Please Join a Letter Writing Campaign in Honor of JK Rowling & Her Bravery in Raising Concerns about Large Increases in Medically Altered Youth with Gender Dysphoria

Did you know that JK Rowling’s and Harry Potter’s birthdays are coming up soon?

Many of us have felt heartened and grateful for JK Rowling’s recent contributions to the discussion around gender ideology. Rowling shares a birthday with her beloved literary progeny – July 31. Harry Potter fans will recall that the boy wizard receives his first Hogwarts’ acceptance letter a week before his 11th birthday. When his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon refuse to let him see the letter, more and more “letters from no one” begin to arrive, finally inundating his aunt and uncle.

The Hogwarts’ motto is Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus (Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon), but sometimes sleeping dragons do indeed need to be tickled. We thought we would show our support for Joanne on her birthday by sending “letters from no one” to The Guardian, the BBC, and The New York Times. All we are asking for is constructive dialogue in the mainstream media. Please download the letter, print it three times, and send it to the New York Times, the BBC, and the Guardian in time for it to arrive around July 31. Alternatively, you may copy the text (printed below) and paste it into an email. Or better yet, do both! You may feel free to sign it and give a brief description of yourself, or you may simply send without signing.

Once you’ve printed your letter, please take a picture of it and post the photo on social media using the hashtags #ItsNotHateToWantDebate and #HappyBirthdayJKR. Tag in the journalists and the outlets. And please help spread the word!

Let’s send as many letters to each of these media outlets as Hogwarts sent to Harry at Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia’s house. 

Looking forward to seeing you at Hogwarts!

For a downloadable PDF of the letter, click here.

To copy and paste the letter into an email, see the text of the letter below. 

___________________________________________

To the BBC, The Guardian and The New York Times:

We are writing to request that you widen your scope when reporting on gender diversity. A progressive society is characterised by a respect for thoughtful discussion and we hope that journalistic outlets of your stature could explore multiple perspectives on these important questions rather than stifling debate by covering only one side.   

In her recent personal essay, J.K. Rowling outlined her concerns that extremist ideology was negatively impacting vulnerable groups. She highlighted several pressing aspects of this issue that have received scant coverage in the liberal media. The international reaction to Rowling’s essay demonstrated both the lack of public awareness about these issues and the urgent need for honest and respectful dialogue. 

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry begins to receive numerous copies of his Hogwarts’ acceptance letter a week before his birthday on July 31 – which is also Rowling’s birthday. These letters marked a new beginning for the fictional boy wizard. We hope these letters that you are receiving will signal to you that there are many from across the political spectrum who wish to have a good-faith discussion about gender ideology and its impact on women, children, adolescents, and also on lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. 

It is our hope that together we can help to usher in a new beginning where we can have important conversations that until now have been substantially ignored by the liberal mainstream media. Given our mutual desire to support gender non-conforming individuals, we believe that it is vitally important for leading media to cover these crucial and under-reported stories. 

• The extraordinary growth in the number of adolescents with gender dysphoria

• The link between increasingly rigid gendered expectations and gender dysphoria in childhood

• The social pressures on lesbian, gay and bisexual youth to conform to sex role stereotypes and/or change their bodies

• The complex issues facing the growing number of detransitioners

• The potential impact the enshrinement of gender identity has upon sex-based rights, single-sex spaces, and sports for women and girls

After receiving his letters, Harry travelled to Hogwarts on September 1. We would like to follow up with you in early September to see how we might bring more nuance and depth to the current coverage about gender issues.

Hope to see you at Hogwarts!

#ItsNotHateToWantDebate                #HappyBirthdayJKR

The Guardian

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The New York Times

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BBC

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Thanks to The Australian and Bernard Lane for Publishing Our Comments About the Affirmative Model

News Commentary

Bernard Lane has been writing articles about transgender issues for The Australian. Those articles can be found listed under his BIO.

Lane included GHQ statements for an article about conversion therapy laws and how these will be used to immediately affirm the significant increases in trans-identified youth:

“Health chiefs can’t ignore ‘global epidemic’ of transgender teens”

Here is the quoted GHQ commentary:

Justine Kreher, from a new US-based LGBT group Gender Health Query worried about overdiagnosis of gender dysphoria and medicalisation of minors, said most LGBT people were not aware of the risks.

“The evidence is strong that early social transition (living as the opposite sex) and use of hormone blockers will lead to the over-medicalisation — or “conversion” — of LGB minors who would have outgrown gender dysphoria with maturation,” she said.

“It’s already happening as known cases are mounting. The question is, how high will the percentage be?”

Gender Health Query’s international board includes trans adult Miranda Yardley and lesbian feminist philosopher Holly Lawford-Smith from the University of Melbourne.

Ms Kreher, also a board member, said LGBT lobbies and progressive media refused to discuss “the reality that for many gender-nonconforming youths, or even adults, there isn’t a clear line between gay and trans”.

“Trans people argue transition as a minor is a human right (but troubled) LGB people would argue the right to mature and accept oneself, without being medically defaced by the psychology and medical profession, is a human right.”

Ms Kreher said activist promotion of medicalised gender change had been “extremely effective in inducing suicide terror in the public”.

“People should take suicide risk seriously, but it is also exaggerated and employed to manipulate people to not care about serious risks to minors who may (grow out of gender dysphoria) with time,” she said.

“These risks include sterilisation, loss of sexual function, impacts on bone and circulatory health, and a reduction in IQ if they take hormone blockers.”

The article included commentary from mental health professionals expressing similar concerns:

The internationally recognised sex researcher, Ray Blanchard, joined online debate about the Queensland bill, tweeting: “Conversion therapy laws are Trojan Horses, ostensibly about banning attempts to change sexual orientation in adults, actually about banning therapy to help gender-dysphoric children and youth become comfortable with their anatomic sex”.

And:

Dr Parry pointed out that many children grew out of gender dysphoria, becoming “more comfortable with birth gender or a same-sex orientation”. Clinicians say this is a reason to be cautious about medical interventions.

Psychologist Dianna Kenny, who treats gender dysphoric youth, told the committee that trans activists “vehemently denied the role of social contagion in the spread of gender dysphoria in young people because it flies in the face of their flawed ideology that children are the experts regarding their own gender identity”.

Dr Kenny, a specialist in developmental psychology and a former professor at Sydney University, said beliefs and attitudes were especially contagious in centralised social networks.

“This network is highly centralised with only one voice — the trans activist lobby — being heard above the desperate cries of terrified parents and horrified academics, doctors, psychologists and psychotherapists.”

She said this social contagion was affecting not just children and adolescents but also medical practitioners, legislators and educators.

The article confirms this is mainly affecting young females:

There were at least 216 patients on controversial puberty blocker drugs (up 108-fold over six years).

The clinic refuses to reveal birth sex data but 94 per cent of the 84 under-18s on opposite-sex hormones were taking testosterone, meaning they were born female.

Thanks to the paper and author for airing our concerns.

References

Lane, B. (2020, February 11) “Health chiefs can’t ignore ‘global epidemic’ of transgender teens.” The Australian. Retrieved from https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/health-chiefs-cant-ignore-global-epidemic-of-transgender-teens/news-story/5849a55ba47884befdc9eb72d25d32d7

Conflicts in the Debate about Gender Dysphoria And Gender Ideology

New Links

Trans-Identified Males In Services for Females

New research is proving medical transition does not erase the advantages biological males have over females. Placing them in female sports disadvantages girls.

1) Some states are seeking to ban males on female sports teams, as Title 9 is designed to protect girls based on biological sex.

"Tennessee bill would require students to play sports based on gender identified at birth:"

The bill's sponsor, state Rep. Bruce Griffey, called it a "proactive measure," meant to "maintain fairness" specifically for female athletes, he told CNN. Griffey said genetic males have "larger hearts" and more upper body strength that gives them an advantage in sports.

"It's not intended to demean, degrade, or diminish anyone," Griffey said. "It's just trying to maintain fairness."

2) Due to complaints about boundaries and privacy, schools in Australia are reversing decisions to make almost all toilets unisex.

PLANS for secondary school students to share gender neutral toilets at Brisbane's newest secondary school have been scrapped following severe public backlash.

Controversies around the affirmative model

1) Dr. Ken Zucker was libeled and fired from his job in the public Canadian healthcare system for being more cautious in medically treating gender dysphoria than those who support full validation under the “affirmative model.” Trans activists attempted to censor his talk at McGill University, but the talk proceeded anyway.

2) There has been a lack in transparency around an inquiry into the rising numbers of minors being put on puberty blockers in the UK:

In her fundraiser statement Sue Evans says: ‘The alarm bells began ringing for me when a colleague at the weekly team clinical meeting said that they had seen a young person four times and they were now recommending them for a referral to the endocrinology department to commence hormone therapy.’ Evans then quotes concerns about hormone treatment for teenagers cited in the British Medical Journal: ‘1) Young people are left in a state of ‘developmental limbo’ without secondary sexual characteristics that might consolidate gender identity; 2) use is likely to threaten the maturation of the adolescent mind, and 3) puberty blockers are being used in the context of profound scientific ignorance’.

Controversies Around Postmodern Gender Ideology

1) Not everyone appreciates the use of cultures who had concepts of a third gender, or who accepted effeminate males, to make what they see as invalid arguments to support postmodern queer theory influenced gender ideology.

“Toward an End to Appropriation of Indigenous “Two Spirit” People in Trans Politics: the Relationship Between Third Gender Roles and Patriarchy:”

What’s instead true is that American Indian nations that had more rigid gender roles and assigned women less power historically felt the need to strip male/female identities from non-conformers, while more egalitarian societies with less gender socialization lack two-spirit people because of, rather than in spite of, their lack of emphasis on sex-assigned gender roles.

2) A US court has found there is no legal right to demand to be called certain pronouns.

"‘Xemself,’ ‘Eirself,’ and ‘Verself’: U.S. Appeals Court Nixes Gender Neutral Pronouns"

3) Due to the influence of LGBT rights organizations, the census in Scotland originally was going to contain twentyone different sexualities.”

“Controversial list of sexualities could be dropped from Scottish Census”

4) Below is an article opposing an agenda to introduce postmodern genderqueer theory into school.

“Why children are being indoctrinated with gender ideology in kindergarten”

5) The Wall Street Journal has published an article laying out the conflicts gender activism has with women’s rights and the interests of the homosexual rights movement.

“The Dangerous Denial of Sex-Transgender ideology harms women, gays—and especially feminine boys and masculine girls”

6) This article reviews some data around who is funding LGBT organizations and their ties to the medical industry:

As the example of the Arcus Foundation shows, the LGB civil rights movement of yore has morphed into a relentless behemoth, one that has strong ties to the medical industrial complex and global corporatists. The pharmaceutical lobby is the largest lobbying entity in Congress. Although activists present the LGBT movement as a weak, powerless group suffering oppression and discrimination, in truth it wields enormous power and influence—power it increasingly uses to remake our laws, schools, and society.

Legal Conflicts

1) A BC Court in Canada ordered a father to refer to his child’s preferred pronouns, and that decision has been overturned:

The Justice Centre obtained intervenor status to make submissions to the Court of Appeal, which heard the case in September 2019. The Justice Centre argued that children have a legal right to the protection of those who love them the most and know them the best: their own parents. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the liberty and security interests of parents in the raising of and caring for their own children, including a right to make decisions for them in fundamental matters such as participating in elective irreversible medical interventions.

2) “Oregon Appeals Case Could Set New Precedent for Nonbinary Rights:”

A case currently working its way through the Oregon legal system could set a new precedent for transgender and nonbinary rights in the state.

Jones David Hollister is a nonbinary person who lives in Lane County, Oregon. Earlier this year, they attempted to have their legal gender designation changed from female to nonbinary—meaning they would be seen as a nonbinary person in the eyes of the law—but their request was denied by Lane County Circuit Court Judge Charles D. Carlson.

3) “Former Nike contractor sues company for not using the right pronouns:”

Jazz Lyles, who uses the pronouns “they/them/their,” worked for the company out their Beaverton, Oregon headquarters. Lyles’ lawsuit, which was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, claims that Nike and Mainz Brady, California-based IT staffing firm, put her through discrimination, harassment, and retaliation for dismissing her request to use her they/them pronouns.

Opposing Opinions Around Pediatric Medical Transition And Gender Ideology

News

This post will contain several examples of varying opinions about pediatric medical transition and gender activism.

