America&#8217;s most influential psychological association told The Daily Wire it still recommends children receive so-called gender affirming medical interventions, despite downplaying its support of child transgenderism in a letter to government <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/commissioners-staff/commissioners" target="_blank" rel="noopener">officials</a><a href="https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/chairman-ferguson-gender-affirming-care-workshop-speech.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> investigating</a> fraud in pediatric gender medicine.
The American Psychological Association (APA) confirmed in a written statement that it continues to &#8220;support treatments for minors seeking gender affirming care&#8221; in alignment with its 2024 <a href="https://www.apa.org/about/policy/transgender-nonbinary-inclusive-care.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">policy statement,</a> which endorses minors receiving harmful gender medical interventions, condemns state laws banning child sex-changes, and says &#8220;non-affirmation&#8221; of a child&#8217;s transgender identity can cause &#8220;significant harm.&#8221;
In a September 2025 <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/American-Psychological-Assocation-Response-to-FTC-RFI_Gender-Affirming-Care-9-26-2025_Signature.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to the Federal Trade Commission — which is actively investigating <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/06/ftc-announces-workshop-exploring-unfair-or-deceptive-trade-practices-gender-affirming-care-minors#:~:text=Home-,FTC%20Announces%20Workshop%20on%20Exploring%20Unfair%20or%20Deceptive%20Trade%20Practices,whistleblowers%2C%20detransitioners%2C%20and%20parents.&amp;text=Tags:,Health%20Care" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unfair and deceptive</a> practices within the field of pediatric &#8220;gender affirming care&#8221; — the APA downplayed its support of &#8220;gender affirming care,&#8221; stating the primary role of a therapist treating children with gender dysphoria is assessment, not affirmation.
&#8220;It is important to stress that during the assessment and evaluation process, a diagnosis of gender dysphoria or the identification of a youth as gender-questioning is not an automatic or singular pathway to medical intervention or even social transitioning,&#8221; the letter reads.
This statement contradicts the idea that &#8220;non-affirmation&#8221; poses a direct harm to children, as included in the 2024 policy.
Kurt Miceli, the chief medical officer at Do No Harm, says the APA wants to &#8220;have it both ways.&#8221;
&#8220;The American Psychological Association continues its attempt at having it both ways,&#8221; Miceli told The Daily Wire. &#8220;In its 2024 Policy Statement, the APA explicitly endorses &#8216;medical gender‑affirming care,&#8217; even urging insurers to cover these interventions for minors.&#8221;
The APA told The Daily Wire the &#8220;2024 policy statement and the FTC letter are consistent&#8221; and that &#8220;both documents reflect APA&#8217;s consistent commitment to evidence-based psychological care.&#8221;
The APA is the latest medical group to try to shed its reputation for radical transgender ideology. When President Donald Trump returned to office, his administration purged gender ideology from the government and launched investigations into practices within pediatric gender medicine. Since then, gender clinics <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hospitals-across-u-s-stop-transitioning-children-after-trump-signs-order-protecting-kids">across the country</a> have closed their doors, while the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-fight-is-not-over-major-medical-org-rejects-transgender-surgeries-for-kids">American Society of Plastic Surgery</a> has backed away from supporting sex-rejecting procedures for minors.
&#8220;The APA’s 2024 and 2025 statements cannot be reconciled,&#8221; Miceli told The Daily Wire. &#8220;It is an audacious contradiction for the APA to try to claim that their definition of ‘affirming care’ means anything other than sex-rejecting interventions.&#8221;
The Daily Wire asked the APA how it simultaneously viewed the &#8220;non-affirmation&#8221; of a child&#8217;s gender identity as causing &#8220;significant harm&#8221; while recommending a psychologist&#8217;s role is to assess, rather than affirm, a child&#8217;s gender confusion. The Daily Wire also asked for clarity on what clinical standards the APA recommends to help therapists determine when non-affirmation of gender identity is harmful versus when it&#8217;s an appropriate part of a clinical assessment.
The APA did not provide a straightforward answer to these questions, but said, &#8220;In APA’s professional framework, affirming care does not mean a predetermined outcome, automatic validation of any particular intervention, or bypassing clinical judgment.&#8221;
The Daily Wire asked the APA if a therapist should withhold using a child&#8217;s preferred pronouns — a form of &#8220;social transition&#8221; — until the child undergoes an extensive assessment.
&#8220;Affirmation and assessment work together,&#8221; the APA told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Supporting a child does not mean steering them toward any particular outcome, and neither a diagnosis nor a youth’s questions about gender automatically lead to social or medical transition.&#8221;
The APA also said it &#8220;cautions that equating gender‑affirming care solely with medical transition can stigmatize and limit access to essential mental health services.&#8221;
With more than<a href="https://www.apa.org/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> 190,000 members</a> nationwide, the APA has a far-reaching impact on the psychological field and the practice of therapy throughout the United States. The APA has received more than 20 million dollars in federal funding since 2020, according to a government transparency <a href="https://taggs.hhs.gov/Detail/RecipDetail?arg_EntityId=EiNnLpTBhhCS2ZCRaSuz3Q%3D%3D">website</a>.

Pride Flags Above Regent Street In London

Your Therapist Is Being Told To ‘Affirm’ Child Transgenderism

American Psychological Association

gender ideology

Transgender

The Justice Department launched a probe Thursday into multiple women’s prisons across California and Maine, where transgender-identifying men have been accused of rape and making other sexual advances toward female inmates. 
The investigation from the Justice Department will look at whether the states violated the constitutional rights of the imprisoned women with their policies of allowing men to be placed in women&#8217;s prisons. One of the prisons under scrutiny is the Central California Women’s Facility in Madera County, where a man who served time at the facility was charged with raping a female inmate. 
“Keeping men out of women’s prisons is not only common sense – it’s a matter of safety and constitutional rights,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “The Trump Administration will not stand by if governors are facilitating the abuse of biological women under the guise of inclusion.”
At the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, a 27-year-old man named Andrew Balcer, <a href="https://apps1.web.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/correctionssearch/detail.pl?mdoc_number1=156589">serving</a> 40 years for murdering his parents, is currently housed at the women’s unit. State <a href="https://apps1.web.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/correctionssearch/detail.pl?mdoc_number1=156589">records</a> list him as “female” and standing 6’1’’ tall and 310 pounds. The man has been accused of forcibly kissing incarcerated women and offering to impregnate them, <a href="https://www.sunjournal.com/2026/03/04/women-say-they-are-being-harassed-by-transgender-inmate-at-maine-prison/">according</a> to the Sun Journal. 
<div id="attachment_1067567" style="width: 431px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1067567" class="wp-image-1067567 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-27-at-9.52.34-AM-421x576.png" alt="" width="421" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-27-at-9.52.34-AM-421x576.png 421w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-27-at-9.52.34-AM-219x300.png 219w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-27-at-9.52.34-AM.png 578w" sizes=" (max-width: 421px) 100vw, 421px" />Maine Government.</div>
In a case out of Madera County, California, a 53-year-old man named Tremaine Carroll was charged with rape after he was placed at the Central California Women’s Facility. A fellow inmate was found to be pregnant, and two other women also accused him of rape.
&#8220;After his first cellmate became pregnant and was moved to Los Angeles, two other cellmates of his had complained that he had raped them, so we have filed rape charges against this inmate,&#8221; <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/post/pronoun-use-center-rape-case-involving-former-chowchilla-central-california-womens-facility-prisoner-tremaine-carroll/15696730/">said</a> District Attorney Sally Moreno in December 2024.
The case is still working its way through the court system, but court officials have mandated that female pronouns be used for Carroll. Court records indicate that Tremaine has had a number of different lawyers and is in the process of getting a new lawyer appointed by the county from an outside legal firm.  
Thanks to a law sponsored by far-Left state Senator Scott Wiener and <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200SB132">signed</a> by Governor Gavin Newsom, at least 45 males who identify as transgender have been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-dems-vote-to-keep-male-sex-offenders-in-female-prisons">transferred</a> into female prisons since the law was implemented in September 2020. Last year, state Democrats rejected a proposal to keep male sex criminals out of female prisons. 
“California’s Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act has provided none of these qualities to the female inmates of state prisons who have been forced to share space with biological men who are violent felons,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California. “Our Constitution protects women from having their civil rights violated by harmful state legislation wrapped in the language of ‘equity’ and ‘progress.’”
The California Institution for Women in San Bernardino County is also being scrutinized.  
&#8220;Despite the Department of Justice&#8217;s claims, this is yet another politically motivated, predetermined investigation designed to target states that stand up to the Trump Administration and its abuses,&#8221; <a href="https://www.newscentermaine.com/article/news/local/justice-department-investigates-prison-housing-policies-maine-california/97-f2623a63-f421-4c62-a899-17b138fb2d8b">said</a> Democratic Maine Governor Janet Mills. 
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said her office will ensure that women are protected from male inmates. 
“Under my leadership, the Civil Rights Division will not allow women incarcerated in jails or prisons to be subject to unconstitutional risks of harm from male inmates,” she said. “These investigations will uncover whether the dangerous national trend of housing men in women’s prisons has resulted in violations of women’s constitutional rights.”

