Adolescent Gender-Affirming Care

Right now you can make comments on the “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance” proposed rule by the Education Department until 09/12/2022. (There is not much time left to comment.)  It sounds not so bad from the title until you realize that “Sex” includes the LGBTQ+ protections with an expanded definition of harassment. For parents, it may not be possible for them to take part in their child’s transgender decisions if they disapprove of the child’s chosen gender identity.  My comment addresses the dangers of “gender-affirming care” and I now realize does not directly address the issues of discrimination in Title IX, but I was rushed to post it before the deadline and to let you have the opportunity to post too. Here is my comment.

Docket ID: ED-2021-OCR-0166

I am concerned with these Title IX rule revisions.  I have many concerns about the rule revisions but my biggest concern is transgender adolescents getting gender-affirming medical care, that is using puberty blockers and then cross-sex hormones and finally surgery. It is dangerous and does not address their psychological issues that often accompany their desire to change gender.  

The FDA has recently added a warning to the “puberty blockers”, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, which may cause brain swelling and vision loss in some children.  Sweden and Finland have reversed course and now ban the puberty blockers and hormone treatment in almost all cases of youth transgenderism.  Why?  They say the evidence is lacking and as a result of their study they now assert that the risks of hormonal treatment outweigh the benefits for most transgender youth. Their first treatment now is to deal with the psychological issues that these youth are facing.  There tend to be other issues besides gender dysphoria (transgenderism).  And in the vast majority of cases adolescent gender dysphoria resolves itself during puberty without any medical treatment.  We should follow the example of Sweden and Finland and not go down the hormone treatment route. These treatments can cause irreversible damage to the youth, including permanent sterilization.   Parents need to and must play a role in this too, because in most cases they know their child better than most, so do not allow schools to hide the treatment from the parents. 

I believe these rules will create more problems than they solve.  This can be seen in the UK where they shut down the largest gender-affirming care facility in the country and have removed gender-affirming care from the “affirmative care” model. And they are now facing lawsuits from 1000 families.  Sweden, Finland, and the UK all have reconsidered gender-affirming medical care for adolescents.  America should not make the same mistake and should not allow gender-affirming medical care for adolescents.  The science is not there.  The risks of the treatment outweigh the benefits.

That is my comment to the Federal Register. You can make a comment too before 09/12/2022.  Some more information is available.  (Be sure to include ‘Docket ID: ED-2021-OCR-0166’.)

Puberty is a time of big change.  It is not only a time of physical change but it is also a time where the youth becomes more independent.  I once heard that the teenage years are like “having a car with the brakes on backorder”.  Looking back at my life, puberty was a time of uncertainty.  Parental involvement is needed to provide stability for a teenager. The teenager should not be making life changing irreversible decisions about one’s gender.

If you are thinking that the idea of choosing your gender is crazy, you are not alone but this is where the emerging culture has taken us. Biologically we are binary, male and female, and yet the idea that you can look inside yourself and find the real sexual you is popular.  Reality is in love God made you.  He did not make any mistakes in choosing your sex.  Because of this broken world and our sinful nature, you may feel out of place but know that God has your best interests at heart.  You are loved and he is there for you.  Let Jesus be your Lord and Savior. Turn to him and let him lead.