I live in Washington. I have a trans-identified child. I do not endorse gender-affirming medical care.
Every single medical doctor and mental health provider I have encountered in Washington has not just affirmed my child's chosen gender identity but pushed us/bullied me to either go to Seattle Children's gender clinic or put my under-18-year-old child on cross-sex hormones.
When my child first told me they were trans, I was blindsided and completely clueless about what that meant. When I called the gender clinic at Children's hospital, seeking guidance and/or a referral to a psychologist who could help us all explore/understand what was happening, the intake person told me that the gender clinic offers no psychological services, only medical interventions and that they could refer me to a mental health provider to write a letter so that I could bring my child in for cross-sex hormones. I called about 5 of the mental health providers on Children's referral list, and each one did indeed subscribe to the affirming model. One went so far as to tell me that conversion therapy is illegal when I said I did not think we were ready for hormones, that we were just trying to understand what was happening.
One mental health professional told my child that her job, as my child's counselor, was to catch me up and educate me because I did not know any better - this was at our introductory meeting. This same counselor wrote a letter to my child's school to "educate" them on how to treat trans-identified children, complete with referrals to the Trevor Project and a person who could come into the school and provide training to the staff and teachers.
A pediatrician offered my child cross-sex hormones after knowing my child for 10 minutes. Another one repeatedly pushed me to take my child to the Seattle Children's gender clinic, also after knowing my child for 10 minutes.
An orthopedic surgeon identified my child as the opposite sex in the operation notes based on my child's chosen name and pronouns.
My child used the opposite sex locker room at school and competed against the opposite sex in a full-contact team sport without my knowledge. The school district's policy states that parents should not be informed of a child's gender or pronouns unless the child consents.
One of our state legislators has a trans-identified child, and that legislator is behind every single bill that denies parents' rights and pushes for gender affirming care.
The entire system is sick and stacked against those who do not endorse gender affirming care. If I could leave Washington, I would.
Hello Burnie, I'm in WA too, and part of a network of people fighting the madness. Perhaps you're using a pseudonym and we already know each other, but in any case, see my substack caroldansereau.substack.com And please DM me there. Would love to connect.
Too bad that you live in an illiberal state where lies are rampant. It’s the worst medical scandal ever, and all those doctors profiting off this are guilty of malpractice.
"One mom refers to her 11-year old as her “spiritual leader.” Another notes that a gender doctor meeting with her 8-year old “wanted to make sure to let our daughter steer the ship in decision-making.”
These people seem afraid of their responsibility and authority as parents and instead cede it to "experts," which is rarely good policy, but never when those "experts" are gender docs. Handy that those docs -- playing the suicide card -- further alleviate parental responsibility to make sane, protective choices for children by telling these parents they really have none if they want a living child.
As is widely known, most of these kids have co-morbidities -- autism, ADHD, depression, OCD and others -- and a significant number are experiencing the dissonance and distress of realizing they are gay (and perhaps being bullied for it). Rather than striving to resolve these mental health concerns and build their kids' resilience as they go through natural puberty, these parents accept -- perhaps even embrace -- relief from those responsibilities through a dubious diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
One can and should have compassion for families caught up in this madness, which must be agonizing. Yet that does not erase parental responsibility to protect and guide minor children. It seems as if the parents in these affidavits needed a hefty dose of Abigail Shrier -- and another of common sense, and another of moral courage -- before they yielded their children to this cult.
Thanks Glenna, for another illuminating post. I admire your resilience in staying sane when routinely doing deep dives into madness.
Nice reading of these culty parent comments. How can anyone see a family—let alone TWO families of THREE trans kids & not think something is rotten? Sheesh.
- I wonder how many op-eds have been rejected for not offering anything new IN FAVOR of GAC?