MixCollage-27-Mar-2026-10-32-AM-6603

DOJ Demands Answers After Women Housed With Hulking Transgender Murderer

DOJ Takes Action As Female Prisoners Housed With Transgender Murderer

California

Department of Justice

Harmeet Dhillon

Maine

Pam Bondi

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COLUMBUS, OHIO—I just finished testifying for a bill that would make it illegal for the state government to rip children away from loving parents who refuse to &#8220;affirm&#8221; that child&#8217;s so-called &#8220;transgender identity.&#8221;
It&#8217;s not every day an investigative journalist weighs in on legislation like this. But this is different.
More than two years ago, I began investigating how transgender activists were working to weaponize child welfare systems against loving parents.
I was horrified by what I found.
The <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2024/10/23/exclusive-child-services-dept-working-with-biden-harris-admin-tracked-trans-kids-on-secret-database/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cuyahoga County</a> Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) was chosen as one of four agencies nationwide to develop gender ideology-based child welfare interventions that suggest parents and caregivers who do not affirm a child’s sexual orientation or gender confusion are unsafe.
As part of its &#8220;Safe Identification&#8221; program, Cuyahoga County DCFS created a database that tracked the sexual orientation, transgender identity, and pronouns of children who interacted with the child welfare system. The database noted if parents were &#8220;accepting&#8221; or &#8220;rejecting&#8221; of their child&#8217;s gender identity. Parents who were &#8220;rejecting&#8221; could be referred to re-education programs where parents learned to &#8220;accept&#8221; their child&#8217;s transgender identity as a last resort before CPS stepped in and removed the child.
Some transgender activists believe refusing to affirm a child’s gender confusion is a form of<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-harris-hhs-consulted-activist-who-said-parents-should-be-prosecuted-for-transphobia" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> child abuse</a> and have even suggested families should be prosecuted as abusers for refusing to call their gender confused child the opposite sex.
Public records revealed that behind the scenes, members of the Cuyahoga County DCFS team were communicating with the Biden administration on how interventions like Safe Identification could be implemented at the federal level.
This would be insane regardless of where it was happening. But the fact that it&#8217;s been going on in a red state like Ohio is truly shocking.
As part of my reporting, I reached out to Ohio State Representative Gary Click and asked him to comment on what was happening in Cuyahoga County. He promised the Ohio legislature would not be idle while local government attempted to usurp the role of the family and harm children.
Click has kept that promise by co-sponsoring the<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ohio-may-protect-parents-who-wont-affirm-their-childs-gender-identity" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Affirming Families First Act</a>, the bill I testified in favor of today. It states that parents have a right to use their child’s given name and correct pronouns, and prohibits state agencies from using state funds for training, education, or programming that characterizes affirming a child’s sex as abuse or neglect.
I’m proud to have played a part in this bill’s inspiration. As a mother, I know if we can’t protect our children from lies and raise them according to reality, without fear of retribution from the state, we no longer live in a free nation.
When the state strips custody from loving parents who simply don&#8217;t want to affirm their confused child&#8217;s gender delusions, it violates all the rights Americans hold dear: the freedoms of speech and religion first and foremost, as well as parental rights and medical freedom. All these protections are swiftly swept away as families are ripped apart and vulnerable youth are placed in the hands of transgender activists who encourage them to destroy their bodies.
I&#8217;ve spoken with parents who’ve experienced this nightmare, and I wouldn&#8217;t wish their pain on my worst enemy. I want to see vulnerable children and families in our nation protected from this insanity, which is why I&#8217;ve traveled to Ohio to testify in favor of a bill that will protect parents who do not “affirm” their transgender-identifying children.
I wasn&#8217;t always a journalist. I&#8217;m a nurse by training, but switched careers when I realized the extent to which radical transgender ideology was endangering children. I&#8217;ve since spent hundreds of hours exposing the horrors of transgenderism because I understand stopping gender ideology is the most important issue of our time. If we can’t define the basic reality of the sexes, we can’t define anything.
President Donald Trump has kept his campaign promises to purge gender ideology from the federal government, but without legislation, these policies can be reversed as quickly as they were implemented.
Some parental rights advocates I&#8217;ve spoken with are concerned we are one election away from a full return to the transgender insanity we were living through just 15 months ago.
The transgender activists have lost some major battles under President Trump. But the war for sanity is raging on. We can&#8217;t let up on fighting gender ideology until it&#8217;s been returned to the pit of hell it came from.

‘1 Million March for Children’ protest in Toronto

Why I Testified For A Bill That Would Stop The State From Taking Gender-Confused Kids From Parents

