Filmmaker: I believed in gender affirming care. Then I saw what happened to my son - "Politically, the documentary film community is left of center. Very left. Over the last 10 years, I fit right in. I made films about women and children of diverse identities coping with sexual assault trauma, racism, homophobia and mental illness. Then in 2020, after I had sold my last film to Netflix and was wrapping primary photography on my next feature, I chose to begin a new film, one that I was driven to make despite my community’s disapproval. It’s a film that is full of viewpoints that may be mistakingly characterized as conservative. I’ve done my best to ensure my work does not become fodder for right-wing hit pieces. But I need to tell the truth, and truth doesn’t always align with a political side... My husband and I were shocked at his pronouncement. Not because we are transphobic, but because our son had never exhibited any discomfort with his body or identity. We had not imposed gender stereotypes on our children. Still, he was such a typical boy... Despite our shock and confusion at his announcement, we were still liberal California parents. When he told us he was transgender, we nodded and said, “OK. We love you. We support you.” Fearful of the pervasive mantra “Better a live daughter than a dead son” that insists non-affirmed trans kids are likely to kill themselves, we started using she/her pronouns and his new chosen name. I offered to take him shopping for women’s clothes, to do his nails, to teach him to shave his legs and to use makeup. (He declined.) We called three local adolescent gender clinics, but in 2021, we could not get an appointment. The clinics had seen such a huge increase in new patients, they couldn’t even put us on a waitlist. That’s when we realized we are not rare. Transgender identities were spreading rapidly, often within social networks. Five of the 10 kids in our son’s closest friend group are now identifying as trans or nonbinary. Our neighbors on both sides each have a trans kid. One of our son’s teachers told us he had so many kids with new identities, some “out to” their parents and others not, that he had to make a chart to know when to use which names and pronouns. I joined a local support group with more than 100 members for parents of kids with rapid-onset gender dysphoria. Hearing their stories, with so many similarities to ours, I couldn’t help but think that something other than kids finding their authentic selves was going on here. Like so many of these kids, our son is fixated on medical transition. He knows he is welcome to dress and present however he wants. But he still looks, dresses, and acts like a “typical” teenage boy because first he wants to transform physically. You’d think a therapist or a gender clinic would be able to assess if this is the right or wrong thing for him. But I’ve listened to enough parental accounts and interviewed enough detransitioners, doctors and therapists to now know that this is not true. Therapists are not free to explore teens’ transgender self-diagnoses for fear of losing their licenses. They, like gender clinics, operate under the American Academy of Pediatrics’ policy that any kid who says they are trans is affirmed. As Portland, Ore., pediatrician Julia Mason says in the film I made, Affirmation Generation, “Every kid I was sending to the gender clinic was being transitioned.” Without comprehensive assessments, while other mental illnesses are ignored, these kids are put on lifelong invasive, experimental and costly medicine. Thus, as journalist Helen Joyce, author of TRANS: When Ideology Meets Reality, says, this means they are “getting very poor treatment.”... As psychologist Stella O’Malley says in my film, “If it was a solution, if it worked, I’d be very open to it. But I’ve met too many detransitioners who said ‘I was constantly fighting against nature. It’s like putting diesel in the [gas] tank.’” These kids are risking sterility, sexual dysfunction, a range of complex medical issues from stroke to cancer, and increased mental instability for a treatment that has not been proven to work. Most frightfully, studies have shown that transition does not reduce the risk of suicide in this vulnerable population. Several European countries such as Sweden, Finland, the U.K. and France, have come to learn the hard way that the benefits of medical transition have not been proven to outweigh the risks. In some cases, they believe the harm outweighs the benefit. Those countries, leaders in protecting the rights of transgender people, are closing clinics, reversing course. That is where the course correction must come from: Progressives willing to ask hard questions and speak hard truths. As journalist Lisa Selin Davis says in the film, “It’s up to us on the left to walk this back. I want liberals to make room for gender diversity without telling kids they need to leave their sex category.” And that is why I made this film. Even if my community disapproves. Even if I have to use a pseudonym to protect my son. I made this film because too many parents believe what I used to believe: That kids’ trans identities should not be questioned, and that medical transition is the only path. The truth is so much more complicated than that. Being liberally minded means keeping an open mind. Give me and the 12 experts, six detransitioners and more than 40 articles and scientific studies cited in the film a chance to present the evidence.