- I did a little back of the envelope math on the odds of three kids in a single family being "true" (whatever that means) transgender, assuming a .6% prevalence I found referenced online. If I did my math right that comes out to about..... 1 in 5 million. 1 in 5 million should account for about two households of five people or more in the US. What a remarkable coincidence that that are two such households in Washington State alone.
- That state investigation into the AAP seems to have disappeared into the ether. Would love to hear an update from a legal perspective at some point about what to expect from that in terms of timeline and outcome.
At CEC2 meetings in NYC, trans activists carry many signs, but the one that struck me the most was "Trans Kids Are Magic." The parents who supplied these 38 affidavits must subscribe to that notion.
Only a magical 6-year-old can "know" that he or she must be referred to and treated as the opposite sex (or as "non-binary," whatever that actually means in terms of treatment), and must ultimately be chemically and/or surgically altered to appear the opposite sex to have any semblance of happiness. Only a magical 8-year-old child can be in charge of decisions surrounding extreme cosmetic alterations to their body that will have severe and permanent consequences to not just their appearance, but also their health and the functionality of their body (just one example of which is, as you mention, incontinence, which happens in more than half of all "FTM" on testosterone for 5 years, and to a large percentage of "FTM" and "MFT" who surgically alter their genitalia).
And is that one parent seriously arguing that her child shouldn't be "forced" to become a man, as if natural puberty is some horrible fate worse than death!?
I would like to know if Washington State will fund hospitals and special clinics to treat those who have been probed by aliens, and specifically to do exploratory surgery to find the implants from those aliens, once we provide 38 affidavits from those who have had this happen to them. After all, we have to listen to their "lived experience," no matter how insane it may appear. Right?
It is likely that none of these kids are trans. It is equally likely that most of them are dealing with a mental disorder of some sort that has manifested itself in the form of the trans identity. They've been encouraged in their mental illness by parents, health care professionals and educators, among others, who also peddle the myth that kids can be born with the brain or in the body of a person of the opposite sex. I do not know how this ends. I fear that Trump's effort to defeat gender ideology by means of executive orders will backfire.
It is actually guaranteed that none of these kids are "trans." There is no such thing as a "trans kid." There are adults who have chosen to socially and/or medically transition to live "as if" they are the opposite sex who we can call "trans." There are children who have been encouraged to think they must socially and/or medically transition to have any semblance of happiness, but I would not call them "trans kids." I would call those kids victims of a lie.
Not all of the kids who think they must transition to be happy have mental health issues. Some of the young ones were simply lied to by the adults around them. (For example, I don't think Jazz Jennings had any mental health issues. He was just an effeminate male who could have grown up as a healthy, happy man - likely, but not guaranteed to be, gay. Any mental health issues Jennings has now came at least a year after he started taking puberty blockers.) Most of the older kids who did not get this idea from their parents do have co-morbidities of some kind, although they are also victim of societal lies. They tend to be vulnerable in some way that makes the lies more appealing to them.
I agree that the EO's may, unfortunately, back-fire as trans activists and allies dig in their heels.
Thank you! Is there a way to put your Twitter threads into threaderapp? Most people I would share with are not on twitter, nor am I. We cannot follow threads, twitter only provides the first posting.
It seems like the most recent lawsuits are relying more and more heavily on "nonbinary" children. Aside from how disturbing it is that parents are trying to medicalize this, is it reflecting a shift in the demographics of the identities parents and doctors are trying to medicalize? And isn't putting nonbinary kids in these lawsuits a really risky legal move since trying to justify medicalizing these kids is an even weaker claim. There's not even an agreed on definition of "nonbinary" and the most common definitions are internally inconsistent and self-contradictory. Why are lawyers choosing so many of these kids to challenge the EOs and state bans when they are on the shakiest ground of all?
In a well ordered world, the parents who have drunk the gender ideology Koolaid would be summoned to a hearing to have their fitness as custodial parents evaluated. In this well ordered world, the experts called to testify would not be captives of gender ideology and would have the knowledge, experience and objectivity to determine whether remaining with the parent would be in the child's best interest. Ideally, the new guardian would try to find the best outcome for the child, including detransitioning.
