An open letter to the US Attorney General has troubling implications
This week, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Medical Association and Children’s Hospital Association wrote to the US Attorney General in support of physicians and hospitals who have been threatened and attacked in recent months. At first glance, this is a noble and worthy aim — threats and acts of violence are to be deplored wherever they occur. But their demands are open-ended and as such should ring alarm bells in the minds of anyone who values free speech.
The context for the letter is so-called “evidence-based gender-affirming health care” for “Transgender and Gender-Diverse Children and Adolescents”. The AAP cited their own policy statement that defined gender affirmation to include puberty blockers, cross-sex-hormone therapy and “gender affirming surgeries”. These are controversial treatment protocols to say the least, and a heated debate has erupted across social media. But rather than engage with criticism, the three organisations seem to want to shut it down. In their letter they insisted:
The attacks are rooted in an intentional campaign of disinformation, where a few high-profile users on social media share false and misleading information targeting individual physicians and hospitals.
American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association and Children’s Hospital Association
But what is ‘disinformation’? Is it simply information that these three large organisations do not like? They are certainly very quick to make assertions of their own — the AAP talks about ‘evidence-based gender-affirming health care’ as if the efficacy of these treatments had been proven by extensive clinical trials — but they seem less keen to face questions. Dismissing contrary views as false or misleading sounds alarmingly like those Trumpian claims of fake news.
On this side of the Atlantic we do things differently. NHS England commissioned Dr Hilary Cass to review Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People. In paragraph 5.21 of her interim report, she came to a more considered conclusion:
The lack of available high-level evidence was reflected in the recent NICE review into the use of puberty blockers and feminising/masculinising hormones commissioned by NHS England, with the evidence being too inconclusive to form the basis of a policy position.
Dr Hilary Cass
Disinformation? Or expert opinion? It’s not clear who makes the call. In a democratic society, arguments are debated and opponents are persuaded. But the letter writers take a rather different approach:
Our organizations have called on technology companies to do more to prevent this practice on digital platforms, and we now urge your office to take swift action to investigate and prosecute all organizations, individuals, and entities responsible.
American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association and Children’s Hospital Association
This has the hallmarks of an authoritarian pincer movement — the censors on one side and the thought police on the other — to protect an industry that medically transitions children from scrutiny. If that industry gets its way, the impact on investigative journalism may be profound, while the implications for children are terrifying.
Debbie Hayton
* This article was first published by Unherd on 5 October 2022: Medical authorities are censoring the trans debate.
Debbie Hayton 
2 replies on “Medical authorities are censoring the trans debate”
It’s really getting quite alarming. I’ve been watching some of the “gender critical” (GC) videos on YouTube, including a very impressive talk by Abigail Shrier, the Heritage Foundation, etc., and the comments are full of people saying how glad they are that they went through childhood before this latest craze for gender fluidity got going, or their mild temporary gender confusion or non-conformity to sexual stereotypes might have led them to being “affirmed” and medically transitioned. If YouTube (Google) is forced into censoring GC information, it will be a very bad day.
One of the prominent contrary hypotheses to explain the enormous rise in female teens with “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD) is that this demographic is particularly susceptible to social contagion (probably due to the extreme pressures on girls regarding their self-image and sexuality), which has manifested in waves of disorders, including self-harm, anorexia, and various historic phenomena usually attributed to “hysteria”. There was even an alarming number of girls claiming they were possessed by demons after the hit movie, The Exorcist came out.
As far as I can tell from a first search, YouTube has removed most of the “thinspiration” and “cutting” videos encouraging girls to starve or cut themselves, in order to try to combat the social contagion. Whether we agree with this kind of censorship, censoring information criticising the sterilisation of confused kids on the basis of self-referential, subjective views of “gender”, often leading to the removal of healthy tissue and (according to some studies) increasing mental health problems and suicidality, would be attrocious, and is already underway in many states. This is going to be one of the most tragic medical scandals when the world wakes up from the Woke postmodernist idiocy.
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Here is the note I just sent to the AAP. Since those people are in a trans-induced trance, I don’t think it will do any good:
“Your efforts to cut off debate on your controversial policies is really despicable. In case you aren’t aware of this, Americans have FREEDOM OF SPEECH and may express their opinions on any subject. If you think you can get the Attorney General to suppress people’s freedom of speech, you are sadly mistaken.
“Your recommendations and practices regarding so-called trans children are controversial for a reason. Children do not have the cognitive and emotional maturity to make life-changing choices on behalf of the adult yet to come. Transitioning from one gender to another (if it is even possible) is a life-choice that SHOULD be made by adults only. Children’s minds change as they grow. Most children will grow out of any transgender feelings they have if given a chance. The idea that children will commit suicide if they cannot change genders while they are still children is a talking point used by transgender activists to scare people. Indeed, you don’t seem to realize that you have allowed your thinking to be influenced by a social movement.
“The proper treatment of transgender children is to tell them that transitioning is for adults only, and if they still have these feelings when they are grown, then they are free to do with their bodies what they please.
“One thing I don’t understand about your organization is that you don’t seem to understand that doctors should, first and foremost, DO NO HARM. Giving puberty-blockers and hormones to children has significant harmful effects on their bodies, effects which are becoming clearer every day. And certainly, cutting off a child’s healthy body parts to satisfy a child’s temporary sense of identity is outrageous. Why aren’t you able to see that? This rush to encourage children to transition has resulted in tens of thousands of young detransitioners who regret what they did to themselves. Those detransitioners are at risk of committing suicide too, you know!
“To the extent that the AAP is not encouraging doctors to DO NO HARM, your policies and practices in this area are completely irresponsible.” -end-
I have said this before, but I will say it again. This practice probably won’t stop until some young person sues his parents and his doctors for allowing it to happen. The young person will argue that he (or she) didn’t have the emotional maturity to make such decisions as a child; and if my understanding of American law is right, he will win.
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