Music To My Ears

Center for Transyouth at Children's Hospital in Los Angeles shutting down

In December of 2020, I donned a wig and mask and, accompanied by four other parents, stood in front of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) with signs protesting the hospital’s Center for Transyouth Health and Development Clinic. I was terrified to participate in this activism. I worried about TRA’s and Antifa. I worried my trans-identified child would find out, or my employer. Fortunately, nothing bad happened. We were treated with a little love and a little hate. Later, I felt proud to have done this with the hope of making a difference, even though there were only five of us.

Our small parent group protested a few more times in front of CHLA, each time gathering more people with help from LGB activists. A block away from the hospital, one of the parents had managed to post a billboard of the cover of Abigail Shrier’s book, Irreversible Damage. We later learned that this upset Johanna Olsen-Kennedy, the head of CHLA’s Transyouth clinic.

A few days ago, I learned that CHLA’s Transyouth clinic will be shutting its doors on July 22. This is music to my ears! I’ve learned of so many children captured in this medical scandal, just like my own. We never took our child to this clinic. I was a non-affirming parent and did not believe in child-led “gender affirming care”. In fact, I did everything I could to protect my child from this harmful ideology and pseudo-science.

The photo from the LA Times article shows affirming parents standing outside the hospital with signs supporting the clinic and “gender affirming care”. The Times never covered us, the non-affirming parents. They never reported on our protests although it should have qualified as news, especially in light of the subsequent shut down. No, we were always overlooked. The paper reported that this closure will push the affirming parents underground. Non-affirming parents have always been underground and our views ignored. Will society finally be reversing course?

I first learned of the clinic closing from my friend who had also attended one of the protests. She saw the news article published that morning in the LA Times. I was at work and barely had time to look at the article, let alone process the news. When I did have time to read it, I mostly felt just numb. It’s hard thinking about all the kids and families impacted by this gender madness. I am happy the clinic is closing.

The Times article doesn’t mention Johanna Olsen-Kennedy. Frankly, it’s probably better for CHLA not to admit to the Times that Olsen-Kennedy is one of the biggest pushers of medicalizing underage kids and young people. That she is famous for saying little gems like, “If you want breasts at a later point in your life, you can go and get them.” And, “I don’t send someone to a therapist when I’m going to start them on insulin”. And her famous pop tart reference, “Well, what if there was a strawberry pop tart in a foil packet, in a box that said ‘Cinnamon Pop Tarts.’? Is it a strawberry pop tart, or a cinnamon pop tart?” Also that she suppressed the publication of a $10 million taxpayer-funded study she ran which did not find any improvement in the mental health of children treated with puberty blockers, claiming the findings would be “weaponized” to gate-keep the treatment. In the NYT Protocol audio podcast she objects to the alternative to “gender affirming care”, claiming gatekeeping is outdated and that children should be believed. She also freely admits in the podcast to pressuring reluctant parents with this terrible lie, “Would you rather have a dead son than an alive daughter?”.

Olsen-Kennedy is responsible for harming thousands of kids. The Times reports she works with over 3,000 families. I do worry where she will go next.

My journey to end this medical scandal began over five years ago. Participating in a protest against the LA clinic was just one small step in a long process. But to see the CHLA clinic shutter its doors is a huge relief. A huge victory. I cannot wait to see the rest of the house of cards fall.