Trans Opposition to Pediatric Medical Transition and Gender Activism

Not all trans people believe in pediatric medical transition as the medical side effects can be intense, and surgeries and hormones have risks. Scott Newgent, an FtM trans person, has circulated a petition, “Adult Transgender & Non-Transgender People Against Medically Transitioning Children opposing medical treatment on minors.”

Scott has suffered serious damage due to phalloplasty surgery, a dangerous operation with high rates of complications:

Well, we are the marginalized group, along with the support of Non-Transgender adults, and we are telling you that medically transitioning children is wrong. In remaining quiet, we have cut a safe corner out for ourselves to live peacefully, but with the massive influx of children transitioning, we can in good conscience, stay silent no longer. Together, arm in arm, we come together from the LGBT community, the straight community, the conservative community, the liberal community, the Christian community, the Jewish community, and many more to save Transgender identifying children.

A trans person in Canada is calling for an Inquiry into the rising numbers of children being treated for gender dysphoria, many of whom are in the foster care system.

We are adding an older article that highlights the reality that there are disagreements, even among trans people, as to how gender non-conforming people should exist in society. The article, “Pakistan's traditional third gender isn't happy with the trans movement,” is about the conflict between tradition “third gender” culture and modern trans activism:

For centuries, South Asia has had its own Khawaja Sira or third gender culture. The community, identifying as neither male nor female, are believed by many to be "God’s chosen people," with special powers to bless and curse anyone they choose.

The acceptance of Khawaja Sira people in Pakistan has been held up internationally as a symbol of tolerance, established long before Europe and America had even the slightest semblance of a transgender rights movement.

But the acceptance of people defining their own gender in Pakistan is much more complicated. The term transgender refers to someone whose gender identify differs from their birth sex. This notion is yet to take root in Pakistan and the transgender rights movement is only beginning to assert itself formally. Now, some third gender people in Pakistan say the modern transgender identity is threatening their ancient third gender culture.

A “third gender” traditionalist comments on an MtF who uses female pronouns and is currently a supermodel:

Bindiya Rana is the grand matriarch of the third gender community in Karachi. She doesn’t prescribe to the transgender identity. She is a Khawaja Sira, so revered that she is a guru (teacher) to more than 50 chelahs or apprentices. 

This relationship has a parental element and is a cornerstone of Khawaja Sira culture. Each chelah pledges allegiance to their guru, as they did to their guru before them. These family trees provide acceptance, social support and financial backing. Most chelahs give a percentage of their income to their gurus. It’s a lifetime commitment that allows the establishment of families that often replaces biological lineage. 

But those who identify as transgender, like Choudary, don’t subscribe to the guru-chelah system. As a result, Rana and her chelahs view the transgender identity as alien and even immoral.  

“If you don’t have a guru, we don’t recognize you. These people who say they are transgender; that concept is just wrong," says one of Rana's chelahs. "They can never be women. They cannot give birth. Even if they change their bodies they can’t change who they are. We are not women. We are what Allah has made.”

The Pakistani example highlights that there is more acceptance of trans than the concept of homosexuality in the Muslim world where homosexuality is punishable by death.

Trans Identity as a form of Self-Harm

GHQ is adding an older article from the New Statesmen, which discusses how female body hatred around gender dysphoria is being normalized despite the fact that doing things like breast binding is physically damaging:

And yet, look again at that list of side effects: breathing difficulties, skeletal problems, fainting, inability to participate fully in exercise. The female adolescents wearing binders have reproduced all the problems of tight-lacing corsets, this time in the service of restrictive anti-femininity rather than restrictive femininity. So is issuing guidance to reduce the harms of binder-wearing in schools an act of care for transgender children, or an abdication of it? Is the role of adults in authority – whether parental, educational or medical – to validate everything that comes under the rubric of transition, regardless of long-term consequences, or could another approach be better?

LGB Conflicts with Gender Politics

Andrew Sullivan made a brief reference to gender identity politics in a discussion about the sweep by the conservative Tories in Britan in a recent election. We cover some similar opposing viewpoints that are a reaction to some of the cultural influences of postmodern queer theory.

It is clearer and clearer to me that the wholesale adoption of critical race, gender, and queer theory on the left makes normal people wonder what on earth they’re talking about and which dictionary they are using. 

A paper called Disaffirming Gender: Somatic Incongruence as a Co-function of Ideological Congruity covers the conflicting interests that can exist between concepts of sexual orientation and gender identity:

The activist conjunction of sexual orientation and gender identity is questioned by demonstrating how the concerns of the transgender movement run contrary to an agenda of liberation from gender ideology. The confused vocabulary of trans discourse articulated in the language of somatic incongruence (so-called gender dysphoria) is exposed, using an analysis of the concept of somatic incongruence and the various interventions through which bodies are apparently restored to ideological congruence constructed upon, inter alia, gender, race, and age. The paper rejects transgender medical treatment and surgery as nothing but the most brutal affirmation of gender stereotypes and, in conclusion, calls for a radical and total disaffirming of gender, analogous to the termination of racial classification and segregation. 

Below are several articles about the formation of the LGB Alliance in the UK. The organization was formed to advocate for LGB interests away from the demands of trans activism, which include transitioning young children and MtFs taking positions on girls’ sports teams.

This article covers the views of a former member of Stonewall UK who supports the breakaway LGB organization:

Fanshawe believes that the Stonewall of today is undermining the rights of lesbians and putting women and girls at risk by “unthinkingly” merging the rights of lesbians and gays with those of trans people through its ‘acceptance without exception’ dogma as it lobbies for transgender people to be able to legally self-identify as the gender they feel they are without having to provide evidence that they have lived in that gender for two years or by having gender dysphoria diagnosed.

LGBAlliance is going so far as to challenge Stonewall UK backed initiatives:

The LGB Alliance is of the view that Stonewall’s advice misrepresents the Equality Act, which recognizes sex as a protected characteristic. By replacing biological sex with gender identity, the LGB Alliance argues, Stonewall contravene legislation designed to uphold women’s rights. They describe this position as ‘Stonewall Law’ and fully intend to fight it.

There are always accusations of bigotry in LGBT discourse when other groups wish to advocate without adding trans interests. This is from Quillette.

Are gay people allowed to meet and organise in defense of their interests? A hard yes, you might have thought. But some apparently disagree.

Witness the response to the London-based LGB Alliance, a newly created British group that asserts “the rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people to define themselves as same-sex-attracted.” The group’s creation has sparked vitriol, not from the traditionalist Christians or social conservatives who might have opposed such groups in the 1980s or 1990s, but from the self-described progressive left.

There is an article in the Spectator that covers trans activist approaches to promoting trans acceptance in women’s spaces like sports and prisons and pediatric medical transition. The information comes from a report from a British law firm:

The report is called ‘Only adults? Good practices in legal gender recognition for youth’. Its purpose is to help trans groups in several countries bring about changes in the law to allow children to legally change their gender, without adult approval and without needing the approval of any authorities. ‘We hope this report will be a powerful tool for activists and NGOs working to advance the rights of trans youth across Europe and beyond,’ says the foreword.

Below are some relevant quotes from the article about strategy:

‘While cultural and political factors play a key role in the approach to be taken, there are certain techniques that emerge as being effective in progressing trans rights in the “good practice” countries’…

‘In many of the NGO advocacy campaigns that we studied, there were clear benefits where NGOs managed to get ahead of the government and publish progressive legislative proposal before the government had time to develop their own. NGOs need to intervene early in the legislative process and ideally before it has even started. This will give them far greater ability to shape the government agenda and the ultimate proposal than if they intervene after the government has already started to develop its own proposals’…

‘In Ireland, Denmark and Norway, changes to the law on legal gender recognition were put through at the same time as other more popular reforms such as marriage equality legislation. This provided a veil of protection, particularly in Ireland, where marriage equality was strongly supported, but gender identity remained a more difficult issue to win public support for.’

‘Another technique which has been used to great effect is the limitation of press coverage and exposure. In certain countries, like the UK, information on legal gender recognition reforms has been misinterpreted in the mainstream media, and opposition has arisen as a result. ….Against this background, many believe that public campaigning has been detrimental to progress, as much of the general public is not well informed about trans issues, and therefore misinterpretation can arise.

In Ireland, activists have directly lobbied individual politicians and tried to keep press coverage to a minimum in order to avoid this issue.’ (Emphasis added).

The Times of London posted another article about trans activist money in politics:

A pharmaceutical firm that markets drugs used in gender-identity clinics to delay puberty has given £100,000 to the Liberal Democrats.

Jo Swinson’s party has already upset feminists, who worry that the “extreme trans-ideological” policies in its manifesto will put vulnerable women at risk.

Denying Trans People Emotional & Sexual Access is “Transphobia”

There is an ongoing narrative that people should be emotionally and sexually available to trans people based on the trans person’s gender identity, or that person is a bigot or a transphobic.

This is from a recent article in Slate:

Stoya: I’m having difficulty putting myself in to the shoes of a person who is so off put by genital configuration.

Rich: Look, I’m way more into dick. Maybe I need to work on that, but it feels OK to like what I like. I don’t fantasize about vulvas; I do dicks. It’s plausible that someone has a type formed by a bunch of factors that are specific and don’t make him a bad person. But it’s also not just possible but observable and prevalent to have “preferences” that dog-whistle bigotry. I think these things require a lot of self-interrogation.

GHQ reviews the conflicts this is causing here and here.

Comments from Jesse Singal:

@jessesingal

The Advocate also published an article arguing it’s transphobic not to date trans people as some trans people are trying to make this concept mainstream:

The question that gets danced around, however, is: “Are all these numbers indicative of transphobia?” The answer, I believe, is clearly yes.

The Spectator commented on the strained arguments in the Advocate article:

Those who deny the existence of biological sex and insist a person can change sex through self-declaration have made a number of grave mistakes — some of which harm their own community. The promise of ‘passing’ — a term that refers to trans-identified people who are perceived to be the opposite sex, rather than simply a male attempting to dress ‘like a woman’ or vice versa — is in fact quite cruel. Most trans-identified people won’t ‘pass’ in public; but even if they manage to appear as the sex they wish to be on a day to day basis, all sorts of subtle cues betray them when it comes to attracting their desired partner. 

Trans Activism

Trans activists have reacted angrily to a book promoting body positivity in children called My Body is Me! due to the fact it promotes body acceptance and was cosponsored by Transgendertrend, a group that questions the ethics of pediatric transition:

My Body is Me is an upbeat, rhyming picture book, aimed for 3-6 year olds, written by Rachel Rooney and illustrated by Jessica Ahlberg in consultation with TransgenderTrend. It introduces children to the workings of the human body, and celebrates similarities and differences while challenging sex stereotypes. It also aims to promote a positive self-image and foster self-care skills. The text is inclusive for children with physical or sensory disabilities.

In an example of extremist gender activism, Debbie Hayton (who is on the GHQ Board) is trans and is being targetting for not believing it is possible to change your biological sex:

A transgender woman has been accused of transphobia for wearing a T-shirt saying she is really still a man.

Debbie Hayton, 51, a physics teacher in the Midlands, who transitioned from male to female in 2012, is facing expulsion from the LGBT committee of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) for the slogan: “Trans women are men. Get over it!”

Jake Pyne is an FtM activist who is part of GDAWorkinggroup.com. This website was set up with almost the same name as a group of health professionals (GDworkinggroup) who advocate a more cautious approach in an apparent attempt to challenge them. The site members consist of the people at the forefront of trans activism and the affirmative model, such as Diane Ehrensaft and Johanna Olson-Kennedy. Jake Pyne is also allegedly responsible for spreading a false allegation against Dr. Ken Zucker in order to get him fired for his more conservative approach to medically transitioning minors.

Below is a screencap of Pyne laughing at a joke about murdering a reporter, which is common behavior over the internet:

Multiple trans voices take issue with pediatric medical transition and some of the more radical aspects of trans activism.

Changing Laws and Policies to Allow Pediatric Medical Transition Without Parental Consent

The below case is an example of the new normal. Parents will lose the ability to have their children wait until they are adults to alter their body medically. This case is in Europe, but the same activist push exists in all Western countries:

By the parents' admission, they warned “Nea” that sex change is a complex and traumatising procedure, and that some of its effects are irreversible. They suggested waiting until the school year's end, going back to Finland, undergoing a thorough medical examination, and learning more about the consequences of getting a sex change.

However, “Nea”, with the help of a representative from a local trans organisation, went to the police and reported her parents for opposing her gender reassignment procedures. The authorities in the unnamed EU country supported the underage girl.

