The Majority of Kids Would Outgrow Gender Disorders if They Don’t Transition

Testosterone medication for gender transitioning seen in a file photo. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Commentary

On Aug. 26, a federal appeals court ruled 2-1, allowing Florida the ability to enforce a ban on puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sex reassignment surgeries on minor-age children. The May 2023 law had previously been deemed unconstitutional in June 2024 by a federal district court. Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration appealed the ruling, which has now resulted in victory.

When asked by a reporter about the ban, Gov. DeSantis said: “It is the mutilation of minors that is harming people. It is wrong to do this. You don’t take some 14-year-old and pump them with hormone blockers and try to change their sex with an operation. It is wrong.” The governor continued, “It is not based on sound science, and in fact, most of these countries in Europe that are more liberal than the U.S., like Sweden, they have pulled the plug on this. The United Kingdom pulled the plug on this. So what we did is protecting young people.”

Gov. DeSantis also addressed the driving forces behind the transgender movement—an ideology not grounded in science and the tremendous profitability of gender treatments for providers.

There is a lot of money behind the hormones and surgeries. As Wesley J. Smith writes: “All of these interventions make for a multibillion-dollar industry. That kind of money is a powerful incentive in one direction.” The medical industry knows that once someone takes those high-dollar drugs or has costly surgeries, that person will become a patient for life requiring ongoing expensive care.

The transgender movement affecting children and teenagers has been exploding for several years now while those with concerns are being silenced. A critically important, informative book, “When Harry Became Sally” by Ryan T. Anderson, provides insight into the movement.

“When Harry Became Sally” reveals the reality that, for the majority of children, “gender-affirming care” and the celebrated “transition” components—new names, pronouns, and clothing, followed by puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, and ultimately sex reassignment surgeries—won’t bring psychological wholeness, but instead, further harm to those suffering.

Additionally, Anderson points to data showing that an overwhelming majority of children will outgrow gender identity disorders if they don’t transition. More specifically, he writes, “The best studies of gender dysphoria (studies that even transgender activists cite) show that between 80 and 95 percent of children who express a discordant gender identity will come to identify with their bodily sex if natural development is allowed to proceed.”

An amicus brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2017 similarly stated that “All competent authorities agree that between 80 and 95 percent of children who say that they are transgender naturally come to accept their sex and to enjoy emotional health by late adolescence.” The brief included data cited by the American College of Pediatricians, which revealed that the cases of “approximately 98 percent of gender-confused boys, and 88 percent of gender-confused girls, naturally resolve.”

Despite the compelling data, transgender activists and their allies are gaslighting parents to believe that “transitioning” is the antidote to preventing their son or daughter from committing suicide. Research reveals that transitioning “has not been shown to reduce the extraordinarily high rate of suicide attempts among people who identify as transgender,” according to Anderson.

In fact, the data indicate the highest risks come from transitioning rather than from resisting these practices. Anderson notes that the “largest and most rigorous academic study on the results of hormonal and surgical transitioning ... found strong evidence of poor psychological outcomes” and that “suicide attempts were nearly five times more frequent, and the likelihood of death by suicide was nineteen times higher—again, after adjusting for prior psychiatric illness.”

Anderson explains, “Much like patients with anorexia nervosa, these children mistakenly believe that a drastic change of their bodies will solve or minimize their psychosocial problems.” However, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries are not the cure for the problem. These chemicals and surgical interventions do not make a person become the opposite sex. That is biologically impossible.

Today, there are more than 100 gender clinics that treat children. Most of these clinics were created in recent years “not in light of new scientific evidence, mind you, but under the pressure of ideology,” says Anderson.

The book includes first-person narratives from those who “transitioned.” One example is from an individual named Crash, who shared, “Transitioning was an act of self-destruction, enabled by medical professionals who were supposedly ‘helping’ us to be our ‘true selves.’” Crash continued, “It is truly horrifying to come out of that dissociated state and realize that not only were you suppressing and trying to destroy yourself but that other people were there encouraging and assisting you in doing so.”

As Anderson advocates, “Children need our protection and guidance as they navigate the challenges of growing into adulthood. We need medical professionals who will help them mature in harmony with their bodies rather than deploy experimental treatments to refashion their bodies.” Anderson continues, “And we need a culture that cultivates a sound understanding of gender and how it is rooted in biology, a culture that respects our differences without imposing restrictive stereotypes.”

It’s not just doctors and medical health professionals getting this dangerously wrong. School personnel are trained to affirm and socially transition children and teenagers—often in secret from dads and moms—which sets them on a path to chemical and then surgical irreversible damage to their otherwise healthy bodies. All of these individuals, in their professions, have a moral, ethical, and legal responsibility to protect children from harm.

More education and awareness are needed, and parents must be told the key truth: 80 to 95 percent of children will outgrow discordant gender identity if they are allowed to develop naturally. Children need help and time, not the potentially lifelong harm offered to them by these misguided practices.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.