Children's Health

Healthcare

Ohio

Democrats would never win another majority in Congress if Americans knew where they stood on the issues. The Democratic Party supports and promotes positions opposite the views held by a large majority of Americans.
Democrats are against any form of verifiable voter identification or common-sense changes to promote honest elections. They promote gender surgeries on children, boys in girls’ bathrooms, and men in women’s sports. They support abortion until the day of birth. They celebrate aberrant lifestyles with parades and Pride Month. They are soft on crime and oppose adequate policing for safe communities. They support open borders and promote amnesty, citizenship, voting rights, and welfare benefits for illegal immigrants. They oppose school choice and support government-run healthcare. They support bigger government and higher taxes. And few Americans know that Democrats are the party of slavery, segregation, the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow laws, and they led the longest filibuster in Senate history to block the Civil Rights Act.
How do Democrats continue to get elected? Americans don’t know the truth because no one tells them the truth.
The most important part of any political campaign is to drive up the negatives of your opponent. The second most important part is to drive up your own positives. Republicans are counseled by their pollsters to campaign on issues voters agree with, so they run all around their districts and states criticizing their opponent and talking about border control, safe communities, voter identification, and the like. The problem is they rarely associate the wrong side of these issues with their real opponent — the Democratic Party.
Elections are between Republicans and Democrats. Over 95% of the voting decisions for the 2026 midterms have already been made based on perceptions of the two political parties. Even independents will vote based on whether they want Republicans or Democrats in power. Candidates and issues are secondary — they may change the perception of the parties, but the final decisions will be based on voter preferences for one of the two political parties. Trump changed the perception of both parties among some Black Americans when he challenged them with “what have you got to lose?” This question was a permission slip for a few Black voters to change their vote from Democrat to Republican. 
“Brand” is an odd term to use in politics, but it is the most important aspect of any election. There are only two relevant brands on the ballot: Republican and Democrat. For decades, Democrats have been denigrating the Republican brand with cries of racism, hate, bigotry, opposition to Social Security and Medicare, and support for the rich and big corporations. They’ve done a good job. Voters often agree with Republicans on almost every issue but still vote Democrat because they have been convinced Republicans are essentially evil.
Republicans and Republican-aligned organizations and media have been … well … stupid. You’ll hear them blame the Biden border, woke corporations, biased media, DEI hiring, Somali fraud, the Schumer shutdown, liberal politicians, and, far, far too often, they blame the Left. None of these will be on the ballot in November. Just listen to Republican leaders or any Republican aligned media, and you’ll likely hear them blame just about everything on the Left. They might as well blame everything on the boogeyman.
Trump’s recent State of the Union address should give all Republicans and Republican-aligned organizations a tutorial. He understands branding better than anyone in the world. Trump used most of his speech to set up and bash “crazy” Democrats while thanking Republicans for assisting his success.
Republicans only have a few months to drive up the negatives of the Democratic Party, but they have plenty of ammunition. Just remember it’s the Democrat open border, Democrat daycare fraud, Democrat shutdown, Democrat child mutilation, and all the rest. The Republican messaging strategy should not be to convince Democratic voters they have been wrong in the past, but to convince them the Democratic Party has changed: it is now controlled by radical progressive Democrats or crazy Democrat Socialists. Republicans should always put a negative word or phrase in front of Democrats to remind voters the Democratic party has left them — because it has.
* * *
Jim DeMint is a former Senator from South Carolina and a best-selling author. His latest book is &#8220;What the Bible Really Says about Creation, End Times, Politics and You.”
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

New York Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani Holds Election Rally With Bernie Sanders And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The Quiet Disconnect Between Democrats And Voters That Could Decide 2026

