WPATH Rejects over 30 years of Renowned Medical Studies

Personal notes from a lecture by Quentin Van Meter MD, PCP, American College of Pediatricians

WPATH (World Professional Association of Transgender Health), which replaced the Harry Benjamin Society, has ignored and maligned long-term studies from Canada and Sweden and the U.S. They conducted their own, “very poor studies, using very small numbers of patients (as few as 5)”. These studies use participants gained from advertisements which create a “biased study group of self-selected patients based upon preferred outcomes”. They use “few or no control groups, and anecdotal reports”. Released studies are regurgitated and republished in multiple non-peer reviewed journals, “creating multiple references to the same marginally related studies that create a ballooned bibliography of multiple citations”, where they actually are only one study. “Poor science at best, they publish a “peer reviewed” journal” and lobby all major psychology groups to promote their findings. Their efforts have cost the renowned Toronto endocrinologist, Dr. Zucker his medical license and have succeeded to have his clinic shut down.

Dr. Kenneth J. Zucker “evaluated children and adolescents and provided counsel to them toward the goal of accepting their natal sex”. He proved that “80-98% of children and adolescents with “Gender Identity Disorder” (GID) revert to the identity of their natal sex (desist trans behavior) if allowed to go through puberty spontaneously with counseling: N: =560. (No patient was excluded from study.)” On the other hand, A study from Sweden revealed that “the suicide rate of adults who progressed into adulthood with affirming therapies (medical and surgical) had a 20-fold increase in suicides compared to the general population: N: =324. (No patient was excluded from study.)”

The attacks began with Norman Spack, a Boston endocrinologist who “coalesces a group of adult and pediatric endocrinologists into a working committee to establish treatment guidelines for the Endocrine Society (the academic professional society for endocrinologists in the U.S.” This committee “excludes anyone with a contrary opinion, most notably Kenneth Zucker and Paul McHugh, the world renowned endocrinologist from Johns Hopkins.”

White-Washed Endocrine Society Transgender Guidelines 2009

“In 2009, Endocrine Society published guidelines for treating patients with Gender Dysphoria; in a nutshell, these guidelines require that doctors:

• Do a psychological assessment

• Affirm and transition any child who states they are born in the body of the wrong sex

• Block puberty as it begins

• At age 16, consider cross-sex hormone therapy

• At age 18, if the patient desires, offer “corrective” surgery

Of the 22 Guidelines, only 3 are based on a moderate amount of scientific evidence — and those three are all concerning the need to monitor the known and theoretical side effects of the hormonal manipulation. The remaining guidelines were based on very little evidence, or absolutely no evidence whatsoever.” The guidelines were revised in 2017

The updated guidelines suggest “a more dangerous treatment plan, including burdening very young children with understanding the risks of hormone therapy and potential need to harvest eggs and sperm for future use. It increases the suggested age for all therapies, including mastectomies on underage girls.” “100% of the references to both Zucker and McHugh are removed, removing all doubt that the guidelines are not scientifically grounded, but merely social and psychological engineering at its worst.”

“These revised guidelines have now been republished by the American Pediatric Society, boasting of a membership of 66,000 pediatricians. It is noteworthy, however, that only 15 pediatricians belong to the executive committee, who were influenced by the small interest group from the Endocrine Society. Politics, not science; fiat, not intelligent discussion of facts.”

By Cathy Ruse, FRC's Senior Fellow for Legal Studies, January 12, 2018

“A Northern Virginia public school held a school-wide assembly before Christmas break featuring transgender crusader Amy Ellis Nutt. George Mason High School in the City of Falls Church brought in Nutt, a Washington Post reporter, to lecture students on her book Becoming Nicole, about a boy who "identified" as a girl as a toddler, had his puberty suppressed as a child, and was castrated as a teenager.

“Nutt's lecture hit all the usual notes. Your gender is "assigned at birth" by people who might get it wrong. Toddlers can be transgender. Moray eels change sex and female reef fish produce sperm when there are no males. "Gender is a spectrum," everyone must get "comfortable" with new gender language that is "changing every day." Asking a biological boy to use the teachers' rather than the girls' restroom is "bullying." The full assembly can be viewed on YouTube(1).

