gender distress, but now the majority of Dr. Kaltiala&#8217;s patients are biological girls in their teenage years. Additionally, three out of four of her patients also struggle with significant mental health issues.
Transgender advocacy groups like Seta frequently rely on the debunked <a href="https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/pediatric-gender-medicine-and-the" target="_blank" rel="noopener">affirm-or-suicide</a> narrative to lobby for early medicalization of childhood gender dysphoria. 
Dr. Kaltiala calls the notion that hormone treatments and legal gender recognition for minors are urgently needed due to increased suicide risk &#8220;purposeful disinformation&#8221; and &#8220;irresponsible.&#8221; Suicidal thoughts and behavior in young people with &#8220;gender identity&#8221; issues are related to concurrent psychiatric disorders, not just &#8220;unaffirmed&#8221; gender, she explained.
&#8220;Mentally healthy young people who experience their gender in a way that differs from their biological body are not automatically suicidal,&#8221; said Dr. Kaltiala.
In a large Swedish study, suicide mortality significantly increased among adults who received sex-change treatments, and a Finnish study found that the mental health of many minors who received hormonal care deteriorated.  
&#8220;Therefore, it is not justified to tell the parents of young people experiencing transgenderism that the young person is at risk of suicide without corrective treatment and that the danger can be countered with gender reassignment treatment,&#8221; says Dr. Kaltiala. She recommends not beginning medicalization before adulthood.
Regarding the dominance of the suicide discourse, Dr. Kaltiala noted that adults who claim to have benefited from chemical and surgical sex change services have a desire to help children and young people, but lack the understanding that &#8220;a child is not a small adult.&#8221; 
In its statement to the Social and Health Committee, the Finnish Pediatric Society said that gender self-ID should not be extended to minors.
Finland, like <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/swedens-new-pediatric-treatment-guidelines-ditch-gender-affirming-medication-for-psychotherapy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sweden </a>and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/englands-national-health-service-abandons-gender-affirming-model-of-care" target="_blank" rel="noopener">England,</a> has conducted systematic reviews of the available evidence on pediatric medical transition, as has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/florida-medical-boards-vote-to-ban-medical-transition-for-minors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Florida’s Boards of Medicine</a>, with each concluding that the risks far outweigh any benefits. This resulted in the closure of prominent gender clinics, strict restrictions on the use of cross-sex hormones, and banning gender-related surgeries for minors. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/italian-psychological-association-expressed-great-concern-over-puberty-blocking-drugs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Italy</a>, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-data-reveals-pediatric-gender-clinic-referrals-in-australia-have-skyrocketed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australia</a>, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/spains-medical-societies-revolt-against-proposed-transgender-law" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Spain’s</a> medical bodies have also recently raised similar concerns.
Meanwhile, U.S.-based medical groups have used poor evidence to support their positions and have refused to conduct systematic reviews. Instead, they have “devoted themselves to promoting deeply flawed and ideologically driven research,” <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/gender-transistions-school-to-clinic-pipeline" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Leor Sapir, a Manhattan Institute fellow who wrote his Ph.D. <a href="https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:108948" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dissertation</a> on the rapid proliferation of the “transgender rights movement.”
In the U.S., children are put in the driver’s seat of their own sex change operations despite the fact that a body of <a href="http://www.sexologytoday.org/2016/01/do-trans-kids-stay-trans-when-they-grow_99.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research</a> indicates that roughly 60–90% of children who identify as transgender, but who do not socially or medically transition, will no longer identify as transgender in adulthood, and many will grow up to be gay and lesbian adults. The “gender-affirming” model of care discourages therapy that could help minors feel more comfortable in their bodies and instead provides puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries, to “affirm” minors in their chosen trans identity.
&#8220;The interview highlights just how out of step the U.S. medical establishment is with its European counterparts on pediatric gender medicine,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/LeorSapir/status/1620448056444588033?s=20&amp;t=Czhgt_ntXXXjdCHFsFn7xw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Sapir. &#8220;Doctors and medical groups in Finland have been willing and able to stand up to activists, including within their own ranks.&#8221;

Hand holding syringe with covid vaccine

Finland’s Leading Gender Dysphoria Expert Says 4 Out Of 5 Children Grow Out Of Gender Confusion

Finland's Leading Gender Dysphoria Expert Says 4 Out Of 5 Children Grow Out Of Gender Confusion

