England Joins Growing List of Jurisdictions That Protect Children From Puberty Blockers

Transgender, ,

The U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) is officially banning healthcare professionals from prescribing puberty blockers to children.

The NHS guidelines for puberty blockers now say:

Puberty blockers (gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogues) are not available to children and young people for gender incongruence or gender dysphoria because there is not enough evidence of safety and clinical effectiveness.

The guidelines also note that cross-sex hormones often given in conjunction with puberty blockers may cause irreversible changes, and that long-term cross-sex hormone use may cause temporary or permanent infertility.

In 2022 the NHS closed its Tavistock gender clinic that gave puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children for many years.

A government investigation revealed healthcare professionals at the Tavistock clinic pressured families into subjecting their children to puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones despite an obvious lack of scientific evidence in favor of the procedures and inadequate mental health screenings for children with gender dysphoria.

In 2021, lawmakers in Arkansas overwhelmingly passed the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act.

The SAFE Act is a good law that prevents doctors in Arkansas from performing sex-change surgeries on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. 

Unfortunately, the SAFE Act has been tied up in court for more than two years, and a federal judge in Little Rock has blocked the state from enforcing the law. However, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office is appealing the case.

Sex-change surgeries and procedures can leave children sterilized and scarred for life.

Researchers do not know the long term effects puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones can have on kids. That is why many experts agree that subjecting children to sex-change procedures is experimental, at best.

Not long after Arkansas passed the SAFE Act, a major hospital in Sweden announced that it would no longer give puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to kids, and last year the U.S. Food and Drug Administration added a warning label to puberty blockers in America after biological girls developed swelling in the brain.

As we have noted repeatedly, public opinion is shifting on this issue, with more Americans saying that it’s morally wrong to change genders.

All of this just goes to show that Arkansas’ lawmakers were right to pass the SAFE Act in 2021.

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

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Eighth Circuit to Hear Arguments in Lawsuit Over Arkansas Law Protecting Children From Sex-Change Surgeries

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On Monday the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis scheduled oral arguments for next month in a lawsuit over whether or not Arkansas can protect children from sex-change procedures.

In 2021, lawmakers in Arkansas overwhelmingly passed the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act.

The SAFE Act is a good law that prevents doctors in Arkansas from performing sex-change surgeries on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. 

Sex-change surgeries and procedures can leave children sterilized and scarred for life.

Researchers do not know all the long term effects puberty-blockers and cross-sex hormones can have on kids. That is why many experts agree that subjecting children to sex-change procedures is experimental, at best.

Unfortunately, the SAFE Act has been tied up in court for more than two years, and a federal judge in Little Rock has blocked the state from enforcing the law. However, it’s worth noting that federal appeals courts have allowed similar laws to go into effect in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Alabama.

That’s why Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office is appealing Arkansas’ case over the SAFE Act. Last Monday the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals announced it will hold oral arguments in the lawsuit at an en banc hearing on Thursday, April 11.

A growing body of scientific evidence shows children should not be subjected to sex-change procedures, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones.

Not long after Arkansas passed the SAFE Act, a major hospital in Sweden announced that it would no longer give puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to kids, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration added a warning label to puberty blockers after discovering they caused some biological girls to experience swelling in the brain.

Files leaked from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) organization also reveal that medical professionals performing gender-transitions on kids have been fully aware that these procedures can lead to lasting regret and painful complications — some of which may even be life-threatening.

For example, the leaked files showed one WPATH doctor encountered a 16-year-old female patient who had “two [cancerous] liver masses [tumors]” and that girl’s oncologist and surgeon both agreed cross-sex hormones were to blame for the cancerous tumors.

Fortunately, public opinion is shifting on this issue, with more Americans saying it’s morally wrong to change genders.

The SAFE Act is good legislation that protects children. We believe our federal courts will recognize that fact and uphold this law as constitutional.

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

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Survey Shows Support for Same-Sex Marriage Declining

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Support for same-sex marriage in the U.S. has fallen for the first time in nearly a decade, according to a new survey. The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) published updates to its American Values Atlas on Tuesday, revealing that public support for same-sex marriage dropped from 69% to 67% from 2022 to 2023.

The last time that PRRI recorded a decline in public support for same-sex marriage was almost 10 years ago, when it fell from 54% in 2014 to 53% in 2015. Among Republicans, support for same-sex marriage dropped from 49% in 2022 to 47% in 2023, which is still 12 points higher than it stood in 2014. There was also a similar drop in support among independent voters, from 73% in 2022 to 71% in 2023. Support for same-sex marriage has risen among Democrats from 65% in 2014 to 82% in 2023.

The PRRI survey further reported that support for same-sex marriage has decreased among religious groups. Support for same-sex marriage is and has been highest among religiously unaffiliated, Buddhist, and Jewish Americans, with a majority of mainline Protestants and Catholics also expressing support. Among American Catholics, support dipped from 75% in 2022 to 73% in 2023, but declined most steeply among Hispanic Catholics: from 75% in 2022 to 68% in 2023. Support for same-sex marriage is lowest among Mormons (47% in 2023), Hispanic Protestants (44% in 2023), Muslims (40% in 2023), white evangelicals (37% in 2023), and Jehovah’s Witnesses (18% in 2023).

Additionally, while a majority of Americans support LGBT non-discrimination policies, overall support for these policies has also declined. PRRI found that 80% of Americans supported non-discrimination policies in 2022, but only 76% did in 2023. Support among Republicans dropped from 66% in 2022 to 59% in 2023, while support among Democrats remained steady. The survey also found that 52% of those who identify as LGBT identify as religiously unaffiliated, which PRRI noted is “nearly twice the rate of the general U.S. population (27%).” About a third (35%) of those who identify as LGBT also identify as Christian, but PRRI noted that those who reject “Christian nationalism” are “nearly unanimous (93%) in their support” for both same-sex marriage and non-discrimination policies.

“The growing partisan divide on these issues show the effect of the continuous use of LGBTQ identity and LGBTQ rights as a wedge issue in our nation’s culture wars,” PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman said in a press release.

In comments to The Washington Stand, Family Research Council Senior Fellow Meg Kilgannon said, “It’s interesting to me that this very sophisticated survey funded by pro-LGBT advocacy organizations managed to have a series of questions related to ‘Christian nationalist’ support for/opposition to LGBT rights or protections.” She added, “That’s classic framing by the Left, casting Christians — or simply people who don’t think men can marry other men — as the odious troublemakers. The longer we live with the effects of sexual liberation, the less people will like it.”

PRRI’s report comes in the wake of courts upholding such measures as parental notification school mandates and bans on gender transition procedures for minors — both of which are labeled by LGBT activists as “oppressive” — as well as Democrats backing off LGBT funding programs and the release of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) files. The year which PRRI’s survey centered on, 2023, also saw widespread backlash against corporations such as Bud Light and Target for their LGBT activism, resulting in billions of dollars of losses for those companies.

Originally published by The Washington Stand

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