By Catholic League president Bill Donohue
There is no such person as a transgender—you
are either male or female—but there is such a thing as transgenderism: it is an
ideology that promotes the fiction that the sexes are interchangeable.
To win, proponents are bent on getting to
children, prompting little kids to question whether they are satisfied being a
boy or a girl. If they are in doubt, they should be advised to at least
consider making the switch.
There is no more rabid advocate of
transgenderism in America than the President of the United States. Indeed,
transgender mania has gripped the White House.
Within months, the Biden administration will
finalize changes to Obamacare that will make it easier for persons seeking to
transition to the opposite sex. The Department of Health and Human Services is
leading the way, treating gender identity as a status worthy of being covered
by laws against sex discrimination. Changes will also be made to healthcare
plans, so that sex-transition procedures can be covered.
This is a classic case of top-down politics.
There is no national outcry demanding that those who want to flip their sex
should be given the green light. If anything, there is a growing consensus that
we need to hit the pause button on this subject.
When White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki
recently said that "Gender affirming healthcare for transgender kids is
the best practice and potentially lifesaving," she offered no evidence to
support this outlandish claim. But she did make plain that gender-affirming
care meant a) social affirmation b) puberty blockers c) hormone therapy and d)
gender-affirming surgery.
This four-step approach is a sanitized way of
saying that the White House is committed to encouraging the sexually confused
to transition to the opposite sex, and that chemical castration and genital
mutilation will follow.
Psaki also warned lawmakers who work against
them that they have been "put on notice" not to mess with the
president. She specifically said the White House will go after states that
resist their agenda. She was supported by Health and Human Services Secretary
Xavier Becerra who said he wants taxpayers to pay for the drugs, incisions and
genital reconstructions.
The White House says that gender-affirming care
will help transgender adolescents who are suffering from mental health
problems, drugs and suicidal thoughts. They should first inquire why these
young people are so messed up in the first place and then seek to give them the
help they need. It is nonsense to argue that their problems are due to social
rejection—their maladies are a function of their mental state.
Dr. Paul McHugh is a noted psychiatrist who has
studied this issue as well as anyone. The Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry
at Johns Hopkins Hospital maintains that transgender people suffer from a
"mental disorder" and that "the idea of sex misalignment is
simply mistaken—it does not correspond with physical reality."
Undeterred, the Biden administration cites a
Trevor Project survey to support its conclusion, never mentioning that two of
organization's donors, AbbVie and Allergan, make drugs and medical products
that facilitate sex transitions.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis apparently was
not "put on notice," or he is simply recalcitrant. His Department of
Health has issued its own guidelines on this subject. It declared that because
the evidence is inconclusive regarding sex-transition procedures, and could, in
fact have "long-term, irreversible effects," the best way forward is
to recommend against treating children and adolescents at this time.
To back up its stance, the Florida agency cited
evidence that 80% of those seeking to transition lose their desire to do so
over time. It also cited the serious health effects of making the change. There
is good reason to support this position.
We could learn a thing or two from the
Europeans; they have a richer history of dealing with those who are in
rebellion against their nature.
The Amsterdam University Medical Center
surveyed 4,600 transgender men and women between 1972 and 2018. It found that
transgender medical treatment shortened the lifespan of patients by 50%. This
is an astounding finding, one that should make everyone reconsider the
conventional wisdom on this subject.
After allowing cross-sex hormone treatment in
children for 22 years, Sweden slammed on the brakes and made the practice
illegal. Its health officials said these procedures are "potentially
fraught with extensive and irreversible adverse consequences such as
cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, infertility, increased cancer risk, and
thrombosis." Denmark and France did the same thing.
It must also be said that the psychological
problems these people have are every bit as serious as their physical
condition.
We look back today at controversial medical
treatments that have proven to be a disaster and wonder why we went down this
road. Some day we will do the same with regard to sex-transition treatments,
but by that time the psychological and physiological damage will have been
done, thanks in large part to our "devout Catholic" president.
There is a reason why Pope Francis calls gender
ideology "demonic." This mania has got to stop.
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