In “Refreshing Return to Sanity,” President Trump Orders Government to Protect Kids From Sex-Change Procedures

On Tuesday, the Trump Administration issued an executive order protecting children from puberty-blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sex-change procedures.

In 2021 Arkansas passed the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act protecting children from these procedures. Since then, some two dozen states have followed suit. However, laws like Arkansas’ faced stiff opposition from the Biden Administration — which spent four years pushing one pro-LGBT policy after another.

President Trump’s executive order helps reverse the previous administration’s flawed policies.

The order prohibits federal funding from being used for sex-change procedures on kids — including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sex-change surgeries.

Medical institutions, and facilities who receive federal research or education grants must “end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children” immediately.

The order also directs federal agencies to revoke pro-LGBT policies that were based on guidelines from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) — an organization that the order says “lacks scientific integrity.”

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Matt Sharp called the executive order “a refreshing return to sanity,” saying:

“Not a single dollar should be spent to facilitate or push vulnerable kids towards experimental, often irreversible, drugs and surgeries. Instead of being a global outlier, America will now ‘follow the science,’ like the U.K. and other European countries have done, to ensure that we are identifying safe and effective ways to help kids who experience distress over their biological sex.

“The president’s order affirms that the federal government is standing with detransitioners and families hurt by gender transition drugs and surgeries. That includes supporting a legal remedy for those who have suffered at the hands of doctors who have pushed junk science on vulnerable kids. And it directs the Department of Justice to work to ensure that states like California and Minnesota can’t strip parents in other states of their parental rights for safeguarding their children from life-altering hormones and irreversible surgeries. We applaud President Trump for fulfilling his promise to America’s families and taking these critical steps to protect children from harmful, experimental, and often irreversible medical procedures.”

We have written before how files leaked from WPATH make it clear that medical professionals have been fully aware for some time that sex-change procedures can lead to lasting regret and complications — some of which may even be life-threatening. WPATH kept promoting these procedures anyway — and government officials continued to look to groups like WPATH for guidance.

Since 2021, a major hospital in Sweden has announced that it would no longer give puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to kids, the U.K. has adopted policies that protect children from puberty blockers, 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.

It is past time for our state and federal laws to protect children from these dangerous hormones and surgical procedures. President Trump’s executive order helps do exactly that.

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

States Should Be Allowed to Protect Children from Dangerous Procedures

A Tennessee case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court could decide the future of Arkansas’ SAFE Act.

The Save Adolescents From Experimentation — or SAFE — Act is a good law that protects children in Arkansas from sex-change procedures, puberty-blockers, and cross-sex hormones. In 2021 the SAFE Act passed with overwhelming support from the Arkansas Legislature, but it has been blocked in federal court ever since.

A Tennessee law that is very similar to the SAFE Act is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, and that case could determine whether or not Arkansas will be able to protect children from sex-change procedures.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel, Director of the Center for Public Policy Matt Sharp recently gave a speech outside the U.S. Supreme Court, where he explained why the court should let Tennessee enforce its law. He also explained why these procedures are so dangerous for children.

In his remarks, Mr. Sharp said,

Every child deserves to be kept safe from harmful drugs and surgeries. And no one—I repeat, no one—has a right to harm children. That’s why Alliance Defending Freedom has been working with lawmakers, policy organizations, medical professionals, and countless others to protect children from dangerous, life-altering, and unnecessary gender transition drugs and surgeries, and to help defend these critical laws in court.

Children who experience discomfort with their biological sex deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. They need access to compassionate, effective mental health care that is rooted in biological truth. . . .

Our laws have long protected kids from things that society has determined are harmful to them or that children lack the maturity and experience to handle. If a kid can’t sign a contract, vote, purchase alcohol or tobacco, or even get a tattoo, how can a child be mature enough to consent to these experimental, irreversible medical procedures that can lead to permanent sterilization?

You can watch the full speech below.