by Diane Robertson
In a bold yet compassionate medically sound move, the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds), in eight clear statements, has proclaimed that modern gender ideology harms children. They affirmed that the chromosomal markers of gender, XY and XX, are genetic markers of health and not genetic markers of a disorder. Those “who identify as ‘feeling like the opposite sex’ or ‘somewhere in between’ do not comprise a third sex,” rather, “they remain biological men or biological women.”
Furthermore, they stated that the exceptionally rare disorders of sexual differentiation (DSD) are documented medical disorders and do not constitute a third gender. If a boy believes he is a girl or a girl believes she is a boy then an “objective psychological problem exists that lies in the mind not the body,” declared the ACPeds. Gender dysphoria, “is a recognized mental disorder in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-V).” Gender dysphoria should be treated as a mental disorder and not a physical disorder.
According to the DSM-V, 98% of gender confused boys and 88% of gender confused girls will accept their biological sex after the natural process of puberty. Hormone blockers used to set a child on a path to gender reassignment surgery block the natural process of puberty and induces a disease in an otherwise healthy child. Absence of puberty and stunted growth are considered diseases that need treatment.
Cross sex hormones used in young adults and throughout the lives of those who receive gender reassignment surgery are known carcinogens with additional health risks of high blood pressure and blood clots. While many claim that gender reassignment surgery and living life as the opposite of one’s biological sex is the cure for gender dysphoria, the America Academy of Pediatricians confirm that “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.”
The American College of Pediatricians equates “conditioning children into believing a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful,” as child abuse.
The medical facts are clear and consistent. Humans are born with a biological sex that does not change. While there are some documented disorders, they do not constitute a third sex. People who feel they are the opposite of their biological gender do not constitute a third sex. Gender reassignment surgery is not the cure to gender dysphoria, yet it does create a lifetime of physical and psychological problems. The American College of Pediatricians is compassionate in that it places the health and wellness of children above modern popular ideas about gender fluidity.