The Conservative think tank site Public Discourse reviews some conflicts of interest in allowing trans-identified students in girls bathrooms:

The case against compelled affirmation policies needs to be more explicitly and vividly sexualized. The argument against these policies must be rooted in the civil liberties of objecting students and the right not be forced to be the object of another’s sexual gaze. Opening intimate facilities to anyone of the opposite sex imposes psycho-sexual trauma on countless non-consenting youths, and constitutes a form of sexual exploitation.

The case:

Consider the experience of some northern Illinois high-school girls, as one federal court recently described it. In Students and Parents for Privacy v. High School District 211, Judge Jorge Alonso wrote that several of them were “startled, shocked, embarrassed, and frightened by the presence of a male in the girls’ restroom,” most especially when “female student A” was “exposed to this male’s penis.” No wonder: he also found that these students “are at continual risk of encountering (and sometimes do encounter), without their consent, members of the opposite sex while disrobing, showering, urinating, defecating and while changing tampons and feminine napkins.”

The naked guy was no streaker or everyday pervert. He was a student. The school did nothing to discipline him. In fact, the school authorities had sent him there under what they unapologetically called a “compelled affirmation” policy governing transgendered students’ access to intimate school facilities. Judge Alonso dismissed all complaints about the policy that were based on rights protected by the Constitution, including the free exercise of religion, students’ right of bodily privacy, and parents’ right to direct the education of their children. He did, however, permit statutory claims for sexual harassment and violation of the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act to go forward, possibly to trial.

The legal expert wants these cases to elicit sexually in the minds of the public:

I think that the case against compelled affirmation policies needs to be more explicitly and vividly sexualized. By that I mean that the argument against these policies must be rooted in the civil liberties of objecting students, as they pertain to the morality of acts which cause sexual arousal; which instigate impure thoughts; and which threaten both the healthy psycho-sexual development of young people and—most importantly in our cultural moment—the right not to be forced to be the object of another’s sexual gaze—the occasion for the arousal of another person. This improvement synthesizes the prevailing privacy contentions (which, again, are sound so far as they go); extends them; and focuses the argument on something that even judges who have been mesmerized by transgender-affirming propaganda might find hard to sanction: opening intimate facilities to anyone of the opposite sex (that is, anyone bearing the sexually provocative body parts of the opposite sex) imposes psycho-sexual trauma on countless unconsenting youths, and constitutes a form of sexual exploitation.

Most MtFs who transition at young ages are not sexually attracted to females. They are very effeminate homosexual males. However, most MtFs are autogynephilc males, are sexually attracted to women, and appear to be coming out at younger ages. The school system in these cases would be putting heterosexual males in with teenage girls in situations that involve nudity.

Gender ideology, something some LGBT people strongly disagree with, is taught to children in schools in multiple countries in the world:

For trans ideology to truly spread, it needs to become an inherent part of our core belief system. As natural as the sky being blue, and the earth being round, we must all have the truth of trans as a foundational element of our understanding about the world for it to thrive. Convincing adults is one thing, but to really make this wash, it’s children that need to taught the dogma of multiple gender identities and the ability of humans to swap their sex for its opposite. The purported goal behind teaching children that male and female are nothing more than feelings is compassion, empathy, and anti-bias.

The work to bring children into the trans fold is pervasive and growing, and we’ve seen it in the US and Canada. In Sweden, the government is pouring money into an educational program for drag queens to read to children with disabilities. Meanwhile, in the UK, where trans advocates have a major head start, the BBC is airing educational programming to teach children that there are as many genders as stars in the sky.

The article “Schools told all lessons for five-year-olds should include gay and trans themes” discusses the issue of when and how to teach children about gender identity and sexual orientation.

South Carolina wants to ban underage medical treatment for trans-identified youth.

There is a recorded video of a conservative father rebelling against gender ideology being taught to children in school.

Miscellaneous

Here is an account of a medical student who believes the sciences are embracing ideology over scientific facts regarding gender identity and biological sex.

References

A Concerned Medical Student Speaks Out. (2019, December 2019). Retrieved from https://www.kelseycoalition.org/pubs/A-Concerned-Medical-Student-Speaks-Out?fbclid=IwAR2DbQujxTiw29Pbd_mL_mHUq_beuD9sOoii-RjAZpOPFHGzH2v3fZOaPj4

Azhar, M. (2017, July 29). Pakistan's traditional third gender isn't happy with the trans movement. PRI. Retrieved from https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-07-29/pakistans-traditional-third-gender-isnt-happy-trans-movement

Bradley, G. (2019, December 1). Compelled Sexual Affirmation in the School Bathroom. Public Discourse. Retrieved from https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2019/12/58498/

Ditum, S. (2016, October 25). How society is failing transgender children. New Statesman. Retrieved from https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2016/10/how-society-failing-transgender-children

Griffiths, S., Walsh, J. (2019, December 1). Schools told all lessons for five-year-olds should include gay and trans themes. Retrieved from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/7d300e42-13ad-11ea-b97d-3a49c0ea7ce7?fbclid=IwAR0C9LRDIB3bzIcj-Tu-H2ooFxf7B8AtRsDP8ooB49WtNZNtLG7zTcDjsf0

Emmons, L. (2019, November 22). Teachers are indoctrinating our children in radical trans ideology. The Post Millenial. Retrieved from https://www.thepostmillennial.com/teachers-are-indoctrinating-our-children-in-radical-trans-ideology/

Hellen, N., Wheeler, C. (2019, December 8). Puberty-blocker drug firm donated cash to Lib Dems. The Times[London]. Retrieved from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/puberty-blocker-drug-firm-donated-cash-to-lib-dems-cf3x77nh3

Hellen, N. (2019, December 22). Trans woman Debbie Hayton faces ban for transphobia. The Times[London]. Retrieved from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trans-woman-debbie-hayton-faces-ban-for-transphobia-96tfkl5gc?fbclid=IwAR0glDgonjBJMJwv0-iYMY468WrPD72KSAps3-n46Pz4I2uUrC5NbS4PMlY

Heuchan, C. (2019, November 7). LGB Alliance asks Human Rights Watchdog to Investigate ‘Stonewall Law.’ After Ellen. Retrieved from https://www.afterellen.com/general-news/573118-lgb-alliance-asks-human-rights-watchdog-to-investigate-stonewall-law

Jenn Smith Calls for Provincial&National Inquiries into mass gender transitioning of Vulnerable kids. (2019, October 19). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPBfHgxWGwE

Joyce, H. (2019, November 4). Meet the Gay Activists Who’ve Had Enough of Britain’s Ultra-Woke Homophobes. Quillette. Retrieved from https://quillette.com/2019/11/04/meet-the-gay-activists-whove-had-enough-of-britains-ultra-woke-homophobes/

Kiirkup, J. (2019, December 2). The document that reveals the remarkable tactics of trans lobbyists. The Spectator. Retrieved from https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/12/the-document-that-reveals-the-remarkable-tactics-of-trans-lobbyists/

Losing a Daughter, Not Gaining a Son: Finnish Parents Who Opposed Teen's Sex Change Lose Custody. (2019, December 12). Sputnik News. Retrieved from https://sputniknews.com/society/201912121077550078-losing-a-daughter-not-gaining-a-son-finnish-parents-who-opposed-teens-sex-change-lose-custody/

Murphy, M. (2019, December 19). Are you heterosexual? Or simply transphobic? The Spectator. Retrieved from https://spectator.us/heterosexual-simply-transphobic/?fbclid=IwAR27cIwt6-CxA0mabnlg4iX1kfDrkeX8SNbLcZ-XlgKWxbOId4bKrHaIGO0#

North, A. (2019, November 25). South Carolina wants to ban lifesaving medical treatments for trans kids. Vox. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2019/11/22/20977721/south-carolina-trans-transgender-youth-gender-reassignment

Olver, T. (2019). Disaffirming Gender: Somatic Incongruence as a Co-function of Ideological Congruity. The Psychoanalytic Review 106(1),1-28. DOI: 10.1521/prev.2019.106.1.1

Phalloplasty gone wrong. (2019, September 4). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAJSILE_wGc

Rhodes, M. (2019, November 4). Co-founder of Stonewall calls for calm. Holyrood. Retrieved from https://www.holyrood.com/inside-politics/view,cofounder-of-stonewall-calls-for-calm_14648.htm

Rooney, R., Ahlberg, J. (2019). My Body is Me!. Published by Transgendertrend.

Singal, J. (2017, February 7). How the Fight Over Transgender Kids Got a Leading Sex Researcher Fired. The Cut. Retrieved from https://www.thecut.com/2016/02/fight-over-trans-kids-got-a-researcher-fired.html

Stoya, R. Juzwiak. (2019, November 7). “I Hope This Doesn’t Make Me a Terrible Person." Slate. Retrieved from https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/11/ask-trans-women-about-their-genitals-while-dating.html

Sullivan, A. (2019, December 13). Boris Johnson Is Showing Western Politicians How to Win. New York Magazine. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/andrew-sullivan-boris-johnsons-winning-formula.html

Tannehill, B. (2019, December 14). Is Refusing to Date Trans People Transphobic? The Advocate. Retrieved from https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2019/12/14/refusing-date-trans-people-transphobic?fbclid=IwAR3sftFezusxMKMsL5i0tDzKTQKx_nx2-s7O0y6IWFmZ3jkURrp3a7DUMjU

Censorship and Avoidance of Problems in Pediatric Transition for Gender Dysphoria

News Commentary

The GHQ website has a section on trans activism and censorship and harassment of people who raise issues around the safety of pediatric transition for gender dysphoria. This is an ongoing issue.

Censorship

The Pediatric Endocrine Society does not want its members to discuss the safety of hormone blockers, their use in treating gender-dysphoric tweens, and whether or not minors can consent to irreversible medical treatments. “They strongly oppose” discourse. The below is a letter they sent out to members on October 29, 2019:

It appears a story about our organization was removed from an LGBT news site, the Star Observer, in Australia. The LGBT press does not print any negative information about transitioning children or teens, nor do they mention the association of childhood gender dysphoria with adult homosexuality. Gender Health Query sent Australian officials a letter in support of other people in Australia who are alarmed about the spiking numbers of minors presenting to services for gender transition. We sent the letter to LGBT organizations and media there, including the Star Observer. This link was only up for a short time before they removed the mention of it. If LGBT media entities will not discuss the risks involved in childhood and teen gender transitions to pre-gay and lesbian youth it is best for them to advertise themselves exclusively as trans rights organizations:

4thwavenow is a site for parents skeptical of pediatric medical transition. There are multiple accounts on their website of female teenagers, often same-sex attracted, who went through long periods of identifying as trans (a year or more) and then desisted. They were locked out of their account for using the term “natal male.” This term is widely used and doesn’t violate Twitter’s policy and wasn’t directed at a trans individual. Jesse Singal, a journalist who has received a lot of harassment and verbal abuse for writing accurately about youth and gender dysphoria, stated he contacted a Twitter employee who replied the lockout was a mistake. However, their account is still locked. This is suspicious, and it appears Twitter may be targeting this account. All other social media companies have similar policies as people opposing aspects of trans activism are often removed from social media platforms.

GNC-Centric, a Canadian detransitioned lesbian and activist, whose work is linked on the GHQ site, was removed from Twitter for using the biological term “male” for an individual. Scientifically accurate terms are disallowed on major platforms. As all other major platforms (Facebook, Youtube) have these policies, discussing the reality of a person’s biological sex is now widely banned on the internet. This calls into question why they should essentially own the public square and something that functions as a utility.

This Federalist article documented a case of a doctor accurately discussing the medical risks in transgender medicine. The video was worded in ways many people would find offensive. The author, Michelle Cretella, is also an anti-same-sex marriage activist as a member of the anti-LGB American Academy of Pediatricians. But it highlights the power social media companies have to silence criticism of pediatric transition.

In the original video, Dr. Michelle Cretella, a pediatrician and executive director at the American Academy of Pediatricians, commented on the insanity of wanting to mutilate one’s body for the sake of becoming transgender.

Marcus Evans, a British psychologist who has called into question the safety of the affirmative protocol in treating gender dysphoria, also had his account temporarily banned by Twitter.

Poor Reporting on Trans Issues

Jessie Singal writes about flaws in news articles reporting on gender dysphoria. The UK press has been reporting on the topic of detransition. As a result, Stonewall UK put out a “fact sheet” meant to “debunk” some information on detransition. We review some commentary Singal made about that here.