“Did the school make plain to the students that they could decline to attend? That's not clear. In her presentation, Nutt quipped: "Thank you for coming, although I know you're probably required to be here.” Nor is it clear whether parents were fully informed about the assembly in advance. At least one shocked George Mason teacher, who remains anonymous, says parents were not.

“What does seem clear is that this public school will not hold another school-wide assembly featuring other views on the issue: such as first-person accounts of the negative consequences of "transitioning," health warnings from pediatricians and other medical experts, or condemnation from the feminist community, from which the term "female erasure" has sprung to describe the transgender program.

“Transgender ideology in children is extremely controversial, not least because so many children who experience gender dysphoria later desist and accept their natal biology. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5) as many as 98% of boys and 88% of girls will "grow out of" their gender dysphoria and accept their biological sex after naturally passing through puberty.

“There is no medical or psychological test to show which 2% of those boys will persist in their gender dysphoria as young adults. Protocols that encourage school-wide affirmation of every case of gender dysphoria could impede the overwhelming majority of children from accepting their natal biology, as well as sow confusion in other vulnerable children.

“There has been a spate of articles in recent weeks on the phenomenon of "rapid onset" gender dysphoria in teen girls, thought to be a "social contagion" like anorexia 30 years ago. Details of these cases reported by therapists are heartbreaking.

At the end of the talk, Nutt was asked two student questions, written on index cards.

“"What is gender dysphoria and how does the transgender community respond to the idea that they are glorifying the mental health condition known as gender dysphoria? That was a good question, and evidence that at least one student at George Mason has held on to his critical thinking skills. Nutt's answer was not good: "Gender dysphoria is not a mental health condition," she said, continuing: It is included in the DSM, which is the bible of mental illnesses, of psychiatrists, but only because gender dysphoria isn't the inability or confusion of a transgender child to understand why they are the way they are, it's the failure for [sic] other people to understand that. It's the confusion that comes because of the cultural misconceptions and not being able to fit into that.

“So a person is diagnosed because other people are confused? It's in "the bible of mental illnesses" because it's a healthy condition that the culture doesn't understand? Now I am confused. The DSM defines gender dysphoria in children as "clinically significant distress" from "a marked incongruence between one's experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender" manifested by, among other things, "a strong dislike of one's sexual anatomy.” The ICD – the International Classification of Diseases – calls it a "childhood disorder" characterized by "persistent and intense distress." Diagnosis requires "a profound disturbance of the normal gender identity."

“If Nutt is trying to dismiss their distress as a cultural condition, she's freelancing. The final question was also a good one: "Did Nicole undergo reassignment surgery and if so was there any risk to it?” Nutt's answer was bad, and sort of creepy. "Yes. She was 17 at the time...I was there.” It was not the most important thing...but it was the last thing that she needed to do," said Nutt. What was important for her early on was to have her puberty suppressed as a child, so that she knew what she really wanted."

“Puberty-blockers are serious business. Puberty suppression and cross-sex hormones can stunt a person's growth and render him completely infertile, never able to have genetically-related children, even by artificial means. You cannot walk back up this road. What's more, there are no scientific studies on their use by growing children. None. Nutt's cavalier treatment of puberty blockers was awfully reckless.

“And isn't her logic backwards? How does blocking your natural development tell you what you really want? Isn't it, rather, tipping the scales toward an ideologically pre-determined outcome? Did Nicole even have the capacity to consent to this untested, irreversible medical treatment in the first place? "There is a serious ethical problem with allowing irreversible, life-changing procedures to be performed on minors who are too young to give valid consent themselves," cautions the American College of Pediatricians.

“Nutt went on: "When the time for puberty came, she took estrogen, and she made the puberty that all girls do at the right time.” Making the puberty that all girls do is strange phraseology. But of course this teen could not make the puberty that all girls do without ovaries and a uterus. Were the teen girls in the audience misled? Were the boys?

“As to risk, Nutt brushed it aside: "You know, there's always a risk to surgery, it's actually not that complicated. She will be, for all purposes, physically and biologically a girl. A woman.” Wrong. Biologically, Nicole will never be a girl. Every cell in Nicole's body contains male sex chromosomes. A lifetime of male-suppressing hormones will never change that fact.