2026 Midterms

Abortion

Democrats

Elections

Leftists

Opinion

Republicans

transgender surgery

Less than a month before the 2024 presidential election, President Joe Biden&#8217;s administration brought together transgender activists, government officials, and major progressive philanthropists in what organizers dubbed a &#8220;speed dating&#8221; event.
The event, called “Our Family Values: Building the Evidence Base for Child Well-Being,” took place just three weeks before Americans would vote to send Donald Trump back to the White House following a campaign that revolved largely around radical gender ideology. But even as the election seemed to break against them, the Biden White House was working to match leaders of “family acceptance” child welfare programs with major funders of the LGBTQ movement, records show.
Biden officials viewed “family acceptance” of so-called gender identity as an <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20221204062339/https://mchb.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/mchb/programs-impact/edc-parental-acceptance.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">important</a> step in “preventing” LGBTQI+ children from entering foster care and wanted to further the impact of radical child welfare programs. The goal of the speed dating event was to expand child welfare programs that re-educate non-affirming parents to accept their child&#8217;s “LGBTQI+” identity, <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">records</a> <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-7.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">show</a>.
“We know that family support around LGBTQI+ identity, as early as possible, is a key protective factor against … entry into the child welfare and juvenile justice systems for LGBTQI+ youth,” Julie Kruse, a contracted senior advisor for the LGBTQI+ Initiatives, wrote in an <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/Screenshot-.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">email</a> describing the event. “These programs are critical to preventing LGBTQI+ youth homelessness and entry into foster care.”
Angela Weeks, director of the <a href="https://sogiecenter.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity &amp; Expression Center,</a> was instrumental in setting up the event. On October 13, she sent an email to participants explaining how the &#8220;Partnership Speed Matching” would work.
“You will rotate between tables of philanthropic organizations and ACF leadership. They will be instructed to ask you and question they have of you during the 8-min discussion. When each rotation only has two minutes left, Marlene will give the 2-minute warning, which is the cue for you all to start discussing next steps/collaboration,” Weeks wrote in the <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/speed-date5.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">email</a>. “Try not to leave the table without a next step and a contact person. It will be the purveyor’s responsibility to follow-up.”
At least 14 donors were invited to participate in the speed dating event, along with government officials who came from the Administration for Children and Families, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, records show.
After the event, Kruse sent several follow-up <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/speed-date-6.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">emails</a> <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/speed-date-7.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indicating</a> the meeting was successful and that donors were interested in funding the family acceptance programs.
“Our great hope is that you made connections and identified resources at this event that will help you take actions to increase the availability of LGBTQI+ family support services, so that children can stay safely in their homes with families of origin and kin, preventing LGBTQI+ youth homelessness and entry into foster care,” wrote Kruse.
Some transgender activists believe refusing to affirm a child’s gender confusion is a form of child abuse. During a webinar hosted by the Department of Health and Human Services in the fall of 2023, one activist called “transphobia” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-harris-hhs-consulted-activist-who-said-parents-should-be-prosecuted-for-transphobia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">child abuse</a> and suggested families should be prosecuted as abusers for refusing to call their gender confused child the opposite sex.
“Biden promised to enforce LGBTQ ideology throughout government systems in his 2020 campaign platform, and no administration has done more damage to child welfare systems,” Laura Hanford, senior policy analyst at the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Human Flourishing, told The Daily Wire. “He funneled millions of dollars to toxic ideological training programs promoting the lie that raising a gender-confused child as his or her sex is abusive, and forcing parents to ‘transition’ their gender-confused children or lose them to the state.”
The organizers of the invitation-only October 16 event hoped to elevate “family acceptance programs” to the scientific standards of the <a href="https://preventionservices.acf.hhs.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prevention Services Clearinghouse</a>, a federal database of social services programming used by child welfare agencies across the country.
“October 16 will focus on building the evidence base (e.g., research, analysis, evaluation) for family support programs that would make them eligible for the Family First Prevention Services, a significant source of federal funds for prevention programs that meet a certain evidence threshold,” Kruse wrote.
The <a href="https://acf.gov/cb/title-iv-e-prevention-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Family First Prevention Services Act,</a> which became law in February 2018, diverted federal funds from supporting children in foster care to programs aimed at <a href="https://www.myflfamilies.com/kids/news/family-first-prevention-services-act-ffpsa#:~:text=The%20Family%20First%20Prevention%20Services%20Act%20(FFPSA),are%20imminent%20risk%20of%20entering%20foster%20care" target="_blank" rel="noopener">preventing children</a> from entering state systems. The <a href="https://acf.gov/opre/project/title-iv-e-prevention-services-clearinghouse-2018-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prevention Services Clearinghouse</a> was established in accordance with the law to provide a systematic process to <a href="https://acf.gov/opre/project/title-iv-e-prevention-services-clearinghouse-2018-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rate and review</a> the quality of evidence supporting prevention programs. The database lists available programming with a rating of  “well-supported, supported, promising, or does not currently meet criteria,” according to its <a href="https://preventionservices.acf.hhs.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>. States can receive <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF10590" target="_blank" rel="noopener">federal reimbursement </a>for using programs approved by the Prevention Services Clearinghouse.
“The idea was that [the Clearinghouse] was going to give states a list of evidence-based programs that they could choose from and that they would be eligible to receive federal reimbursement if they used those programs,” Naomi Schaefer Riley, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told The Daily Wire. “If they passed, if they got the Clearinghouse stamp of approval, then states could kind of pick these programs off of a kind of shelf and say, ‘We&#8217;re going to use this one and we&#8217;ll get federal reimbursement for it.’&#8221;
The &#8220;speed dating&#8221; event was co-sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families, the Department of Health and Human Services, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Child Welfare League of America, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, the National Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity &amp; Expression Center, the Trevor Project, and Think of Us, records show.
Kruse personally invited Funders for LGBTQ Issues, a philanthropic organization that envisions a “world where all queer, trans, and gender non-conforming people are liberated, loved, valued, respected, and thriving,” to attend the meeting. The group gives approximately $200 million annually to LGBTQ issues, according to its <a href="https://lgbtfunders.org/about/about-mission/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>.
A representative from the organization wrote it was unable to attend the October 2024 meeting but hoped they could “remain in touch to identify future ways we can partner together to advance our shared goals,” emails show. In response, Kruse set up a personal meeting between the Funders for LGBTQ Issues, the Administration for Children and Families, and Weeks.
The Funders for LGBTQ Issues did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s requests for comment.
The National SOGIE Center is home to a group of activists working to transform social services nationwide through gender affirming programs, many of which are available on its <a href="https://sogiecenter.org/programs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>. Members of the group <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2024/10/14/activists-behind-biden-harris-foster-care-regulation-want-to-strip-custody-from-non-affirming-parents/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worked hand in hand</a> with the Biden administration to inform its September 2023 <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/09/28/2023-21274/safe-and-appropriate-foster-care-placement-requirements-for-titles-iv-e-and-iv-b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regulation</a> requiring foster care families to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/states-press-hhs-over-illegal-rule-that-could-force-foster-care-providers-to-facilitate-trans-procedures" target="_blank" rel="noopener">affirm</a> a child’s gender confusion.
Weeks had a working relationship with Kruse that was critical in organizing the “Our Family Values” event, records reveal.
In July 2024, Kruse <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/speed-date-8.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">emailed</a> Weeks and officials from the Administration for Children and Families, HHS, and NIH, to lay the groundwork for the event. The pair stayed in regular communication through November 2024, records show.
The “Our Family Values” event was focused on three programs: Chosen Affirming Finding Family, Youth Acceptance Project, and AFFIRM Caregiver programs, which are all affiliated with the National Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity &amp; Expression Center.
The Chosen Affirming Finding Family <a href="https://www.kinnect.org/what-we-do/safe-affirmed-youth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">program</a> helps “LGBTQ+ young people” identify “chosen family” who can provide them support and “works with those people to help them understand the young person’s LGBTQ+ identity and the best ways to affirm and support them with their identity and transition into adulthood,” according to a SOGIE Center <a href="https://sogiecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/CAFF-1-pager-PDF.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">document</a>.
The <a href="https://familybuilders.org/programs-services/youth-acceptance-project/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Youth Acceptance Project</a> is a program that re-educates parents of children who are “at risk” of entering the child welfare system due to “family stress” surrounding the child’s gender identity.
“The YAP social workers/clinicians provide a trauma-informed, psycho-educational model while partnering with parents/caregivers; supporting them to process misinformation, resistance, fear, and grief that families often struggle with when they learn that their child is LGBTQ+,” a National Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity &amp; Expression Center <a href="https://sogiecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/YAP-1-pager-PDF.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">document</a> reads. “The Youth Acceptance Project is designed to work both with families of children already in, or at risk of entering, the child welfare system due to family stress resulting from their child’s sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.”
Finally, the Affirm Caregiver <a href="https://www.affirmativeresearch.net/register/p/affirm-caregiver-june-2026" target="_blank" rel="noopener">program</a> is an educational intervention that enhances “affirmative parenting practices that promote the safety and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ youth,” according to a National Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity &amp; Expression Center <a href="https://sogiecenter.org/programs/affirm-caregiver/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">document</a>.
Parents across the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/murdered-by-gender-ideology-mother-whose-daughter-committed-suicide-blasts-child-protective-services" target="_blank" rel="noopener">country</a> have had their children taken away by child <a href="https://becketfund.org/case/m-c-and-j-c-v-indiana-department-of-child-services/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">welfare</a> <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2024/10/17/exclusive-gender-confused-kids-taken-non-affirming-parents-one-family-fight-son-back/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">services</a> for affirming their child’s sex.
President Trump called for federal action to protect the rights of parents to affirm the true sex of a gender confused child in his recent State of the Union address.
“Surely we can all agree no state can be allowed to rip children from their parents’ arms and transition them to a new gender against the parents’ will,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;Who would believe that we’re even talking about it? We must ban it, and we must ban it immediately.&#8221;
The Trump administration is taking action to stop the spread of child welfare family acceptance programs.
The Clearinghouse <a href="https://preventionservices.acf.hhs.gov/programs-planned-review" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a> notes that the <a href="https://sogiecenter.org/programs/affirm-youth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AFFIRM Youth</a>, a sister program of <a href="https://sogiecenter.org/programs/affirm-caregiver/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AFFIRM Caregiver</a>, was “removed from the working list of programs and services planned for systematic review,” in accordance with Executive Order 14151.
The Administration for Children and Families at HHS has also alerted all 50 states that affirming “biological reality” does not constitute child abuse or neglect under federal laws. It has also encouraged states to clearly define the terms “abuse” and “neglect,” saying these definitions should clarify that affirming a child’s sex and “refusing to condone sex-rejecting interventions” does not constitute abuse.
The Trump administration has since &#8220;rescinded a Biden-era rule that required prospective foster families to affirm support for a child’s gender transition or sexual orientation in order to receive federal funding,&#8221; Health and Human Services Press Secretary Emily G. Hilliard told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;This requirement discouraged many faith-based families from participating in foster care at a time when the nation is experiencing a record year-over-year decline in foster families. By removing this barrier, ACF is expanding the pool of qualified caregivers and reinforcing its commitment to biological reality, parental rights, and equal access to the foster care system.&#8221;
“The child welfare actions of the Trump and Biden administrations are diametrically opposed,&#8221; Hanford told The Daily Wire. &#8220;Biden&#8217;s programs embedded toxic gender ideology in child welfare systems, leading to gender-confused children being ripped from parents who simply affirmed the reality of their sex. Trump, in contrast, is taking major steps to protect such families from being ripped apart.&#8221;
The Daily Wire reached out to the organizations named in public records as possible attendees of the October 16, 2024, event.
A spokeswoman for Arnold Ventures confirmed it does not fund the family acceptance programs seeking funding at the October 16, 2024, event.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation told The Daily Wire, “Due to our longstanding expertise in child welfare, over the years the Foundation has frequently been invited by the administrations of both parties to events on topics related to foster care and family well-being. As part of that ongoing engagement, a Foundation representative attended the signing of President Trump’s ‘Fostering the Future’ executive order in November 2025.”
A representative from Blue Meridian Partners told The Daily Wire the invited representative did not attend the event and that it has not considered for funding or funded the organizations or programs discussed at the &#8220;Our Family Values&#8221; event.
The Daily Wire requested a comment from the Pritzker Foster Care Initiative, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Child Welfare League of America, the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, the National Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity &amp; Expression Center, the Trevor Project, Think of Us, Angela Weeks, Julie Kruse, Family Builders (YAP program), Kinnect (CAFF program) and Affirmative Research for comment but did not receive a response.

