I'm having conversations with people I wouldn't have had a year ago. While I was outspoken in my own opposition to the medicalization of kids, the people around me were scared and silent. The tide is turning. The scared, silent people are finally beginning to speak up.
This is very poignant and true. I believe that the young adults who are currently medicalizing, like my 20 yo daughter, will be the last men and women on that side of the battlefield, fighting the fact that the tide has turned long after the doctors, politicians, teachers, and media have jumped ship. They'll continue to deny reality until it may be too late. Even as the house of cards shows signs of falling, the sickest and most captured of our children will still try to prop it up for all they're worth. A wise person once told me that those who are mentally troubled will go to great lengths to avoid the truth. It's depressing but I believe this to be true.
The AAP "says it's fine" deferring to the expertise of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Same with the Endocrine Society and American Psychiatric Association. However, WPATH has been exposed as activists and frauds by their own leaked files. Send her links to Mia Hughes publication of the files and accompanying explanations. Also the Cass Report.
I've met him--a nice little six-year-old boy who visits occasionally from out-of-state. He's met me out walking with his grandmother enough times that he calls hi to me from across the street.
His parents have told him that he is now a girl because every now and then he says, "I'm a girl." He's never spoken strongly about it. Never showed any signs of being unhappy with being a boy. Never exhibited any kind of distress. Just occasionally comments, "I'm a girl."
So they're going to destroy his body.
They've already taken him to the doctors, who of course assured them that there's nothing dangerous at all about puberty blockers, wrong-sex hormones, or chopping healthy reproductive body parts off innocent minors. The AAP says it's fine, so it must be.
I have begged her not to let them do it to him. I've reminded her that little children commonly experiment with their identities. My own son said he was a dinosaur. Was he?
She asked me to send her links to back up the harm I was citing, so I sent her links to hard data, PITT's True Believer story, the whistleblower article by the head of Finland's pediatric gender program. She eventually blocked me.
She's still very friendly to me. She's forgotten she blocked me. But now she refers to this perfectly normal little boy as "she."
I'm deeply conflicted over whether to keep trying to influence her, or try to get her to believe I'm onboard so she'll trust me. At this point, all I want is five minutes alone with him to convince him to drop the charade before his parents take him to the doctor and start poisoning him over it. Just tell his parents he's done being a girl and is now a boy again. That's all.
At only six years old, this innocent child who doesn't understand a fraction of what he's walking into is literally the only person who can save him from this insane cult of child sacrifice.
Six years old.
However, since I don't think she'll ever leave me alone with him, the only other thing I can do is keep trying to educate the people around me and knock wood that this madness ends before this little boy reaches the age at which the doctors commence his poisoning.
East-German Chris Gueffroy was 18 when he was shot at the Berlin Wall, trying to escape in Spring 1989. Not knowing that Fall 1989 the Wall would fall, he was the last victim of another insane ideology. I think often that his parents , who are probably still alive,lost their child to a
system which suddenly disappeared but their pain will stay their whole life
During high school, I read All Quiet on the Western Front. The book follows Paul Baumer, a German soldier during WW1. Although I’ve never re-read the book, the last pages are vivid. Paul died after the war ended, when it was, “All Quiet on the Western Front.”
Very thought provoking, thank you for sharing. I am not sure it is coming to a halt anytime soon. I do not trust Big Pharma or the giant corps that are profiting from this medical crisis. Greeds has deep pockets. I am hopeful that the harm being done to children will eventually stop, but how? When? You made good points comparing an ending war to hopefully ending this war on children. Fingers crossed.
I’m not sure what makes you think Democrats wouldn’t want to “tie themselves to this anti-woman and anti-LGB ideology”. They already do! In Congress and state legislatures, the vast majority of Democrats vote against bills banning biological men from women’s sports or banning medical transition for minors etc. Occasionally maybe 1 or 2 Democrats might vote for such bills, but often Democrats unanimously vote against them…
I disagree that the war is over. As long as Democrats are still advocating in favor of transgenderism, some courts are still ruling in favor of it and the number of people identifying as trans keeps increasing every year, then it’s still far from over…
I do really wish this madness was really over - but then I look at the Virginia governor’s race and see the Dem candidate is delivering word salad instead of rejecting evil trans ideology. Normally I’d be rooting for her to win - she seems centrist on most issues. But I hope she loses. If she does, it’s possible Dems will wake up.
Most of the parents who gave in to (or supported) the con will never be able to concede that they were wrong no matter how strong the evidence. They can never acknowledge the harm that they did to those they had a moral obligation to protect. Along with lobotomies, forced eugenic abortions of black babies, and the Tuskegee syphilis study the permanent mutilation of so many children will go down in history as medical malpractice at its worst.
