‘Constitutional Crisis:’ Maine Bill Nationalizes Transgender Hormones as the U.K. Halts Them for Kids

Child at doctor's visit

Conservative elected officials sometimes accuse California of making policy choices for all Americans by dint of its population size and concomitant regulatory power.

Now they are threatening legal action against a Golden State mini-me for legislation that would purportedly override other states’ laws restricting abortion as well as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and genital surgeries for gender confusion.

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England Bans the Use of Puberty Blockers at Nation’s Gender Identity Clinics

Doctor Patient

England’s National Health Service (NHS) has banned the use of puberty blockers to treat children with gender dysphoria at the nation’s gender identity clinics, Sky News reported.

Taking a position at odds with the Biden administration, Health Minister Maria Caulfield said: “We have always been clear that children’s safety and wellbeing is paramount, so we welcome this landmark decision by the NHS. Ending the routine prescription of puberty blockers will help ensure that care is based on evidence, expert clinical opinion and is in the best interests of the child.”

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Commentary: More Gender Activists than Medical Professionals on WHO Transgender Health Panel

Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it had formed a Guideline Development Group made up of 21 members tasked with writing WHO guidelines on “the health of trans and gender diverse people.”

As a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health, WHO is looked to by most of the world’s nations for leadership on public health policy. Of the world’s 195 countries, 194 are WHO member states, with Taiwan being the lone exception.

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University with Gender Clinic Funds Study to See if Puberty Blockers Causes ‘Lasting’ Brain Changes for Kids

The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) approved a $600,000 grant for a study hypothesizing that puberty blockers used on children will lead to “lasting changes” in the brain, according to documents obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

In 2018, an American Academy of Pediatrics committee, which included a member of UW’s faculty, released a policy on transgender hormone treatments claiming that the effects of puberty blockers are reversible, a claim that has since been widely echoed by trans advocates. The university’s gender clinic already offers hormones to minors, but new documents obtained by the DCNF reveal that the study, which was approved for a $600,000 grant in July, hypothesizes that “short-term” transgender treatments will have “lasting changes” on the brain, internal organs and behavior.

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Court Rules Alabama Can Enforce Ban on Transgender Medical Treatments for Minors

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit unanimously reversed a district court’s temporary halt to enforcement of an Alabama law that prohibits minors from obtaining puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transgender surgeries for treating gender dysphoria.

In Eknes-Tucker v. Marshall, the appeals court on Monday rejected the plaintiffs’ arguments, described in the opinion as “a group of transgender minors, their parents, and other concerned individuals” who challenged the constitutionality of Alabama’s Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act.

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American Academy of Pediatrics Reaffirms Support for Trans Activists’ ‘Gender-Affirming Care’

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reaffirmed its support Thursday for providing children with transgender hormones and surgeries – so-called “gender-affirming care” – at the same time it announced a review of medical research on the life-altering treatments.

The medical organization reaffirmed its 2018 position on the provision of the hormone drugs and surgeries to young people who say they are uncomfortable with their biological sex.

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Detransitioner Chloe Cole Tells Congress ‘My Childhood Was Ruined’ by ‘Gender-Affirming Care’

Chloe Cole

Detransitioner Chloe Cole appeared before a House subcommittee Thursday, testifying that transgender hormone drugs and surgeries “ruined” her childhood and left her with “lifelong irreversible harm.”

Cole, 19, who now serves as a senior fellow and patient advocate for Do No Harm, an organization that seeks to “protect patients, physicians, and healthcare itself from the practice of medicine based on discriminatory, divisive ideologies,” testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance at the hearing titled “The Dangers and Due Process Violations of ‘Gender-Affirming Care.’”

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Louisiana Legislature Votes to Override Governor’s Veto of Bill Protecting Minors from Transgender Drugs and Surgeries

The Republican-led Louisiana House and Senate voted Tuesday to override Gov. John Bel Edwards’ (D) veto of a bill that would prohibit minors with gender dysphoria from obtaining life-altering transgender hormone drugs and surgeries.

The “historic” vote is only the third time a veto session ended in a single day with Republican lawmakers striking down Edwards’ veto on just one bill, Nola reported.

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Louisiana Governor Vetoes Bill Protecting Minors from Transgender Hormone Drugs and Surgeries

Gov. John Bel Edwards (D-LA) has vetoed the Stop Harming Our Kids Act, legislation that would have protected children and teens from transgender hormone drugs and surgeries, claiming “there was never any evidence or testimony” that gender transition surgeries on minors have been occurring in Louisiana.