Finland

Medical Research

The U.S. has more lenient policies on chemical and surgical sex change services for children than any European country, according to a new report.
A new <a href="https://donoharmmedicine.org/research/2023/reassigned/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">policy review</a> by medical watchdog group, Do No Harm, found that the United States utilizes the least amount of child safeguarding pertaining to medical transition services when compared with 11 European countries.
&#8220;Overall, our policy review reveals the United States is the most permissive country when it comes to the legal and medical gender transition of children,&#8221; the report concluded.
The study analyzed the laws of European nations and concluded that the United States provides greater legal and medical access to gender transition services for children, such as gender clinics, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries, in some cases without parental consent.
In the United States, the majority of states have laws that necessitate the consent of a parent or guardian before puberty blockers can be prescribed to children, starting as young as eight years old. However, Oregon is an exception as it allows anyone 15 or older to access puberty blockers without the need for parental consent.
The study highlights that in many European countries, puberty blockers are not available without parental consent until the age of 18. However, with parental consent, they can be obtained at 16 years old. In contrast, Sweden permits access to puberty blockers with consent at the age of 12, Finland at 13, while Denmark and Ireland allow it at 15.
The review of 11 progressive Western and Northern European nations reveals that they almost entirely restrict the use of cross-sex hormones until age 16, following psychotherapy sessions. In contrast, children in America can receive cross-sex hormones at the age of 13, or even younger in clinical trials.
European countries do not permit surgeries for minors without parental consent due to the policies set by the national health care systems in place. According to the review, every Western and Northern European country except for one prohibits gender-related surgeries for minors until they reach the age of 16 or, more commonly, 18. The United States has <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36248210/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">documented cases</a> of minors as young as 12 receiving surgeries to remove their breasts.
In contrast to Europe, where there are only one to three clinics for trans-identified youth, the U.S. has an excess, with over <a href="https://www.segm.org/ease_of_obtaining_hormones_surgeries_GD_US" target="_blank" rel="noopener">60 pediatric gender clinics</a> and at least 300 other clinics or medical offices providing chemical and surgical sex change treatments to minors.
Do No Harm&#8217;s chairman, Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/01/30/even-progressive-europe-wont-go-as-far-as-america-in-child-transgender-treatments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that radical gender ideology is to blame for the United States&#8217; departure from the growing international consensus. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/swedens-new-pediatric-treatment-guidelines-ditch-gender-affirming-medication-for-psychotherapy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sweden</a>, <a href="https://www.segm.org/Finland_deviates_from_WPATH_prioritizing_psychotherapy_no_surgery_for_minors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Finland</a>, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/englands-national-health-service-abandons-gender-affirming-model-of-care" target="_blank" rel="noopener">England</a> have conducted the necessary evidence reviews, as has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/florida-medical-boards-vote-to-ban-medical-transition-for-minors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Florida’s Boards of Medicine</a>, with each concluding that the risks of pediatric medical transition far outweigh any purported benefits. This resulted in the closure of prominent gender clinics, strict restrictions on the use of cross-sex hormones, and banning of gender-related surgeries for minors.
&#8220;The evidence supports such caution,&#8221; Goldfarb <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/01/30/even-progressive-europe-wont-go-as-far-as-america-in-child-transgender-treatments/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">penned</a> in a New York Post article, co-written by child psychiatrist Dr. Miriam Grossman. &#8220;There’s an extremely high likelihood — confirmed by almost a dozen studies — that childhood-onset gender incongruence will resolve on its own by adolescence or adulthood.&#8221;
&#8220;And the sudden rise of transgender identification in youth, especially teen girls, has occurred too fast to properly study, rendering it too new to properly understand, much less medicalize,&#8221; he added.
Do No Harm recently launched a new <a href="https://donoharmmedicine.org/gender-ideology/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">initiative</a>, &#8220;Protecting Minors from Gender Ideology,&#8221; to educate both policymakers and the public on the &#8220;disastrous consequences of the unproven and often harmful practice known as &#8216;gender-affirming care.’”

