An Unscientific Federal Study

According to various reports, the National Institutes of Health is using federal tax dollars to launch a study “proving” it’s OK to perform sex-change operations on children.

Researchers intend to show transgender affirmation therapy is safe and effective for children who disagree with their biological sex. John Stonestreet at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview writes,

Let’s be clear about what “affirmation therapy” really means: Children are given high doses of puberty-suppressing drugs. Doctors then flood their systems with testosterone or estrogen to induce the formation of opposite-sex characteristics like breasts in males and facial hair in females. Some patients, partway through this process, will undergo “sex-reassignment surgery” in which their internal and even external genitals are removed or remodeled.

This so-called “treatment” will render them infertile for life and can create a host of side-effects, like cancer, infections, gallbladder diseases, and spikes in blood pressure. There is also no long-term research on how these high doses of hormones affect bodies in the long run—bodies that weren’t designed to handle them in the first place.

There is, however, abundant data on the psychological damage of medically “transitioning.” One study from Great Britain found that 20 percent of patients who’d undergone this procedure regretted it. Walt Heyer, a man who formerly lived as a transgender woman and now identifies with his biological sex once again, thinks that’s a serious underestimation.

Advocates for children have said time and time again that encouraging kids to disagree with their biological sex is dangerous.

The American College of Pediatricians writes, “puberty is not a disease and puberty-blocking hormones can be dangerous. Reversible or not, puberty- blocking hormones induce a state of disease — the absence of puberty — and inhibit growth and fertility in a previously biologically healthy child.”

Read John Stonestreet’s entire column here.

Photo Credit: By Rafael Alcarde Palomares (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

WA State Looks at Offering Third “Gender” on Birth Certificates

According to news reports, the State of Washington is weighing a proposed rule change that would allow people to list a third “gender” on their birth certificates.

Currently, birth certificates in Washington contain a space to list a person’s sex as male or female. Under the new rule, people who do not self-identify as either male or female would be able to put an X in that space.

Many of the people who support the rule change feel as if they are not truly male or female — calling themselves “non-binary.”

All of this reminds me of an article our friends at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview wrote in 2014:

We’re all familiar with the argument by now: homosexual attraction is an innate characteristic—maybe genetic. Therefore, denying same-sex attracted individuals the ‘right’ to get married is the same as racism.

But an alternate narrative has appeared on the horizon, and by ‘horizon,’ I mean the cover of a recent TIME Magazine issue, where it’s used to promote the ‘T’ in the acronym ‘LGBT.’ The ‘T,’ of course, stands for ‘transgender,’—those who say their biological sex and their perceived gender don’t match. The mantra here goes, ‘I was born this way, but I want to change. In fact, I have a right to change.’

So we’re told that the biology of the ‘L,’ the ‘G,’ and the ‘B’ can’t change. But when it comes to ‘T,’ the biology doesn’t matter.

Confused? Well, you’re not alone.

You cannot in one breath say a person’s biology controls their feelings — as many homosexuals claim — and in the very next breath say a person’s feelings are more important than their biology — as transgender and “non-binary” people claim. The two arguments contradict each other.

 

NJ Man Allegedly Videotaped Women in Target Fitting Room

According to news reports, a New Jersey man was recently arrested for allegedly filming women in fitting rooms at a Target store.

You may recall Target unveiled a policy letting men enter women’s restrooms, changing areas, and similar facilities in its stores nearly a year and a half ago.

In response, many people expressed public safety concerns about this policy, and more than 1.5 million people signed a pledge to boycott Target until the policy changes.

This latest incident underscores the need for Target to reverse course and protect the privacy and safety of its customers and employees in its stores.

It also reminds us that states like Arkansas need to protect the privacy and safety of public school students and others when it comes to showers, locker rooms, restrooms, and similar facilities in public schools and other government buildings.

Photo Credit: By Mike Kalasnik from Fort Mill, USA [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.