In a six-page letter, dated June 29, to Louisiana House Speaker Clay Schexnayder (R-Ascension), Edwards wrote HB 648 is “punitive,“ discriminatory,” “part of a targeted assault on children,” and “denies healthcare to a very small, unique, and vulnerable group of children.”

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‘Gender-Affirming’ Pediatricians Help Kill Maine Bill to Prohibit Children’s Social Transition at School Without Parental Consent

With the help of pediatricians from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Democrats in the Maine House and Senate killed a bill Friday that would have prohibited public school staff from helping children to socially transition to another gender by allowing them to use new names and pronouns without written consent from parents.

LD 678 was defeated by house Democrats by a vote of 76-52, and by senate Democrats, 20-12.

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Biden Administration Backs Down from Forcing Religious Hospitals to Perform Gender Transition Procedures

The Biden administration declined to appeal a federal court ruling that blocks the government from forcing religious doctors and faith-based hospitals to perform gender-transition procedures against their conscience and professional medical judgment. The administration’s decision not to appeal the federal court ruling in Sisters of Mercy v. Becerra to the U.S. Supreme Court by a June 20 deadline means its mandate will be laid to rest.

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Largest Catholic Health Network Hospitals Providing Puberty Blockers to Minors and Gender Transition Surgeries: Report

A watchdog organization dedicated to the defense of the Catholic Church released a report Sunday that claims the largest Catholic health system in the United States is “acting directly against Catholic moral teaching in direct defiance of its Catholic identity.”

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Biden Administration Launches New Policies to Keep LGBTQ Individuals ‘Safe’ and Ensure Children Are ‘Affirmed’ in Their Gender Identity

The Biden administration announced new “actions” Thursday centered on ensuring LGBTQ individuals are protected from perceived “attacks on their rights and safety,” including state laws that protect children and teens from a predatory transgender medical industry.

The announcement of the “new actions,” the Biden administration said, is made “in celebration of Pride Month.”

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Missouri Governor Signs Bills Protecting Women’s Sports and Minors from Experimental Transgender Drugs and Surgeries

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) signed two bills Wednesday, one that blocks biological males from competing in women’s sports and another that protects minors from experimental transgender drug treatments and surgeries.

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Louisiana Senate Passes Bill Banning Transgender Drugs and Surgeries for Minors

The Louisiana State Senate passed a bill Monday that would ban puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender transition surgeries, such as double mastectomies and castrations, for minors. HB 648, which passed by a vote of 29-10, was resurrected in the state senate after State Senator Fred Mills (R-Acadiana), a former Democrat and a pharmacy owner backed by the pharmaceutical industry, killed the measure in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee.

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Louisiana Republican State Senator Joins Democrats to Kill Bill to Protect Minors from Gender Transition Hormone Drugs and Surgeries

Louisiana State Sen. Fred Mills (R-Acadiana), a former Democrat and a pharmacy owner backed by the pharmaceutical industry, joined with Democrats of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee to kill a bill, already passed by the state House, that would have protected minors from life-altering gender transition procedures.

HB648, a bill that would “prohibit certain procedures to alter the sex of a minor child,” including providing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries such as elective double mastectomies and castrations, was killed in committee, by a vote of 5-4, with Mills, the GOP chair of the committee, breaking the tie to side with the Democrats.

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Children’s Hospital Recommends Costly ‘Fertility Preservation’ for Kids Undergoing Gender Transitions

Seattle Children’s Hospital promotes expensive fertility preservation methods for children undergoing cross-sex treatments at its facilities, according to documents reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, which Seattle Children’s offers to children as young as 13 and a half years old, can severely and permanently limit patients’ fertility, a fact the institution admits in multiple documents. The hospital offers and promotes fertility preservation options, including for prepubescent children, according to its website, which can cost well over $10,000.

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Nearly a Third of Patients on ‘Gender Affirming’ Hormones Stop Taking Them, Military Study Finds

Republican-led legislatures and governors seeking to put the brakes on puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgical removal of healthy breasts and genitals for gender-confused minors have a new weapon from the U.S. military.

Nearly a third of “transgender and gender-diverse” patients who received so-called gender-affirming hormones had stopped taking them within four years, according to a study of children and spouses of soldiers who received treatment through the U.S. Military Healthcare System.

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Maryland Democrat Governor Signs Bills Enshrining Abortion and Protecting Transgender Drug and Surgical Treatments for Minors

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) signed bills Wednesday that would enshrine abortion rights in state law and protect transgender medical treatments for minors, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transgender surgeries.

Moore said in a statement the new laws have “further strengthened our leave no one behind vision by protecting individual freedoms,” especially “solidifying reproductive rights,” and “expanding access to healthcare.” 