President Biden Hosts Pride Month Celebration Event

Biden Admin Hosted ‘Speed Dating’ Event For Trans Activists With One Rule

Biden Administration

Department of Health and Human Services

LGBTQ

While Georgia law protects kids from transgender surgeries, taxpayers in the state may still be on the hook for procedures in other states thanks to a legal loophole, one Republican lawmaker warns. 
Georgia State Senator Blake Tillery is pushing the state legislature to pass a bill that would end all state funding for transgender surgeries for both adults and minors. Tillery, the chair of the Senate appropriations committee, told The Daily Wire that most Georgians would be “appalled” to learn how their tax dollars were being spent. 
“This is not a hard decision. This is whether or not children should undergo gender-mutilating surgeries performed by adults,” Tillery said. “It&#8217;s whether or not your state taxpayer dollars should be used to pay for gender-altering surgeries that defy biology and for the vast majority of Georgians, the decision here is clear: this isn’t something they support and it&#8217;s not something that should be supported with their taxpayer dollars.”
While state law currently prohibits transgender surgeries on kids, Tillery said that the state is required to cover the transgender surgeries of minors covered under the State&#8217;s Health Benefit Plan. The plan applies to public school teachers and other state employees. Around 660,000 people are currently covered under the plan.
Tillery said a Georgia citizen covered under the State Health Benefit Plan could leave the state and go to a place like New York or California and have a transgender surgery done on their child, paid for by the state. 
He said that “if we don&#8217;t ban our state taxpayer dollars from being used to fund” these surgeries that the “convoluted system of laws requires our state taxpayer funding to be used” for the procedures in other states. 
For the last two years, Tillery, who is running for lieutenant governor, has spearheaded efforts in the Senate to cut off taxpayer funding for transgender surgeries for both children and adults. His first bill to take such action, <a href="https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20252026/230415">SB 39</a>, passed the Senate, but has yet to be acted on by the House.
Last month, the Senate <a href="https://georgiarecorder.com/2026/02/10/georgia-senate-passes-surprise-ban-on-puberty-blockers-for-minors/">passed</a> a proposal banning puberty blockers for kids, with an amendment to end funding for transgender surgeries. The House has not voted yet on the amended bill. The office of House Speaker Jon Burns did not respond to request for comment. 
The <a href="https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20252026/242189">amendment </a>to HB 54 was introduced by Tillery and specified that “no state funds shall be expended for health benefits coverage that includes coverage for gender-affirming care” and that “no healthcare facility owned or operated by the state and no physician or other healthcare provider employed by an agency or entity of this state shall provide gender-affirming care.”
He noted that state dollars cannot go to other elective procedures like facelifts or tummy tucks.
“Georgians aren&#8217;t allowed to use their state health benefit plan or private insurance or other elective surgeries,” he said. “Why should their state taxpayer dollars be used to pay for others&#8217; elective surgeries? Especially those that go well against the norm of the majority of Georgia&#8217;s beliefs.”
The push to end all funding for transgender procedures comes as over two dozen Republican-led states have shielded kids from surgeries and hormonal interventions. At the same time, some hospitals have ended their transgender surgery offerings. 
The Nashville-based Vanderbilt Health <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/after-boasting-about-40k-trans-surgeries-vanderbilt-reverses-course">announced</a> last month that it was phasing out offering patients procedures like crafting pseudo-genitalia for gender-confused individuals and removing the breasts of women who identify as men.

Close-up of gloved hands passing the surgical scissors, operating room, hospital

Red State Republican Warns Taxpayers Are On The Hook For Trans Surgeries

Georgia

A Biden-appointed judge in Oregon on Thursday said he would block a Trump administration declaration stating that transgender medical procedures for children are not “safe” or “effective.” 
U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai sided with more than a dozen Democratic attorneys general who challenged the <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/declaration-pediatric-sex-rejecting-procedures.pdf">policy</a> issued by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in December 2025.
In that declaration, the Department of Health and Human Services said that “sex-rejecting procedures for children and adolescents are neither safe nor effective as a treatment modality for gender dysphoria, gender incongruence, or other related disorders in minors, and therefore, fail to meet professional recognized standards of health care.”
The administration <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ord.191371/gov.uscourts.ord.191371.86.0_1.pdf">argued</a> the declaration was a general statement of policy. However, Kasubhai indicated that Kennedy did not follow the required procedures in issuing it.
“The notion that ‘I will go forward and issue a declaration and see if we can get away with it’ is not a principle of governance that adheres to the overarching commitment to a democratic republic that requires the rule of law to be regarded and respected and honored as a sacred,” Kasubhai <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/us/rfk-jr-transgender-care-ruling.html">said</a>. 
The judge delivered a verbal ruling from the bench and said a written decision would follow. 
The declaration addressed treatments including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries like mastectomies and vaginoplasties.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the plaintiffs in the case, celebrated the ruling.  
“Health care services for transgender young people remain legal, and the federal government cannot intimidate or punish the providers who offer them,” James said. “It is my duty and my privilege to stand with trans New Yorkers and their families. I will always fight for the LGBTQ+ community.”
The ruling comes as the Trump administration has taken steps to cut off federal funding for all providers that offer such treatments to minors. In December, HHS <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-to-cut-funding-from-all-hospitals-that-perform-trans-procedures-on-kids">posted rules</a> to bar hospitals providing transgender procedures to minors from participating in Medicare and Medicaid programs, and would prohibit Medicaid’s Children’s Health Insurance Program from being used for transgender procedures for individuals under 19.

FDA Unveils New Framework To Speed Ultra-Rare Drug Approvals

Your Tax Dollars Could Still Be On The Line In Fight Over Trans Surgeries for Kids

