Italian Psychoanalytic Society Expresses “Great Concern” Over Puberty Blockers

Mental health experts in Europe continue to be troubled by the practice of giving puberty blockers to children with gender dysphoria.

In a recent letter to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the Italian Psychoanalytic Society expressed “great concern” over the use of drugs that block puberty in boys and girls.

The society’s letter calls the practice of giving puberty blockers to children “experimentation.”

The letter notes that gender-identity is self-identified, which makes it difficult to evaluate scientifically, and it calls for more rigorous, scientific discussion about gender dysphoria in children.

The Italian Psychoanalytic Society is the latest group in Europe to voice concerns about giving puberty blockers to children.

In 2021 a major hospital in Sweden announced that it would no longer give puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to kids.

Last year the U.K.’s National Health Services closed its Tavistock gender clinic that gave puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children for many years. Many families have indicated their children were subjected to sex-reassignment at that clinic despite an obvious lack of scientific evidence in favor of the procedures and inadequate mental health screenings for children with gender dysphoria.

A gender-identity clinic in Scotland faces similar accusations from former patients who say healthcare professionals rushed them into sex-change procedures.

Concerns about puberty blockers are growing in the United States as well.

Research published just last month calls into question the original studies that encouraged doctors to give puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children with gender dysphoria.

And last summer the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finally added a warning label to puberty blockers in America after biological girls developed symptoms of tumor-like masses in the brain.

That is part of the reason why the Arkansas Legislature has taken steps to protect children with gender dysphoria.

In 2021 the Arkansas Legislature overwhelmingly passed the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act. The SAFE Act is a good law that protects children in Arkansas from cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, and sex-reassignment surgeries. However, the law has been tied up in court since the summer of 2021. We expect a decision over its constitutionality in the coming months.

Right now lawmakers are considering S.B. 199 by Sen. Gary Stubblefield (R – Branch) and Rep. Mary Bentley (R – Perryville).

This good law clarifies that a child who undergoes a sex-change procedure can sue the healthcare provider who performed procedure if the child suffers any physical, psychological, or emotional injury as a result.

Our state laws should protect children from dangerous sex-reassignment procedures, and they should provide children and their families with legal recourse if they are injured by a sex-change procedure.

Laws like the SAFE Act and S.B. 199 help do exactly that.

Federal Court Upholds WV Female Sports Law Similar to Arkansas’

On Thursday a federal district court upheld West Virginia’s Save Women’s Sports Act that prevents males who claim to be female from competing in women’s athletics.

West Virginia’s law is similar to Arkansas Act 461 of 2021 by Sen. Missy Irvin (R — Mountain View) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R — Smackover).

Act 461 prevents male student athletes from competing against girls in women’s athletics at school.

Laws like these protect fairness in women’s sports.

Over the past few years we have seen biological males dominate women’s athletics in some parts of the country.

For example, in 2019 Rachel McKinnon — a biological male who claims to be female — won the female Cycling World Championship.

More recently, biologically male athlete Lia Thomas shattered women’s swimming records and was even nominated for NCAA Woman of the Year.

Letting males compete in girls’ sports reverses 50 years of advancements for women and effectively erases girls’ athletics.

It hampers girls’ abilities to compete for athletic scholarships, and it hurts their professional opportunities as adults. In some sports, it can even be dangerous.

That is part of the reason states like Arkansas, Texas, and West Virginia have enacted laws that uphold fairness in women’s sports.

It’s great to see our federal courts recognize that these types of laws are constitutional. Good court rulings like this one protect fairness in girls’ sports at school.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

What Parents (Don’t) Want from Disney

Disney has had a rough year. First came Turning Red, a film that lost the company $168 million dollars. In March, there was the dustup with Ron DeSantis over Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Then there was Lightyeara summer box office failure, whose star boldly predicted that parents concerned with the film’s LGBTQ agenda would soon “die off like the dinosaurs.”  With market shares slumping, Disney recently fired CEO Bob Chapek and replaced him with his predecessor, Bob Iger. Writing for WORLD Opinions, Samuel D. James summed it up nicely:   

Whether or not its stock improves, the company has to reckon with the fact that stuffing children’s entertainment with sexual revolution shibboleths is bad for the bottom line. … As the world’s foremost creator of children and family entertainment, Disney’s LGBT signaling feels invasive in a way that typical Hollywood liberalism does not.  

Maybe it’s time for Disney to listen to the words of a particularly wise old baboon. “The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it.”

Copyright 2024 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.