Pediatricians Call Youth Transgenderism 'Child Abuse'
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The American College of
Pediatricians reaffirmed the biological differences between men and
women and condemned the idea of teaching kids early on that gender
identity is fluid as "child abuse." In a preliminary statement released on Monday, the group of over 400 pediatricians nationwide listed eight points explaining their position scientifically.
Perhaps
the most compelling is the last point, where the organization
unequivocally condemned miseducating young people (emphasis theirs):
Conditioning children into believing a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse. Endorsing gender discordance as normal via public education and legal policies will confuse children and parents, leading more children to present to “gender clinics” where they will be given puberty-blocking drugs. This, in turn, virtually ensures that they will “choose” a lifetime of carcinogenic and otherwise toxic cross-sex hormones, and likely consider unnecessary surgical mutilation of their healthy body parts as young adults.
In the past few years, books and TV shows promoting transgenderism
have been targeted toward children and young adults, with the goal of
reaching people before they are old enough to question the ideology of
self-described gender. This is to say nothing of Bruce "Call Me Caitlyn"
Jenner, the former Olympic athlete turned transgender icon. The
American College of Pediatricians seeks to reverse this trend, and has
data to back up their objections to it. "Facts -- not ideology --
determine reality," the statement declares.
Here are the eight points made by the college, in plain language:
1. Humans are male and female, biologically.
Science
is straightforward about this: a person's DNA either has two "X"
chromosomes or one "X" and one "Y". These are "genetic markers of health
-- not genetic markers of a disorder." Scientifically, human sexuality
is "binary by design" with the aim of reproduction. Disorders of sex
development (DSDs) are "rightly recognized as disorders," and those who
suffer from them "do not constitute a third sex."
2. Gender is not objective, but sex is.
The
college defines gender as an awareness of being male or female. This
awareness develops over time and may be derailed by various life events.
People who "feel like the opposite sex" do not compromise a third sex,
but remain biologically male or female. No matter what their stated
gender identity, they cannot escape sexual reality, and to think that
they can is a delusion.
3. Transgender thinking is confused.
"When
an otherwise healthy biological boy believes he is a girl, or an
otherwise healthy biological girl believes she is a boy, an objective
psychological problem exists that lies in the mind not the body,
and it should be treated as such," the college writes (emphasis added).
This is a psychological condition known as gender dysphoria (GD) and it
is recognized as a mental disorder in the Disgnostic and Statistical
Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-V).
4. Puberty-blocking hormones are dangerous.
Some
transgender advocates push for using hormones to block the natural
development of puberty among boys and girls. These hormones "induce a
state of disease -- the absence of puberty -- and inhibit growth and
fertility in a previously biologically healthy child." Far from a cure,
they are a poison.
5. The vast majority of "transgender" boys and girls will accept their natural sex.
As
many as 98 percent of gender-confused boys and 88 percent of
gender-confused girls eventually accept their original biological sex
after puberty.
6. Using puberty-blocking hormones as a kid will endanger you as an adult.
Children
who use hormones to block puberty in order to impersonate the opposite
sex will need cross-sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen) in late
adolescence. Blocking puberty screws up the body, and these cross-sex
hormones will add to that disease, as they are associated with dangerous
health risks including high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke, and
cancer. Ouch.
7. Transgenderism leads to higher suicide rates.
The
college notes that rates of suicide are twenty times greater among
adults who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex-reassignment surgery.
This holds true even in Sweden, which is one of the most LGBTQ-affirming
countries.
8. Teaching kids this is good and right is child abuse.
Now
we come full circle. Transgender ideology is harming our children,
teaching them lies about human biology that have been disproved by
science. This is child abuse, and it is refreshing to see a group of
over 400 pediatricians denouncing it.