Glad to have found your site after your appearance on Stephanie Winn's recent YouTube. In my life I've had a lot of my own urgent concerns and interests -- didn't get clued to gender ideology nonsense until relatively recently -- Kathleen Stock & Helen Joyce's books (also, e.g.: Carole Hooven; Emma Hilton; Lisa Littman) and online presence brought me up to speed. I do like H. Joyces's term: sex realist (cf. gender critical).
As an elder (is 75 elder?) proud realist liberal Democrat and a scientist, I feel blindsided and betrayed by the position of the Democratic Party and my state (OR) on this matter. Once one learns about the history and science of the trans-sexual issues and gender ideology -- how could any reasonable person support the practices and policies around "youth gender medicine", not to mention the gross intrusions upon girls' & women's rights to fair sport, privacy, and safety?
"Suing the president is exciting for state AGs. But their bread and butter is consumer protection. If AG Brown gets back to basics, he might realize he has a big case on his hands – and it’s not against Trump." It's fascinating to me: what shift or psychological process does it take to see the true harm? Who will be able to arrive at awareness, and who will cling to "gender-affirming care?" Just crazy times. Thanks for your work on this.
Whew! A post with just these parental comments would be chilling enough but a lawsuit is designed to do what? Apparently there is a new study in the American Journal of Sexuality whose results claim that depression and other psychological problems increase after transition. I don't know how legit this Journal is but that plus Cass plus WPATH should get some people thinking. How many of these parents have Munchausen's?
I live in Washington. I have a trans-identified child. I do not endorse gender-affirming medical care.
Every single medical doctor and mental health provider I have encountered in Washington has not just affirmed my child's chosen gender identity but pushed us/bullied me to either go to Seattle Children's gender clinic or put my under-18-year-old child on cross-sex hormones.
When my child first told me they were trans, I was blindsided and completely clueless about what that meant. When I called the gender clinic at Children's hospital, seeking guidance and/or a referral to a psychologist who could help us all explore/understand what was happening, the intake person told me that the gender clinic offers no psychological services, only medical interventions and that they could refer me to a mental health provider to write a letter so that I could bring my child in for cross-sex hormones. I called about 5 of the mental health providers on Children's referral list, and each one did indeed subscribe to the affirming model. One went so far as to tell me that conversion therapy is illegal when I said I did not think we were ready for hormones, that we were just trying to understand what was happening.
One mental health professional told my child that her job, as my child's counselor, was to catch me up and educate me because I did not know any better - this was at our introductory meeting. This same counselor wrote a letter to my child's school to "educate" them on how to treat trans-identified children, complete with referrals to the Trevor Project and a person who could come into the school and provide training to the staff and teachers.
A pediatrician offered my child cross-sex hormones after knowing my child for 10 minutes. Another one repeatedly pushed me to take my child to the Seattle Children's gender clinic, also after knowing my child for 10 minutes.
An orthopedic surgeon identified my child as the opposite sex in the operation notes based on my child's chosen name and pronouns.
My child used the opposite sex locker room at school and competed against the opposite sex in a full-contact team sport without my knowledge. The school district's policy states that parents should not be informed of a child's gender or pronouns unless the child consents.
One of our state legislators has a trans-identified child, and that legislator is behind every single bill that denies parents' rights and pushes for gender affirming care.
The entire system is sick and stacked against those who do not endorse gender affirming care. If I could leave Washington, I would.
Hello Burnie, I'm in WA too, and part of a network of people fighting the madness. Perhaps you're using a pseudonym and we already know each other, but in any case, see my substack caroldansereau.substack.com And please DM me there. Would love to connect.