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Vivek Ramaswamy Schools Chuck Todd Over His Claim Gender Is ‘a Spectrum’

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy instructed NBC’s Meet the Press host Chuck Todd in basic biological principles and the moderator’s claim that gender is “a spectrum.” “Under the age of 18, I think it’s perfectly legitimate to say that we won’t allow genital mutilation or chemical castration through puberty blockers,” Ramaswamy asserted to Todd on Sunday.

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Top Swedish Doctors Determine Transgender Puberty Blockers ‘Experimental’ While U.S. Gender Clinics Push Ahead

With the urging of the Biden administration, gender clinics in the United States appear to be pushing ahead with aggressive medical interventions for gender-confused young people even as top Swedish doctors who reviewed the use of puberty blockers for children now say the drugs should only be called “experimental.” 

Doctors at the Karolinska Institute, one of Europe’s top medical schools, released a systematic review of the literature regarding the provision of puberty blockers to children, the report for which was published April 17 at Acta Paediatrica.

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Majority of Americans Oppose Male Athletes Competing in Female Sports, Puberty Blockers for Minors: Poll

A majority of Americans oppose male athletes competing in female sports and giving puberty blockers to children, a new YouGov survey revealed.

The survey, sponsored by The Economist, polled 1,500 Americans on a variety of public policy issues, including several transgenderism topics. The questions polled respondents on their opinions of transgender athletes competing on sports teams, permitting minors to access puberty blockers, parental rights and drag shows.

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Huge Proportion of ‘Trans’ Adults Haven’t Medically Transitioned, Survey Finds

A recent Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation survey purporting to find that transitioning made life more satisfying for transgender adults additionally found that a huge proportion of sampled transgender people had not undergone any form of medical transition.

Most — not all — of the transgender participants had socially transitioned, but fewer than one third had ever undergone puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones, and only one in six had undergone any type of surgery to present as the opposite sex, according to the survey. Additionally, the survey’s definition of transgender included many individuals who didn’t identify as either gender, and most transgender respondents didn’t consistently present as the opposite sex, the survey found.

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Detransitioned Teen to Sue Doctors Over Puberty Blockers, Double Mastectomy

A detransitioned 18-year-old girl has filed a letter of intent to sue a healthcare company and the doctors who gave her puberty-blockers, at age 12, and then removed her breasts a year later.

Layla Jane claims Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, the Permanente Medical Group, and the doctors who treated her rushed her into transgender medical treatments without proper informed consent.

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Rachel Levine Promises Idea of Transgender Children Will Soon Be Normalized, Has ‘Highest Support’ of Biden Administration

Transgender Assistant Secretary for Health for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Rachel Levine recently praised the work of children’s hospitals, such as Connecticut Children’s Medical Center (CCMC) in Hartford, for their “gender-affirming care” clinics that provide children and teens with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transgender surgeries, such as elective double mastectomies.

Levine (born Richard Levine) told a very welcoming audience at CCMC’s Pediatric Grand Rounds in February that “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex Americans, especially our youth … need our attention because they’re being attacked and … are attempting suicide at an alarming rate.”

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Gov. Glenn Youngkin: ‘I Don’t Think Biological Boys Should Be Playing Sports with Biological Girls’

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) delivered a straightforward response to a 17-year-old girl identifying as a boy who asked the governor about school restrooms and sports policies that place biological sex above gender identity.

During a CNN Townhall, Nico, a 17-year-old girl who identifies as a boy, asked Youngkin about his school policies requiring students to use the bathrooms and play on the athletic teams consistent with their biological sex.

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FDA Sued for Withholding Information About Children’s Use of Hormone Treatments

On Monday, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was sued for allegedly withholding records detailing the off-label use of hormone treatments, such as puberty blockers, by underaged children.

Fox News reports that the lawsuit was filed by Stephen Miller’s America First Legal (AFL) group, which had previously made a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request back in September regarding the use of such hormone drugs on children under the Biden Administration. After the FDA refused to respond to the request, AFL filed their lawsuit.

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South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem Signs Bill Banning Transgender Hormones, Surgeries for Minors

Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) signed legislation Monday that protects minor children and teens from experimental puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and mutilating irreversible surgeries for the treatment of gender confusion.

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‘Trans Lives Matter’ Activists Occupy Oklahoma Capitol Building to Protest Protecting Minor Children from Life-Altering Transgender Drugs and Surgeries

Transgender rights activists occupied the Oklahoma Capitol building Monday to protest Republican-led proposed legislation that would protect minor children and teens from life-altering hormone drugs and surgeries, the consequences of which they may not fully comprehend until they are adults. The protesters, many from LGBTQ activist groups Oklahomans for Equality and Freedom Oklahoma, descended upon the Capitol building and into the rotunda, where they proceeded to chant loudly.

