Althouse: "The Battle Over Gender Therapy/More teenagers than ever are seeking transitions, but the medical community that treats them is deeply divided about why

June 16, 2022

"The Battle Over Gender Therapy/More teenagers than ever are seeking transitions, but the medical community that treats them is deeply divided about why — and what to do to help them."

This is an excellent article by Emily Bazelon in The New York Times. I'm not going to try to summarize it. If you're not a subscriber, I think it's worth one of your "free reads."

97 comments:

David Begley said...: A person can’t buy an AR-15 at age 16. How is that they can change genders?

The use of the word “controversial” is always a tip. It generally means, how can you stupid conservatives disagree with us smart liberals.; 6/16/22, 11:48 AM
Achilles said...: I think it's worth one of your "free reads."

The groomers don't give me any of those.

Hopefully someone can copy and paste this excellent article in the comments. Or at least some of the good excerpts.

I am most interested in what arguments they present for trying to stop these barbaric surgeries and hormonal treatments.

I doubt very much that the NYT actually wrote an article that actually encompasses this discussion in good faith.; 6/16/22, 11:49 AM
BUMBLE BEE said...: Any news about the suicide rate for transgenders?; 6/16/22, 11:50 AM
BothSidesNow said...: I agree it is an excellent article. Spent too much time yesterday reading twitter reactions. In short, this article elicited a great deal of anger and rage. It seems that any attention or mention of doctors who suggest any sort of gatekeeping before beginning the transition process is way way way out of bounds.

One comment on the article, which is very long. I did not see any mention of pharma companies and their profits. This must be a goldmine. Any condition that leads to a life time need for medication is a true bonanza. I have to believe that as good business people, the pharma companies are heavily involved in spreading bread upon the waters in this area.; 6/16/22, 11:56 AM
Achilles said...: BUMBLE BEE said...

Any news about the suicide rate for transgenders?

My first thought on reading that this was an "excellent article" was do they address the extremely high suicide rate among people who are being "treated."; 6/16/22, 11:56 AM
Leland said...: Maybe we should encourage children to explore medical science rather than gender identity.; 6/16/22, 12:06 PM
Milo Minderbinder said...: The left must believe they have to put the pedal to the metal now before the unwashed they so despise can react at the voting booth ( if they are allowed to go to the voting booth).; 6/16/22, 12:08 PM
Lem the artificially intelligent said...: The biggest tragedy, at the present time, is an urge to publicly find an authentic self.

The tragedy is only matched by a mistake averse world.

It’s one of the results of putting the cross in storage.; 6/16/22, 12:10 PM
Achilles said...: BothSidesNow said...

I did not see any mention of pharma companies and their profits.

One problem with these "excellent articles" written by the soulless leftist corporation is they consistently leave out the soulless corporate allies financial interests.

They leave out that they are paid to write this article by the drug companies that make money selling these "treatments."; 6/16/22, 12:11 PM
Real American said...: "The requirement for evidence of several years of gender incongruity before medical treatment is “harmful and destructive and abusive and unethical and immoral,”

LOL IRONY; 6/16/22, 12:13 PM
Yancey Ward said...: What is being done to these children is just fucking evil at this point.; 6/16/22, 12:18 PM
Enigma said...: Traditional Christians attempt to "de-gay" people through prayer and persuasion = conversion therapy, and EVIL

Hardcore left provide anti-puberty drugs, cut off boobs, cut off wee-wees, and spend $$$$ on plastic surgery/hormones for life = morally essential, and ENLIGHTENED

Interesting logic. We live in interesting times.; 6/16/22, 12:22 PM
Achilles said...: It is much easier to abuse and molest children who are confused and depressed and detached from society.

The people pushing this are not trying to help these kids.

They are far worse than the Catholic Priesthood ever was.; 6/16/22, 12:25 PM
dmoelling said...: It's striking about how extensive the shallow consensus that surgery and drugs to make the body match the minds view has become. Whatever the cause, feeling that you are in the wrong sex body is a traumatic event. Prior to what's called "sex change" surgery, the assumption was the mind was incorrectly perceiving the body. If sex change surgery were a drug or medical device it would probably fail clinical trials dramatically.

Time to stop and do some more actual research on this?; 6/16/22, 12:28 PM
Mark said...: By progressive logic:

Transitioning is affirming.

Helping someone to be what they are is conversion therapy, which was the target of (yet another) Biden executive edict today.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/06/15/executive-order-on-advancing-equality-for-lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-queer-and-intersex-individuals/; 6/16/22, 12:39 PM
Omaha1 said...: Emily posted a link to a "gift" article, I was able to read it there. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/15/magazine/gender-therapy.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DLDm8fiOEcDIGS-kHAIqVuYdc-xXGHRNJbOac-Avxuy-sVd2pcdz6VmLrW0pIUP3dy7oupQmI925-KVu42rzTmYmL8ebwinvjishyNdTLvXfbA1XQmdlw19JFidQqsymVIkvmeapN93dF93_omBJ1oF3xXNGTR4a6eW1gpM86Gbxrc9gAyR-lePDnTlteb4L4GGx5AXROEFDgspDZht64PfY8fL639LBU_ecThgbl3CmdgLYuhA5BZVJHTixO7lDF6UpXmkSWTixR7&smid=url-share; 6/16/22, 12:41 PM
R C Belaire said...: The article can be accessed via this link : https://archive.ph/U2feL

(From archive.today website); 6/16/22, 12:44 PM
Mark said...: In this battle and under Biden's new executive order, if one does not enthusiastically support Pride sex parties and sex party organizers, they are contemptible bigots.