L.E. Dawes is a San Francisco-based filmmaker and mother of a trans-identified child."
Gender dysphoria in young people is rising—and so is professional disagreement - "Mark Helfand, professor of medical informatics and clinical epidemiology at Oregon Health and Science University, says, “An evidence based recommendation requires two steps.” First, “an unbiased, thorough, critical systematic review of all the relevant evidence.” Second, “some commitment to link the strength of the recommendations to the quality of the evidence.” The Endocrine Society commissioned two systematic reviews for its clinical practice guideline, Endocrine Treatment of Gender-Dysphoric/Gender-Incongruent Persons: one on the effects of sex steroids on lipids and cardiovascular outcomes, the other on their effects on bone health. To indicate the quality of evidence underpinning its various guidelines, the Endocrine Society employed the GRADE system (grading of recommendations assessment, development, and evaluation) and judged the quality of evidence for all recommendations on adolescents as “low” or “very low.” Guyatt, who co-developed GRADE, found “serious problems” with the Endocrine Society guidelines, noting that the systematic reviews didn’t look at the effect of the interventions on gender dysphoria itself, arguably “the most important outcome.” He also noted that the Endocrine Society had at times paired strong recommendations—phrased as “we recommend”—with weak evidence. In the adolescent section, the weaker phrasing “we suggest” is used for pubertal hormone suppression when children “first exhibit physical changes of puberty”; however, the stronger phrasing is used to “recommend” GnRHa treatment. “GRADE discourages strong recommendations with low or very low quality evidence except under very specific circumstances,” Guyatt told The BMJ. Those exceptions are “very few and far between,” and when used in guidance, their rationale should be made explicit, Guyatt said. In an emailed response, the Endocrine Society referenced the GRADE system’s five exceptions, but did not specify which it was applying... WPATH’s recommendations lack a grading system to indicate the quality of the evidence—one of several deficiencies. Both Guyatt and Helfand noted that a trustworthy guideline would be transparent about all commissioned systematic reviews: how many were done and what the results were. But Helfand remarked that neither was made clear in the WPATH guidelines and also noted several instances in which the strength of evidence presented to justify a recommendation was “at odds with what their own systematic reviewers found.”... Those two statements are each followed by more than 20 references, among them the commissioned systematic review. This stood out to Helfand as obscuring which conclusions were based on evidence versus opinion. He says, “It’s a very strange thing to feel that they had to cite some of the studies that would have been in the systematic review or purposefully weren’t included in the review, because that’s what the review is for.” For minors, WPATH contends that the evidence is so limited that “a systematic review regarding outcomes of treatment in adolescents is not possible.” But Guyatt counters that “systematic reviews are always possible,” even if few or no studies meet the eligibility criteria. If an entity has made a recommendation without one, he says, “they’d be violating standards of trustworthy guidelines.”... Sweden conducted systematic reviews in 2015 and 2022 and found the evidence on hormonal treatment in adolescents “insufficient and inconclusive.”... Cochrane, an international organisation that has built its reputation on delivering independent evidence reviews, has yet to publish a systematic review of gender treatments in minors. But The BMJ has learnt that in 2020 Cochrane accepted a proposal to review puberty blockers and that it worked with a team of researchers through 2021 in developing a protocol, but it ultimately rejected it after peer review. A spokesperson for Cochrane told The BMJ that its editors have to consider whether a review “would add value to the existing evidence base,” highlighting the work of the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which looked at puberty blockers and hormones for adolescents in 2021. “That review found the evidence to be inconclusive, and there have been no significant primary studies published since.” In 2022 the state of Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration commissioned an overview of systematic reviews looking at outcomes “important to patients” with gender dysphoria, including mental health, quality of life, and complications. Two health research methodologists at McMaster University carried out the work, analysing 61 systematic reviews and concluding that “there is great uncertainty about the effects of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries in young people.” The body of evidence, they said, was “not sufficient” to support treatment decisions... For Guyatt, claims of certainty represent both the success and failure of the evidence based medicine movement. “Everybody now has to claim to be evidence based” in order to be taken seriously, he says—that’s the success. But people “don’t particularly adhere to the standard of what is evidence based medicine—that’s the failure.” When there’s been a rigorous systematic review of the evidence and the bottom line is that “we don’t know,’” he says, then “anybody who then claims they do know is not being evidence based.”"