Great essay. I think, though, this "war" is different. This war is a spiritual war backed by huge financial interests. And parents who have supported their kids' transitions and drank the Kool-Aid, and are now the loudest activists, will likely be among the hardest to reach with reality-based thinking and science. I don't know that we will ever have a clear ending of the "war;" and thus, I don't think there will actually be a "last child" lost to this ideology.
If the parents (and professionals) admitted otherwise, they would have to confront that they are monsters who abused their own children/patients—some for fame, some for money, some for misguided empathy. But people can’t even stand being called out when they are selfish or rude. They are unwilling to confront their own evil and malice on this level. Their only choice is to double down, or have a come to Jesus moment. How could anyone live with the guilt of knowing they facilitated the mutilation or sterilization of their children for a false doctrine otherwise?
I have Progressive friends and colleagues who have been willing and self-righteous parties to the drugging and surgical sterilization of their "Trans kids", for whom they have loudly advocated, and whom they have defended from such allegedly transphobic acts as their (Liberal, to be clear) friends' cruelly referring to human biology in public and dangerously questioning the safety of pediatric transition. (My sister was banned from her congregation for a year for supposedly making certain parents "feel unsafe" by believing she had the right to discuss the matter, and hold an opposing viewpoint -- as though being in the same House of Worship as someone who disagrees with your (brave and and progressive!) childrearing practices is like coming to Temple and seeing someone in full Ku Klux Klan regalia, or perhaps in a black cloak, brandishing a machete.
Of course, the problem is that it really is dangerous to Tinker Bell if you stop clapping. The possibility that the opinionated old woman with the credentials and the facts might be right is indeed a threat to those whose sense of self depends upon the maintainance an alternate reality where Max really was Sally all along, and had just discovered her "true self" (with the help of those nice Trans peers on the internet, those supportive teachers at school, and the kind doctor with his booming Gender Affirming Care clinic).
Even if it eventually becomes acceptable in polite company to say that "gender identity" was a massive con and Transing kids was the medical scandal of the century, such parents will still double down. It is unacceptable to most people's psyche either to have willingly sterilized and maimed one's own children, or to have been duped into doing so.
I'm having conversations with people I wouldn't have had a year ago. While I was outspoken in my own opposition to the medicalization of kids, the people around me were scared and silent. The tide is turning. The scared, silent people are finally beginning to speak up.
This is very poignant and true. I believe that the young adults who are currently medicalizing, like my 20 yo daughter, will be the last men and women on that side of the battlefield, fighting the fact that the tide has turned long after the doctors, politicians, teachers, and media have jumped ship. They'll continue to deny reality until it may be too late. Even as the house of cards shows signs of falling, the sickest and most captured of our children will still try to prop it up for all they're worth. A wise person once told me that those who are mentally troubled will go to great lengths to avoid the truth. It's depressing but I believe this to be true.
The AAP "says it's fine" deferring to the expertise of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Same with the Endocrine Society and American Psychiatric Association. However, WPATH has been exposed as activists and frauds by their own leaked files. Send her links to Mia Hughes publication of the files and accompanying explanations. Also the Cass Report.
My neighbor says she has a "trans" grandchild.
I've met him--a nice little six-year-old boy who visits occasionally from out-of-state. He's met me out walking with his grandmother enough times that he calls hi to me from across the street.
His parents have told him that he is now a girl because every now and then he says, "I'm a girl." He's never spoken strongly about it. Never showed any signs of being unhappy with being a boy. Never exhibited any kind of distress. Just occasionally comments, "I'm a girl."
So they're going to destroy his body.
They've already taken him to the doctors, who of course assured them that there's nothing dangerous at all about puberty blockers, wrong-sex hormones, or chopping healthy reproductive body parts off innocent minors. The AAP says it's fine, so it must be.
I have begged her not to let them do it to him. I've reminded her that little children commonly experiment with their identities. My own son said he was a dinosaur. Was he?
She asked me to send her links to back up the harm I was citing, so I sent her links to hard data, PITT's True Believer story, the whistleblower article by the head of Finland's pediatric gender program. She eventually blocked me.
She's still very friendly to me. She's forgotten she blocked me. But now she refers to this perfectly normal little boy as "she."
I'm deeply conflicted over whether to keep trying to influence her, or try to get her to believe I'm onboard so she'll trust me. At this point, all I want is five minutes alone with him to convince him to drop the charade before his parents take him to the doctor and start poisoning him over it. Just tell his parents he's done being a girl and is now a boy again. That's all.
At only six years old, this innocent child who doesn't understand a fraction of what he's walking into is literally the only person who can save him from this insane cult of child sacrifice.
