“This literally kills people,” said the woman who approached me at the Independence Day commemoration on the Amherst, NH village green. I was wearing signs promoting Abigail Shrier’s book “Irreversible Damage: The Trans Craze Seducing Our Daughters” when she interrupted a discussion I was having with two young men about the dangers of medicalizing gender-confused teens.
“You’re speaking to an expert,” said the woman, who introduced herself as Alisa Hurwitz, a local psychologist who specializes in treating trans children. “We know that gender-affirming therapy reduces the risk of suicide. Not giving them gender-affirming health care greatly increases the risk of suicide.”
Sound familiar? That’s the pitch that fanatical therapists have been giving moms and dads for years: “Would you rather have a dead daughter or a living son?” But is it true?
Yes, gender dysphoric children have a higher rate of suicide; so do children with eating disorders, but therapists don’t tell anorexic girls, “Yes, you’re fat. Here’s a referral for a gastric bypass surgery.”
Suicide is complicated, and rarely has just one cause. Moreover, two-thirds of those with gender dysphoria have other mental health disorders. Also concerning is that a disproportionate number of children with autism are identifying as trans.
Children with autism have more trouble making decisions because they often can’t see the big picture, and they’re also more susceptible to social media and on-line grooming because they tend to be more isolated than other kids and consequently spend more time alone on the internet.
Parents should also consider the irreversible harm caused by medicalizing children. Giving children puberty blockers can lead to low bone density, sterility, and stunted growth. Testosterone, given to gender-confused girls, causes the growth of permanent facial and body hair, a masculine voice, and vaginal atrophy.
And what if their children later change their minds about trying to live as the opposite sex? Gender experts claim detransitioning is “very rare,” but there are 36,000 members of the Detransition Subreddit page. You can read some of their stories here.
In spite of Dr. Hurwitz’s assertion that gender-affirming treatments saves lives, a claim repeated endlessly by the powerful LGBT lobby, there are no long-term peer reviewed studies that show that medicalizing gender dysphoric children saves lives.
Blackmailing parents with threats of suicide is a recruiting tool for the rainbow lobby and a sales pitch for the hundreds of pediatric gender clinics that have popped up like mushrooms all over the country to cash-in on the trans craze, including here in New Hampshire at Dartmouth Health in Manchester where Dr. Hurwitz works. No parent should be presented with such a simplistic, false dichotomy.
Dr. Hurwitz said she’d email me a link to the long-term studies that conclusively demonstrate that medicalizing gender dysphoric children saves lives. I have a feeling I’ll be waiting a long time.