Gender Curricula May Be Fueling a Dangerous Fad Detrimental to Children’s Mental Health: Psychologists - "“As a gay parent, I am concerned,” Marci Strange wrote on the website Gays Against Groomers. Strange asked why schools are sexualizing our children. She pointed to a California "Healthy Kids Survey” that asked students, “Are you straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or something else?” Another page asks if kids are different from the sex they were assigned at birth. “Unless parents ‘opt-out,’ it can confuse and make suggestions kids may never consider,” said Strange. A child’s desire for acceptance and popularity is no mystery to parents and school staff. Children may take drastic measures to fit in, even at their own expense. In the context of gender, children may choose to behave differently than they otherwise would to gain attention and recognition. Dr. Barbara Ellis, a psychologist from the Greater Philadelphia area said that in middle school, children become less dependent on their family and begin to transfer more of their social interactions from family to their peers. They have a “great need to be accepted,” she said. As children enter adolescence, identity exploration and behavioral experimentation takes off... Many parents are concerned about policies that prevent them from knowing what is happening with their children in school. For example, with Policy 252 for the school district of Philadelphia, school personnel are not able to disclose information regarding a student’s gender identity to others without the student’s authorization. This also applies to speaking with parents about how a child identifies. Ellis explains that when teachers or school staff tell a child to keep secrets from their parents, most children inherently know that is wrong. By doing this, the child is “put in a position of conflict, which can cause the child to feel anxious and depressed, act out at home, and experience feelings of shame.”... It can be difficult for children with autism to interpret subtle social cues, which can lead to being on the periphery of social groups and relationships, especially in school, said Ellis... Many behaviors receive gender-associated labeling. For example, athleticism is perceived as masculine; sensitivity or being emotional is perceived as feminine. Ellis explained that “if a girl wants to be competitive, participate in athletics, or learn skills such as carpentry, she is probably going to be labeled as ‘gender fluid’ or ‘trans,’ when she is not. Professionally, I do not believe that it is possible to determine a child’s gender role when they have not reached puberty.” Identity formation occurs in children between the ages of 3 and 5 years. Ellis explained that during these years children become aware of gender roles—how boys and girls are different from one another in how they dress, hairstyles, and other physical markers. Gender perception can be altered by what a child is exposed to or experiences. Further, Anderson explained that it is very normal for children to play with toys that may not match their sex. For example, girls who grow up with brothers may be more inclined to play sports, or boys who have sisters may play with dolls, she said. Parents may mislabel their child as transgender when they see their child playing with toys normally associated with the opposite sex. Anderson continued, “It’s just a phase, which parents should not label. The fact that we are so hyper-vigilant about it may confuse children. Oftentimes, when girls are raised with brothers, they behave as tomboys. Same with boys that have sisters. It does not mean that they are struggling with their gender.”"