Letitia James

Oregon

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

In 2019, a journalist asked Iranian Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif why people are executed in Iran for being gay. His <a href="https://www.iranhr.net/media/files/Rapport_iran_2024-WEB.pdf">response</a>: “Our society has moral principles. And we live according to these principles … That means that the law is respected, and the law is obeyed.”
Under Islamic law, homosexuality is a crime punishable by imprisonment or execution for those who violate it. One could assume the conservative Islamic regime would produce similar consequences for transgenderism. But it is, in fact, legal and religiously permissible.
In the Western world, LGBT advancements are seen as a form of liberation. But in Iran, a complex dichotomy remains — where homosexuality can lead to death, yet transgenderism is given the green light. However, the practice is not celebrated so much as it is utilized as a cure for homosexuality. And in some cases, it is involuntary.
Transgenderism in Iran first surfaced in the 1980s. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founding supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, issued a fatwa — a religious decree — to legalize transgenderism, with the requirement that they are diagnosed with gender dysphoria and undergo surgery for sex changes. <a href="https://iranwire.com/en/women/124596-influential-iranian-women-maryam-khatoonpour-molkara-1950-2012/">Maryam Khatoon Molkara</a>, an Iranian transgender activist, is credited as the driving force of the movement. After years of writing letters and persisting with Khomeini, even visiting his home to plead his case, Molkara convinced the supreme leader to authorize transgender surgery in 1987.
Khomeini determined there was nothing in religious law that condemned transgenderism; rather, it could medically serve as a correction for the mental disorder.
A religious cleric, Hojatolislam Muhammad Mehdi Kariminia, famously <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7259057.stm">said</a> an operation is no more a sin than &#8220;changing wheat to flour to bread.&#8221;
He said, &#8220;Islam has a cure for people suffering from this problem. If they want to change their gender, the path is open.&#8221;
But Kariminia clarified his stance on homosexuality. &#8220;The discussion is fundamentally separate &#8230; Absolutely not related. Homosexuals are doing something unnatural and against religion,&#8221; Kariminia added.
However, ongoing reports suggest transgenderism in Iran may at times be exploited. Put plainly, some may be forced to transition.
A New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/world/middleeast/iran-transgender-surgery.html">article</a> published in October 2025 highlights the paradox: “For 40 years Iran has performed more gender transition surgeries than many other nations, largely a result of pressuring gay and gender-nonconforming citizens to undergo unwanted operations or risk the death penalty.”
The United Nations also expressed its concerns in a 2023 <a href="https://docs.un.org/en/CCPR/C/IRN/CO/4">report</a> that gay and lesbian Iranians are being &#8220;pressured into undergoing gender reassignment surgery without their free consent.”
An Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/a66b2167bb1744e6b12ba8ff1ef97c21">article</a> from 2018 stated that transgender surgery in Iran aims to cure the &#8220;disease,&#8221; and that those who &#8220;choose not to undergo surgery and get new documents can face arrest by police for dressing in a way that contradicts their government-recognized gender.”
As one of the few Muslim countries that offer these surgeries, Iran seems to be capitalizing on the endeavor: &#8220;Now, faced with an economy crippled by war and sanctions, the Islamic Republic is promoting its expertise to a global audience, hoping to attract transgender foreigners with the promise of inexpensive surgeries packaged with luxury hotel stays and sightseeing tours,&#8221; the Times noted.
According to the website of the medical company IranMedTour, compared to the cost of a transgender procedure in the United States (which can be $45,000), transgender surgery in Iran is much lower, with prices less than $12,000. &#8220;Other companies advertise procedures at government hospitals for as low as $4,500.”
The goal, according to the outlet citing Iranian media, is to raise over $7 billion annually in medical tourism.
What started as a plea for &#8220;transgender rights&#8221; from Molkara has turned into a compulsory crackdown on homosexuality and a vending machine bringing in cash from the rest of the world.

Trans_Gay_Fate_Iran

You Can Be Trans In Iran, But Being Gay Might Get You Killed

Global Politics

Iran

Islam

Sharia Law

World

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) is defending gender clinicians in a medical malpractice lawsuit filed by a female detransitioner who received harmful testosterone treatments while experiencing dissociative identity disorder.
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Layton Ulery had eight documented personalities and was &#8220;practically and legally disabled&#8221; when she was prescribed sex-rejecting testosterone by <a href="https://www.vistaclinicalresearchgroup.com/jason-rafferty">Dr. Jason Rafferty</a> at the <a href="https://www.thundermisthealth.org/about-us/mission-vision-values/">Thundermist Health Center</a> (HC) in Rhode Island, according to her November 2025 <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/1-1-Ex.-A-Second-Amended-Complaint.pdf">lawsuit</a>. Rafferty, the <a href="https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/12710/Pediatricians-are-key-in-supporting-transgender">lead author</a> of the American Academy of Pediatrics gender transition <a href="https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/142/4/e20182162/37381/Ensuring-Comprehensive-Care-and-Support-for?autologincheck=redirected">policy</a>, recognized Ulery&#8217;s deeply troubled mental state but still recommended she start testosterone, according to the lawsuit.
&#8220;To take me when I was in such a vulnerable state and essentially give me no hope whatsoever that it was ever possible for me to recover and to sentence me to a life of health issues and permanent physical damage &#8230; I just think it is so heinous,&#8221; Ulery told The Daily Wire. &#8220;I can&#8217;t believe that it was ever allowed to happen.&#8221;
Thundermist HC is part of the <a href="https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federally-qualified-health-center-fqhc/">Federally Qualified Health Center</a> program that <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title42/chapter6A/subchapter2/partD&amp;edition=prelim">funds</a> nonprofit community health clinics providing essential healthcare services to vulnerable populations. The program is run by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency within the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
HRSA-funded <a href="https://bphc.hrsa.gov/about-health-center-program">health centers</a> and their employees are treated as <a href="https://www.usphs.gov/">public</a> health employees and receive medical malpractice liability coverage from the federal government, in accordance with the <a href="https://bphc.hrsa.gov/compliance/ftca">Federal Tort Claims Act</a> (FTCA). Under the FTCA, those harmed by federal employees can <a href="https://www.opm.gov/about-us/get-help/federal-tort-claims-act/#:~:text=The%20Federal%20Tort%20Claims%20Act%20(FTCA)%20sets,act%20proximately%20caused%20the%20injury%20or%20damage">seek compensation</a> from the federal government rather than the individual who committed the tort, according to <a href="https://bphc.hrsa.gov/compliance/ftca/what-ftca">HRSA</a>&#8216;s website.
&#8220;A covered entity or individual is immune and will not be financially liable for any claims arising from covered activities,&#8221; states the HRSA <a href="https://bphc.hrsa.gov/compliance/ftca/what-ftca">website</a>. &#8220;Covered activities are acts or omissions in the performance of medical, surgical, dental, or related functions resulting in personal injury, including death, and occurring within the scope of employment.&#8221;
Legal documents show DOJ attorneys are representing Thundermist HC and its affiliates in Ulery&#8217;s malpractice lawsuit in accordance with the FTCA.
Ulery&#8217;s lawsuit was initially filed in October 2023 and bounced between state and federal courts for nearly two years before her federal claims were dismissed in September 2025. Ulery amended her complaint in November 2025, and the case was transferred back to federal court. DOJ attorneys recently moved to <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/7-Def-MTD-2.20.26.pdf">dismiss</a> Ulery&#8217;s case with prejudice, while Ulery is asking that the parties be allowed to engage in mediation.
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Josh Payne, PLLC, Ulery&#8217;s lawyer, told The Daily Wire he believes the DOJ&#8217;s actions in this case do not reflect the Trump administration&#8217;s commitment to stopping gender ideology.
&#8220;The Trump Administration is not practicing what it preaches in this particular circumstance,&#8221; Payne told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;We&#8217;re calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to get a grip on this case and instruct her staff to negotiate with us and try to resolve this case without further burdening the court,&#8221; Payne told The Daily Wire. &#8220;This is not what federal tax dollars should be spent on to defend. It’s bad enough tax dollars were used to fund the mistreatment Layton experienced at the federally-funded clinic. The administration should be protecting vulnerable people like Layton, not fighting them.”
The DOJ told The Daily Wire it is &#8220;fundamentally opposed&#8221; to gender ideology and stated that Ulery filed her claims outside the statute of limitations.
&#8220;The Department is fundamentally opposed to woke gender ideology and is using every legal and law enforcement tool available to protect youth from being mutilated under the guise of ‘care.’ Any suggestion otherwise is patently false,” a DOJ spokesperson told The Daily Wire. “As the Department has stated through filings and to counsel, the U.S. has moved to dismiss Ms. Ulery’s case because her claims are procedurally barred by the statute of limitations and failure to exhaust.&#8221;
Ulery&#8217;s legal team argued the statute of limitations should be extended because the tort occurred when she could not realize she&#8217;d been harmed due to her incapacitated mental state, court <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/8-Response-to-US-MTD-Ulery-25-cv-00619.pdf">documents</a> show.
&#8220;Dr. Rafferty and others at Thundermist misled Layton into believing the testosterone would cure her mental health problems. She had no reason to think the testosterone could harm her. It was only when she heard stories of other detransitioners that she discovered testosterone can harm women like her,&#8221; Payne told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;All of the people that I was surrounded by were essentially people who were dissociated from reality, which was certainly not helpful in the circumstance that I was in,&#8221; Ulery told The Daily Wire. &#8220;No one even presented me with the idea that healing was possible.&#8221;
The lawsuit describes that Ulery escaped a cult from which she suffered 18 years of &#8220;physical, sexual, and psychological torment&#8221; and later sought the help of a therapist for her severe Dissociative Identity Disorder. Her therapist &#8220;began convincing Layton that she was a transgender man and in need of further medicalization&#8221; and referred her to <a href="https://www.thundermisthealth.org/about-us/mission-vision-values/">Thundermist HC</a> for sex-rejecting medical treatment, according to the lawsuit.
Thundermist HC removed a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20250414024516/https://www.thundermisthealth.org/services/trans-health-access/">webpage</a> devoted to &#8220;Trans Health Access&#8221; that was saved in the Internet Archive on April 14, 2025. The Daily Wire asked the clinic if it still provides so-called gender affirming medical interventions, but it did not respond to requests for comment.
The Daily Wire asked HRSA to clarify if HRSA-funded clinics could provide so-called gender affirming care, but did not receive clarification. A HRSA representative told The Daily Wire it &#8220;does not comment on pending litigation and defers any questions regarding Federal Tort Claims Act litigation to the Department of Justice.&#8221;
Ulery has reclaimed her female identity and no longer experiences dissociation; however, she still suffers from irreversible effects of testosterone treatments, including body disfigurement, ongoing estrogen deficiencies, and chronic inflammation of her vocal cords.
&#8220;Every single day I wake up with a sore throat. Not only is it sore but my vocal cords are chronically inflamed, and I lose my voice very easily,&#8221; Ulery told The Daily Wire. &#8220;I am just asking for the consideration of the settlement for there to be some level of accountability because I think it was beyond unacceptable.&#8221;
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&#8220;Her case should be resolved. We should not even be having a discussion about this. The parties should be able to work this out and get it settled,&#8221; Payne told The Daily Wire.
The Daily Wire tried to reach Dr. Jason Rafferty through his employer, Brown Health, but did not receive a response.
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Mississippi is one of 16 states that has bannedtrans kids from getting hormones.