“At one point in her lecture, Nutt said: "I'm not trying to be funny, I'm trying to be factual.” She should have tried harder. Children suffering from gender dysphoria deserve our compassion. Surely their suffering is genuine, and profound. But they also deserve an adult response: first and foremost, our recognition that the distress and confusion they are experiencing will give way to acceptance of their natal biology in the vast majority of cases.

“The person with persistent dysphoria who ultimately chooses radical surgery and a lifetime of hormones deserves compassion, too. As well as great sympathy, in my opinion, for treating a healthy body as sick and a troubled mind as healthy. Nutt obviously disagrees. There is great disagreement on this issue, especially among medical experts.

“When a public school takes sides, nobody wins. But students, and taxpayers, lose.”

(1) youtu.be/lE37XMl3gHE; The sponsor of the event was the Falls Church Education Foundation: fcedf.org/blog/fcef-gmhs-ptsa-present-amy-ellis-nutt

Tony Perkins' Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers. 26JAN18

What is an X-rated, gay sex columnist doing in a California elementary school? Ask the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. In a stunning move, officials at the Rancho Romero Elementary School made a "gender unicorn" bulletin board and peppered it with quotes from disgusting and disgraced LGBTQ activist Dan Savage. But if administrators thought no one would notice, they were wrong.

Parents flooded the school with complaints, so many Fox News's Todd Starnes explained, that administrators had no choice but to take the offensive statements down. "For him to be a role model for 4-year-olds to 11-year-olds is utterly disgusting," an anonymous parent told Todd Starnes Radio Show. Savage, whose "anti-bullying" videos were a favorite of President Obama's and Hollywood, turned out to be the biggest bully of all. When he had a platform, Savage used it to humiliate students and curse faith. At one high school assembly, his tirade was so vicious and vulgar that it reduced some girls to tears.

Apart from being offensive, Savage's message is also ineffective. Just last year, researchers like Professor Russell Toomey found that "Cognitive-based strategies, such as [Dan Savage's] 'It Gets Better' approach, were associated with poorer adjustment and less likelihood of high school attainment." In fact, he went on, "Our findings question the 'It Gets Better' narrative that's been given to LGBT youth. Asking youth to accept negative experiences as the only coping strategy potentially exacerbates stress."

Either way, as California parents told Todd, "He's not someone you want to put up at an elementary school." Of course, Savage and company aren't always so blatant about their agenda. One of the subtle ways they've been getting their message in front of little kids is with their "gender unicorn," one of the prominent features of Rancho Romero's display. "A unicorn -- an object loved by little children -- was used to lure them to the bulletin board," the parent said. "It felt like it was a creepy way to lure a child over to the board and confuse them about gender." Fortunately, moms and dads in the district were paying attention.

Maybe that's because they feel more empowered to do something about it. President Trump certainly hasn't been shy about calling the Left's absurdity what it is. And that may also be reflected in the latest surveys. For the first time in the last few years, Americans are starting to voice their concerns about the saturation of the LGBT agenda in schools, the medical profession, and public.

The Harris Poll sent shockwaves through the radical Left this week when it found that Americans were actually more uncomfortable with the in-your-face behavior of people who identify as gay or transgender than before. In other words, the acceptance for that agenda isn't actually growing, they fear, but regressing in a post-Obergefell world. People who said they were "somewhat" uncomfortable or uncomfortable grew in the following situations:

• Learning my child has a lesson on LGBTQ history in school (up to 37% from 34);

• Finding out that my child has an LGBTQ teacher (up to 31% from 28%);

• Learning a family member is LGBTQ (up to 30% from 27%);

• Seeing a co-workers same-sex wedding picture (up to 27% from 25%);

• Watching a same-sex couple hold hands (up to 31% from 29%).

Of course, the Left is pinning this setback on conservatives' growing intolerance. But it could also be that administration's like Donald Trump are giving Americans the courage to talk openly about their feelings and values again. Now that Christians don't have to fear the same government punishment that they did under Barack Obama, fewer probably feel the need to repress or self-censor their beliefs. That doesn't mean people are becoming more intolerant, but it may mean -- finally -- that America is move back toward being a culture that welcomes debate. If so, we may have the president to thank.

