It is coming to light that the Golisano Children’s Hospital at the University of Rochester provides life-altering and ‘experimental’ medical and psychological interventions for very young children with gender confusion, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, orchiectomies, and double mastectomies. A video on their site, which has since been made unviewable by the public, encouraged parents to bring their children as young as 8 years old to their gender health services clinic. Tucker Carlson exposed this on his show; a clip can be seen here.
It is commonly known that children’s brains are not fully developed until adulthood, so we protect them legally by preventing them from driving until they are 16, from buying lottery tickets until they are 18, and from buying cigarettes or alcohol until they are 21. Yet, the University of Rochester is allowing children to self-diagnose gender dysphoria [psychological sense of gender identity being different from biological sex] and then proceeds with serious psychosocial, medical, and surgical interventions based on this scientifically unverifiable diagnosis. Not only that, but many children are now identifying as “non-binary,” which means they do not believe they exist on the male-female binary at all, leading to surgeries intended to make the body appear more androgynous.
‘Transitioning’ children typically starts with social transition: changing name, pronouns, clothing, and hair style. A child who shows signs of discomfort with their biological sex is encouraged to “come out” as their new gender (or lack thereof). Doctors, counselors, and school employees encourage families never to use the child’s original name or pronouns, and to only affirm their child in whatever gender identity they express, thus cementing the child’s confusion.
The next step in ‘transitioning’ often involves puberty blocking drugs for children as young as 8 years old. Parents are misguided by doctors, who say this allows a ‘pause button’ on puberty so the child can avoid the emotional hardship of experiencing puberty for a gender with which they don’t identify. However, this is an intensive drug that is not FDA approved for this use and causes a wealth of harms physically, psychologically, emotionally, and socially. In addition, a child placed on puberty blockers most likely continues on to cross-sex hormones. When a child takes puberty blockers then cross sex hormones, he or she becomes sterile.
The cross-sex hormones cause behavioral and mood changes, increased risks of cancer and other health conditions, and often cause permanent changes to a person’s body. Next, children are pushed toward surgical interventions. This may include full hysterectomies, double mastectomies of healthy breast tissue, and even radical genital surgeries that cause sexual dysfunction and a host of health concerns.
This “affirmation”-only medicine propagated by gender clinics, allows children, as young as 8, to self-diagnose a mental health condition, which then leads to sterilization and genital mutilation by adults who have taken an oath to “first, do no harm.” This is happening here in New York, and across the country. This is NOT backed by science and is causing IRREVERSIBLE harms to children. Children with gender dysphoria are not receiving the true care they need.
Will the US take a clue from other nations who have changed their approach?
· UK’s Gender Clinic shut down due to poor evidence for the affirmational model, risks of harm and operational failures.
· National Academy of Medicine in France urges decreased medicalization and increased psychological support, highlights the social impact of gender confusion.
· Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare “now recommends restraint when it comes to hormone treatment” because “the risks outweigh the benefits.”