There are other articles Singal, one of the few reporters to cover this subject, has analyzed. This quote is from an article called How “'Science Vs' Made Two Gender-Dysphoria Errors:”

I’ve been worried, for a while, about the level of bias creeping into mainstream journalism about gender dysphoria, and the frequency with which major outlets make basic errors when covering this subject. I’ve touched on this from time to time: In one blog post responding to critiques of my own work I showed that two of the journalists who cover this subject regularly weren’t familiar with the well-documented phenomenon of trauma sometimes appearing to cause gender dysphoria — a phenomenon you will come across if you have conducted any in-depth interviews with gender clinicians, or read much of the literature on this subject. In another, I critiqued a Slate article that, in my view, took an irresponsible and unsupported stance on the complicated question of what it means when someone goes on hormones and finds their dysphoria has, at least temporarily, gotten worse.

Those older critiques can be found here.

He went on to cover two recent errors in the “Science Vs” podcast:

(1) Science Vs claims that in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM-IV), “being trans” was a mental disorder, but that in the current edition, the DSM-5, being trans is no longer listed as such. This is incorrect on multiple counts…

(2) With regard to the gender dysphoria desistance debate — we’ll get there — the episode claims that “The only study we’ve found that zoomed in on kids [who identified strongly as being trans fairly early in life]… found that out of 45 of them… 44 grew up to be transgender.” Here Science Vs accidentally fabricated and published a study result. There is no such study. 

Below is a screencap pointing out the poor reporting by Vox:

@jessesingal

Rolling Stone is also involved with poor reporting on gender dysphoria. Rolling Stone is wrong that minors are not taking cross-sex hormones or even getting surgery:

@jessesingal

The Advocate failed to make several corrections to a defamatory article referencing Singal. The corrections they should have made can be found here.

Kirsty Entwistle is a British psychologist who has acted as a whistleblower around youths and the Tavistock clinic in the UK. She pointed out that Psychology Today deletes even reasonable comments that do not support anything other than total affirmation:

@seja_bondoso

The author of the article, Jack Turban, is also apparently unwilling to engage with arguments that present concerns about his research or possible false positives, even with other health professionals and scientists:

@seja_bondoso

Trans activists obtained a similar domain name to Transgendertrend in the UK, which is a group that addresses safety concerns around medically transitioning minors. Silencing campaigns commence against anyone who raises any issues or highlights negative outcomes that seem to be increasing. The similarly named site redirects people to Mermaids who believe in affirming all minors and providing them with surgery and hormones underage.

References:

4thWaveNow lockout: Twitter employee admits “mistake” to journalist, yet account remains disabled. (2019, December 11). Retrieved from https://4thwavenow.com/2019/12/16/4thwavenow-lockout-twitter-employee-admits-mistake-to-journalist-yet-account-remains-disabled/

Clark, Chrissy. (2019, November 5). YouTube Removes Video Of Doctor Discussing Medical Reality Of Transgenderism. The Federalist. Retrieved from https://thefederalist.com/2019/11/05/youtube-removes-video-of-doctor-discussing-medical-reality-of-transgenderism/

Singal, J. (2019, March 27). A Critique of the ‘Science Vs’ Episode on Being Transgender, Part 1. Retrieved from https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/how-science-vs-made-two-gender-dysphoria

Singal, J. (2018, November 21). Gender Dysphoria, Trauma, and Online Misinformation. Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@jesse.singal/gender-dysphoria-trauma-and-online-misinformation-59a0ed43d275

Personal Historical Observations from a Trans Person on Social Media

From Social Media

Older transgender individuals have interesting observations about the evolution of trans activism and the trans community itself. Much has changed in the last ten years. We provide a link to this thread from “Radically Trans” who can be found on Twitter @Transradically:

Transgender As A Form Of Social Contagion.

I'm going to cover five different periods of time, and what I believe are four different changes within society. The backstory is needed to set up the first change, and I'll cover the ways in which that change increased exposure.

1). Before mid-to-late 90's.
2). Rise of Transgender and adding "T" to LGB.
3). Butch Lesbian out-migration
4). Rise of social media and self-identification.
5). Development of ROGD as a phenomenon.

A Recent Spate of Articles Regarding the Effects of Trans Activism And Cultural/Legal Conflicts

News

Recently there have been many articles that demonstrate there are conflicting opinions around pediatric medical transition for gender dysphoria and ideological views about sex and gender. These conflicts are happening around the medical treatment of minors, free speech and censorship, sex-based rights issues with girls, and cultural disagreements in and outside of the LGBT population.

Medical Ethics & Parental Rights

A Canadian Court declines to consider criticism that giving tweens cross-sex hormones is too experimental to be given to minors (“Consent form for trans child's hormone therapy was insufficient, lawyer argues at appeal court”):

The father takes the position in court filings that Bowden erred by delivering a “rush to judgment,” and Dunton on Wednesday questioned whether the risk of suicide may have been “trumped up.”

The child and his supporters state in court filings that proper consent was obtained and that the law in B.C. is settled when it comes to affording youth the authority to decide their own medical treatments.

A father in Texas is fighting the transition of his son. A video the father took of the child, circulating online, seems to indicate the mother is actively encouraging the child’s transition. He is now under a gag order from the judge.

The Texas Governor is calling for an investigation (“A Texas man says his 7-year-old isn’t transgender. Now his custody fight has reached the governor’s office’).

A politician in Georgia is proposing outlawing medical treatment for minors:

State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, wants to make it a felony to change a child’s gender through surgery or drugs and plans to introduce her “Vulnerable Child Protection Act” in the Georgia General Assembly.

The Endocrine Society has urged its members not to make statements against pediatric transition. They are commenting on a case where it appears the mother may be leading the child to identify as trans based on a video the father released to the public.

Suppressing puberty is fully reversible.

The claim puberty suppression is fully reversible is very debatable.

In the UK, a mother is suing Britain’s youth gender clinic, claiming minors can’t give consent to irreversible medical treatment or possible side-effects from hormone blockers (“Mother sues Tavistock child gender clinic over treatments”). Other parents have joined the lawsuit (“Parents battle ‘state‑sponsored sterilisation’ of trans children”):

More than 30 families with transgender children are to lobby the government and the NHS against what they claim is “coerced medicalisation” — propelling vulnerable young people convinced they are the wrong gender towards treatments that risk leaving them infertile.

The group, provisionally called Our Duty, was formed after one mother went public to describe gender reassignment medication and surgery for those with autism or psychological problems as “state-sponsored sterilisation”.

The London Times has released a statement skeptical of the safety of current pediatric transition protocols (“The Times view on the Tavistock clinic and hormone-blocking drugs for the young: Informed Consent”).

The Times concerns mirrors that of some people in the health professions. “Gender dysphoria in children: puberty blockers study draws further criticism” criticizes the handling of medical treatment of gender dysphoric youth in the UK.

An Australian doctor and lawyer have written a paper questioning the safety of puberty blockers for transgender youth.

The court decisions, as in other areas, have followed medical evidence applications where there appears to have been no contrary opinion argued for. It would perhaps be helpful for a matter to come before the courts where a contrary opinion may be fully ventilated – for example, where the parents of a child had different views (supported by appropriate expert evidence) on the merits of Stage 1 and or Stage 2 treatment in a particular case. The current relative ease by which gender dysphoric children

Not everyone believes promoting gender ideology to children is healthy and safe. The article “How the trans debate entered the classroom” covers commentary from several professionals on the rise in the number of medicalized young people. The article states that people want to remain anonymous for fear of backlash if they offer up their honest concerns. Censorship is an ongoing problem around this issue:

‘This is one of the most complicated clinical areas of mental health and clinicians are often put under huge pressure to refer individuals, who believe this will solve their dysphoria, on for medical interventions,’ Dr Evans says. ‘Adolescence involves biological, psychological and sociological changes, and feelings of anxiety and confusion about their role required by society, and experimentation. I’m not saying no to gender transition, but services should resist the pull towards a quick solution that bypasses thoughtful exploration. How an adolescent feels now may not be how they feel in ten years’ time.’…

A senior psychoanalyst (like many I contacted, they asked to remain anonymous) told me ‘children are being seriously damaged’. ‘Gender dysphoria is being treated like an aesthetic,’ he said. ‘How can you consent for a 12-year-old? They’ll be infertile, on medical treatment for life, and if you cut out a piece of their gut to turn into a vagina, you’re not really making them into a woman. There should be a distinction between what someone wants and what is good for them.

Jenn Smith, a transgender person who is opposed to pediatric transition, has released a video discussing Smith’s viewpoints. Smith was a foster child, and there appears to be a link with adoption and foster situations and an increase in gender dysphoria. A gender clinician in BC (Dr. Wong) where Smith is from has stated 1/2 of his patients are “from the Ministry” in Canada. That information can be found here.

Jenn Smith states a caveat that these numbers are going by what Dr. Wong said himself and have not been verified by official statistics. If true, these are very high numbers of trans-identified foster kids:

500 of Wong’s patients are from the Ministry. The Ministry has 6500 kids in it’s care. So when you do the math there what you discover is that that 7.7% of all the children is the Ministry’s care are identifying as transgender and under the care of one doctor, just one doctor. There are other doctors out thoere. Like any family physician can basically perscribe hormones or whatever to kids and stuff. So it is not unreasonable for us to conclude the numers of foster children idenifying as transgender, might be as high as 1 in 10.

Another trans person who is against pediatric medical transition, FtM in this case, has posted an article about the harshness of medical transition on the body (What the medical professionals won't tell you about Transitioning genders, but I will).

Open Debate, Free Speech, & Censorship Issues

Several law professors in Australia signed a letter pledging to support transgender students after a Dean made comparisons of the increase of trans-identified youth to eating disorders.

Almost 40 law academics at the University of Queensland have signed an open letter pledging to support transgender students after the university’s law school dean presented a paper that compared transgender children to teens with eating disorders.

The dean’s response:

‘None of my colleagues have raised any concerns with me, and none have asked for a copy of the 14,000-word paper that I delivered last week. Had they done so, they would have found that it deals with issues that are being widely discussed in the medical and scientific literature.’

‘‘My background is in child protection. To suggest that we don’t tackle difficult issues because it might be challenging is to avoid the responsibilities of intellectual leadership.’

It is a fact that even some experts in gender dysphoria are raising concerns that there may be cases that are influenced by body dysmorphia and social contagion. GHQ covers the reasons for these concerns here.

Below are two articles about the threats to people’s careers coming from trans activism. This topic is extensively covered in this section: Problems with a politicized climate of harassment & censorship. These problems include censorship, threats to one’s career, and threats to people's physical safety. or the safety of their family:

“The purge of trans-sceptical academics”

“Meet the academics hunted down and hounded out of jobs for having the 'wrong' thoughts”

“The trans-activists' witch hunt against academics threatens the whole of society”:

A chaperone accompanies you to your office. Inside, a panic alarm is kept within reach. Once, your office door was covered in urine. You’ve faced multiple death and rape threats. Abuse and harassment, delivered online and in person, have become routine features of your working life.

Sex-Based Rights and Trans Rights

MtF trans individuals have been dominating women and girls in sporting events. Recent research shows that males retain a biological advantage, even post medical transition. The article “‘Justice’ for trans athletes is unfair to girls like my daughter” article discusses the advantages MtF teens have over biological girls in high school:

Alanna has devoted countless days, nights and weekends to training. She pushes herself to shave mere fractions of a second from her race times, yet she positions herself at the starting line knowing that, even with all that training and with her best effort, the odds are against her, the numbers are against her and that fairness doesn’t really exist.

A school is reconsidering the transgender bathroom policy and has received backlash from trans activist:

PICKENS COUNTY, Ga. -- A Georgia school district says it's reversing its decision that would have allowed transgender students to use the bathroom that fits their gender identity.

The Pickens County school district cited death threats, student harassment and vandalism of school property in their decision.

The Economist has an article addressing the conflicts around trans policies in British schools where girls who are uncomfortable with dysphoric males in female changing areas are being expected to leave the area.

Cultural Conflicts within the LGBT Population

Some LGB people have split off from Europe’s largest LGBT organization, Stonewall UK, in Britain. Encouraging the medicalization of gender non-conforming children and the eradication of girls’ sex-based rights are cited as some reasons why. The new organization is called LGBAlliance.

Two articles about this split are below:

“Gay groups clash over ‘homophobic policies’”

“Lesbian barrister: my bosses bowed to transgender ‘hate mob’”:

Bailey was subjected to a torrent of abuse and death threats after she posted on social media: “Gender extremism is about to meet its match.”