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Taxpayer-Funded Study Concluding Teens on Puberty Blockers, Cross-Sex Hormones Have Improved Mental Health Draws Fire

A taxpayer-funded National Institutes of Health (NIH) study that drew the conclusion that teens who receive puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones have greater life satisfaction has come under fire. The study, published at the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), states researchers from the Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago sought to investigate the psychosocial functioning of 315 transgender and nonbinary young people, aged 12-20 years, over a period of two years after “gender-affirming hormones” (GAH), i.e., testosterone or estradiol, had been administered for gender dysphoria.

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‘Extreme’ Gender Ideology Pushes U.S. to Provide Children Greater Access to Transgender Treatment than in Europe

The prevalence of radical gender ideology in the United States has driven the nation to offer children greater access to transgender medical interventions than is available in Europe, a study by Do No Harm has found.

Compared to the United States, “Europe goes a safer and more scientific route,” states Do No Harm, a diverse group of physicians, healthcare professionals, patients, and policymakers seeking to “protect healthcare from a radical, divisive, and discriminatory ideology.”

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Biden’s Trans-Identifying Top Health Official: ‘I Have No Regrets’ About Lengthy Transition Because ‘I Can’t Imagine a Life Without My Children’

A Biden administration top health official who identifies as transgender and has encouraged parents and doctors to use puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to immediately “affirm” a child’s preferred “gender identity,” said during a public event he has “no regrets” that his “transition” took over ten years because he “can’t imagine a life without my children.”

As a headline at The Washington Stand noted, Dr. Rachel (born Richard) Levine appears to have admitted that “gender transition procedures can cause sterility.”

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Puberty Blocker, Cross-Sex Hormone Prescriptions Double in America’s Children Since 2017

Health insurance claims data for treatment of gender dysphoria in children aged 6-17 years shows puberty blocker prescriptions have doubled since 2017, and claims for cross-sex hormones also doubled up until 2021.

According to data compiled by Komodo Health Inc for Reuters in October, in 2021, 42,167 children and teens between the ages of 6 and 17 were diagnosed with gender dysphoria, three times the number in 2017.

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‘American Girl’ Doll Book Recommends Girls Take Puberty Blockers While Considering Their Gender Identity

Parents are ripping a recently published “American Girl” “body image” book that contains a section called “Gender Joy,” in which young girls are urged to ask their doctors for puberty blockers in order to gain more time to weigh their gender identity.

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Growing Body of Evidence Disputes Claims That Puberty Blockers Are Safe, Reversible

Puberty blockers are widely touted by doctors and transgender activists as a safe and fully reversible way to pause puberty for children with gender identity issues, but a growing body of evidence is challenging those claims, according to The New York Times.

The drug prevents the surge in bone density that would normally occur during puberty, and patients can see lifelong bone issues that are never resolved, according to the Monday NYT article. Medical professionals are also challenging claims that the drug is reversible, arguing instead that blocking puberty permanently cements a child’s transgender identity and puts them on a path to lifelong biomedical intervention.

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Poll: Large Majority of American Voters Say They Will Not Vote for Candidates Supporting Gender Transition Procedures for Minors

A poll published Thursday found 72.7 percent of American voters say they are not likely to vote for candidates running in the midterm elections who support gender transition procedures, such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries, for minors.

The survey, sponsored by Convention of States Action and conducted by The Trafalgar Group, found 63.3 percent of 1,080 likely general election voters say they are not likely to vote for a candidate who supports gender transition medical procedures for minors, and 9.4 percent say somewhat less likely – a total of 72.7 percent who say they are not likely to vote for candidates with those views.

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Commentary: The War over ‘Transgender’ Kids

America is in the throes of a cultural and political war over gender ideology, featuring high-profile conflicts over everything from school curricula to athletics to pronouns.  

But among the most explosive battles unfolding within the broader war is that over transgender children. In an inhospitable election year for the left, Democrats, far from being on the back foot, have pushed ahead on this front, including this fall in California, New York, and Virginia with moves to curb parental rights. 

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Poll: Majority of American Voters Believe Transgender Movement Has Gone Too Far by Encouraging Children to Change Their Gender

A new poll finds 75 percent of likely American voters believe the transgender movement has gone too far by encouraging underage minors to use drugs and surgery to transition to the opposite sex.

