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Gary Bauer
Campaign for Working Families
President Joe Biden insulted Christians all over the world when he declared Easter Sunday to be “Transgender Day of Visibility.” His proclamation went on for two pages and more than 630 words. Eventually, the White House issued a short statement, less than 100 words, recognizing Easter.
It’s clear from these two statements which issue Biden cares about most. He wants us to believe the lies of radical gender ideology that defies biology over the truth of the Bible.
The transgender fad of boys suddenly deciding they are really girls and vice versa has taken off like wildfire. Studies in Great Britain found that the number of teenage girls diagnosed with “gender dysphoria” jumped by 4,400 percent in ten years. How is this mass delusion possible, and why is such insanity embraced by so many of our elites?
A strong case can be made that, like certain eating disorders, transgenderism is a social contagion. Another reason is that mediocre male athletes have discovered that leftists will let them cheat, crushing the hopes and dreams of female athletes. And there is another, far more sinister explanation.
Thanks to real journalism, we know that many medical “professionals” are pushing gender dysphoria on children because it is a “huge money maker.”
Confused children are being told that they are something else trapped in the wrong body. Evidence suggests that medical professionals may be preying on children with autism – the very children who struggle most to express their feelings.
Parents are often told that irreversible sterilizing drugs and radical surgical experiments are the only solution to prevent their child from committing suicide. That is the worst form of emotional manipulation by people who are supposed to “do no harm.”
These sterilizing chemicals and experimental surgeries are euphemistically called “gender-affirming health care.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
There is nothing “affirming” taking place here. It is “gender denying” — denying reality, denying science, and denying basic biology.
During a congressional hearing on this issue last year, Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) asked a very revealing question: “There’s a 100 percent failure rate for sex change operations, isn’t there? Because it’s not possible to change your sex.”
She’s right. DNA doesn’t change.
Sadly, a growing number of young men and women are coming to the realization that they were deceived in the cruelest way imaginable by people they trusted to help them.
Detransitioners like Chloe Cole, Luka Hein, and Laura Smalts have devastating testimonies about how they were rushed into only one course of radical treatment.
Many people who identify as “transgender” often struggle with other mental health issues. But far too often, their doctors do not treat those issues. This is a crucial point because the “risk of suicide,” often used to blackmail parents into approving these radical procedures, isn’t supported by the facts.
A major study from Finland found no difference in suicide rates among those who had undergone transgender procedures. In other words, radical medical interventions did not reduce the risk of suicide.
What the study did find is that the higher rate of suicide among transgender individuals was due to a higher rate of psychiatric issues among trans-identifying people.
One brave whistleblower, Jamie Reed, came forward last year to expose the “morally and medically appalling” procedures at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Reed describes herself as a “queer woman to the left of Bernie Sanders” and is married to a “transman.”
Reed said the doctors she worked with often said of their work, “We are building the plane while we are flying it.” Reed is not alone in her concerns.
Dr. Erica Anderson was an early pioneer in advocating an “affirmative approach” for children who claimed to be transgender. Now Anderson says, “It’s gone too far… A fair number of kids are getting into it because it’s trendy.”
Dr. Anderson is no right-wing conservative. Anderson is transgender, and a past president of the U.S. Professional Association for Transgender Health. When Dr. Anderson says it has “gone too far,” it is well beyond too far.
Indeed, that is the conclusion medical experts in Europe have come to. The scientific evidence to justify these extreme interventions just isn’t there.
England recently banned “puberty blockers” for children after finding that there was “not enough evidence” that the drugs were “safe or effective.”
A new report from the French Senate highlighted the lack of supporting research and the high degree of mental illness among transgender individuals. It condemned transgender procedures performed on children as one of the “greatest ethical scandals in the history of medicine.”
Speaking of ethics, investigative journalist Michael Schellenberger recently disclosed shocking internal memos and a video from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). It is clear these “professionals” really are building the plane while they are flying it.
They are stumped by frequent and severe complications. They worry about “consent” because young patients and their parents have no comprehension of the serious risks and significant life-long complications. And they struggle with the number of patients who have serious psychiatric issues, which makes consent more difficult.
I hope Schellenberger’s exposure of the WPATH Files will lead many more to question and resist radical gender ideologues, just as Jamie Reed and Dr. Anderson are doing. Research shows that the vast majority of children will grow out of this phase if they are not pushed into making radical, life-altering decisions.
In the meantime, parents and grandparents must demand that our elected leaders do more to protect vulnerable children from radical, unproven experiments.
Gary L. Bauer, former chief domestic policy adviser to President Reagan and a Trump-appointee to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, serves as president of American Values, chairman of Campaign for Working Families PAC, and senior vice president of public policy for the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute.