Tony Perkins' Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers. 06FEB18

Have you ever heard of "Social emotional learning" (SEL)? It's the new fad in public schools that has permeated education policy. Proponents of SEL claim that injecting the SEL agenda into all pre-k and K12 curricula will cultivate in children the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors necessary for academic achievement, such as empathy and regulation of emotions.

In an FRC Speaker Series event, Senior Contributor to The Federalist, Stella Morabito revealed how SEL is presented with a veneer of building kids' self-confidence, but in reality is a form of groupthink through the regulation of personal interactions and relationships. The SEL model is taught in a way that requires total compliance with its methods, including the monitoring and tracking of students' emotions. As Morabito pointed out, those pushing the SEL agenda have fallen into the trap of a collectivist utopianism that believes that if only the government were able to teach everyone the "right way" of thinking, everyone will be equally happy.

In reality, the SEL agenda enforces conformity, it invades privacy, and it undermines the influence of family and faith in a child's life. Instead of promoting strong relationships, as SEL proponents claim, the SEL agenda serves more to isolate children through a program of peer-modeled behavior modification that manipulates the human fear of being socially rejected. The SEL model makes almost no mention of the primary mediating institutions that form us as human beings: family, church, and civic institutions. Instead, it pushes conditioned emotional reflexes over open and honest discussion. The result of this misguided philosophy is readily apparent in how many in our society now behave -- in a mush of emotional sensitivities that are easily "triggered" whenever a contrary opinion is encountered.

How can we respond and fight against this "social emotional learning" movement? Morabito suggests that freethinkers should strengthen their support networks and spread awareness through outreach to those who are not informed on the dangers of SEL. As French philosopher and sociologist Jacques Ellul said, "Propaganda ends where simple dialogue begins."

from Rev. Pierre Bynum, FRC Prayer Team director, 14FEB18

My daughter, [name withheld], at age 14, spontaneously decided she is actually a male (suffering from a condition coined, "Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria"). Her decision came about shortly after being educated about LGBTQ issues in school. Her personality changed almost overnight, and she went from being a sweet, loving Christian girl to a foul-mouthed "pansexual male."

At first, I thought she was just going through a phase, due to her age, as well as transgender issues being all the rage. However, the more I tried to talk sense into her, the more she dug her heels in. I tried counseling, but counselors only reaffirmed her delusion that she is actually male, and told me that I needed to accept this.

Around this time, I came to realize that she fits the criteria for [an autism spectrum disorder]. Yet mental health professionals instead diagnosed her with [another condition] and wanted to put her on [potentially addictive medication]. I declined. They seemed to mainly only be interested in helping her process her new identity as a male and to get me to accept the fact that my daughter is actually my son.

At age 16, [my daughter] ran away and reported to the Department of Child Services that she felt unsafe living with me because I refused to refer to her using male pronouns, nor would I address her by her chosen male names [which did not stay the same]. Child Protective Services investigated and found no abuse or neglect on my part. In fact, they found she was well cared for.

However, DCS forced me to meet with a female-male transgender individual to educate me on transgender issues, and told me that I needed to acknowledge that my daughter is male. Shortly thereafter, without my consent, [my daughter] started injecting herself with testosterone (this was something I discovered at a later date).

[My daughter] took off from [our city] to [a city in another state]. There was nothing I could do to stop her. In [this other city], at the age of 17, without my consent or even knowledge, she was able to change her name/gender in court, obtain Medicaid, get a double mastectomy, and a radical hysterectomy.

Her father had and still has her covered under [private health insurance], yet when he notified the [other] State . . . with this information, they refused to accept the insurance information because he was not "on the case." I notified the governor's office in [the other state] and they also declined to take any action. Why does Medicaid cover elective surgeries, period, but especially for children? Why would a child covered under parent's insurance be able to obtain Medicaid?

The level of heartbreak and rage I am experiencing, as a mother, is indescribable.

[In some] states, an adult having sex with someone under age 18 is a crime... Yet, in [this other state], a child age 15 or older can consent to what amounts to mutilation, by so-called doctors, who are actually butchering children. Why does the law allow children to make life altering medical decisions [without parental knowledge or permission]?