Disposable sterile syringe with drop of fluid medication on thin needle on violet background. Macro photography with copy space. Demonstrating very peri – color of 2022 year

New Report Finds U.S. More Lenient On Child Sex Changes Than European Countries

Europe

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Biden administration</a> has been asked to produce documentation on why it supports chemical and surgical child sex change treatments.
The Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA) is seeking information from the Biden administration on its policies related to gender transition and &#8220;gender-affirming&#8221; care. The AHCA submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) asking for documents on the Biden administration’s transgender health care policies.
The agency is currently a defendant in a lawsuit over a state rule that prohibits Medicaid funds from being used for &#8220;gender-affirming&#8221; care, which includes hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery.
According to documents <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2023/01/31/florida-ahca-doj-hhs-gender-dysphoria-ron-desantis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reviewed</a> by The Daily Caller, the AHCA is seeking information not only about the Medicaid lawsuit, but also about the state&#8217;s guidance for the treatment of children with gender dysphoria and the state&#8217;s accepted medical standards for treating gender dysphoria. The documents reportedly state that sex reassignment procedures lack evidence of being effective treatments for gender dysphoria, especially for children.
The AHCA requested records from the DOJ related to a March 31, 2022, letter from Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke to all state attorneys general, urging states to comply with the Biden administration&#8217;s priorities on transgender rights and treatment regulations. The agency also requested records from HHS about a March 2, 2022, notice on gender-affirming care and civil rights, which threatened legal action against entities that discriminate against transgender individuals.
The AHCA also requested records on any ongoing or pending litigation related to gender dysphoria and any communications with the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, or the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. The state of Florida recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pediatric-medical-body-subpoenaed-to-provide-florida-with-documentation-on-child-sex-change-policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">won a ruling</a> from a district court ordering the AAP to turn over documents explaining why it supports gender transitions for minors after the state subpoenaed several organizations for documents on their gender dysphoria policies last month.
The order was the latest development in the case, brought by transgender rights groups with the backing of the medical groups and Yale that are suing Florida, arguing its ban on Medicaid covering sex change treatments violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction against the Medicaid ban, but the request was <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/12/florida-medicaid-ban-transgender-treatments-00061500" target="_blank" rel="noopener">denied</a> in October. Judge Robert Hinkle ruled that the ban did not violate constitutional rights, but instead would be determined by the Medicaid statute.
In the United States, children are put in the driver’s seat of their own sex change operations, despite the fact that a body of <a href="http://www.sexologytoday.org/2016/01/do-trans-kids-stay-trans-when-they-grow_99.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research</a> indicates that roughly 60–90% of children who identify as transgender, but who do not socially or medically transition, will no longer identify as transgender in adulthood and many will grow up to be gay and lesbian adults. The “gender-affirming” model of care discourages therapy that could help minors feel more comfortable in their bodies and instead provides puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries to “affirm” minors in their chosen trans-identity.
Despite the emerging <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/poll-nearly-80-of-voters-oppose-transgender-procedures-on-minors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> that Americans are reluctant to cosign onto medically transitioning minors, President Biden has repeatedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-slammed-over-trans-remarks-democrats-are-officially-and-proudly-pro-mutilation-for-minors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">doubled down</a> on allowing minors full access to medical interventions and chastised Republican-led efforts to limit access to chemical and surgical child sex change treatments, calling the GOP “immoral.”

President Biden Meets With Business Leaders To Discuss Covid Response

Florida Requests Internal Documents From Biden Administration On Child Sex Change Policies