That is a serious observation, not said in jest.; 6/16/22, 12:57 PM
Kay said...: Very well-researched article.; 6/16/22, 12:57 PM
MadisonMan said...: Is one allowed Free Reads at the NYT? I've never even tried.; 6/16/22, 12:57 PM
Robert Cook said...: I am sympathetic that there are those who are convinced they are in bodies that do not match their internal sense of their gender. However, minors under 21 should not be permitted to have sex reassignment surgery, as they cannot be assumed to be emotionally/mentally developed enough to truly understand the long-term implications of their actions. This is why we do not allow those under 21 to (legally) buy or be served alcohol, and why we (less and less often nowadays) treat minor offenders differently than adult offenders, as we understand they do not have the impulse control of fully mature adults and they may not grasp of the consequences of what they do.

In the early days of sex reassignment surgeries, I believe they typically required those seeking the transition to go on hormones to generate (non-permanent) changes in their bodies, and to live as the other sex for a time, to experience how it felt, how others reacted to them, etc., so they could make their final decision based their having lived as the other sex. I do not know if this is still the norm. Supportive parents can encourage their children to dress and groom themselves as the gender they perceive themselves to be, if this is sufficiently important to the young person. If, after having dressed and groomed as their "internal gender" for a sufficient time, and if, upon becoming legal adults they still are convinced they must have surgical transition, well...let them!; 6/16/22, 12:58 PM
Tina Trent said...: This is a terrible article.

--she uses slurs to describe people who aren't trans: "cis" is a slur.
--she limits her subject matter to the pre-craze period, so nothing she writes is relevant to the subject she claims to be exploring.
--she outright lies about the fact that many adult and most adolescent life-altering medical interventions require extensive investigations measuring family support, relationships, and even economic status. Transplants, types of heart surgeries, insulin pumps, psychiatric care, facial surgery, choices about chemo and radiation, amputation, lap bands, and even more mild conditions require investigations.
--she utterly fails to address Abagail Shirer's extensive evidence.
--she asks no hard questions, such as why are only trans, gay, and trans-supporting psychiatrists chosen to set APA standards?
--she allows slurs to be used against politicians without giving them a chance to respond.
--she discombobulates on the issue of bone density, hurrying over demonstrated medical literature.
--she leaves out all the other trans physicians who have stopped treating children and all the research done in the last few years that disprove research she cites, which was done with activism, not science in mind.
--she fails to address similarities between bottom surgery and clitorodectomies, a crucial issue.
--she doesn't tell us what this is costing us.; 6/16/22, 1:00 PM
Mark said...: That's right. True affirming the objective human sexuality and sexual differentiation of a person is now "conversion." Saying that something is what it is is trying to change it.; 6/16/22, 1:00 PM
MikeR said...: Good article, but they do sound nuts. First do no harm.
This sounds like the kind of thing where a couple of decades later we look back on the primitive fools who thought they knew more than they did and hurt a lot of people. See phonetics.; 6/16/22, 1:01 PM
Dave Begley said...: Nice work, Tina Trent.; 6/16/22, 1:04 PM
Mark said...: But despite all the ire being directed at all you white Christian supremacists seeking to impose your white Christian beliefs on people, the real war and battle is being waged by the Ls and Gs who are militantly at odds with the Ts.

The power elite continues to speak of LGBT+ as if they are a single unified whole, when in fact the LGBs and the Ts are totally in conflict with each other. Well, maybe the Bs don't much care, but the Ls and Gs really do care if a woman has a penis or a man has a vagina, and they want nothing to do with either.; 6/16/22, 1:06 PM
Wa St Blogger said...: The very idea that you think you are in the wrong body should be treated as a mental condition by anyone who is not practicing quackery. I don't say that there are not some people who are truly feeling this way; there are a whole host of very odd, and very rare mental conditions where reality does not match perception. This one is the only one were we not only try to adjust reality to the perception but we are in the process of trying to convince people that reality does not match perception. How can this be anything but malpractice and both criminal and tortious? This one issue should be enough to have every human with 2 brain cells to rub together to abandon the Democratic party as both insane and evil. The main reason the Democratic party even supports this is that the conservatives oppose it, and they use it as a wedge issue. That is sacrificing our youth on the alter of power as bad anything the Inca's did.; 6/16/22, 1:10 PM
Mark said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/16/22, 1:11 PM
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...: sorry - no free read access for me. No comment on the op-ed.

