GENDER HEALTH QUERY’S MISSION
“To prevent the over-medicalization of gender nonconforming youth. To prevent harm resulting from medical treatments on trans-identified minors. And to address confusion and rights conflicts that arise from new ideologies about gender (within and outside of these populations). This will be done through outreach to the mental health and medical community, ‘LGBT’ organizations, parents, schools, media, and the public.”
COMMENTS ABOUT OUR MISSION
There have always been gender nonconforming people and, likely, dysphoric people in history, in all cultures. Gender affirmation model practices for treating gender dysphoria, in the present day, involve social and medical experimentation on children and teenagers. This includes off-label use of drugs, and surgery (in the U.S.) performed on minors, with the push to reduce age of consent everywhere. We are a U.S. based organization, but these issues are currently affecting many countries. We seek an international community of people calling for proof of safety.
Children, teens, and young adults with gender dysphoria, are transitioning in unprecedented numbers and in unstudied demographics (younger, female, non-binary identities). It is unknown what the effects of this will be on desistance from childhood gender dysphoria, and on regret rates among teens and young adults. Some unnecessary medical transitions of minors are inevitable, due to their young ages. It’s already apparent that teens who are same-sex attracted, autistic, or who have mental health issues, are being put at risk for inappropriate transition.
While it is valid to highlight the psychological benefits of the gender affirmative model to trans youth [de Vries (2014) and Olson (2016)], there are serious health consequences to transitioning at young ages. These include sterility, possible loss of sexual function, eliminating bottom surgery options, possible reduction in IQ, possible serious/bizarre side effects reported by women who have taken hormone blockers, and unknown effects on the offspring of teens and young adults who are still fertile, that were exposed to high doses of cross-sex hormones. These risks disproportionately affect LGB youth, but also heterosexual gender nonconforming youth, and autism spectrum individuals, regardless of orientation. Currently, there is a climate of intentional obscuring, and sometimes intentional burying, known and unknown risks, of socially and medically transitioning children and teens. The ideological reasons behind it, is the belief they are protecting trans youth. This is understandable coming from the trans activist community. But this is also done by media, “LGBT” organizations, Universities, and by some in the mental health and medical fields. At best, this limits the exchange of information, as how to best treat all gender dysphoric youth. At worst, it is contributing to a climate of harassment, threats of violence, people fearing for their jobs, personal smear campaigns, censorship, and conflict within these populations.
We are forming this organization and activist movement, to bring some needed balance to the discourse. The onus should be on the mental health community, medical community, school systems, and “LGBT” organizations, to prove that the sweeping social and medical protocols being enacted on gender nonconforming children, are safe for persister and desister youth. In addition, these entities should acknowledge the teens and young adults currently at risk for inappropriate medical transition, who are desisting in higher numbers, as desistance and detransition appear more common.
A LIST OF OUR SPECIFIC GOALS AND QUESTIONS WE WANT ANSWERED:
1) Determine the effects of early social transition of gender dysphoric children on persistence/desistance. Insist the mental health and medical community, the media, and “LGBT” organizations, stop making unsubstantiated claims that early social transition is known to be “fully reversible.” This is not known to be fully reversible, and should not be presented to the public as fact. Insist the mental health and medical community provide actual evidence, supported by data, that early social transitions do not prevent desistance, and that they’re not medicalizing children who would have otherwise adapted to their bodies without medical treatment.
2) Determine the effects of use of hormone blockers on tweens/teens, and on persistence/desistance. Insist the mental health and medical community, the media, and “LGBT” organizations, stop making unsubstantiated claims that giving minors hormone blockers is known to be “fully reversible.” This is not known to be fully reversible and should not be presented to the public as fact. Insist the mental health and medical community provide actual evidence, supported by data, that giving tweens/teens does not prevent desistance, and that they’re not medicalizing minors who would have otherwise adapted to their bodies without medical treatment.
