FTC sues WPATH

Is “I told you so” meaningful at all when you’ve lost your child? The University health care service cited WPATH as the gold standard for trans care when our daughter had a mental breakdown at school, became convinced she was “born in the wrong body” and they started her on T after two telehealth appointments. I don’t want to think they’ve destroyed her. Because I don’t want it to be true. But where is she now, six years after starting T compared to where she was then?

Six years ago, she was a beautiful, brilliant, athletic student attending her dream college. She was also lacking in confidence and riven with anxiety. She was seeing a therapist. But one of her classmates “helpfully” suggested that her profound sense of being different from her peers could all be explained away by trans-ideology. And she latched onto it like a sailor grabbing a life preserver after going overboard in a storm. It was a lifeline for her. I don’t want to underplay the mental anguish she was experiencing but I’ll never forgive the University Healthcare Service for what they did to her.

Where is she now? She’s still lacking in confidence and riven with anxiety. She still hasn’t addressed whatever underlying mental health issues are driving this. But now she’s dropped out of that dream college she worked so hard to get into. She’s overweight, balding, with no friends or romantic partners. Her defining characteristic is not that’s she looks like a man (she does) but that she is incredibly, heart-breaking lonely.

So, yeah, I was glad to hear about the FTC’s lawsuit against WPATH. In fact, I forwarded all my correspondence with the school to the FTC in the event it might help with the case. But it seems the lawsuit has little chance of succeeding for several reasons: 1) The FTC is using consumer protection law to challenge a medical association’s standards of care, something rarely done; 2) WPATH is claiming the lawsuit is an unconstitutional violation of its First Amendment rights; 3) WPATH is claiming that the law is part of a broader ideological campaign against gender-affirming care; and 4) WPATH claims a federal judge had already blocked the FTC’s prior investigative WPATH.

So, where does that leave me? Should I revert to my original plan to burn the school down? (Just kidding!) No, it’s just leaving a bitter taste in my mouth and churning in my gut that a renowned university can cite an unethical organization to justify ruining my daughter’s health (if not her life). I realize I must be thankful that the FTC is even trying to put an end to this madness and to hold an organization accountable. I must be hopeful that my daughter can still be restored to a semblance of mental health. I must take heart from the stories of detransitioners whose experience is so similar to my daughter’s. I mustn’t lose heart because she still needs me.

“Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower, we will grieve not; rather find strength in what remains behind.” Wordsworth