I will say that the push in some public schools to hide from parents what children are being urged to do, is very troubling.

Who thought it was ever possible for public schools to separate kids from their parents? It takes a village.; 6/16/22, 1:13 PM
Mark said...: Nature is discriminatory.

There should be a law against a man being born into a woman's body, and vice versa.

What some doctor "assigns" to a person at birth has nothing to do with it. It's nature that is anti-trans.; 6/16/22, 1:13 PM
Dave Begley said...: This is the biggest children's rights issue of the century. Every single state needs to pass a law to prevent people under the age of 21 from getting the surgery and taking the drugs.

The "affirmation" and "suicide prevention" rationale the Left asserts to rationalize it is pure evil.; 6/16/22, 1:16 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Meh, the fad merely hastens the Great Lawsuit Correction. You can bet it's coming and sooner than anyone thinks. I wish there was some way to invest to garner a piece of that multi-billion dollar settlement without having to lop my willie off.; 6/16/22, 1:17 PM
Lurker21 said...: Powerlineblog mentions My Dinner With André in another context, and bothers to cite a prediction André made 40 years ago:

“Things don’t affect people the way they used to. I mean it may very well be that 10 years from now people will pay $10,000 in cash to be castrated just in order to be affected by something.”; 6/16/22, 1:17 PM
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/16/22, 1:17 PM
Sebastian said...: "More teenagers than ever are seeking transitions"

An indicator right there, for anyone willing to look: this is not a condition that ever existed before on anything approaching this scale. It is, as progs like to say, a social construction. And among the people who suffered from severe body dysphoria, it was never assumed that the way out was to mutilate one's body rather than treat the mind or adopt a trans lifestyle without mutilation.

So, why? Some hypotheses: 1. Progs won on SSM and needed a new issue. Progressivism can't stand still. Trannies presented an ideal cause: they help stick it to deplorables, undermine a key part of the sexual order, create new victims, and put in motion new bureaucracies and a new expert regime. 2. Once liberty means defining the meaning of the universe for oneself, what's to stop any claim that a meaningful life depends on cutting off one's penis? The untrammeled self-creation of identity as such is the logical end point of progressive change--with the proviso that a strong state is needed to keep yahoos at bay while making them pay for the destruction wrought.; 6/16/22, 1:38 PM
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...: Teens and younger are being targeted. They are being tricked and used by predators who are praying on the natural confusion that comes with being young.

perfect timing - with the mental trauma from covid lock-downs.; 6/16/22, 1:47 PM
Michael K said...: Blogger Mark said...

But despite all the ire being directed at all you white Christian supremacists seeking to impose your white Christian beliefs on people, the real war and battle is being waged by the Ls and Gs who are militantly at odds with the Ts.

In other words, normals.; 6/16/22, 2:03 PM
Maynard said...: This is akin to the "Climate Change" grift. We used to call it "seasons".

Kids confused about their gender was always a normal part of adolescent development. Now it is an opportunity for grifters (aka groomers) to advocate radical, irreversible changes to their minds and bodies.

This is pretty sick stuff. Since conservatives and libertarians are now considered domestic terrorists, I hope that liberals will stand up and fight rather than trying to be accommodating of all views.; 6/16/22, 2:06 PM
Michael K said...: This hysteria reminds me of the "recovered memories" fad of the 1980s. That was ended by a lawsuit filed by a father. This might end the dame way. The parent of a child that commits suicide, as many of these kids will do.; 6/16/22, 2:07 PM
Dave Begley said...: "Progs won on SSM and needed a new issue. Progressivism can't stand still."

Bingo! The Left never rests.

Why wasn't this an issue even 10 years ago?; 6/16/22, 2:11 PM
Jupiter said...: Bullshit by Bazelon. "The medical community that treats them" says all you need to know. These filthy scum hack healthy parts off living children's bodies for money. They're vermin who attended medical school. They should be rotting in prison. Story over, case closed.; 6/16/22, 2:12 PM
WK said...: In the old days we’d try to achieve balance of the 4 humors. Maybe some bloodletting. Fortunately, we debunked the old methods and now have proven psychological and medical treatments to intervene and eliminate the dysphoria and effect transition. Thankful for modern methods.; 6/16/22, 2:12 PM
Leland said...: I disagree that she fails to address Abagail Shirer as there is a section that begins with her findings with 4 to 5 paragraphs about her findings. That said, much of the article is written from the position that WPATH and USPATH are the only ones doing legitimate work and that work is hampered by things such as the previous WPATH findings (which match with Abagail’s findings but that isn’t made so obvious as other things are). And then Abagails’s findings. I thought this sentence was hilarious: “ About a week after Shrier’s post appeared, USPATH and WPATH issued a statement opposing “the use of the lay press” for scientific debate about gender-related medical treatment. ”. You mean, like USPATH and WPATH are doing via Emily Bazelon and NYT?