The survey, sponsored by Colorado-based Summit Ministries, which embraces a Christian worldview, in partnership with national polling firm McLaughlin & Associates, also finds 69 percent of voters, who have an opinion on the issue, believe the rise in transgenderism among teens is the result of influence to question their gender by social media and other cultural forces.

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Poll: Nearly 80 Percent of Voters Oppose Transgender Hormones and Surgeries in Minors

A Trafalgar Group poll released Friday found 78.7 percent of likely voters oppose transgender treatments, such as puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, as well as sex-change surgeries for minors.

The poll, conducted in partnership with Convention of States Action from October 8-11, surveyed 1,079 likely 2022 election voters.

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Michigan’s Prop 3 Allows Children to Obtain Trans Hormones and Surgeries Without Parental Consent

Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer and her allies at Planned Parenthood have been marketing Michigan’s Proposal (Prop) 3 as an abortion amendment that would codify Roe v. Wade, but the measure would also allow children to obtain “gender affirming” hormones and surgeries without parental consent under the banner of “reproductive care.”

“Michigan is hiding a children’s constitutional right to genital amputation in its abortion amendment,” Margot Cleveland, senior legal correspondent at the Federalist, warned Wednesday.

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State Department Pushes Gender Transition Treatment for Diplomats and Their Children Abroad

The State Department released a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) Strategic Plan that says it is seeking to “assess resources for gender dysphoria and gender transition care at posts for employees and their dependents,” a move that suggests the department may be looking to taxpayer-funding to expand such treatments.

The Biden administration has mandated all federal agencies to have a plan to implement policies that reflect equity and inclusivity, with an emphasis on LGBTQ individuals, and some Republicans in Congress say such a policy for the gender dysphoric children of diplomats overseas would damage the credibility of the United States abroad.

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‘Gender Affirming’ Pediatric Clinic in Pennsylvania Removes Training Materials After Scrutiny

Hospitals that offer “gender affirming” treatment to minors, from puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to surgery, are taking down evidence of their procedures and related materials in response to public scrutiny.

They have different strategies for explaining their actions, however, from refusing to acknowledge removals to citing “misinformation.” 

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Hospital That Promoted Disputed Puberty Blocker Study Tried to Hide Mistakes, Avoid Questions, Emails Show

The University of Washington (UW) and Seattle Children’s Hospital (SCH) conspired to cover their tracks after falsely claiming their study had found that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones improved mental health for transgender youths, according to emails obtained by Jason Rantz.

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World’s Youngest Trans Model Is Child of Two Trans Parents Who Plan His Gender Surgery at Age 16

The 10-year-old boy acclaimed as the world’s youngest trans model is the child of two transgender parents who say they plan to start him on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones before gender surgery at age 16.

“Noella” McMaher, who was “socially transitioned” at age 4, represented the Trans* Clothing Company brand during New York Fashion Week in February, but has now been signed on for continued modeling jobs until November, reported Metro UK.

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Wall Street Journal Op-Ed: American Academy of Pediatrics Continues Defense of Youth Transgender Treatments While Other Nations Reject Them

Pediatrician Dr. Julia Mason and Manhattan Institute fellow Leor Sapir warned in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that the leftwing media has championed a “deeply flawed” study published in the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) flagship journal, one that argues the surge in young people claiming to identify as transgender is not due to “social contagion,” a concept, therefore, that should not be cited by state legislatures to regulate puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transgender surgeries for youth.

The study, published in Pediatrics, was penned by child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Jack Turban, a controversial clinician-activist, who completed a fellowship at Stanford Medical Center and went on to specialize in helping gender dysphoric youth obtain puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transgender surgeries.

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Britain’s National Health Service to Shut Down Gender Clinic Pushing Puberty Blockers

Britain’s Tavistock & Portman National Health Service (NHS) Clinic is shutting down following a review that found the clinic, which has led the way in prescribing puberty blockers for young children claiming to be transgender, is not a “safe or viable long-term option.”

The north London clinic “has been accused of rushing teenagers into life-altering treatment on hormone-blocking drugs,” The Times of London reported Friday, opening the way for potential lawsuits by patients with claims of mistreatment.

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Biden Plan to Restore Obamacare’s Protection of Transgender Rights in Federal Healthcare Programs Poised to Stoke Religious Freedom Lawsuits

The Biden administration will once again sow its seeds of division by proposing a rule to “protect” those claiming “gender identity” discrimination in federal healthcare programs, a move that is expected to generate religious freedom disputes.

The Biden Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Monday its proposed rule will implement Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) to affirm that “protections against discrimination on the basis of sex, including sexual orientation and gender identity” are “consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Bostock v. Clayton County,” and to reiterate “protections from discrimination for seeking reproductive health care services.”

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