If you feel alone, you can join this group of anonymous parents for support: https://gendercriticalresources.com/Support/index.php
I am in WA State and have been speaking about these issues since 2015.
https://thehomoarchy.substack.com/p/letter-sent-to-seattle-pride-highlighting
Too bad that you live in an illiberal state where lies are rampant. It’s the worst medical scandal ever, and all those doctors profiting off this are guilty of malpractice.
"One mom refers to her 11-year old as her “spiritual leader.” Another notes that a gender doctor meeting with her 8-year old “wanted to make sure to let our daughter steer the ship in decision-making.”
These people seem afraid of their responsibility and authority as parents and instead cede it to "experts," which is rarely good policy, but never when those "experts" are gender docs. Handy that those docs -- playing the suicide card -- further alleviate parental responsibility to make sane, protective choices for children by telling these parents they really have none if they want a living child.
As is widely known, most of these kids have co-morbidities -- autism, ADHD, depression, OCD and others -- and a significant number are experiencing the dissonance and distress of realizing they are gay (and perhaps being bullied for it). Rather than striving to resolve these mental health concerns and build their kids' resilience as they go through natural puberty, these parents accept -- perhaps even embrace -- relief from those responsibilities through a dubious diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
One can and should have compassion for families caught up in this madness, which must be agonizing. Yet that does not erase parental responsibility to protect and guide minor children. It seems as if the parents in these affidavits needed a hefty dose of Abigail Shrier -- and another of common sense, and another of moral courage -- before they yielded their children to this cult.
Thanks Glenna, for another illuminating post. I admire your resilience in staying sane when routinely doing deep dives into madness.
Nice reading of these culty parent comments. How can anyone see a family—let alone TWO families of THREE trans kids & not think something is rotten? Sheesh.
- I wonder how many op-eds have been rejected for not offering anything new IN FAVOR of GAC?
- I did a little back of the envelope math on the odds of three kids in a single family being "true" (whatever that means) transgender, assuming a .6% prevalence I found referenced online. If I did my math right that comes out to about..... 1 in 5 million. 1 in 5 million should account for about two households of five people or more in the US. What a remarkable coincidence that that are two such households in Washington State alone.
- That state investigation into the AAP seems to have disappeared into the ether. Would love to hear an update from a legal perspective at some point about what to expect from that in terms of timeline and outcome.
At CEC2 meetings in NYC, trans activists carry many signs, but the one that struck me the most was "Trans Kids Are Magic." The parents who supplied these 38 affidavits must subscribe to that notion.
Only a magical 6-year-old can "know" that he or she must be referred to and treated as the opposite sex (or as "non-binary," whatever that actually means in terms of treatment), and must ultimately be chemically and/or surgically altered to appear the opposite sex to have any semblance of happiness. Only a magical 8-year-old child can be in charge of decisions surrounding extreme cosmetic alterations to their body that will have severe and permanent consequences to not just their appearance, but also their health and the functionality of their body (just one example of which is, as you mention, incontinence, which happens in more than half of all "FTM" on testosterone for 5 years, and to a large percentage of "FTM" and "MFT" who surgically alter their genitalia).
And is that one parent seriously arguing that her child shouldn't be "forced" to become a man, as if natural puberty is some horrible fate worse than death!?
I would like to know if Washington State will fund hospitals and special clinics to treat those who have been probed by aliens, and specifically to do exploratory surgery to find the implants from those aliens, once we provide 38 affidavits from those who have had this happen to them. After all, we have to listen to their "lived experience," no matter how insane it may appear. Right?
It is likely that none of these kids are trans. It is equally likely that most of them are dealing with a mental disorder of some sort that has manifested itself in the form of the trans identity. They've been encouraged in their mental illness by parents, health care professionals and educators, among others, who also peddle the myth that kids can be born with the brain or in the body of a person of the opposite sex. I do not know how this ends. I fear that Trump's effort to defeat gender ideology by means of executive orders will backfire.