Anti-trans advocates keep contradicting each other - "Becky Pepper-Jackson v. West Virginia exposes how, in their mindless hysteria, two of the biggest arguments anti-trans people make contradict each other. The case in West Virginia is straightforward: Pepper-Jackson is a 12-year-old transgender girl who sued the state over a law barring her from running track. Laws like this are cropping up across the country, and every time, the people behind them deny that bigotry towards trans kids is the impetus. Instead, they claim to be "concerned" about protecting cis women from having to compete with "biological males," whose puberty allegedly makes them so big and strong that no one assigned female at birth could ever hope to compare. This silliness of this argument was laid bare by Pepper-Jackson, who is an enthusiastic runner, but, as the Washington Post delicately put it, "not among the top performers." As part of her gender-affirming care, after all, Pepper-Jackson is on puberty blockers and estrogen hormone therapy. As her court filing indicated, she "has not experienced and will not experience endogenous puberty." If people were objecting to trans girls on sports teams in good faith, they should feel relieved by this outcome. Turns out they had nothing to worry about in the first place! The standard gender-affirming care that trans girls get renders the issue moot by taking puberty out of the equation. If anything, trans girls are at a competitive disadvantage, because they're competing against girls who do have pubescent growth spurts. But no, the same people who claim to be "worried" about trans girls going through puberty turn right around and "worry" about trans girls not going through puberty. Because they definitely don't want kids having access to those puberty blockers, either... "Don't be a mark" for this "coordinated, well-designed plan" run by the religious right to strip people of basic human rights, she pleads. Sadly, there's too much attention and money to generate by winking at anti-trans bigotry. As long as that's true, far too many supposed "liberals" are going to ignore this call for basic human decency. "
This article was such a mess. Amanda Marcotte is still at it - she is unable to distinguish between harms to the trans-identified boys from not going through puberty and harms to girl athletes from having to compete with biological males
Weird how "basic human rights" have been redefined to include claiming to be the other sex (but somehow this doesn't work for race or age); rather than trans rights being human rights, human rights are trans rights (i.e. they get the same rights as everyone else). And of course, if you disagree with the left wing agenda in any way, you are not a decent human being. What a surprise to see that line pop up again
Exclusive interview: Media and trans activists praised Oli London when he was trans, but hated him when he detransitioned - "How does a world-famous transgender social media influencer become a Christian detransitioner and advocate for parents’ rights? He got away from social media and went to church... Gender Madness: One Man’s Devastating Struggle with Woke Ideology and His Battle to Protect Children... His journey began as a child, when he says he was “more into girlie things,” preferring dolls and dress-up to rugby or soccer. That led to London being “very, very severely bullied.” “I was bullied a lot, mostly for the way I looked, but I was also told all the time I was feminine, or I was like a girl,” he says. “When I used to go swimming at school, people used to say I had breasts and I was like a girl, so I always questioned my gender.” The constant taunting caused London to develop severe body dysmorphia that he attempted to treat through plastic surgery. “It was all about the aesthetics,” he said. “My concern was having a feminine face, big lips, smaller nose, so I was obsessed with that.” However, physical alterations didn’t fix the underlying mental health issues or provide the happiness London was seeking. “I started trying to change myself and erase the way I looked, erase the way I identified,” he recalled. “I got to a point where I’d had a lot of surgery, I still wasn’t happy, and the final thing on my mind was, ‘Maybe the reason for my unhappiness is because I’m feeling like the I’m the wrong gender.’ I’ve been told throughout my life by many people that I’m more feminine, that I would be better as a woman. “And if you hear enough people say that you start to believe it.” Even though family and friends tried to stop him, London was convinced that more surgery would make him happy. “Many family members tried to stop me changing myself. They loved me for who I was, which is what any responsible family member would do,” he recalled. “I was really my own worst enemy. At the time I was going to do what I wanted to do no matter who was trying to stop me.” When London publicly came out as transgender, he was fawned over by progressive media and believed he’d finally found what he was looking for... London found a Christian community he describes as “very compassionate and kind.” “They were non-judgmental,” he said. “They were very authentic.” In contrast, when he announced his detransition, the love from progressive media and transgender activists turned into vitriolic hatred. “They praised and celebrated me when I was trans,” London said. “The moment I detransitioned, they suddenly changed their opinions of me and started hating on me. That’s not real kindness and compassion.” He believes people, especially youth, join the trans community for the instant validation it provides, not realizing radical progressivism is a “cult” that will “hate anyone that tries to question their ideology.” London explains people with gender dysphoria have “struggled to accept themselves their whole life … and a quick fix is to get validation from transactivists.” But the validation comes with major strings attached. In March, a “Detransition