The article is a bit bait and switch. The headline and first page of paragraphs is about general Transgender care, but then goes into how more children want this and how “right-wing” states are banning their access. This is interlaced with mentions that the children are not telling their family without discussion of all the other medical procedures off limits to children without parental consent. We have schools today that won’t let kids carry aspirin or cough drops on campus even with parental consent, but let’s talk about how wrong it is kids don’t have on their demand access to permanent physical altering drugs and surgery. Like abortion, it isn’t about whether it is legal or not, it is called “banning” if you don’t agree to allow it to occur whenever progressives demand it.

Except it isn’t infringement of rights to ban 18 year olds from purchasing firearms. Giving access to alcohol to a juvenile, even if you are the parent, can be illegal and considered abuse. Some may respond to me with “non-sequitur”, this about gender therapy. Fine, then it is also non-sequitur to bring up minor’s access to it and especially claim it is right-wing. Politicians on both sides make claims children, even as old as 20, are too young to make decisions for themselves. If it isn’t abuse to deny a constitutional right to a 12 year old, then it isn’t abuse to deny an elective life-altering surgery to that same child. If it wrong to use the lay press to talk scientific medical decisions, then disavow this article in which you do just that. Otherwise, this isn’t about good medical care. This is really just a partisan political ad campaign and contribution.; 6/16/22, 2:30 PM
guitar joe said...: "This hysteria reminds me of the "recovered memories" fad of the 1980s." I don't always agree with Michael K--a good sign that I have to actually pay attention to what he has to say. Because he gets it right enough times to warrant listening to him. This is one of those times when he nails it. I think the "recovered memories" thing is a perfect example of a similar hysteria to what we're seeing with the trans movement and an illustration of how fashionable behavioral science have been for years. I may have posted this here before in another entry, but I remember reading an article in Esquire years ago that pointed out how the reported cases of Multiple Personality Disorder were almost non-existent before the TV movie Sybil, and then they skyrocketed. About ten years ago, the Times did an investigation into the case that was the basis for that book and movie, as well as the case that was the basis for All About Eve. Both, it turned out, were contrived. The psychiatrists in both cases used suggestion during hypnosis to plant disturbing images into the minds of these two very mentally ill women. There's a special place in hell for them, as there will be for the therapists who planted "repressed memories" in patients, and who pushed this explosion of trans patients. I think gender dysphoria probably exists, but I don't think the increase we've see is anything but a trend that has been exploited by therapists and physicians. I remember hearing a writer in an interview about 10 or 12 years ago when this movement started to gain steam. He said, "Years ago the asylums were filled with people who thought they were Napoleon or Jesus. We didn't call them 'emperor' or 'lord'."; 6/16/22, 2:38 PM
effinayright said...: Mark said...
"But despite all the ire being directed at all you white Christian supremacists seeking to impose your white Christian beliefs on people, the real war and battle is being waged by the Ls and Gs who are militantly at odds with the Ts."
**********

Yeah, the rest of the world that is non-white Christian is totes in agreement with Woke attitudes on issues of sexual and gender identity.

And OF COURSE everyone knows that Hispanics and African-Americans are completely in favor of grooming kids to be gay or trans.

SNORT

p.s. Tucker had a lesbian teacher on his show a week or so ago who was adamantly against the T's, precisely because gays and lesbians have always argued they are "born that way".

She found it abhorrent that kids were being encouraged to change their gender, even using mutilating surgeries.

So, your observation is neither new nor unknown to the right.

And, of course, you completely miss that the REAL "real war" is between parents vs. school systems and teachers' unions seeking to pervert their kids.

You're a dull tool, Mark.

A....dull....tool.; 6/16/22, 2:40 PM
Ampersand said...: An estimated 1 in 83,000 births produces an intersex infant, i.e., a child with some combination of male and female sexual organ tissue. The rest of us are born either male or female. Trans ideology is neo-Lysenkoism. So far as I know, there is no biological evidence that (non-intersex) people whose various dysphorias lead them to seek transition treatment have a condition that arises from a sex-based biological reality. This is a cultural mania or mass panic attack like the Children's Crusade, the Salem witchcraft hysteria, or the Dancing Mania.
The major fuel for the continuation of the insanity is the intense cognitive dissonance of the various participants who have chosen to be the maimed or the maimers. Having done such irreversible harm to themselves or others, for little or no benefit, the acceptance by such people that they have done great harm for no good reason would upend their self-images. So they must proclaim their place at the vanguard of human history, and relentlessly anathematize those who see them as sad victims of mass delusion.; 6/16/22, 2:40 PM
Gahrie said...: Why wasn't this an issue even 10 years ago

We were still fighting over gay marriage. Up until the Left won that fight, no one was talking about transgender, and if anyone ever thought about it, it was Renee Richards. A lot of us knew there would be a next fight, and predicted one. I don't remember anyone picking gender though. A lot of people predicted pedophilia, and a few bestiality. I went with polygamy.; 6/16/22, 2:41 PM
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...: In Colorado,
The predators are lying to get young teens to go to "art club" and it's not "art Club" at all.
It's gender confusion and don't tell your parents - club.; 6/16/22, 2:41 PM
Luke Lea said...: In other words, the situation is completely inconclusive. I do think the issue is receiving far to much attention in the media, distracting the public from far more important issues that affect happiness and well-being tens of millions, not tens of thousands, of citizens, particularly is the areas of trade and immigration policy. But I suspect our governing elites prefer it that way.; 6/16/22, 2:41 PM
JAORE said...: The reaction is what I find interesting. Just by suggesting there is an alternate position the hornet's nest plays pinata again.