Allison Bailey is a lesbian who supports the new LGBAlliance in the UK. She and others have received criticism and even harassment, mostly from the far left, because some believe they should not form their own LGB organization or be criticizing current trans activist policies. She responds in a Twitter thread saved here:

Stonewall UK is a political lobbying group. It‘s not democratically elected. It has no mandate to declare itself the voice of *all* LGBT ppl, yet it behaves as if it does — & is treated by government, charitable & private sector orgs as if it speaks for us all. It does not. 1/

Stonewall UK has spun LGBT rights so completely that *any* challenge or question to its agenda is deemed hate speech, rather than being a healthy & essential part of a functioning democracy. It made it respectable for youth to no platform, scream at & threaten feminists. 2/…

Brad Polumbo, a gay man, has written two articles supporting the concept of a separate LGB movement:

“Gay rights depend on our rejecting transgender radicalism and standing up for James Younger”

“It’s Time for ‘LGB’ and ‘T’ to Go Their Separate Ways”

Other gay men have started a Facebook group called Gay Men Address Gender Identity.

An article called “The Great Erasure” has been posted on Medium and is in line with the dissatisfaction some LGB people have with current LGBT organizations. The article is part opinion but is factually useful in tracking where funding is going for current LGBT organizations.

*GHQ remains a trans-inclusive organization as trans people are not all supportive of pediatric medical transition or denying the concept of biological, chromosomal, sex. Some LGB people are supportive of these things. But all identity groups should be free to organize individually to focus on specific issues.

Not everyone believes the current cultural obsession with pronouns, and identity in general, is healthy. GHQ holds that position as well. This culture is resulting in protests like the recent “S***-In” at San Francisco University protesting the need for more non-binary bathrooms. And this presentation of postmodern queer theory to children by the BBC that lacks scientific discourse and promotes views that are controversial within the LGBT population.

An article written by a GHQ advisory board member called “Amid ‘Erosion in Acceptance’ L Word Loses the Plot & GLAAD Targets Youth” covers some of these cultural issues and the growing numbers of lesbians critical of current “LGBT activism:”

Amid “erosion of acceptance,” the organizations that were supposed to protect us, have campaigned to silence us, using threats and slurs to invoke fear and shame. The L Word has lost all sense of the plot… Yet although mainstream media and “LGBTQ” organizations have pulled out every trick in their “playbook,” the one thing they’ve deeply underestimated is the power of dyke rage.

Andrew Sullivan, a gay man, has written an article about transitioning children and the effects of trans activism on gay rights called “When the Ideologues Come for the Kids”:

Last week, I defended drag queens reading stories to kids in libraries. I don’t take back my words. Getting children interested in reading with costumed clowns strikes me as harmless. But when I was directed to the website of Drag Queen Story Hours, I found the following:

“[DQSH] captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models. In spaces like this, kids are able to see people who defy rigid gender restrictions and imagine a world where people can present as they wish, where dress up is real.”

However well-meant, this is indoctrination into an ideology, not campy encouragement for reading and fun.

Sullivan included a link to our evidence supported section on the large increases of trans-identified youth ("sky-rocketed”):

In the last few years in Western societies, as these notions have spread, the number of children identifying as trans has skyrocketed. In Sweden, the number of kids diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a phenomenon stable and rare for decades, has, from 2013 to 2016, increased almost tenfold. In New Zealand, the rate of girls identifying as boys has quadrupled in the same period of time; in Britain, where one NHS clinic is dedicated to trans kids, there were around a hundred girls being treated in 2011; by 2017, there were 1,400.

It is not only LGB people critical of aspects of current trans activism. “I am a trans woman – but I think this woke world has gone too far” is written by an MtF trans person:

Trans people have lost the plot. Every day, an increasing amount of absurdity floods in as they do more harm than good. They scream for acceptance without realizing that the ones damaging their image aren't bigots, but themselves.

From anger directed at celebrities for the rational belief that parents shouldn't decide whether their three-year-old is trans, to a culture of outrage that freaks out at the most minor of offenses, transgender activists have become detrimental to my, and others', very existence.

Not helping matters is the fact that these people are laying bombs within our language in the hope they trigger, so they themselves can become triggered. Saying 'transgendered' instead of 'transgender' can see you labeled as transphobic, as can saying 'transwomen' instead of 'trans (notice the space) women.' This is a linguistic minefield with the sole intent of catching people off guard. And those who are caught in its blast are branded as bigots. 

Two articles have been released criticizing the recent pronoun announcements and the LGBT Townhall with Democratic candidates. The Townhall was complete with pronoun announcements, a trans-identified small child presented in front of the camera, and an accusation that misgendering is “violence:”

”Democratic Candidates Displaying Gender Pronouns On Their Twitter Accounts Are Making A Big Mistake”

“CNN LGBTQ town hall reveals the madness of identity politics”

Dr. Karen Blair, a psychologist and SOGI advisor in Canada, has released a video calling sexual orientation that is not inclusive of trans identities problematic and in need of social change. GHQ responded to this type of discourse by sending Dr. Blair a letter in June adhering to the reality that there are biologically driven sexual orientations and that people have the right to them without being painted as problematic and in need of social justice activism by the psychology profession.

From the video:

I, and this study’s researchers involved in this study, believe that this is an issue that needs to be discussed openly and honestly, not ignored. Because only then can we fix it.

This type of commentary is causing major conflicts within the LGBT population and is one of the reasons for the LGB split from Stonewall UK. We cover that issue here.

There are conflicts happening around race and identity at WPATH (who sets the standards for trans healthcare), where minorities took over the stage to call for more representation.

References:

Armus, T. (2019, October 24). A Texas man says his 7-year-old isn’t transgender. Now his custody fight has reached the governor’s office. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/24/james-younger-luna-transgender-greg-abbott/

BBC. (2019). RSE KS2: Identity - Understanding sexual and gender identities. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/rse-ks2-identity-understanding-sexual-and-gender-identities/zfqrhbk

Brunskell-Evans, H. The purge of trans-sceptical academics. Spiked. Retrieved from https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/06/26/the-purge-of-trans-sceptical-academics/?fbclid=IwAR3ixz9mTy2UeKeDmOYZ4RkKD2niM6c95lz3KHIyCzsaGl_l5ko5XtL8CUM#.XbDDKGf9i18.facebook

Cohen, B. (2019, July 22). Democratic Candidates Displaying Gender Pronouns On Their Twitter Accounts Are Making A Big Mistake. https://thebanter.substack.com/p/democratic-candidates-displaying

Cohan, D., Barnes, H. (2019, September 20) “Gender dysphoria in children: puberty blockers study draws further criticism”. The BMJ (366). doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l5647

Driscoll, M. (2019, September 19). Meet the academics hunted down and hounded out of jobs for having the 'wrong' thoughts. The Telegraph. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/meet-academics-hunted-hounded-jobs-having-wrong-thoughts/

Donym, S. (2019, October 16). The Great Erasure. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@sue.donym1984/the-great-erasure-203a124fa02c

Emmons, L. (2019, October 14). CNN LGBTQ town hall reveals the madness of identity politics. The Post Millenial. Retrieved from https://www.thepostmillennial.com/cnn-lgbtq-town-hall-reveals-the-madness-of-identity-politics/

Endocrine Society.. (2019, October). Endocrine Society Urges Policy Makers to Follow Science on Transgender Health. Endocrine News. Retrieved from https://endocrinenews.endocrine.org/endocrine-society-urges-policymakers-to-follow-science-on-transgender-health/

Gibbons, K. (2019, October 26). “Gay groups clash over ‘homophobic policies’.” The Times.[London]. Retrieved from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gay-groups-clash-over-homophobic-policies-t95958fmn?shareToken=c602067cb10e7c01e71fba89ac8bbdab

Hellen, N. (2019, October 27). Lesbian barrister: my bosses bowed to transgender ‘hate mob.’ The Times [London]. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lesbian-barrister-my-bosses-bowed-to-transgender-hate-mob-shm6x09v8?fbclid=IwAR1bP7iQHAj2hK7-xaV3v2AaTvOHy7wkkrT5ZcIxxWAqq7lc47ca7Lj6fKM

Hurst, G. (2019, October 12). Mother sues Tavistock child gender clinic over treatments. The Times.[London]. Retrieved from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/mother-sues-tavistock-child-gender-clinic-over-treatments-r9df8m987

Intersectional Bullies Crash Trans Health Town Hall. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=69&v=zHlnQMY9KM0

Jenn Smith Calls for National Inquiry into mass gender transitioning of Vulnerable kids. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&feature=youtu.be&v=VxTtkI51xH4

Manins, R. (2019, October 30). Cobb legislator proposes new law to criminalize physical gender change of children. Marrietta Daily Journal. Retrieved from https://www.mdjonline.com/news/cobb-legislator-proposes-new-law-to-criminalize-physical-gender-change/article_01d7e572-fb4c-11e9-b280-5bf7ecee1ac6.html

O’Conner, M., Madden, B. (2019). In the Footsteps of Teiresias: Treatment for Gender Dysphoria in Children and the Role of the Courts. Journal of Law and Medicine 27 (1). Retrieved from http://sites.thomsonreuters.com.au/journals/2019/10/22/journal-of-law-and-medicine-update-vol-27-pt-1/

Narwitz, S. (2019, October 19). I am a trans woman – but I think this woke world has gone too far. RT. Retrieved from https://www.rt.com/op-ed/471025-trans-woman-woke-too-far/

Polumbo, B. Gay rights depend on our rejecting transgender radicalism and standing up for James Younger. Washington Examiner. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/gay-rights-depend-on-our-rejecting-trans-radicalism-and-standing-up-for-james-younger

Polumbo, B. It’s Time for ‘LGB’ and ‘T’ to Go Their Separate Ways. Quillette. Retrieved from https://quillette.com/2019/10/26/its-time-for-lgb-and-t-to-go-their-separate-ways/

Radachowsky, C. (2019, October 13). ’Justice’ for trans athletes is unfair to girls like my daughter. New York Post. Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2019/10/13/justice-for-trans-athletes-is-unfair-to-girls-like-my-daughter/

Roberson J.D. (2019, September 10). Amid ‘Erosion in Acceptance’ L Word Loses the Plot & GLAAD Targets Youth. The Velvet Chronicle. Retrieved https://thevelvetchronicle.com/amid-erosion-in-acceptance-glaad-targets-youth-l-word-loses-the-plot/

Quan, D. (2019, September 4). Consent form for trans child's hormone therapy was insufficient, lawyer argues at appeal court. National Post. Retrieved from https://nationalpost.com/news/consent-form-for-trans-childs-hormone-therapy-was-insufficient-lawyer-argues-at-appeal-court

Smee, B. (2019, September 18). University of Queensland academics sign open letter after law dean's trans comments. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/18/university-of-queensland-academics-sign-open-letter-countering-law-deans-trans-comments?fbclid=IwAR3Rh2y75YlstvJ86xp0OjHzPajCgMghWaAIOBJjtiwUYrTlvk9iJg6EZZA

Stonewall UK . Retrieved from https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1190704005648965632.html

Sullivan, A. (2019, September 20). When the Ideologues Come for the Kids. New York Magazine. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/andrew-sullivan-when-the-ideologues-come-for-the-kids.html?utm_medium=s1&utm_campaign=nym&utm_source=tw

Transgender rules for English schools face a backlash from women. (2019, )ctober 3). The Economist. Retrieved from https://amp-economist-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.economist.com/britain/2019/10/03/transgender-rules-for-english-schools-face-a-backlash-from-women

Terry, M. (2019, September 4). How the trans debate entered the classroom. Spectator Life. Retrieved from https://life.spectator.co.uk/articles/the-gender-agenda/

The Exclusion of Trans People from the World of Dating. Retrieved from https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-video-29553352

The Times view on the Tavistock clinic and hormone-blocking drugs for the young: Informed Consent. The Times [London]. Retrieved from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/def68adc-ec4f-11e9-b931-c019e957f02a

Walsh, J. (2019, October 26). Parents battle ‘state‑sponsored sterilisation’ of trans children. The Times [London]. Retrieved from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/parents-battle-state-sponsored-sterilisation-of-trans-children-mb55fxt60

WGXA. (2019, October 16). Georgia school district reverses decision on transgender bathroom policy. Retrieved from https://wgxa.tv/news/local/georgia-school-district-reverses-decision-on-transgender-bathroom-policy.