If social transitions and Lupron use increase persistence, it is reasonable to consider this a human rights violation being perpetrated against gender nonconforming minors, regardless of the good intentions behind it. Children are being denied proper mental health and physical health protection, and the right to their natural maturation process without medical defacement. This also exposes these practices as eugenics in the form of sterilizing and socially eradicating individuals from small minority groups (more likely to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or autistic). Since these are minors, this should be considered serious, and not dissimilar to other human rights violations around sterilization and the chemical castration and shock therapy perpetrated on homosexuals in the past. This human rights abuse must be weighed against the argument that denying affirmative transition at any age is a human rights abuse, which is rapidly becoming the dominant argument. This form of “medical conversion therapy” needs to be weighed against the argument that failing to affirm is “conversion therapy.”
If it is deemed that sterilizing and medically defacing some minors inappropriately, is worth trans affirming healthcare (it often already is), the LGB community, autistic community, and the public at large, has a right to know what the extent of over-medicalized minors will be, and what the cost will be versus the claimed benefits.
There are likely potential legal consequences to mental health and medical professionals who facilitate inappropriate medical transition of gender nonconforming minors. The ability of children and teens to give consent is questionable.
3) Question the risks of early medical treatment to trans youth. Insist the mental health and medical community justify, supported by data, that the downsides of early medical transition—which include side effects such as sexual dysfunction, sterility, possible lowering of IQ, possible severe late side-effects from Lupron use, mitochondrial damage, and early age vaginal atrophy—are worth the benefits of transitioning minors.
We propose there may be some benefits to providing trans-identified youth, even those who will undoubtedly transition, with support in waiting until adulthood. This position is supported by some members of the trans community. This will preserve their fertility and sexual function, and allow their brains to mature during important pubertal brain building processes. It may help reduce shifting dysphoria (a common issue) through learned resilience, emotional regulation, and coping skills. It may reduce unrealistic expectations, where transition is viewed as a panacea. This support can be provided in a non-judgmental way.
There are likely potential legal consequences to mental health and medical professionals who facilitate overtreating trans youth with medical procedures, at ages where the ability to give consent is questionable. Not all trans adults choose to alter their bodies in the ways that affirmative protocols on minors demands.
4) Insist the mental health and medical community acknowledge the reality that lesbian, bisexual, autistic, sexually abused, and mentally troubled teenage girls, are already being put at risk for permanent and unnecessary medical alteration by the affirmative model. The health professionals have an obligation to consider all possible explanations, popular or not, in a time of exploding trans identification in youth, especially female youth—known historically to be prone to social contagion and body dysmorphia.
5) Insist the “affirmation model” mental health community provide evidence, supported by data, as to why teaching children that there are “dozens of genders,” or that “gender is a spectrum,” is more progressive and adaptive to young people, than normalizing masculine women and feminine men.
Our current position is that this is not creating liberation, progress, or improved mental health in many individuals. Genderist ideology, in many cases, appears to be creating much sexual and gender confusion in young people. This includes fostering a sense of entitlement for constant validation, and even sexual validation from others who don’t adhere to trans/genderqueer ideology viewpoints. It also appears to be glorifying and popularizing gender dysphoria and body dysmorphia.
Some early research suggests non-binary identified individuals, who are being affirmed for surgery (even as minors), may have more mental health problems than MtFs or FtMs. More research is needed to determine if this condition is true gender dysphoria, or a new kind of body dysmorphia or rumination disorder.
Genderist ideology is not an ideology without side effects on other people. Gender nonconforming girls and women are being misgendered or told they should be trans, particularly in “LGBT” environments. This indicates this movement is reinforcing gender stereotype expectations, not reducing them. This is harmful to gender nonconforming young people, who are not trans/non-binary identified. This is harmful to gay and lesbian people who have fought against these stereotypes for decades. It is also infringing on other people’s right to not have their language and opinions policed, and their right to do business in an orderly manner, without time taken for cumbersome pronoun validation.