How many ways, and for how many subjects, does the left say STFU, that is not allowed?; 6/16/22, 2:48 PM
Gahrie said...: upon becoming legal adults they still are convinced they must have surgical transition, well...let them!

Exactly! Pretty much everyone on the Right agrees. We didn't start this fight. The fight got started when the Left started pushing this shit on our children, and telling us they had more right to make decisions for our kids then we do.; 6/16/22, 2:55 PM
pious agnostic said...: I expect to live long enough that sex-reassignment surgery will be considered in the same therapeutic category as lobotomies -- horrifying, barbaric, and wrong.

I am not young.; 6/16/22, 2:55 PM
MikeM said...: Is the author any relation to Judge Bazelon?; 6/16/22, 3:01 PM
traditionalguy said...: War on women. The women are turned into sterile men and the men are turned into eunuchs in dresses. The true target is births.; 6/16/22, 3:15 PM
Jim Gust said...: I thought we learned from the Rosemary Kennedy tragedy that you don't cure mental illness with a scalpel.

Guess not.; 6/16/22, 3:28 PM
minnesota farm guy said...: My gut is much of this is a fad and a scam being perpetrated on adolescents who, to say the least, are pretty unstable about themselves anyway. Is being "trans" one more way to gain the acceptance that every teen seems to seek? I am sure there are those who genuinely feel that they are the opposite sex in their current body, but I also think that any thing as drastic as sex change should wait until adolescents raging hormones have begun to settle - say 18. I get the feeling that the trans gender rage is a bit like what happens with pharmaceuticals: there is a lot of money to be made if you ignore the, perhaps questionable, ethics of what you're doing.; 6/16/22, 3:38 PM
Black Bellamy said...: That's pretty funny Anne thinks we have "free reads".; 6/16/22, 3:39 PM
Mark said...: You're a dull tool, Mark.
A....dull....tool

Says the sharp blade that doesn't get sarcasm.; 6/16/22, 3:41 PM
Mark said...: Meanwhile, the left reflexively has contempt for all things traditional.

But the trans activists REALLY hate the lesbian crowd.; 6/16/22, 3:43 PM
Jupiter said...: The distinction between the sexes has existed for at least a billion years. All mammals have two sexes. In all mammalian species, males impregnate females, who then give birth. The two sexes have different innate behavior patterns, which is what makes this cooperation possible. And while difficulties do arise, mammals have been quite successful.

Oh, wait, Scratch that. Science has discovered that is all false. Details at six, from some really, really smart people. Smartest people who ever lived, or ever will.; 6/16/22, 4:01 PM
Tina Trent said...: Leland: I hear you. What I meant is that she doesn't include Shrier's specific debunking of the older stats she just throws out and doesn't explain why and how they were debunked. Unfortunately, no credible researchers in academia dare to touch this subject now, so don't expect scientific research on the recent craze.

People still don't understand how the replete the march was through the institutions. 20 years ago, if you voted for someone other than the minority, gay, or white radical to head up any association, from the AERA (teacher trainers) to the APA, your career was dead in the water. Wearing cement shoes.; 6/16/22, 4:03 PM
n.n said...: But the trans activists REALLY hate the lesbian crowd.

And the trans/socials are wearing their new clothes. And the trans/bis have measured the pulse of the trans/homos in social exclusion. And the politically congruent ("=") are Pro-Choice and satisfied... prideful to take a knee to ethical standards with irreconcilable principles. Once you start performing reproductive rites for social, redistributive, clinical, and fair weather causes, there is only progress: one step forward, two steps backward.; 6/16/22, 4:13 PM
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/16/22, 4:27 PM
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...: Again - why the secrecy?

12-year-old student invited to after-school art club finds herself in a meeting about trans and queer identity where she is told to keep secrets and that parents aren’t safe

On May 4th, 2021, Erin Lee’s 12-year-old daughter was invited by her art teacher, Jenna Riep, at Wellington Middle School in the Poudre School District in Fort Collins, Colorado, to come to art club after school. The family was new to the school district during COVID and her daughter loves art— an invitation to art club seemed like a perfect opportunity to meet fellow students with similar interests and maybe make some friends. Mom and dad enthusiastically gave permission for their 6th grader to attend.