Trump DOJ Forced To Defend Gender Doctor Against Detransitioner Lawsuit

detransitioner

Gender Transition

Hospitals across the country are still pushing woke policies, despite a nationwide backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), a watchdog warned Congress. 
Consumers’ Research said lawmakers must hold hospitals receiving federal tax privileges accountable for pushing racially-focused initiatives and transgender procedures on kids, according to a <a href="https://consumersresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/CR_Woke_Hospital_Letter_EC_Final.pdf">letter</a> obtained by The Daily Wire. The letter came ahead of a congressional hearing on Wednesday morning by the House Energy and Commerce committee on improving healthcare transparency. 
“As nonprofit hospitals keep prioritizing divisive woke ideology, Congress must hold them accountable,” Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild told The Daily Wire. “Federal funding and tax-exempt privileges should never be used by hospitals to advance a radical political agenda.”
“When hospitals go unchecked with access to taxpayer dollars, consumers are left footing the bill for woke policies that distract hospital support meant for patients. This pattern of waste and abuse at hospitals across the country needs to be stopped,” he added. 
Hild’s letter to House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie and other committee members highlighted multiple examples of hospital systems he said were “using federal funding streams and taxpayer-sponsored resources to fund political agendas at the expense of patient care.”
An example in the letter included the California-based Kaiser Permanente, the largest private nonprofit healthcare organization in the country. The provider made headlines for ending transgender surgeries on children, but still has several racially focused initiatives in place. 
The aim of its <a href="https://kpcenterforblackhealth.org/">Center for Black Health and Wellness</a> is to “improve the health of our Black members, elevate their care experience, continue to build trust, create culturally responsive care, and best practices that can be shared across our organization and the health care community.”
Kaiser Permanente cites <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/study-saying-black-babies-more-likely-to-die-under-white-doctors-didnt-control-for-1-key-factor">questionable research</a> that black patients require black doctors for better health outcomes. It says the center is rooted in “equity” with the purpose of enhancing and expanding “the care of our Black patients.”
Another example cited in the letter included the University of California-San Francisco Benioff Children&#8217;s Hospital, which has a “Child and Adolescent Gender Center.” The <a href="https://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/clinics/child-and-adolescent-gender-center">center</a> “offers comprehensive medical and psychological care, as well as advocacy and legal support, to transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse children and adolescents.”
The clinic accepts patients between the ages of 3 and 17. 
“Before the onset of puberty, our care focuses strictly on social and emotional development, and we don’t offer gender-affirming medical treatments,” the clinic said. “Once a patient reaches puberty, gender-affirming medical treatments may be considered following a thorough mental health assessment by a gender specialist.”
The clinic offers puberty blockers to kids, treatments it claims are “reversible.” Groups like Do No Harm have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/taxpayer-funded-medical-school-promotes-reversible-puberty-blockers-for-kids">highlighted</a> how puberty blockers can permanently impact bone development, particularly density in the hip and spine.
Consumers’ Research has launched the &#8220;<a href="https://consumersresearch.org/badmedicine/">Bad Medicine</a>&#8221; campaign targeting health systems it says push woke politics. Last week, it <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-major-health-system-scrubbed-the-woke-from-its-website-it-hasnt-really-changed">highlighted</a> how the University of Miami Health System recently scrubbed DEI and transgender-related content from its website. 
Hild told lawmakers that hospitals should be held accountable for woke policies. 
“This isn’t isolated activism. These kinds of misguided and potentially illegal policies must be stopped,” Hild wrote. “It is imperative for patients that hospitals return to their core mission of patient care and use federal funding as it was intended.”