Biden Admin

In an age of rising anxiety and depression in teens, the last thing they need is to be told their problems can be resolved by becoming the opposite sex. What they need is to be heard, given compassion and help to dig deep into their pain. 
We live in a world that wants to put every problem in a box, fix it and move on. As physicians we are anxious to give concrete help and I often feel this way. There are so many ailments that we don’t completely understand and often we just write a prescription. 
This isn’t because we don’t care, but we do fall into the same trap as parents and counselors. We hate to see kids hurt, so we do our best to give any help — even if it’s a band aid. But now we’ve walked into dangerous territory. When kids come to us and say they are gender confused or dysphoric, we are too quick to advise a dangerous solution — medical transition.
Dr. Diane Ehrensaft, director of the University of California San Francisco’s Mental Health Department, said, “Parents say to us, ‘what do you really know about the long-term effects of puberty blockers? Who has really studied the children over 20 years?&#8217; We say: &#8216;That’s what we plan to do.’”
Gender dysphoria is a complex issue. I fear taking children down the road of “fixing” their dysphoria with hormones and/or surgery will deepen their angst.
Several years ago, a young boy I had seen since he was a baby came to me saying he wanted to transition to a girl. He was confused and depressed and it was getting worse. He wore camouflage pants, sparkly nail polish, and one half of his hair was buzzed while the other half was long. My heart sank, because I could list the reasons he was depressed and one of them was not desiring to be a girl.
He grew up as the oldest of four kids. When his mom and dad divorced, two of the younger kids struggled with the divorce, so he stepped in to “parent” them. His dad was a drug addict and sold drugs out of his home during the days and nights his kids stayed with him.
“I would hear men’s voices in the living room after we went to bed. I cringed. They were using drugs. Some of them would say weird things about sex and I was terrified they would come in one of our rooms and hurt my sisters.”
As the years went on, he kept going to his dad’s because the court said he had to. His mother knew this was going on but was too afraid to confront her ex-husband for fear that he might become violent. She met a boyfriend and he moved in. “He hated us” my patient said. “We never liked being around him because he was mean.”
This went on for years. He would often cry when he came into my office and we spent countless hours talking.
By the time he was 12, he came in to see me and his mother came along. She did most of the talking. 
About halfway through the appointment she said, “We need to call him Clare now, Dr. Meeker. He wants to transition to a girl and we fully support that.” From my experience, parents are frequently the ones to push for gender transition, believing they&#8217;re genuinely helping their kids.
I stared at my patient. He looked empty. 
“We’re taking him to U. Michigan to the gender transition clinic,” stated his mother.
I tried hard to get them to wait. “We need to treat his depression aggressively before we consider this,&#8221; I said. 
I also cited research: A 30-year-long study from Sweden showed that 10 years after reassignment, transgender patients were 19 times more likely to die from suicide. And those transitioning from male to female are higher risk.
My pleas failed. He went to the University of Michigan and here is what he told me happened. He was interviewed for two hours by therapists and then spent one hour with a physician. Then, he came home with the first round of puberty blockers. I felt sick. I had known this boy for 12 years and they talked to him for three hours and began the process of changing the trajectory of his life.
This is happening all over the country. Health care workers are well-intentioned. The problem is, they don’t know these kids. They give them a ‘fix’ because they are anxious to help. But giving kids growth hormones to stop puberty doesn’t help.
There is a plethora of data arising on the harmful effects of transitioning children. Researchers, Irene Ericksen and Stan Weed from The Institute for Research and Evaluation meticulously reviewed hundreds of papers on it. Here is <a href="https://institute-research.com/pdf/Transgender_Research--5_Questions_for_Parents_%26_Policymakers_%28IRE%209-26-22%29.pdf">a summary</a> of what they found:
First, “Scientific evidence has not shown that cross-sex medical treatments are beneficial to children or adolescents. The research making these claims is not scientifically liable. In fact, there is evidence of harmful impact. Consequently, a growing number of scientific agencies do not recommend such treatments. Instead, they recommend counseling and watchful waiting for gender confused youth.”
I want to be clear. We are not denying that children with gender dysphoria have legitimate feelings and desires. What we must do is fastidiously examine our response to these feelings.
Second, many parents and practitioners fear that if gender confused children aren’t transitioned, they are more likely to commit suicide. The mantra, ‘it’s better to have a transitioned child alive than one who wasn’t, dead.’
Fear is a powerful motivator and I get it. But, as the study states, “Research does not show that medical gender transition is necessary to prevent suicide. In fact, there is evidence that medical transition procedures may increase risk of suicide in gender confused teens.”
Even if you are a staunch advocate of gender transition in kids, there is powerful evidence to at least pause. Empathetically embrace the child and help him/her with his/her feelings.
Third, many believe that if kids aren’t allowed to transition, they will live with gender confusion for the rest of their lives. This isn’t true. “Research shows gender dysphoria in children usually goes away on its own by young adulthood, if transition is not encouraged. This avoids the harmful effects of cross-sex medical interventions.”
Fourth, “Scientific evidence indicates that the causes of gender dysphoria are complex. Social and cultural factors have significant influence on whether a young person will identify as transgender.&#8221;
The research goes on and on. Here’s the bottom line: There is enough evidence from the most respected institutions around the world that the real and long-term effects of transitioning kids is still unknown. Therefore, it is completely unreasonable to put puberty blockers into children to transition them. Changing a child from male to female or female to male is very serious business.
An article in the prestigious European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry states, “Empirical evidence concerning the psychosocial health outcomes after puberty suppression and gender-affirming medical intervention of adolescents is scare.” This alone is justification for not giving puberty blockers. Realize too, that the hormones: growth hormone, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone are not approved by the FDA for use in transition. This is sobering.
The best response we should give to children who claim gender dysphoria is: wait. 
Understand and empathize. Talk to the kids. Tell them why gender transition is not a treatment that should be done on children. If they still want to undergo the transition when they are 25, they will be the ones to decide. But teenagers are completely incapable of making such a life-changing decision. As adults, we must step in and stop such a serious process.
Meg Meeker, M.D., has spent more than thirty years practicing pediatric and adolescent medicine and counseling teens and parents. Dr. Meeker is a fellow of the National Advisory Board of the Medical Institute, an associate professor of medicine at Michigan State School of Human Medicine, and a best-selling author.
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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Here’s The Best Thing Adults Can Tell Kids Who Claim ‘Gender Dysphoria’