Unbeknownst to both of them, the club was actually a GSA or Gay Straight Awareness/Alliance Club run by the art teacher. On this particular day, a guest speaker was brought in. Her name is Kimberly Chambers and she is the director of SPLASH Youth of Northern Colorado. The arm of the SPLASH organization that targets children between the ages of 5-11 is called SKITTLES (in some places it now says they start at age 7 but it is well documented that they have long targeted children starting at age 5. Photos provided below.) Chambers is a paid employee of the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment and has access to children’s information. She is also a substitute teacher.

Notice that in the email communications below, obtained through a public records request, Chambers asserts that under the “Equal Access Act,” “parents don’t have to approve what clubs and activities their children participate in.” This claim about the Equal Access Act is false and reveals a complete misunderstanding or intentional distortion of the law. To read the law she cites— 20 U.S. Code § 4071law—click here.

Lies...
Secrets...
Deception.
False pretenses...

Sounds like leftwing fascism to me.; 6/16/22, 4:33 PM
iowan2 said...: I am lectured to that powerful drugs and hormones to change how a person feels about themselves,is life affirming and a dire necessity.

If that's OK, why don't we simply give the girl more estrogen so her emotions match her birth certificate?

Give boys that don't 'feel' like a boy, more testostrone, so his emotions match what he sees in the mirror?

Playing with hormones comes with dangers, but the Doctors have already determined the risk is worth it. Why not just fix those that feel off? What is the downside?; 6/16/22, 4:34 PM
Bender said...: why don't we simply give the girl more estrogen...Give boys that don't 'feel' like a boy, more testostrone

It's simple, to get around sports doping rules, all a guy need do is say he's really a woman who identifies as a man and needs testosterone to affirm her male identity.; 6/16/22, 4:48 PM
Michael K said...: An estimated 1 in 83,000 births produces an intersex infant, i.e., a child with some combination of male and female sexual organ tissue. The rest of us are born either male or female.

When I was a surgery resident at LA County hospital we got a guy one night who had been run over by a sand strainer. These are machines that run over the beach at night and flail debris out of the sand. This guy was sleeping on the beach and apparently was what we would now call "homeless." In other words he was a bum.

We operated on him and found a uterus, tubes and streak ovaries. Externally, he was male. Postop we had to decide which ward to put him on, male or female.; 6/16/22, 4:50 PM
Robert Marshall said...: I'm about to go way out on a limb, here . . .

Reading about all the anxiety and uncertainty and ignorance of these teens about their sexuality/gender, and pondering the fact that many of them turn out to be same-sex attracted, I wonder if medical/psychiatric evaluations ought, in some way, to encourage/facilitate them to explore/experience their sexuality before making life-altering decisions like cross-sex hormones or surgery.

Admittedly, this would cross some serious legal and moral boundaries, but putting that aside (!), don't you think these confused kids could do with a little actual sexual experience of one sort or another, in a safe setting, with other slightly older and more settled bi-sexual kids, before they do anything stupid?

I think most of the kids described in the article sound very inexperienced and fearful about sex; weren't we all, at some point? Maybe they need an intro to what the non-medical, non-surgical options are, in the world of sex?

How could something like that be more harmful than the reckless treatments they're getting, instead? (Assuming the legal risks could be minimized.); 6/16/22, 4:51 PM
Michael K said...: Blogger Mark said...

You're a dull tool, Mark.
A....dull....tool

Says the sharp blade that doesn't get sarcasm.

Mark, you have to know that we have two Marks here, unless you are a split personality. One Mark is an obvious lefty. Sarcasm is not going to work unless you identify yourself as the other Mark.; 6/16/22, 4:54 PM
Bender said...: We operated on him and found a uterus, tubes and streak ovaries. Externally, he was male. Postop we had to decide which ward to put him on, male or female

And for the sake of the very rare case, all of society must accept that persons without a uterus, tubes or ovaries, but with penis and testicles and XY who can never conceive and bear a child, is 100 percent pure woman, like the woman who won the men's decathlon.; 6/16/22, 4:57 PM
ccscientist said...: There are lots of conditions where people are dissociated from their body: bulimia, anorexia, the one where people insist they are dead, people who wish they were amputees or blind, people who insist they are aliens. Should we affirm these? Help the anorexics lose weight? If not, what is the difference?; 6/16/22, 4:59 PM
n.n said...: Johns Hopkins, I think it was in the 60s or 70s, determined that the majority of trans/confused were not helped, and, in fact, were harmed when administrated transgender conversion therapy (i.e. medical, surgical, psychiatric). The confusion was traced to social pressure: women to be more like men, men to be more like women, toxic genders, diversity blocs, and other critical theory advocacy and activism. It may have been around this time that they started to discern different states of stability in the transgender spectrum.; 6/16/22, 5:06 PM
Leland said...: Tina, it really is a weird thing. It is as if the alternative views are just presented and WPATH was contacted and asked to respond, but the people expressing the alternative views didn’t get a rebuttal and were not even contacted. So your original comment wasn’t far off the mark. The author addressed Shirer but then just let WPATH dismiss her just like they dismissed the 2012 WPATH advice. I agree with your clarification.