What the medical professionals won't tell you about Transitioning genders, but I will. (2019, October 15). Retrieved from https://thetransgendertruth.wixsite.com/mysite/post/what-the-physiologists-surgeons-and-physicians-don-t-tell-you-about-transitioning-genders

Williams, J. (2019, October 8). “The trans-activists' witch hunt against academics threatens the whole of society.” The Telegraph. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/08/trans-activist-witch-hunt-against-academics-threatens-whole/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw

Yavitch, E. (2019, October 24). Students hold ‘Shit In’ to demand more gender-neutral bathrooms. The College Fix. Retrieved from https://www.thecollegefix.com/students-hold-shit-in-to-demand-more-gender-neutral-bathrooms/

Academic Psychiatrist Fired for Expressing Skepticism About Safety of Pediatric Transition

News Commentary

GHQ covers the highly politicized subject matter of the child/teen medical transition movement. It shows a pattern of activist censorship, silencing, and even threats of violence towards anyone who expresses any opinion outside of the affirmation only model. Psychiatrist Dr. Allan Josephson, who taught at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, was fired from his position there for appearing at a Heritage Foundation event questioning pediatric transition. The Heritage Foundation is known for opposing all LGBT activism, including opposition to same-sex marriage.

His story appeared in the Daily Signal:

Academia today “is not for the faint-hearted,” says a veteran professor who was head of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Louisville School of Medicine until he was demoted and then let go for making public comments on gender identity.

“You know, I really was an academic physician, not a politician. I wasn’t there with an agenda or an activist position,” Dr. Allan Josephson, who also was a professor of psychiatry, told The Daily Signal in a recent phone interview.

Some details on his firing:

After hearing about his remarks, four or five fellow University of Louisville faculty members who worked with Josephson asked the university to discipline or punish him. 

Seven weeks after his appearance at Heritage, university officials demoted Josephson from division chief to faculty member in the division he had headed for nearly 15 years.

Ultimately, the public university in Kentucky let him go as of June 30, after announcing in February that it would not renew his contract.

He is also bringing a lawsuit against the university.

The new norm in academia in the United States will be that health professionals that question the affirmative model will be socially ostracized and punished career-wise. Another example of university staff shutting down access to research or commentary that doesn’t support immediate validation and transition happened when Brown University removed a link to a study, Littman (2018), trans activists didn’t like. The study supports the idea social contagion may be a factor in a minor’s trans-identification.

While these discussions are relevant, and liberal platforms refuse to allow them, many LGBT supportive people will be hostile to a message of skepticism about safety if it is done at an appearance at the Heritage Foundation.

References:

del Guidice, Rachel. (2019, August 19). Academia Today ‘Not for Faint-Hearted,’ Says Professor Who Lost His Job for Talking About Gender. The Daily Signal. Retrieved from https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/08/27/academia-today-not-for-faint-hearted-says-professor-who-lost-his-job-for-talking-about-gender/

Heritage Foundation. (2019, April 4). What Doctors Aren't Telling The Parents of Gender Dysphoric Children [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VovGbtShGvk

Littman, L. (2018). Rapid-onset gender dysphoria in adolescents and young adults: A study of parental reports. PLOS ONE, 13(8). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0202330

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

Coach Pushes Back Against Dysphoric Males Competing on Girls' Sports Teams

News

Conflicts between people who do not accept a gender dysphoric male is literally a girl and those who want trans people to live fully as the gender they identify with are going to continue. A coach in Hawaii is refusing to accept the argument males who identify as girls should displace girls’ positions on sports teams. Government agencies are increasingly changing rules to allow this.

One girls volleyball coach in Hawaii is standing up to the Hawaii High School Athletic Association's (HHSAA) policy allowing male students to participate in female sporting activities so long as they self-identify as the opposite gender.

A coach made a statement anonymously:

In my opinion, it's very irresponsible for the league to place these young women, who are minors, in an elevated level of risk," the coach said. "They all sign off on an assumption of risk form for an understandable amount of risk. Now, there's an elevated level of risk their daughters are going through and being put through without any notification to the parents at all.

The coach added that he takes no issue with the boy wanting to be whom he wishes and only cares about the girls' safety. "I have no problem with the kid being who (they) want to be, but now these girls are being put in an unsafe situation without giving the parents the opportunity to make an educated decision on whether they want their daughter in that position," he said.

A comment from a trans activist:

Tiare Sua, a man presenting himself as a woman and who works at the Maui AIDS Foundation, told Maui News that it's ultimately sexist to believe that men are inherently stronger than women.

There is more information on the GHQ website about conflicts with gender ideology (with its roots in postmodern queer theory) in the section Rights conflicts and safety concerns. Gender ideology states that biological sex is based on self-identification and that there are multiple genders.

References:

Bois, Paul. (2019, August 25). Girls Volleyball Coach Rejects School District’s Transgender Inclusion Policy. The Daily Wire. Retrieved from https://www.dailywire.com/news/51023/girls-volleyball-coach-rejects-school-districts-paul-bois

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

4 Recent Articles Highlight the Conflicts Between Trans Policies & Free Speech Rights

News

There have been several recent articles about trans youth policies in schools and the rights of other students and faculty in regards to gender ideology. New gender ideology being promoted by activists states biological sex is literally what one declares it to be and that there are multiple gender identities. Gender ideology is coming into conflict with other people’s viewpoints and rights to belief about biological sex, protecting female sports, and sex-based changing areas in schools. A section examining these issue on the GHQ website can be found here.

“Civil rights inquiry to look at transgender policy” is an article about the federal Office for Civil Rights launching an investigation into males with gender dysphoria competing on female sports teams. Evidence increasingly shows males have an advantage even post medical transition.

“Department of Education to Probe Athletic Program Allowing Transgender Females to Compete With Girls” is another article covering the same story.

“'I will NOT refer to you with female pronouns': Duval teacher snubs transgender student's request” is an article about how a teacher is refusing to use the preferred pronouns of a male student who identifies as a girl.

“Ohio School District Will Not Punish Boy for Using 'Wrong Pronoun' When Referring to Transgender Friend” is an article about a school’s decision not to punishing a boy for calling a biological, gender dysphoric male a boy.

Russel et al., 2018 shows respecting the pronouns of trans-identified youth helps their mental health. On the other hand, forcing others to believe in gender identity or third genders that require special pronouns conflicts with others’ rights to free thought and speech that would violate the US Constitution.

References:

Associated Press. (2019, August 8). Civil rights inquiry to look at transgender policy. ESPN. Retrieved from https://www.espn.com/high-school/story/_/id/27346657/civil-rights-inquiry-look-transgender-policy

Bunting, Deborah. (2019, August, 2019). Ohio School District Will Not Punish Boy for Using 'Wrong Pronoun' When Referring to Transgender Friend. CBN News. Retrieved from https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2019/august/ohio-school-district-will-not-punish-boy-for-using-wrong-pronoun-when-referring-to-transgender-friend

First Coast News. (2019, August 14). I will NOT refer to you with female pronouns': Duval teacher snubs transgender student's request. Retrieved from https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/education/i-will-not-refer-to-you-with-female-pronouns-duval-teacher-snubs-transgender-students-request/77-7567acd6-1b5c-45eb-a1fd-ba1fc8d89691

Kookogey, C. (2019, August 8). Department of Education to Probe Athletic Program Allowing Transgender Females to Compete With Girls. The Daily Signal. Retrieved from https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/08/08/department-of-education-opens-probe-of-athletic-program-allowing-transgender-females-to-compete-with-girls/

Russell, S.T., Pollitt, A.M., Li, G., Grossman, A.H. (2018). Chosen Name Use Is Linked to Reduced Depressive Symptoms, Suicidal Ideation, and Suicidal Behavior Among Transgender Youth. Journal of Adolescent Health 63(4) , 503–505. doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.02.003

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

Post By a Detransitioned Female About Youth, Mental Illness, & the Internet That Mental Health Professionals Should Read

News Commentary

A young, detransitioned woman has written two articles about how trans identification, eating disorders, and mental illness in general, are justified and fueled by Internet culture and by Tumblr (a blogging platform many young people use) in particular. Some of these subjects are covered on sections on social influences on the GHQ website (here and here and here).

GHQ covers in the linked sections the data that shows an increase in mental illnesses in young females, including increases in self-harming, suicide attempts, and hospital admittance. Mental health professionals and parents should be aware of what is happening with mental health and the influences of the internet. Many metal health issues, including suicide risk and eating disorders, are known to work as social contagions. Helena, the author, writes very perceptively and eloquently and has put her discussion in the context of other research on these issues.

“Tumblr — A Call-Out Post”

“How Mental Illness Becomes Identity: Tumblr, a Callout Post, Part 2”

References:

Tumblr — A Call-Out Post. (2019, March 20). Retrieved from https://4thwavenow.com/2019/03/20/tumblr-a-call-out-post/

How Mental Illness Becomes Identity: Tumblr, a Callout Post, Part 2. (2019, August 13). Retrieved from https://4thwavenow.com/2019/08/13/how-mental-illnesses-become-identities-tumblr-a-callout-post-part-2/

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

Mario Lopez Expresses Concern For Supporting Solidifying a Child’s Gender Identity & Gets Attacked by Media & LGBT Organizations as "Transphobic"

News Commentary

Mario Lopez has come under fire for making a comment that he worries that reinforcing a child’s gender identity may have later negative ramifications. This was in relation to how Charlize Theron is raising her 7-year-old child as trans. The comment is below:

I just think it’s dangerous as a parent to make that determination then OK, well then you’re going to be a boy or girl, whatever the case may. It’s sort of alarming. And my gosh just think about the repercussions later on.

Lopez received accusations ranging from “transphobia” to being “in need of education.” There are multiple studies that show early social and medical support for trans youth benefits their mental health [de Vries (2014) and Russel (2018) and Olson (2016)]. However, even gender dysphoria experts share his concerns. Several of those comments can be found on our website.

LGBT media and organizations have come out against the comment despite the fact that many gender experts’ opinions, desistance research, and that regretters appear to be increasing, all point to the real risks to pre-LGB children or confused teens. More heterosexual youth may be affected as well with changing demographics. Part of the reasons for this lack of concern is the way that very positive transition studies and articles have been promoted [(de Vries (2014) and Olson (2016)] in the US media but negative ones have not [Littman, 2018 and Professor Bigg’s blocker review]. LGBT organizations, trans activists, and affirmative model advocates also promote the concept anything other than total affirmation of a child’s gender identity is akin to murder (“Do you want a live daughter or a dead son”).

The media and LGBT organizations also fail to mention the harsh realities of medical transition. Transitioned children will be sterilized, castrated, have weaker bones, may have lowered IQ, and will later have increased circulatory health risks.

Promoting unquestioned affirmation is a current trans activist priority but isn’t in the interests of the gay, lesbian, and bisexual population if this creates significant amounts of “false positives.” No LGBT organization is presenting this issue with any balance. Affirmative model advocates have done an excellent job in painting this as safe to the public by ignoring or downplaying desistance and other risks to facilitate the blanket social transition and hormone blocker protocol on all children who say they are trans.

No concern about any of these issues is likely to be raised from any LGBT organization. They will continue to promote unquestioned child/teen medical transition and accusations of transphobia if any one does question it.

Lopez had to recant his concerns as people likely would have tried to completely destroy his career. Candace Owens decried “leftists” forcing an apology under these blackmail-like conditions.

To review the main points around this issue:

1) There is in fact data that shows improved mental health with social and medical support in trans youth that should not be discounted.

2) PFLAG, the HRC, the Advocate, Charlize Theron, or anyone attempting to educate Mario Lopez actually has no idea if an early social transition prevents a child from aligning with their body. Several top gender dysphoria experts believe it will. There is a fair amount of evidence environmental and parental factors may influence gender dysphoria, so it is reasonable to believe the current environment will solidify a trans identity in a child or young teen.

3) Early social transitions will likely lead to the use of hormone blockers. More and more people are viewing hormone blockers as dangerous. Few children desist once put on blockers so it is very possible they affect gender identity development. They are giving tweens hormone blockers before they experience any puberty at all, the puberty that used to aid children in desisting from GD.

4) Young regretters are coming forward as well, so false positives regarding young people are already shown to be inevitable.

5) Most media outlets and all LGBT organizations refuse to acknowledge any risks to grey area children who may need time and proper mental health support to get through puberty and align with their natal sex.

6) The failure to present the nuances of these issues, to downplay desistance, and avoid discussions about regret on the part of affirmative model advocates is likely responsible for this overall lack of interest on the effects of these protocols on LGB (and heterosexual) gender nonconforming youth.

7) Mario Lopez had to apologize or people would have tried to destroy his career, as happens to many people who express any doubts about affirmation of children and teens. People who challenge the affirmative model in anyway will be attacked in liberal circles such as LGBT organizations, leftist media, and academia.