Here's The Best Thing Adults Can Tell Kids Who Claim 'Gender Dysphoria'

Children

Readers Pass

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tennessee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tennessee</a> lawmakers are one step closer to banning the practice of child sex change procedures in the state.
The bill, <a href="https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0001" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SB 0001</a>, which would ban pediatric medical transition in Tennessee, is quickly moving forward after having passed a Senate committee with an 8-1 vote on Wednesday. It is now headed to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
&#8220;From the very beginning, the doctors were negligent,&#8221; said <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/detransitioner-chloe-cole-announces-intent-to-sue-kaiser-permanente-for-experimental-hormones-and-surgery" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chloe Cole</a>, an 18-year-old detransitioner from California, who is permanently scarred from having a double mastectomy surgery to remove her breasts at 15. &#8220;They treated me as if I were an adult who was capable of making informed lifelong decisions that would affect every area of my life — from socialization and relationships to sexual function and my ability to have children.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.newschannel5.com/news/bill-restricting-gender-affirming-care-among-minors-nudged-forward-in-tennessee-legislature" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According</a> to local news station NewsChannel 5, the committee, held in Cordell Hull in Nashville, was met with a packed audience. The bill will still need to clear additional committees and the House and Senate chambers before it is reviewed by Governor Bill Lee.
Tennessee Majority Leaders William Lamberth and Jack Johnson, both Republicans, introduced the Protecting Children from Gender Mutilation Act last November, which would effectively bar doctors from prescribing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and performing gender-related surgeries on minors for the purpose of medical transition. 
&#8220;The bill would clarify that performing these medical procedures can constitute abuse,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;The bill would treat these procedures as our law treats other attempts to wound, injure or disable a child.&#8221;
The Republican leaders committed to writing the bill in September after Daily Wire host Matt Walsh released a viral video of a doctor at a Nashville university hospital referring to gender-transition procedures as “huge money makers.”
Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-vanderbilt-pediatric-gender-clinic-pausing-transgender-surgeries-on-minors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paused</a>” all gender transition surgeries on children in October after Tennessee State representatives sent a letter to VUMC officials, urging them to “halt all permanent gender transitioning surgeries on minor children.” VUMC said they have performed &#8220;gender-affirming&#8221; double mastectomy surgeries to remove the breasts of approximately five minors every year since 2018.
The reporting on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hospitals-clinics-are-promoting-services-to-gender-nonconforming-kids-here-are-47-of-them" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pediatric gender clinics</a> and “gender-affirming” care, which effectively puts children in the driver’s seat to dictate the terms of their own sex change, has raised nationwide awareness and serious ethical concerns about the medications offered and procedures performed on minors.
“Interfering or destroying the healthy, normal reproductive organs of a child for the purpose of altering their appearance is profoundly unethical and morally wrong,” Lamberth said. “Tennesseans across our state have demanded an immediate call to action.”
“Through the passage of House Bill 1/Senate Bill 1, Tennessee will protect vulnerable children who cannot give informed consent for adult decisions they aren’t ready for,” Lamberth added.
The bill makes an exception for providing hormones and/or surgeries for children born with chromosomal anomalies or congenital defects that result in developmental sex conditions.

Lady Justice before a flag of Tennessee

Tennessee Legislators Move Ban On Child Sex Changes Forward

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