Also the march continues just in other industries with woke agenda with equal destruction. Maybe that is turning, but I think this entire article is meant to combat that turning tide.; 6/16/22, 5:06 PM
PB said...: Sorry. It's medical malpractice and child endangerment. They're "affirming" nothing. Gender dysphoria is a psychological condition that cannot be treated with drugs or surgery.

The people grooming these kids to think they are or can be the opposite sex are a danger to children. If they can't be locked up, they should be issued permanent restraining orders to stay 500 feet away from schools or places where children might be.; 6/16/22, 5:13 PM
Clyde said...: Pandering to someone's mental illness isn't helpful. You can "identify" as a giraffe, if you like, but you'll never be able to eat leaves off the top of trees. Similarly, you can identify as the opposite sex (there are only two), but you will never BE the opposite sex, only a poor ersatz substitute. If you are born female, you will never be truly male, no matter what hormones you take or what surgery you have. You will never have a real penis and testicles with which to impregnate a woman. Similarly, if you are born male, you will never be truly female, and can never know the common experiences of real women with their bodies. You will never be able to give birth. It is better to be who you really are, rather than trying to be something that you are not.; 6/16/22, 5:26 PM
ccscientist said...: Men's and women's brains and bodies are different. Is it safe to give high doses of T to XX persons? Or female hormones to XY? Might it cause psychosis? In every other domain, the Left want you to prove that Z is safe before you can do it or sell it. Products have been pulled for miniscule risks. But here we are supposed to shut up and go full steam ahead. The John's Hopkins study that found the surgery and hormones did NOT reduce suicide is ignored. Depression is not improved. People detrans--clearly those were not happy customers. No other voluntary body modification has ever come close to what they are doing. Tattoos are just on the skin. Fake boobs are inert. Liposuction just removes fat. There is not any baseline of medical alteration that comes close to compare to.; 6/16/22, 5:45 PM
Yancey Ward said...: There are at least two Marks, as I have pointed out before. Hover the cursor over the name, and at the bottom left you will see the URL for the profile which includes the Blogger ID# for the commenter. 0757....is Right-leaning Mark, and 10......is Moronic Mark; 6/16/22, 6:15 PM
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...: to the Marks - if you have a common first name - add something to mix it up and make it fun.
Like - Mark E. Mark. or
Mark E Coyote or something.; 6/16/22, 6:22 PM
Michael K said...: .n said...

Johns Hopkins, I think it was in the 60s or 70s, determined that the majority of trans/confused were not helped, and, in fact, were harmed when administrated transgender conversion therapy

25% of their patients came back asking to be returned to their original gender.

This fad will not end well. Probably in lawsuits.; 6/16/22, 6:38 PM
gilbar said...: David Begley said...
A person can’t buy an AR-15 at age 16. How is that they can change genders?

in iowa, you can't get a tattoo until you are 18.. Because it's permanent damage to your body; 6/16/22, 7:14 PM
Carol said...: So my cousin's kid just finished freshman year at a venerable old CC and said his classes were full of trannies. Or, at least he wasn't sure.

How's a guy supposedto find a normal girlfriend in this mess?; 6/16/22, 7:22 PM
Stephen St. Onge said...: You can read the whole article at archive.ph. No paywall.; 6/16/22, 8:33 PM
Hey Skipper said...: Tina Trent nails it.; 6/16/22, 8:36 PM
Stephen St. Onge said...: Robert Cook said...

In the early days of sex reassignment surgeries, I believe they typically required those seeking the transition to go on hormones to generate (non-permanent) changes in their bodies, and to live as the other sex for a time, to experience how it felt, how others reacted to them, etc., so they could make their final decision based their having lived as the other sex. I do not know if this is still the norm.
___________________________________

It isn't. Today, you walk in, fill out some forms with the answers you found online, talk with someone for a few minutes, sign some "informed consent" documents, and walk out with a prescription for cross-sex hormones. Takes less than an hour.

One woman on substack tried to find one clinic in the U.S. that does the thorough screening WPATH recommends. She failed.; 6/16/22, 8:53 PM
realestateacct said...: I remember reading about Christine Jorgensen when I was a kid. Renee Richards tried to compete in the US Women's Open in 1976. "Myra Breckinridge" was published in 1968. I re-read it recently and was struck by how much she talks like a current Woke-American. For some reason the upper classes of the West have decided that reality is optional. It's not going to end well.; 6/16/22, 8:57 PM
GrapeApe said...: I am a gay guy. Lost a friend who decided at age 48 he wanted to start “transitioning.” Insisted that I “get with the program.” Sorry guy, not my issue. I aam not gonna adhere to your rules of address. Don’t like doing it, but get your mental health checked. Not obligated to play along. And the people pushing this on young children outside the supervision of their parent need to have half of a foot chopped off. Not a damn bit of difference.; 6/16/22, 9:44 PM
RigelDog said...: Gahrie said: "Why wasn't this an issue even 10 years ago

We were still fighting over gay marriage. Up until the Left won that fight, no one was talking about transgender, and if anyone ever thought about it, it was Renee Richards. A lot of us knew there would be a next fight, and predicted one. I don't remember anyone picking gender though. A lot of people predicted pedophilia, and a few bestiality. I went with polygamy."