If a group of terrorists was kidnapping our teenage daughters, cutting their breasts off, injecting them with testosterone, and removing all of their female organs, would there not be absolute OUTRAGE in society? As a society, we are outraged about female circumcision, so why is it that these butchers, disguised as doctors, who took an oath to first do no harm, are legally allowed mutilate our children?

I believe that when my daughter's brain fully develops, she will regret her decision to transition, which should never have even been an option. I did not lose a daughter and gain a son. Instead, my once beautiful, healthy daughter is now my mutilated daughter, who has been given a life sentence.

As a grieving mother, I cannot and will not remain silent about the atrocities committed against my daughter, by "professional" adults she trusted to help her. I will not stand by and remain silent while the United States Government funds and sanctions the transgender indoctrination and mutilation of our precious children. I cry out to good people everywhere to speak up, stand up, reach out, and fight back. The future of our children depends on it.

from Rev. Pierre Bynum, FRC Prayer Team director, 14FEB18

Just as FRC and others have long warned, if the nation raced to embrace same-sex marriage, it would place us on a collision course with religious liberty. Ultimately, we warned that this "right" invented by five members of the Supreme Court would be used as justification to demand that churches cease and desist from teaching biblical truth regarding human sexuality. The experience of Pastor Jeremy Schossau and Metro City Church in the greater Detroit area bears this out. Pastor Jeremy invited families in the community to attend a parents and girls-only workshop series entitled "Unashamed Identity Workshop." The series is for girls aged 12-16 who may have questions or struggle with thoughts that they should identify as "transgender, bisexual, or gay." The program promises, "Through thoughtful, relevant, and biblical counsel, we will help your girl be unashamed of her true sexual identity given to her by God at birth.”

Pastor Jeremy's loving effort to minister to felt needs in the church and community was met with the most hateful and vile comments imaginable on social media as well as physical threats to him, his family, and his church. This is from the same crowd who formerly preached "tolerance" to us, but now that they have the upper hand, practice intolerance. Pastor Jeremy responded with a grace and truth-filled video after protests became a mob of hundreds outside the church over the weekend. Is your church ministering to prepare your youth for this assault, already underway? Ask your pastor to consider this question and to send Jeremy a note to let him know your church is standing with him as he stands amidst the very flames of this cultural fire.

Some Michigan state legislators are fanning the flames by calling for an investigation into the church! State Rep. Adam Zemke (D) told local reporters, "It is wildly inappropriate to offer conversation therapy classes in our communities" (the church does not offer such therapy). Zemke promises to sponsor a bill prohibiting such practices and is calling on the state Attorney General to launch an official investigation under the Consumer Protection Act.

Tony Perkins' Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers. 16FEB18

This week, a shocking story hit the national news about an Ohio teenager who was removed from her parents' home by authorities. Why? Because they didn't support their daughter's decision to identify as a boy and declined to authorize hormone therapy to facilitate her gender "transition." Today, the story broke that Juvenile Court Judge Sylvia Hendon has permanently removed the child from her parents' custody (despite the fact that the child is already 17 and would be able to make medical decisions for herself in less than a year).

What's especially alarming is that a lawyer representing the child -- as well as Donald Clancy of the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office -- cited the parents' religious beliefs as an argument for robbing them of their rights! The mom and dad are being criticized for seeking out a Christian therapist for their daughter and for daring to send her to Catholic school. Even so, the parents were clear that their stance on the gender transition wasn't motivated on faith alone. After all, they pointed out, they'd had lengthy consultations with medical professions and did hours of research on their own. Only then did they come to the conclusion that "this is not in their child's best interest." (The American College of Pediatricians -- not to be confused with the more "politically correct" American Academy of Pediatrics -- agrees.)

For years, LGBT activists have scoffed at warnings from FRC and others that the radical LGBT movement poses a threat to personal and religious freedom. In the past, the Left directed most of its attacks on religious expression in the public square, doing everything it could to restrict faith to the four walls of your house or church. Now, even that tolerance is tumbling down. I wrote yesterday about the shocking attack by two Michigan state legislators against a church in metropolitan Detroit that offered an "Unashamed Identity Workshop" for teen girls struggling with their sexual orientation or gender identity. It's becoming ever clearer that if we don't fight to defend our liberties everywhere, they will not be safe from attack anywhere -- not even in your church or your home.