References:

Arciga, J. (2019, April 14). Charlize Theron Reveals 7-Year-Old Daughter Is Transgender: Daily Mail. Daily Beast. Retrieved from https://www.thedailybeast.com/actress-charlize-theron-reveals-7-year-old-is-transgender-daily-mail

Biggs, M. (2019, July 29). The Tavistock’s Experiment with Puberty Blockers. Department of Sociology and St Cross College, University of Oxford. Retrieved from http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sfos0060/Biggs_ExperimentPubertyBlockers.pdf

De Vries, A., McGuire, J., & Steensma, T. (2014). Young Adult Psychological Outcome After Puberty Suppression and Gender Reassignment. Pediatrics,134(4). doi:10.1542/peds.2013-2958d

Littman, L. (2018). Rapid-onset gender dysphoria in adolescents and young adults: A study of parental reports. PLOS ONE, 13(8). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0202330

Olson, K. R., Durwood, L., DeMeules, M., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2016). Mental health of transgender children who are supported in their identities. Pediatrics, 137(3), e20153223. doi:10.1542/peds.2015-3223

Russel, S., Pollitt, A., Gu, L., Grossman, A. (2018) Chosen Name Use Is Linked to Reduced Depressive Symptoms, Suicidal Ideation, and Suicidal Behavior Among Transgender Youth. Journal of Adolescent Health 63(4), 505-505. doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.02.003

Stockler, A. (2019, July 31). Candace Owens Says 'Sick' People Bullied Mario Lopez Into Apologizing For Anti-Trans Comments. Daily Beast. Retrieved from Daily Beast. Retrieved from https://www.newsweek.com/candace-owens-mario-lopez-bullied-transgender-apology-1451997

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

The Journal of Medical Ethics Contains an Essay Stating Trans Women Have an Unfair Biological Advantage Over Women in Sports

News

PJ Media has an article titled, “Study: Olympic Guidelines Give Transgender Women an 'Intolerable' Advantage in Women's Sports” about the controversial topic of allowing MtFs to compete in women’s sports. There have been a number of trans women dominating women in sports such as weightlifting, volleyball, MMA, bicycling, and others. PJ Media is a conservative site that is not positive about LGBT issues. But the article is about an essay in a science journal called Journal of Medical Ethics.

PJ Media states:

The study, performed by New Zealand researchers at the University of Otago in Dunedin, acknowledges that "the inclusion of elite trans women athletes in sport is controversial." Bioethicists Taryn Knox, Lynley Anderson, and Alison Heather conclude that allowing males to compete in women's sports at the high testosterone threshold established by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is unfair.

They also site a Duke law professor who does not believe trans inclusion in female sports is legally justifiable. This is what the inclusion of “gender identity” would do at the federal level in the Equality Act, which is being presented as an LGBT rights bill (it does have protections like employment discrimination but gender identity inclusion will eradicate women’s sex-based rights under laws like Title 9 and replace them with gender identity rights).

Testosterone is far from the sole reason males have an unfair advantage over females in women's sports, however. Differences between male and female development begin in the womb and continue throughout life. As Duke Law School Professor Doriane Lambelet Coleman testified if the pro-transgender Equality Act allowed biological men to compete in women's sports, "the very best women in the world would lose to literally thousands of boys and men, including thousands who would be considered second-tier."

GHQ covers some of these rights conflicts in the topic CULTURAL RIPPLE EFFECTS, PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES, & RIGHTS CONFLICTS ARISING FROM GENDER IDEOLOGY & INCREASES OF TRANS-IDENTIFIED YOUNG PEOPLE. The focus there is on children in schools. No one is arguing trans student should be kept out of sports, they are just arguing for a cultural tolerance and acceptance for trans-identified males and their gender nonconformity without denying the reality they still have a biological advantage over girls/women and should compete on male teams.

References:

Knox, T., Anderson, L.C., Heather, A. (2019). Transwomen in elite sport: scientific and ethical considerations. Journal of Medical Ethics 45 (6), 395-403. doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2018-105208

O’neal, T. (2019, July 29). Study: Olympic Guidelines Give Transgender Women an 'Intolerable' Advantage in Women's Sports. PJ Media. Retrieved from https://pjmedia.com/trending/study-olympic-guidelines-give-transgender-women-an-intolerable-advantage-in-womens-sports/

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

Mental Health Professionals Write a Letter in Support of Lisa Littman's Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria Research

News

Several clinicians have stated in a letter to editor to Archives of Sexual Behavior they are observing rapid onset gender dysphoria (ROGD). This is a term used by Lisa Littman, a physician and researcher who published a ROGD study (Littman, 2018).

Lisa Littman’s study was removed by Brown University because trans actvists didn’t like some of the implications of the study. These were that there were large increases of females identifying as trans, that social contagion may be a factor, and they were coming out in statistically unheard of clusters. PlosOne, who published the study, also re-reviewed the paper due to activist pressure.

The letter to the editor is called “In Support of Research Into Rapid‑Onset Gender Dysphoria”:

As clinicians used to working in the field of child and adolescent gender identity development, dealing directly with the very significant distress caused by gender dysphoria, and considering deeply its multifactorial and heterogeneous etiology, we note the current debate arising from Littman’s (2018) description of a phenomenon she described as Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria. Littman’s paper on the subject was methodologically critiqued in this journal recently (Restar, 2019). While some of us have informally tended toward describing the phenomenon we witness as “adolescent-onset” gender dysphoria, that is, without any notable symptom history prior to or during the early stages of puberty (certainly nothing of clinical significance), Littman’s description resonates with our clinical experiences from within the consulting room.

Reference:

Hutchinson, A., Midgen, M., Spiliadis, A. (2019, June 12). In Support ofResearch Into Rapid‑Onset Gender Dysphoria. Archives of Sexual Behavior. doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01517-9

Klinghoffer, D. (2018, September 5). Suppressing Science at Brown University. Evolution News. Retrieved from https://evolutionnews.org/2018/09/suppressing-science-at-brown-university/

Littman, L. (2018). Rapid-onset gender dysphoria in adolescents and young adults: A study of parental reports. PLOS ONE, 13(8). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0202330

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

A Recent Flurry of Articles in the British Press Concerning the Affirmative Model & Increasing Numbers of Medicalized Gender Dysphoric Youth

News

Several articles have recently been published that are airing concerns and painting complicated pictures of the issue of childhood/teen gender dysphoria in the United Kingdom. This is almost non-existent in the United States, as of now, in any media other than conservative news sites. Part of the reason is likely that the U.K. has a public health care system, and the public is being informed of the statistics showing large increases of youth identifying as trans.

An article in The Telegraph contains quotes from an expert in the National Health Service who believes socially transitioning children may harm them:

Parents are risking psychologically damaging their children by allowing them to “socially transition” their gender without medical or psychiatric advice, NHS experts have warned…

The GIDS psychologists, who practise at London’s Tavistock Clinic, said that younger children who believe they may have been born with the wrong body should be permitted to explore behavioural aspects of the opposite gender, such as dress or types of play.

However, they warned that many such children end up preferring to remain the biological gender they were born, and that to formally socially transition before puberty risks pre-determining the outcome.

GHQ covers the many statements by gender dysphoria affirming mental health and medical professionals who say that social transitions are fully reversible. Some health professionals do not believe there is any proof social transitions are reversible.

Dr. Wren from the Tavistock clinic is not sure a child who may desist will be able to re-identify with their natal sex after years of living transitioned as a child. GHQ members are also skeptical of this.

Dr Bernadette Wren, head of clinical psychology at the trust, said: “Social transitioning has become a really big topic. 

“We have never recommended complete social transitioning but it has become a really popular thing and many advocacy groups really promote it.

“We take the long view because our concern has been that what might work to lower anxiety in a younger child may become the thing that is problematic when they get older.

“It can become harder for children as they move into adolescence, they are moving into puberty and the young person suddenly faces a wall of puberty.

“We think that is setting up problems for later.”

Daily Mail also published an article “Parents are encouraging children as young as three to change gender without consulting specialists, experts warn about social transition” discussing the subject of social transition.

The BBC and the Guardian have been promoting, almost entirely, positive transition stories and narratives around dysphoric youth and the affirmative model. A new BBC article quotes people calling for more caution in “Children with gender identity issues 'need help from all sides”:

Dr Polly Carmichael, consultant clinical psychologist and director of the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids), said many had complex social and personal histories.

"We think about all the needs of young people and try and work closely with local services to clearly manage risk around self-harm, and other difficulties, but also to raise awareness around gender issues," she said.

"I think there is sometimes a danger there can be a split - if someone is presenting with issues around their gender identity, that local services perhaps think that's going to be the answer to everything.

"Whereas in reality it's a complicated picture that needs to be addressed from all sides."

The BBC also covered the investigation on the use of puberty blockers happening in the U.K. in the article “Transgender treatment: Puberty blockers study under investigation.”

The study's full findings have not been published - but early data showed some taking the drugs reported an increase in thoughts of suicide and self-harm.

A Gender Identity Development Service psychologist, Kirsty Entwistle, who quit due to ethics concerns, posted an article on Medium recounting her experiences with the GIDs. She believes political pressure is guiding care. GHQ covers the political environment, often veering into extremism. She also talks about how some affirmative model advocates level accusations of transphobia at any suggestion of caution.

Daily Mail also covered the story of her concerns and how political pressure is driving a very pro-medicalization environment and that children with trauma and other issues are being transitioned too enthusiastically in some health professionals’ views:

In her message to the service’s director, Dr Polly Carmichael, she said ‘clinicians are afraid of raising their concerns for fear of being labelled transphobic by colleagues’…

Dr Entwistle raised another red flag about young people with a wide variety of problems, not related to their gender, being diagnosed as transgender and put on drugs to help them change sex. In addition to sex-abuse victims, she said significant numbers coming to the clinic were living in poverty and ‘risky situations’.

The Spectator also reported on the increase of health professionals expressing concerns about gender dysphoria treatment in Britain.

The Gender Identity Development Service gave The Spectator a statement regarding their treatment approach:

Update: The Gender Identity Development Service gave The Spectator the following statement:

The Gender Identity Development Service operates in a contentious field and appreciates and holds in mind the concerns raised by staff about the complexity and background of many of the referrals we see. There have always been many spaces for staff to share their concerns about the work in general and specific cases they are involved with. These include weekly team meetings, a fortnightly case discussion group, a monthly psychoanalytic group, monthly CPD meetings, a monthly reflective group and a monthly research meeting. In addition, all staff have regular supervision and line management. Senior members of the team are regularly meeting with clinicians to consider more complex issues as the need arises. GIDS, and the Tavistock more widely, is a thoughtful, reflective place to work. Our assessments are co-worked so there is space for discussion between colleagues who were both present with a young person. We also run two service-wide away days per year to discuss developments in the field and in our practice as well as encouraging staff to attend national and international conferences. The service organises regular CPD events which cover topics raised by members of the service. Obviously, specific safeguarding concerns should be raised with line managers and our safeguarding lead. Staff can also avail themselves of the Trust’s Freedom to Speak Up Guardian.

It remains that there are different views about how best to support young people with gender dysphoria. Fewer than half of patients who present to the service go on to our endocrine clinics and we do not hold a view on what the outcome will be for a child when they come in to the service. There is no pressure to provide medical intervention from the service, though there can often be from the young person or family. Our work seeks to minimise the impact of distress associated with gender development on general development, whilst spending time exploring gender identity and the range of possible pathways which may or may not include physical treatment.

We appreciate that people may want wider discussions about how best to care for this population and for this reason we continue to engage with a range of stakeholders, including our staff and patients. It is vital that the voices of young people are heard. We will continue to deliver our service in a considered, ethical and caring manner, as endorsed in our CQC inspections.