Bingo! By the time SSM was declared a Constitutionally-protected right, I'd come to understand the nature of the radical Left in that it never ever ever stops. That's the nature of its ideology, and there is a certain percentage of the population that needs to be energized over "the struggle du jour" and is also perpetually enraged.

So I knew that there would be about 4 minutes of celebration and happiness once SSM was a settled issue, and then there would be fresh outrage over some new sexuality-based cause. I thought it would be polyamory but instead, Tranosaurus came busting through the gate.; 6/16/22, 10:36 PM
Joe Biden, America's Putin said...: I always thought the next fight would be hollywood/leftists demanding the normalization of sexual child abuse and pedophilia.; 6/16/22, 10:44 PM
walter said...: Sought out a Madison Home Depot staffer for directions to nearest Velcro supply. Happily tapped away on phone to pull up aisle # but the guy emulating some flavor of femininity via dyed hair and inverted nose rings seeemed a bit nervous.
Seemed a bit of a departure from typical staffer, but he/she had quck thumbs, so all good, I guess.
Can't say I didn't feel a weird compulsion to help they sort things aout.; 6/16/22, 10:50 PM
n.n said...: 25% of their patients came back asking to be returned to their original gender.

Huh, the Mengele clinics offer a better rate of return than the abortion chambers a.k.a. "Jane's revenge" a.k.a. "Ruth sent us" a.k.a. #CecileTheCannibal. So, there's that. While sex is an immutable property, gender attributes can be simulated or inculcated.; 6/16/22, 11:30 PM
n.n said...: the next fight would be hollywood/leftists demanding the normalization of sexual child abuse and pedophilia.

Social progress is nurtured in darkness.; 6/16/22, 11:33 PM
West TX Intermediate Crude said...: I'm fine with mentally disordered people rendering themselves barren.
Just don't touch kids.
That's tar and feathers territory.; 6/17/22, 5:44 AM
Lurker21 said...: But despite all the ire being directed at all you white Christian supremacists seeking to impose your white Christian beliefs on people, the real war and battle is being waged by the Ls and Gs who are militantly at odds with the Ts.

I doubt the opposition among straights, white or not, Christian or not, is that strong and widespread, except where children are concerned. With gays it's complicated. There's resentment, but is it a real "war" or "battle"? Organizations and activists are down with the T's because it's an agitating and fundraising tool. It's also seen as a way of getting in the face of hated Republicans. Lesbians seem upset, but as they always tell us, they are invisible.; 6/17/22, 7:40 AM
Stephen St. Onge said...: Can Of Cheese for Hunter said...
I always thought the next fight would be hollywood/leftists demanding the normalization of sexual child abuse and pedophilia.
_____________________________________________
That’s on the back burner, but the campaign continues. And it overlaps with the trans agenda through things like “drag queen story hour.”; 6/17/22, 9:54 AM
mikee said...: I can't get to the article, so what are the numbers here? Black's medical dictionary says that .014% males and .003% females exhibit gender dysphoria, and ~22% of the population is aged 13 to 25, so that's ~5100 males and ~1100 females of that age who want to swap genders in the US, as of 2020. Not all of those want surgery.

Tail, here's hoping the dog doesn't mind wagging.; 6/17/22, 2:15 PM
effinayright said...: Mark said...
You're a dull tool, Mark.
A....dull....tool

Says the sharp blade that doesn't get sarcasm.
*************

John Stewart tried to use that "Clown Face on/Clown Face off" bullshit years ago.

FAIL; 6/17/22, 3:08 PM
Tina Trent said...: When I was younger, I chafed at the restrictions on females. Once I found a good man, I stopped worrying so much about it, unless it involved real safety, or real job discrimination. I really saw how men enhanced women's lives.

I also realized that my husband and I are wired very, very, very differently, despite being raised by proto-feminist mothers who really had it rough sometimes, including financially, because they were women, and despite our being raised knee deep in the Free to be You and Me era.

We aren't.

My husband thinks like a man. I think like a woman. The few trans guys I've known, one pretty well, all think like men. The lesbian women I know, one for decades of nearly daily contact, think like women. Now, she could clobber the stuffing out of anyone here and was a fireman before females got the dumbed-down tests, but she is all woman.

The older I get, the more I see how men and women are just different. Even if I'm swinging a hammer while my husband reads a book. And that's ancient knowledge. My lesbian friend is terrified of the trans movement. She says it is destroying her already-small community. She fears being purged. She says the only closet she has to live in is the one where she is a Republican and opposes the political trans borg.; 6/18/22, 8:57 AM