By Matt McGregor
A medical crusade devoted to the pharmaceutical and surgical alteration of children’s bodies is projected to become a $5 billion industry in the United States by 2030, according to a market research report by Grand View Research (pdf).
However, this lucrative commitment to the gender-affirming care model is not without dissent.
Though it may seem a majority are in lockstep with transitioning children, there remain physicians who continue to speak out, and their opposition is supported by a withdrawal from the model abroad after it’s been deduced to cause more harm than good.
Drs. Patrick Lappert and Stanley Goldfarb both spoke with The Epoch Times, addressing what is perpetuating the race to prescribe drugs and operate on adolescents and why America’s unquestioning embrace of gender ideology differs from European countries.
What’s driving the gender-affirming model, Lappert said, is the sale of an idea, repackaged and resold throughout the multiple channels of politics and academia to produce more teachers and followers who will then resell that idea to their students.
“It’s a very sexualized idea of what it means to be a human person,” Lappert said. “This is basically the retail-level sale of gender affirmation, which is happening in public schools right now, and a large number of the present crop of teachers are significantly bought into this.”
What the idea proposes is that childhood anxiety stems mostly from issues of sexual identity, and the solution is the medicalization of the child, Lappert said.
“When you are talking about the medicalization of a child beginning at the age of about 9 and treating them for the rest of their life, you’ve just created a massive income stream for a pharmaceutical company,” Lappert said.
The Cass Review
As the American medical community marches forward into trans ideologies, European countries like the United Kingdom have come to a stop.
Dr. Hilary Cass headed the Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People commissioned by the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, the results of which led to the NHS discontinuing the use of puberty blockers due to the “significant uncertainties surrounding the use of hormone treatments.”
According to Cass, she was initially called to only look at the published evidence on the drugs used on children with gender dysphoria.
“But it rapidly became apparent that there were much broader problems in the whole care of children from when they first questioned their gender right through to those who need medical treatment,” Cass said in her review.
Like in the United States, Cass admitted it’s a volatile issue on which everyone “has strongly held views.”
“The debate can get very toxic because of that,” Cass said. “People are actually afraid to talk openly, and we have to find a way to allow them to do so in a safe environment. Ultimately, we’ve got to find a way to put the animosity aside to come to a shared consensus and to find the best possible way forward for children and young people and their families.”
Gender Clinic Growing Exponentially
According to Lappert, because health care in Europe is centralized, it’s easier for researchers to gather and compare data to see how the gender programs have worked, whereas in the United States, there is the enterprise model, which involves many different medical providers that are intertwined with pharmaceutical companies, third-party insurance agencies, and hospital corporations, keeping their own private medical and financial records.
There are only a few gender clinics in each European country, but in the last two years, the number of gender clinics in the United States has increased from the mid-50s to about 100.
“That number is growing exponentially,” Lappert said.
Cass’s research drew from the only clinic in the UK: the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, which is scheduled to close in 2023 because of the review.
“What they discovered was there was no evidence of benefits, but very obvious evidence of harm,” Lappert said. “There was an immediate cessation of the treatment and they came out with guidance that essentially returns the British medical system to the historically proven model of family-centered therapeutic intervention that has been shown to be successful in resolving gender identity disorders over 92 percent of the time.”
America’s full-throttle attitude toward transitioning children is fueled by a well-funded political apparatus, Lappert said, which relies on political language instead of examining root causes and diagnoses.
Those who advocate for gender transitioning for children speak in political language, such as calling children who seek gender-affirming care “underserved minorities.”
“It’s clear they aren’t talking about medical truth or opinion,” Lappert said. “They are motivated by very different drives.”
‘The Literature Doesn’t Support This’
According to Goldfarb, board chair of Do No Harm (DNH)—an organization that spotlights unethical and discriminatory practices in medical institutions—the United States’ gender-affirming model fails to investigate underlying mental disorders behind the diagnoses of gender dysphoria because the trans ideology to which many medical societies have sworn allegiance have proclaimed it normal that a child could be born in the wrong body.
“I think there are several ideologues involved in this who haven’t evaluated the literature carefully who listen to these professional societies that have also failed to evaluate the literature adequately,” Goldfarb said.
As a result, Goldfarb said, the American medical community is “off to the races” to prescribe drugs and operate on children.
“And there isn’t much pushback, because if you speak out against it, you’re labeled a ‘transphobe,’” Goldfarb said.
Goldfarb emphasized an adult’s right to undergo whatever transgender medical treatment he or she wants to pursue. His organization focuses its efforts on the unethical practice of using transgender medical treatments on children.
Those who argue in favor of the treatments claim that children who don’t receive it will be at risk of suicide.
“The literature doesn’t support this,” Goldfarb said. “It’s higher than the normal child population, but no different than the children who have the psychological problems that these kids manifest. So, as it turns out, this just isn’t the case. It’s a canard that’s been foisted on parents and used as a lever to get them to agree to allow their kids to go down this path.”
Physicians use the claim to frighten the family into making fear-based decisions, Lappert said.
“Not only are the parents convinced they must affirm the child, but the claim is also always made in the presence of the child, leaving the child to fear for his own life if he doesn’t make the right choice,” Lappert said. “This is how children are brought into the industry every day.”
More detransitioners are emerging to talk about their experience seeking legal redress against these providers of affirmation care, Lappert said.
Detransitioners File Suit
Detransitioner Layla Jane, 18, is suing a hospital in California after it removed her breasts when she was 13 years old based on her claim that she was a boy.
According to the lawsuit, she also struggled with mental health disorders requiring psychotherapy, not gender transition treatment.
“Kayla is a biological female who suffered from a complex, multi-faceted array of mental health symptoms as a child and adolescent,” the lawsuit states.
When Jane was 11, she said she was exposed to transgender influencers online who led her to believe she was a boy.
Physicians put her on puberty blockers and testosterone when she was 12, then performed a double mastectomy within six months at the age of 13.
This occurred, the lawsuit states, after a physician determined in a single, 75-minute evaluation that she was transgender.
“Defendants did not question, elicit, or attempt to understand the psychological events that led Kayla to the mistaken belief that she was transgender, nor did they evaluate, appreciate, or treat her multi-faceted presentation of co-morbid symptoms,” the lawsuit states. “Instead, Defendants assumed that Kayla, a twelve-year-old emotionally troubled girl, knew best what she needed to improve her mental health and figuratively handed her the prescription pad.”
A similar lawsuit has been filed by Chloe Cole, whose breasts were removed when she was 15.
In addition, Richard Anumene filed a lawsuit based on the allegation that a California hospital ignored his psychological disorders and misdiagnosed him as gender dysphoric, resulting in a series of operations that have compounded his mental and physical health problems.
“The Defendants failed to address the mental health issues detected and diagnosed by Defendants and their own staff before ‘clearing’ plaintiff for surgery,” the lawsuit states. “Making no effort to address his multiple, serious psychiatric disorders, Defendants provided a very brief ‘consultation’ assuring plaintiff that excising his health organs and fabricating female appearing genitalia would resolve his mental distress.”
According to Lappert, there will be more of these cases.
“The number of bad outcomes is going to start to mount,” Lappert said. “You can’t do these things that are so perversely wrong to children and expect that these bad results are going to remain hidden for very long.”