Some LGB people view encouraging gender nonconforming children to identify as trans, and to adopt 3rd gender pronouns, as anti-LGB. Gender nonconforming children are too young to understand their nonconformity, in connection to their sexuality. There is a well-established link between adult homosexuality/bisexuality and early gender nonconforming behavior. Many people feel this is laying the groundwork to limit what boys and girls can be, and what LGB people can be.
Non-binary identified individuals are shown to be mostly female, calling into question if this is related to female inferiority complexes, internalized male chauvinism, internalized anti-lesbian feelings, or a new form of female body dysmorphia that appears to be socially contagious.
6) Insist school systems also provide evidence for everything listed above, when they implement genderist ideology trainings in school systems, which is becoming the norm.
7) Schools must consider girl’s rights to not have to be naked, or deal with menstruation, around biological males. Schools must consider the rights of biological females to not be ejected from placements in sports by biological males—placements they would have otherwise won.
8) We seek to insure proper definitions of gay, lesbian, trans, male and female are maintained, based on biology. This is relevant to empiricism and scientific data around understanding these groups and their individual needs.
9) We call on “LGBT” organizations, politically active groups, parents, and schools, to teach LGB and trans-identified youth independence, resilience, good priorities, conflict tolerance, and mutual respect.
Fomenting a climate of political theatrics and suicide contagion, around legitimate discussion of medical concerns or conflict of rights with girls in schools, is poor role modeling and unethical—but currently engaged in often by some “LGBT” organizations, parents, trans activists, and even mental health and medical professionals. Some of them are violating the American Foundation for the Prevention of Suicide’s guidelines on how suicide risk should be reported in “LGBT youth.”
10) “LGBT” organizations, parents, schools, and mental health professionals should consider if online “LGBT” spaces—sites such as Tumblr and Reddit, that currently glorify identity obsession, gender rumination, body dysmorphia, and mental illness as “cool”—are doing more harm than good.
Our position is that online “queer youth” culture has many unhealthy aspects, and may be harmful to young people’s mental health in some cases.
11) “LGBT” youth organizations and “affirmation model” mental health professionals, should address the reality that trans/genderqueer ideology is creating a sense of entitlement to emotional and sexual access to others, based on subjective definitions. Youth, particularly lesbian youth, are being exposed to manipulative accusations of bigotry around their natural sexual orientation, in online youth environments—from inflicting mild guilt, to graphic language threatening violence and rape. Aspects of this ideology are bleeding out into the real world. “LGBT” organizations such as GLSEN, The Trevor Project, The HRC, The National Center for Lesbian Rights, PFLAG, and Stonewall (many of whom already know this is happening), must acknowledge that this is a real problem, and that it has to stop in order to foster mutual respect.
12) Insist school systems keep all youth safe, and work towards normalizing gender nonconformity, and reducing abusive behavior directed at all youth who are being bullied for being different.
13) Question the ethics of mental health and medical professionals, that have their training on youth and gender dysphoria provided to them exclusively by trans activist conferences, and even WPATH—who actively censor information about risk, harm, and detransition, and who ostracize discussion of desistance or less invasive treatments for children and teenagers.
14) Put pressure on the therapy community and “LGBT” organizations to support increasing numbers of detransitioners.
15) Insist that brain research studies trying to determine the causes of transsexualism, use gender nonconforming gays and lesbians as controls, before they reach their conclusions. There are likely spectrum effects in the causes of homosexuality and transgenderism. Heterosexuals are not the best controls to determine if transgenderism is completely innate. There is much information that shows that for some individuals it isn’t, and that it’s influenced by culture. In relation to the medical transition of minors, and it’s safety to desisters, comparing gays/lesbians with trans people is more relevant.
16) Confront the lack of scholarship and empiricism in trans/genderqueer theory, taught in academia and now to elementary school children. If public schools are going to feature this discourse, alternative viewpoints must be allowed to be aired, as gender ideology is not settled science and is controversial.