California was the first state to make it illegal for counselors to help minors feel more comfortable in their biological sex. If a child is suffering from gender dysphoria, California law effectively says, “Too bad, embrace it.”
It was a 5–4 vote in which two Republican appointed justices (Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh, the latter appointed by President Donald Trump), approved President Joe Biden’s ditching of Mr. Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy. So much for the court being a far-right, MAGA court.
Under these laws, if your child is suffering from the condition of gender dysphoria, you are not permitted to take your child to treat it. You are only permitted to take your child for treatment to make the dysphoria worse, i.e. to help the child mentally transition to the opposite of his or her biological sex.
The Ninth Circuit first upheld the California law, astonishingly stating that “parents do not have a fundamental right to choose for children medical or mental health treatment that the state has deemed harmful.” What is harmful about a counselor helping a child resolve his or her gender dysphoria in order to avoid prescription drugs and surgeries? What’s harmful, is counseling to help convince children they were born in the wrong body, but that is what these states permit.
“Gender affirming care,” most are aware by now, is actually gender-changing care. It involves hormone treatments and surgeries so a man can become a “transwoman” or a woman to become a “transman.” Or, more appropriately, for a boy to become a “transgirl,” or girl to become a “transboy.”
In the letter the DOJ expressed concern about laws limiting minors access to such care, yet had no concern about the states which prevent minors from getting what would be actual “gender affirming care,” that being care designed to help children resolve their gender dysphoria in a way that allows them to accept and live comfortably within their biological sex.
The letter states, “All persons should be free to access the services, programs, and activities supported by federal financial assistance without fear that they might face unlawful discrimination for doing so.” Well said, but why does that not apply to counseling to resolve dysphoria?
Since the case was brought by the counselor, not parents, it was framed as a free speech case. While it seems obvious that the law violates the free speech rights of the counselor, it is more concerning that it limits the freedom of parents to provide the treatment of their choice for their child without interference from the state.
But it simply is not true. There have been numerous identical twin studies that reveal that the majority of the time, when one twin is LGBT, the other is not. Same DNA, different outcome. Scientists have now mapped the entire human genome. No transgender gene has been found.
The most likely explanation is that it happens in early childhood due to some form of trauma, just like so many other conditions which manifest later in life. Gender dysphoria can be treated in the same way as other disorders through traditional psychological counseling. The left denigrates such counseling, calling it shaming or “praying away the gay.” But in truth, counseling to help patients overcome trauma is the most common form of counseling.
So why did the court refuse the case? Perhaps it’s going out of its way to demonstrate it is not a MAGA court. Regardless, the undeniable effect of these rulings has been thousands of lives lost due to fentanyl coming across our border, and thousands of children forced to struggle without help with their gender dysphoria, left only with the option of harmful drugs and surgeries.