Awareness Day” rally in California’s capitol turned violent when Antifa attacked attendees and journalists, requiring police intervention. “That’s the daily reality of what people that question gender ideology and people that detransition have to face: threats of violence, attacks, harassment, and discrediting,” London explained. Chloe Cole, who is suing Kaiser Permanente for performing cross-sex surgeries on her while she was a minor, spoke at the event. Cole previously accused doctors of coercing her parents into allowing her transition, saying they would have a “dead daughter” if they didn’t. Some doctors may be “so delusional” that they genuinely believe they’re helping people, London explained. However, others are simply feeding the multi-million-dollar industry. A single sex chance surgery can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Scott Newgent, who appeared in the documentary, “What is a Woman?”, even claimed that hormone blocker companies make 8 times more profit for prescriptions for minors than for adults. Many transgender individuals will become “customers for life,” according to London, as they must seek continual treatment for the plethora of health issues they develop. “It’s called gender-affirming care for a reason,” said London. “Using that language like ‘care’ and ‘compassion’ is part of their tactic to try and make it seem okay. “They try to convince themselves that it’s care, it’s kind, it’s helping, it’s loving, and it’s compassionate. They try to use the threat of an increased suicide rate if we don’t do this.” But the testimony of countless detransitioners and medical professionals indicates just the opposite... London believes that school, as well as social media, can play a powerful role in convincing someone to identify as transgender. “If their teacher is teaching them about pronouns or the library books teach them about changing their gender, these are already vulnerable kids that are going to fall for that,” he said. “We need to protect kids better in school. We need to stop this harmful, wrong diagnosing of kids with gender dysphoria, when maybe a girl’s a tomboy or maybe they’re struggling with something else that needs to be diagnosed.”... Having been a poster child of both the left and the right, London has a unique view of the culture war, and how Christians can witness to the world. “[There’s] a huge difference between, let’s say, the transactivists that were initially praising me that suddenly become hateful,” he recalled. “Christians don’t have it in their heart to hate on other people. They might disagree, but they want to try and come up with a better solution to help things get better. “But they don’t have that hate in their heart.”"
Meme - Blaire White @MsBlaireWhite: "Leftists: "Gender stereotypes are wrong!"
Also leftists: "My 5 year old son picked up a Barbie today, her name is Sparkle now""
Former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner backs New York county's ban on transgender female athletes - "Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner on Monday said she supported a local New York official’s order banning female sports teams with transgender athletes from using county-owned facilities. The ban applies to over 100 athletic facilities in New York City's Long Island suburbs. Speaking alongside Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman at his office in Mineola, Jenner said allowing transgender athletes like herself to compete against other women will “ruin women’s sports” for years to come... The LGBT Network, a Long Island-based advocacy group, called Jenner’s comments a “baffling contradiction” to her own identity as a transgender woman that is “not only hypocritical but also harmful" to the LGBTQ community. “It is disheartening to witness someone who has experienced the challenges of being marginalized actively contribute to the oppression of others within the same community,” David Kilmnick, the group’s president, said"
It's telling that part of MTF identity is to ruin women's sports, and it's "oppression" to not be able to play sports with those you have a biological advantage over. Does this mean it's oppression for for the transabled to be barred from the paralympics?
The reliability of sex determination of skeletons from forensic context in the Balkans - "In this study we have tested the applicability of morphological methods for sex assessment, based on seven pelvic and nine cranial traits, using contemporary Balkans population. The material involved in the study comprises 262 pelvic bones and 180 skulls of male individuals from two mass graves in Serbia. The material was examined separately by an experienced and an inexperienced physical anthropologists. Sex was correctly estimated by the experienced anthropologist in 100% of individuals using all of the 16 pelvic and cranial criteria. In fact, sex differences in pelvic morphology were large enough to allow sexing the individuals with 100% accuracy. Among seven features observed on the pelvic bones, the least reliable single sex indicator was the width of the great sciatic notch (with accuracy of 79.15%). Looking at the skull alone, sex was correctly determined in 70.56% cases. It was shown that the most accurate single indicators among cranial methods was the robustness of the mandible (with accuracy of 70.93%), while the sharpness of the supraorbital margins was the least reliable indicator demonstrating accuracy in only 28.75% of crania. Examination of the sample by an individual with training in physical anthropology, but no case experience, suggests that experience is likely to contribute moderately to the accuracy of the sex determination. Namely, the inexperienced anthropologist accurately assessed the sex of the sample 95.04% of the time; 4.06% less accurate than the experienced anthropologist. The two anthropologists showed the least agreement in scoring the ventral arc and composite arc on the pelvic bones."