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Despite Nationwide DEI Backlash, Hospitals Still Pushing Woke Policies

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Health Care

House of Representatives

James Talarico is having a moment. The Texas state representative and Democratic Senate candidate has gone viral more times than most politicians manage to in a full career, partly because he’s young and articulate, and partly because he does something unusual for a Democrat: he talks about Jesus. A lot. 
He quotes Scripture on the House floor. Joe Rogan told him to run for president. The political media has decided Talarico represents something new: a Democrat who can finally speak Christian and counter their secular reputation.
I want to take that claim seriously because I think it deserves a serious answer. And the serious answer is: no, he doesn’t.
James Talarico simply stands for an old form of religious progressivism that is more interested in achieving progressive outcomes than holding sincerely to the Christian faith.
The question isn’t whether Talarico is personally sincere. I have no reason to doubt that he is. The question is whether his Christianity is doing any actual work in his politics and whether it functions as a theological foundation or is merely a rhetorical costume. When you look closely, the answer is pretty clearly the latter — Talarico’s Christianity is a Trojan horse with a progressive interior and a Christian exterior.
There is no progressive policy that Talarico’s Christianity hasn’t made peace with. Talarico supports abortion access, transgender ideology, expansive redistribution, and a vision of government robust enough to accomplish the full progressive policy agenda. He opposes the Ten Commandments in public schools and has described God as “nonbinary.” He attends a PCUSA church whose congregants celebrate being free from “<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2026/02/25/texas-senate-democratic-primary-crockett-talarico-christianity-faith-religion/">dusty old creeds and dogma</a>.” Now, here’s what’s interesting: you could arrive at every single one of those positions through standard secular progressive reasoning: appeals to autonomy, identity, equity, and the expansion of the administrative state. You don’t need the Bible to get there. You don’t need the atoning work of Jesus. Christianity is merely decorative. It’s a rhetorical add-on bolted onto a political program that was already fully assembled before Scripture even entered the room.
Here is what I mean when I say progressive Christianity wears Christianity as a skin suit. The framework is secular progressivism: identity politics, abortion, sexual revolutionary politics, and redistributionist economics. Christian language gets stitched over the top of it to make the whole thing look familiar to voters who grew up in church. It is smarmy and syrupy in its appeals to the “brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God.” But the theological content has been hollowed out and replaced. What remains is a set of emotional associations strangely redolent with progressivism (funny how that happens, isn’t it?), and it goes something like this: Jesus loved people, therefore expand Medicaid; the prophets cared for the poor, therefore raise the marginal tax rate; love your neighbor, therefore no borders. The assertions don’t hold up when the Bible is used responsibly, but they feel right to people who want the warmth and consolation of faith without the theological demands that counter progressive orthodoxy.
But oddly, none of this actually works in the long run for the people who employ it. Liberals don’t need Christianity to reach the conclusions Talarico is reaching. They already have a fully operational secular moral vocabulary — rights, autonomy, justice, and equity — that gets them to the same place. So why bother with the theological window dressing? The answer is purely electoral. Democrats have been hemorrhaging religious voters for a generation, and they’re looking for a way to stop the bleeding. Talarico is the proposed solution.
But the solution has a structural problem, and sociology is rather clear about it. Liberal theological commitments corrode religious belief across generations. This isn’t a conservative talking point; it’s one of the better-documented findings in the sociology of religion. Churches that accommodate the surrounding culture’s moral assumptions tend to empty out within two or three generations. The children of progressive Christians disproportionately become religiously unaffiliated. Why? Because if Christianity is just a more emotional version of what MSNBC already told you, you don’t need to get up on Sunday morning to hear it. You do not have to tithe; you do not have to bear social scorn for holding to supposedly outmoded dogmas “on the wrong side of history.” 
Theological substance — creation, fall, redemption, resurrection, judgment, human dignity, sexual ethics, and the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ — is precisely what makes Christianity worth believing. Strip that away in the name of openness, and you’ve kept the brand while destroying the product. That Talarico is having a moment should surprise no one. Previous generations of religious progressives had their moment, too, and in time, it all ends the same way: churches mutating into art museums and social justice clubs.
What Talarico and the progressive Christian project are doing is trying to make the Democratic Party look religion-friendly while simultaneously denying religion its actual substance. This betrays what Christianity really is by transforming it into progressive sentiment. Orthodox Christians won’t be persuaded, because they can see the theology has been replaced. Secular progressives don’t need Christianity anyway, so the whole performance ends up as a media-fueled vanity project to bolster progressive politics.
Talarico may mean well. But Christianity isn’t a political tool. It’s a truth claim about reality at odds with the progressivism of his “Christianity.”
* * *
Andrew T. Walker serves as Associate Professor of Christian Ethics and Public Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is a Fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center. You can follow him on X: @AndrewTWalker.
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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Christianity

James Talarico

Progressivism

Content warning: The following article contains details that readers will find disturbing.
A trans-identifying 25-year-old man who sat on a taxpayer-supported youth board has been arrested and charged with the first-degree rape of a 6-to-7-month-old baby girl.
William Kelso Flournoy IV, who goes by “Isabelle” or “Izzy” and presents as a woman on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/izzydahooman420/">social media</a>, was charged Monday in Pierce County Superior Court in Washington with rape of a child and sexual exploitation of a minor. He pleaded not guilty. Court Commissioner Barbara McInvaille set bail at $1 million.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
BREAKING: William Kelso Flournoy, a man pretending to be a woman, was arrested in WA state after he allegedly R*PED an infant girl.
Why does this keep on happening?! <a href="https://t.co/iHnp9VF1gP">pic.twitter.com/iHnp9VF1gP</a>
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/2033954298082558239?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The charges stem from a <a href="https://reduxx.info/transgender-youth-advocate-charged-with-rape-of-infant-girl-in-washington/">horrific incident in 2023</a>. Flournoy and his then-girlfriend had been invited to live with a struggling family in a Tacoma motel. The child’s father told police that both parents were working two jobs and had asked Flournoy to babysit. A Google CyberTip later flagged a photo uploaded to the platform showing Flournoy on his knees, penetrating the infant. Tacoma police identified him through an IP address and two distinct moles visible on his hands in the image. The baby’s father confirmed the victim was his daughter.
When agents from the FBI’s Missing and Exploited Children Task Force arrested Flournoy on March 5 at a transient housing facility on Portland Avenue, they found a baby’s pacifier, a stuffed animal, and a child&#8217;s drinking cup in his room. Investigators noted an apparent interest in infantilism.
Flournoy had previously listed his job on Facebook as “Youth Action Board at The REACH Center” from September 2022 through at least June 2023. The <a href="https://www.reachtacoma.org/programs/advocacy/">Youth Action Board</a> is a youth-led group that gives input to Pierce County government on policies affecting homeless and housing-unstable young people. The REACH Center coordinates the board and hosts its meetings.
The center’s director of youth and young adult services, Carlos Garcia, confirmed to <a href="https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/crime/article315018066.html">local media</a> that Flournoy was never a REACH staff member and had not been involved with the board since October 2023. Garcia said the organization has “strict safety, reporting, and confidentiality policies” but declined further comment, citing privacy concerns.
The Daily Wire reached out to Nyia Harris, the Youth Action Board outreach representative, who said in a phone call, “I actually have no comment on behalf of the organization.”
Flournoy also faces a separate July 2024 case accusing him of possessing and dealing in child sexual abuse material. That charging document describes additional files on his Google account, including a video of him masturbating on the steps of a youth homeless shelter in Tacoma and “voyeuristic-style” photos of clothed females ages 12-18. Investigators noted six other CyberTip reports tied to his accounts.
Local media outlets covering the arrest referred to Flournoy with female pronouns. He is a male.
Tacoma police spokesperson Officer Shelbie Boyd said the investigation remains active: “The lead detective is actively investigating this case and continuing to run down all leads, including reviewing locations where the arrestee may have prior history.”
A defense attorney for Flournoy was not listed in court records as of Wednesday. The case is ongoing.

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