Other articles:

“Use of puberty blockers on transgender children to be investigated”

”Puberty blocking drugs: ‘For the past four years I’ve been stuck as a child’”

“Politicised trans groups put children at risk, says expert”

References:

Bannerman, L. (2019, July 26). Puberty blocking drugs: ‘For the past four years I’ve been stuck as a child’. The Times [London]. Retrieved from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/experts-investigate-use-of-puberty-blockers-on-transgender-children-6l695lflf

Bannerman, L. (2019, July 26). Use of puberty blockers on transgender children to be investigated. The Times [London]. Retrieved from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/experts-investigate-use-of-puberty-blockers-on-transgender-children-6l695lflf

Bodkin, H. (2019, July 17). Encouraging children to 'socially transition' gender risks long-term harm, say NHS experts. The Telegraph. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/17/encouraging-children-socially-transition-gender-risks-long-term/

Children with gender identity issues 'need help from all sides'. (2019, July 17). BBC. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/health-49020371

Cohen, D., Barnes, H. (2019, July 22). Transgender treatment: Puberty blockers study under investigation. BBC. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/health-49036145

Doward. J. (2019, July 27th). Politicised trans groups put children at risk, says expert. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/27/trans-lobby-pressure-pushing-young-people-to-transition?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other&fbclid=IwAR3V8gNC4D6Z_qmT20be6euLDKth1J5fpHbYplGBAMGnQC25S-ggEuuam-M

Entwistle, K. (2019, July 18). An open letter to Dr Polly Carmichael from a former GIDS clinician. Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@kirstyentwistle/an-open-letter-to-dr-polly-carmichael-from-a-former-gids-clinician-53c541276b8d

Hayward, E. (20189, July 17). Parents are encouraging children as young as three to change gender without consulting specialists, experts warn. Daily Mail. Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7258767/Parents-encouraging-children-young-three-change-gender-without-consulting-specialists.html

Kirkup, J. (2019, July). It’s time to listen to the NHS gender clinic whistleblowers. The Spectator. Retrieved from https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/07/its-time-to-listen-to-the-nhs-gender-clinic-whistleblowers/

Manning, S. (2019, July 20). NHS psychologist claims poor and abused children are wrongly being labelled transgender and prescribed sex-change treatments without appropriate testing by clinicians who 'fear being labelled transphobic.’ Daily Mail. Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7268807/NHS-psychologist-claims-poor-abused-kids-wrongly-labelled-transgender.html

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

Andrew Sullivan, Gay Conservative, Points to Gender Identity Activism as Cause for a Decline in Support for the LGBT Community

News

Andrew Sullivan is a gay man and a political commentator who may generally be consider “center-right.” In a New York Magazine article “The Democratic Candidates Are in a Bubble on Immigration,” he comments on a recent major drop in support for the LGBT community.

I wondered when this would happen. How long would it take, I asked, before a younger generation revolted against the new left orthodoxy that there is no sex binary, or gender binary, or indeed any place for biology in understanding the differences between men and women? How long before boys rebelled against the notion that their sex is actively toxic and in need of psychotherapy? Or how long before girls felt violated or just uncomfortable seeing people of the opposite biological sex in their bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers? How many are miffed that they have to compete with biological males in athletic contests?

New data suggests that that time could be now. For the first time, we’re seeing a sharp drop in tolerance of “LGBTQ” people among the younger generation. This is an entirely new phenomenon. It used to be the young that spearheaded toleration and inclusion. Now they’re suddenly bolting in the opposite direction: “The number of Americans 18 to 34 who are comfortable interacting with LGBTQ people slipped from 53 percent in 2017 to 45 percent in 2018 — the only age group to show a decline,” according to the annual [GLAAD] Accelerating Acceptance report. And that is down from 63 percent in 2016. (Perhaps they should rename the report Decelerating Acceptance.) “36 percent of young people said they were uncomfortable learning a family member was LGBTQ in 2018, compared with 29 percent in 2017, and 24 percent in 2016. 34 percent were uncomfortable learning their doctor was LGBTQ vs. 27 percent a year earlier. 39 percent were uncomfortable learning their child had a school lesson on LGBTQ history vs. 30 percent in 2017.”

Or check this out: 62 percent of young men regarded themselves as “allies” of LGBTQ people in 2016; only 35 percent now say the same — a near-halving of support. Women “allies” have dropped from 65 to 52 percent. The turn began in the year that the Obama administration — with no public discussion or congressional support — imposed critical gender theory on America’s high schools, determining sex to be whatever a student says it is. The imposition of trans ideology by fiat on the entire country’s young — along with severe public stigma for those with even the slightest questions — was almost textbook left authoritarianism. Well meant, perhaps. But dictatorial.

Sullivan is representative of some gay men, bisexuals, and lesbians who no longer see any commonality with current trans activism:

We could ask about gay rights and about trans rights separately — because they are very, very different experiences. That way, we could better understand what’s going on.

And:

My fear is that this will fail to win support and that, as the trans movement keeps pressing and pressing, the backlash will grow and gays and lesbians will become collateral damage. The T activists, having embraced an extremist theory of gender, could undermine not just their own case but also equality for the Ls, Gs, and Bs. They could swiftly reverse the gains we have won. They sure have made a good start in turning the next generation against us.

It’s not only LGB people like Andrew Sullivan who believe gender ideology activism is harming the LGB rights cause. There are trans people who believe it is hurting the trans cause.

For other examples of LGBT people who have criticisms of what is going on in gender activism there are topics listed below on our website:

Trans activism identity politics, psychological consequences, rights conflicts, & LGBT youth

Trans & genderqueer ideology is promoted as progressive by affirmative model advocates & LGBT orgs & media. Some people instead see a generation of gender & sexually confused youth.

People discussing dysphoria not in alignment with activist demands are threatened & censored

A result of an increase of trans visibility & trans activism has been hostility, threats, & attempts to censor discussions of youth medical transition & impacts on female rights. This is the norm now for health professionals, journalists, educators, parents, desisters, & dissenting trans people.

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

The ACLU & GLSEN Prioritize Identity OVer Biology for Girls’ Sports

News Commentary

The ACLU and GLSEN want dysphoric males (trans girls) to compete in girls sports. The two trans athletes who won in “state” in girls’ track in Connecticut have not transitioned hormonally. And evidence is mounting medical transition does not erase biological advantages a male has over a female. There are even in-utero effects of testosterone that create physiological differences in things like hip angle, which affect running and bicycling.

People are not arguing trans students should not be in sports. People are arguing that the gender identity of MtFs, who have a biological advantage, should not override females’ rights under laws like Title 9. Most people do not have similar issues with FtMs participating in boys’ sports, as they are injecting high doses of testosterone that gives them a large advantage over girls. These two trans students could be treated well, have their pronouns respected, and be supported by a school with a strong anti-bullying program. They can be respected as transgender by society but run on male teams. There is nothing wrong with this concept if it is truly a “gender fluid” society that is ideal. A world gender activists claim they wish to create. It may be beneficial for boys to learn to be supportive and accepting of gender nonconforming people as well and not have this only be the role of girls and women in society. This puts the usual expectation of nurturing and emotional care taking on the female students at their own expense. Most violence committed against trans people are committed by men.

GLSEN is an LGBT rights organization. They do not address how bisexual and lesbian female bodied students are supposed to fairly compete against MtF trans students. The lack of access to a level playing field and scholarships will have a negative impact on the lesbian and bisexual female youth GLSEN also claims to support.

The ACLU also believes in an identity based worldview over biological sex. The slogans circulated here are appeal to emotion arguments and are not rational or scientific arguments proving their stance is fair to females. They don’t support arguments as to why dysphoric males are anatomically the same as females (they aren’t) or why their gender identity deserves greater weight than females’ access to sports with other female bodied people only.

Three female students have filed a discrimination lawsuit in relation to how these policies affect female bodied students. Multiple girls, who lost to these two trans athletes, were indeed affected. Female students’ record rankings were changed. Two did not win first and second place. Two did not place at all. All of this affects whether or not any of these students will be considered by college coaches for scholarships.

Not all transgender males, who feel they align with femaleness and transition and go by female pronouns, agree with competing against female athletes. There is a popular kathoey in Thailand who fights males in Muay Thai competitions and wins. There are other trans people who do not support participating in women’s sports, as LGBT organizations and other groups claiming to represent LGBT interests, do not speak for all LGBT people.

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

Support for LGBT People Declines in a Recent Survey

News Commentary

Support and comfort with LGBT people has declined according to a recent LGBT acceptance survey from GLAAD, an LGBT visibility organization. The drop is significant.

From a Huffington Post article on the study:

The survey ― conducted in January 2019 by The Harris Poll, a New York-based research firm ― found that non-LGBTQ adults who said they felt “very” or “somewhat” comfortable in all of those scenarios was 49%, reflecting no change from 2018. For the 18 to 34 demographic, however, that percentage fell from 53% to 45%.  

As GLAAD representatives pointed out, 2019 marks the second year in a row that LGBTQ acceptance among Americans aged 18 to 34 has dropped. In 2017, that figure was at 63%. The most striking drop in acceptance appeared among young women, whose comfort level dropped from 64% last year to 52% in the newly published report.  

Right-wing rhetoric and activism is blamed as the cause:

In a statement issued Monday, GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis linked the two-year decline to “divisive rhetoric both in politics and in culture.” 

“Last year, when we saw an erosion in LGBTQ acceptance, GLAAD doubled down on our formula for making positive culture change,” she said. 

Though Ellis didn’t cite specifics, GLAAD has reportedly documented more than 40 incidents of anti-LGBTQ hate violence since the start of 2019. Policy setbacks, such as President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military, as well as religious liberty laws that essentially allow businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ customers, were also likely to have an impact, she said. 

Blaming the right wing may be confirmation bias. The biggest drop is among young women, generally a liberal, tolerant group. GLAAD, and the LGBT population in general, may want to consider if far-left ideological activism could be at least partially to blame for this drop, rather than Donald Trump’s policies or conservatives views. This would be in the interest of intellectual honesty, self awareness, and exploring all possibilities. There is a general wariness forming of leftist identity politics that dominates LGBT discourse from these organizations and media and on college campuses. Or perhaps, many middle-of-the-road people feel suing people over gay wedding cakes is an overreach or have a problem with young children in drag make-up at adult bars, who allegedly attract the attention of pedophiles.

Gender activism is affecting people in ways that LGB acceptance never demanded that some LGBT people are starting to oppose, even vehemently. Things like pronoun shares before social interactions and allowing more physically powerful MtFs on girls’ sports teams. What LGBT acceptance means has changed a lot to a lot of people in the last 5 years. And more people are becoming aware of extremism in gender ideology and activism that may wind up also negatively impacting homosexuals, as the LGBT moniker is marketed as one population, with one agenda, even though this narrative is false.

Understanding why this is all happening honestly is critical to understanding best ways to create an LGBT supportive environment for young people, who are at risk for bullying and mental health issues. The GLAAD survey as released to the public did not delve into anything illuminating as to why this is happening.

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

750 Academics Call for a Professor to be Fired for Statements About Transitioning Youth

News

There are some issues in the article “Academic faces sack for letter to Sunday Times that criticised training on trans issues” relevant to the GHQ section on trans activism and gender dysphoria in youth.

There are calls from academics from the UK to fire a professor of education and editor of the journal, Disability & Society for her concern about autistic youth and rigid thinking and gender dysphoria. It should be noted gender dysphoria experts such a Dr. Susan Bradley, some mental health professionals from the Tavistock clinic in the UK, and autism expert Tania Marshall, as well as others, have expressed the same concerns. Anyone who expresses worry about grey area dysphoric youth will be attacked by the academic left, including calls for censorship and job loss.

Another signatory of the Sunday Times letter, Michele Moore, honorary professor at Essex University, who has edited the journal Disability & Society for many years, is also facing calls to resign after warning that autistic and other children might be harmed if they are wrongly encouraged to question their gender, which could lead to taking hormones and later surgery.

A petition from 750 colleagues calls on her to step down. She said her career hung in the balance because of the campaign, but the journal’s publishers and people from around the world were being supportive.

She added: “Somebody has to say we will talk about the potential harm of transgenderism of children, as many with autism or other social learning problems are being caught up in this.”

The article also includes some lesbian academics who do not agree with current gender activism.

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.

A GHQ Supporter Statement

Opinion

by Concerned gay man

As a gay man I’m very concerned about the medicalization of children to change their “gender.” Not all children with dysphoria persist into adulthood, and those who desist often grow up to become healthy lesbian and gay adults. Puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries are extreme life-altering decisions that children aren’t mature enough to make. They may grow up to regret these decisions. I fear that as a society we may have become misguided into erasing lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth in an effort to relieve gender dysphoria.

Also, I’m concerned about the current trend in LGBT organizations to define sexual orientation as based on “gender identity” rather than sex. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are being taught to think that not dating transgender individuals is transphobic. I’m worried they are being pressured into sexual relationships that they may not want for fear of being called bigoted. Sexual orientation is based on biological sex, and the sexual boundaries of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals should be respected.

We do not have open comments on the Gender Health Query website. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in what you have to say. If you have a comment, blog post idea, or any other feedback, we would be interested if the information can be supported by science research, an informed opinion, real-world observations, or personal experiences. Please contact us.