Transphobia!
Continuation of Gender-affirming Hormones Among Transgender Adolescents and Adults - "Our results suggest that >70% of TGD individuals who start gender-affirming hormones will continue use beyond 4 years, with higher continuation rates in transfeminine individuals. Patients who start hormones, with their parents’ assistance, before age 18 years have higher continuation rates than adults."
This suggests that the detransitioning rate is almost 30%, and less for kids thrown into the trans pipeline
Death from drugs Nex Benedict took ‘very uncommon’: experts - "A one-page summary autopsy report released by the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner on Wednesday, attributing Benedict’s death to suicide through combined toxicity from fluoxetine (Prozac) and diphenhydramine (Benadryl), has led to public skepticism and demands for more detailed information because of the report’s brevity."
How the liars in the media slandered Libs of TikTok after an overdose death - YouTube
Damn transphobia! Clearly Oklahoma's anti-trans laws made her overdose. Politicising kids' deaths is only wrong when it doesn't push the left wing agenda
New video sheds light on fight that took place before non-binary student died - "the officer warned that Nex had “started the domino effect” by pouring water on the girls, an action that could be seen as assault."
When a minority attacks a majority, it's the fault of stigma, discrimination and X-phobia/x-ism!
Biden calls for end to discrimination after Nex Benedict death - "Benedict claimed that she poured water on three girls in the bathroom after they made fun of her for the way she dressed... "From the beginning of this investigation, Owasso Police observed many indications that this death was the result of suicide,” Owasso Police Department Lt. Nick Boatman said. “However, investigators did not wish to confirm that information without the final results being presented by the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office." Hundreds marched at the Oklahoma state Capitol in Oklahoma City on Thursday in Benedict's honor... Some politicians used Benedict's situation as a springboard to suggest that state laws segregating school bathrooms according to biological sex led to her death."
How the death of a nonbinary Oklahoma teenager has renewed scrutiny on anti-trans policies - "“They came at me. They grabbed on my hair. I grabbed onto them. I threw one of them into a paper towel dispenser and then they got my legs out from under me and got me on the ground,” Benedict says in the video, adding that the girls then started beating Benedict and they blacked out... After news of Benedict's death became public, calls from Oklahoma to a national crisis hotline for LGBTQ+ youths spiked by more than 500%, said Lance Preston, the founder and director of the Indiana-based Rainbow Youth Project USA, a group that aims to improve the safety and wellness of LGBTQ+ young people."
Another example of how incorrect pronouns lead to confusion. Did all the girls black out, or did the girls who beat Benedict black out or did Benedict black out?
Presumably, if she had shot the 3 girls, it'd have been "self-defense" against "bullying"
Another example of how grievance mongering hurts the "minorities" it purports to help
Meme - Jenna Daugherty: "They stoked a violent anti-trans culture and now they deny our humanity even in our death that they caused, there is nothing "pro-life" about these fascist Republican freaks"
Jenna Daugherty: "Absolutely depraved, the fascist ghouls running Oklahoma are trying to change reality to deny our humanity as trans people. Nex was murdered, we need the FBI to open an investigation into this obvious coverup"
Christopher Wiggins: "Breaking: Oklahoma medical examiner's report indicates that Nex Benedict died of suicide. The cause of death is listed as an overdose of Benadryl and Prozac."
The left love their conspiracy theories and misinformation
Transgender woman, 18, is jailed for brutal gun murder of girl, 12, 'she'd had sexual relationship with': Video-called friend from blood-soaked room and asked for help disposing body - "Cooper was initially charged as Joshua Cooper but began transitioning after her arrest, with her lawyer asking the court to call her Ash... Cooper, who was 16 at the time of the murder, also allegedly told police she and Connors were in a sexual relationship."