It is actually guaranteed that none of these kids are "trans." There is no such thing as a "trans kid." There are adults who have chosen to socially and/or medically transition to live "as if" they are the opposite sex who we can call "trans." There are children who have been encouraged to think they must socially and/or medically transition to have any semblance of happiness, but I would not call them "trans kids." I would call those kids victims of a lie.
Not all of the kids who think they must transition to be happy have mental health issues. Some of the young ones were simply lied to by the adults around them. (For example, I don't think Jazz Jennings had any mental health issues. He was just an effeminate male who could have grown up as a healthy, happy man - likely, but not guaranteed to be, gay. Any mental health issues Jennings has now came at least a year after he started taking puberty blockers.) Most of the older kids who did not get this idea from their parents do have co-morbidities of some kind, although they are also victim of societal lies. They tend to be vulnerable in some way that makes the lies more appealing to them.
I agree that the EO's may, unfortunately, back-fire as trans activists and allies dig in their heels.
I live in Washington state and really hope you’ll write a longer piece about this!
I'm in WA too, and part of a network of gender critics. Please DM via my substack caroldansereau.substack.com
Thank you! Is there a way to put your Twitter threads into threaderapp? Most people I would share with are not on twitter, nor am I. We cannot follow threads, twitter only provides the first posting.
It seems like the most recent lawsuits are relying more and more heavily on "nonbinary" children. Aside from how disturbing it is that parents are trying to medicalize this, is it reflecting a shift in the demographics of the identities parents and doctors are trying to medicalize? And isn't putting nonbinary kids in these lawsuits a really risky legal move since trying to justify medicalizing these kids is an even weaker claim. There's not even an agreed on definition of "nonbinary" and the most common definitions are internally inconsistent and self-contradictory. Why are lawyers choosing so many of these kids to challenge the EOs and state bans when they are on the shakiest ground of all?
In a well ordered world, the parents who have drunk the gender ideology Koolaid would be summoned to a hearing to have their fitness as custodial parents evaluated. In this well ordered world, the experts called to testify would not be captives of gender ideology and would have the knowledge, experience and objectivity to determine whether remaining with the parent would be in the child's best interest. Ideally, the new guardian would try to find the best outcome for the child, including detransitioning.
Glad to have found your site after your appearance on Stephanie Winn's recent YouTube. In my life I've had a lot of my own urgent concerns and interests -- didn't get clued to gender ideology nonsense until relatively recently -- Kathleen Stock & Helen Joyce's books (also, e.g.: Carole Hooven; Emma Hilton; Lisa Littman) and online presence brought me up to speed. I do like H. Joyces's term: sex realist (cf. gender critical).
As an elder (is 75 elder?) proud realist liberal Democrat and a scientist, I feel blindsided and betrayed by the position of the Democratic Party and my state (OR) on this matter. Once one learns about the history and science of the trans-sexual issues and gender ideology -- how could any reasonable person support the practices and policies around "youth gender medicine", not to mention the gross intrusions upon girls' & women's rights to fair sport, privacy, and safety?
"Suing the president is exciting for state AGs. But their bread and butter is consumer protection. If AG Brown gets back to basics, he might realize he has a big case on his hands – and it’s not against Trump." It's fascinating to me: what shift or psychological process does it take to see the true harm? Who will be able to arrive at awareness, and who will cling to "gender-affirming care?" Just crazy times. Thanks for your work on this.
I think I recently read that scientists will confirm the results of whatever you pay for
Basically, it’s all made up bullshit. And if insurances did not pay, there surely would not be the proliferation of all these “Gender Clinics”.
Not just gay. But big femme gay.
I am gay and was very effeminate as a child.
Whew! A post with just these parental comments would be chilling enough but a lawsuit is designed to do what? Apparently there is a new study in the American Journal of Sexuality whose results claim that depression and other psychological problems increase after transition. I don't know how legit this Journal is but that plus Cass plus WPATH should get some people thinking. How many of these parents have Munchausen's?