Is Transgenderism in Children the Equivalent of Child Abuse?

            Families, communities, and nations are stronger when responsible adults are willing to stand up to protect children and youth. The American College of Pediatricians recently made such a stand when they issued a statement in support of children and youth. A similar statement, was signed in 2016 by Michelle A. Cretella, M.D. (President of the American College of Pediatricians), Quentin Van Meter, M.D. (Vice President of the American College of Pediatricians and Pediatric Endocrinologist), and Paul McHugh, M.D. (University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School and the former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital).


            The statement condemned gender reclassification in children and said that transgenderism in children amounts to child abuse. That is a powerful statement that deserves our attention. “The American College of Pediatricians urges educators and legislators to reject all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex. Facts – not ideology – determine reality.” There are eight arguments in the statement for why gender reclassification is harmful, all of which are sound reasoning.

1. Human sexuality is an objective biological binary trait: “XY” and “XX” are genetic markers of health – not genetic markers of a disorder.

2. No one is born with a gender. Everyone is born with a biological sex. Gender (an awareness and sense of oneself as male or female) is a sociological and psychological concept; not an objective biological one.

3. A person’s belief that he or she is something they are not is, at best, a sign of confused thinking. When an otherwise healthy biological boy believes he is a girl, or an otherwise healthy biological girl believes she is a boy, an objective psychological problem exists that lies in the mind not the body, and it should be treated as such.

4. Puberty is not a disease and puberty-blocking hormones can be dangerous. Reversible or not, puberty-blocking hormones induce a state of disease – the absence of puberty – and inhibit growth and fertility in a previously biologically healthy child.

5. According to the DSM-V, as many as 98% of gender confused boys and 88% of gender confused girls eventually accept their biological sex after naturally passing through puberty.

6. Children who use puberty blockers to impersonate the opposite sex will require cross-sex hormones in late adolescence. Cross-sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen) are associated with dangerous health risks including but not limited to high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke and cancer.

7. Rates of suicide are twenty times greater among adults who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex reassignment surgery, even in Sweden which is among the most LGBQT-affirming countries.

8. Conditioning children into believing a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse.

            In summary, the statement says that we are born with biological sex – male or female – but not gender. Gender is not biological but is sociological and psychological. In other words, it is in the mind (thoughts) and emotions (feelings). If a child believes they are in the wrong body, a responsible adult will help the child to work through their thoughts and feelings and assist them in becoming comfortable in their body. A responsible adult will help to lessen the confusion rather than to increase it. 

           The statement makes clear that any adult who manipulates a child into believing they should be the opposite sex is committing child abuse and should be dealt with according to the law. We cannot have strong families, communities, and nations when the rising generation is confused about their own body.