Six years old.
However, since I don't think she'll ever leave me alone with him, the only other thing I can do is keep trying to educate the people around me and knock wood that this madness ends before this little boy reaches the age at which the doctors commence his poisoning.
East-German Chris Gueffroy was 18 when he was shot at the Berlin Wall, trying to escape in Spring 1989. Not knowing that Fall 1989 the Wall would fall, he was the last victim of another insane ideology. I think often that his parents , who are probably still alive,lost their child to a
system which suddenly disappeared but their pain will stay their whole life
This is a powerful analogy. Thank you.
During high school, I read All Quiet on the Western Front. The book follows Paul Baumer, a German soldier during WW1. Although I’ve never re-read the book, the last pages are vivid. Paul died after the war ended, when it was, “All Quiet on the Western Front.”
It is the adults that have to stop it! Children don't know better, it is always the adults.
Very thought provoking, thank you for sharing. I am not sure it is coming to a halt anytime soon. I do not trust Big Pharma or the giant corps that are profiting from this medical crisis. Greeds has deep pockets. I am hopeful that the harm being done to children will eventually stop, but how? When? You made good points comparing an ending war to hopefully ending this war on children. Fingers crossed.
I’m not sure what makes you think Democrats wouldn’t want to “tie themselves to this anti-woman and anti-LGB ideology”. They already do! In Congress and state legislatures, the vast majority of Democrats vote against bills banning biological men from women’s sports or banning medical transition for minors etc. Occasionally maybe 1 or 2 Democrats might vote for such bills, but often Democrats unanimously vote against them…
I disagree that the war is over. As long as Democrats are still advocating in favor of transgenderism, some courts are still ruling in favor of it and the number of people identifying as trans keeps increasing every year, then it’s still far from over…
I do really wish this madness was really over - but then I look at the Virginia governor’s race and see the Dem candidate is delivering word salad instead of rejecting evil trans ideology. Normally I’d be rooting for her to win - she seems centrist on most issues. But I hope she loses. If she does, it’s possible Dems will wake up.
Most of the parents who gave in to (or supported) the con will never be able to concede that they were wrong no matter how strong the evidence. They can never acknowledge the harm that they did to those they had a moral obligation to protect. Along with lobotomies, forced eugenic abortions of black babies, and the Tuskegee syphilis study the permanent mutilation of so many children will go down in history as medical malpractice at its worst.
I struggle to believe we have truly passed the peak. But i hope so.
Great essay. I think, though, this "war" is different. This war is a spiritual war backed by huge financial interests. And parents who have supported their kids' transitions and drank the Kool-Aid, and are now the loudest activists, will likely be among the hardest to reach with reality-based thinking and science. I don't know that we will ever have a clear ending of the "war;" and thus, I don't think there will actually be a "last child" lost to this ideology.
If the parents (and professionals) admitted otherwise, they would have to confront that they are monsters who abused their own children/patients—some for fame, some for money, some for misguided empathy. But people can’t even stand being called out when they are selfish or rude. They are unwilling to confront their own evil and malice on this level. Their only choice is to double down, or have a come to Jesus moment. How could anyone live with the guilt of knowing they facilitated the mutilation or sterilization of their children for a false doctrine otherwise?
I have Progressive friends and colleagues who have been willing and self-righteous parties to the drugging and surgical sterilization of their "Trans kids", for whom they have loudly advocated, and whom they have defended from such allegedly transphobic acts as their (Liberal, to be clear) friends' cruelly referring to human biology in public and dangerously questioning the safety of pediatric transition. (My sister was banned from her congregation for a year for supposedly making certain parents "feel unsafe" by believing she had the right to discuss the matter, and hold an opposing viewpoint -- as though being in the same House of Worship as someone who disagrees with your (brave and and progressive!) childrearing practices is like coming to Temple and seeing someone in full Ku Klux Klan regalia, or perhaps in a black cloak, brandishing a machete.
Of course, the problem is that it really is dangerous to Tinker Bell if you stop clapping. The possibility that the opinionated old woman with the credentials and the facts might be right is indeed a threat to those whose sense of self depends upon the maintainance an alternate reality where Max really was Sally all along, and had just discovered her "true self" (with the help of those nice Trans peers on the internet, those supportive teachers at school, and the kind doctor with his booming Gender Affirming Care clinic).
Even if it eventually becomes acceptable in polite company to say that "gender identity" was a massive con and Transing kids was the medical scandal of the century, such parents will still double down. It is unacceptable to most people's psyche either to have willingly sterilized and maimed one's own children, or to have been duped into doing so.
Exactly
Eloquent, moving writing!
What a marvelous comparison! My heart continues to ache for the many casualties of this war.