By Robert Fireovid
On May 1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a 142-page review “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practices”. This comprehensive review prioritizes evidence-based medicine and questions the treatment of minors with irreversible medical interventions such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries. The HHS review concludes that the evidence for these treatments is of “very low” quality and causes “significant harms,” including infertility and psychological distress (HHS Review, p. 12).
“The review highlights a growing body of evidence pointing to significant risks—including irreversible harms such as infertility—while finding very weak evidence of benefit. That weakness has been a consistent finding of systematic reviews of evidence around the world.
”Earlier systematic evidence reviews—which consider not just the conclusions of studies, but their quality and reliability—conducted by European nations like Finland, Sweden, and the UK exposed weak evidence and significant risks associated with these medical interventions. The HHS Review aligns with the UK’s 2024 Cass Review, which prompted the UK to halt puberty blockers for minors.”
The HHS review ultimately calls for psychotherapy as ‘a noninvasive alternative to endocrine and surgical interventions for the treatment of pediatric gender dysphoria’ and for more research regarding the effects of exploratory psychotherapy on minors with gender dysphoria. The Review clearly presents that the long-term impacts of these interventions on cancer, sexual function, fertility, bone health, heart health, or mental health are largely unknown. So, evaluation of the risks versus the benefits, a necessary precursor to informed consent, is nearly impossible.
The first step in “gender-affirming care” is “social affirmation,” wherein anyone interacting with the individual must do so in a manner that affirms their self-declared “gender.” This means, for example, that others must use the pronouns and chosen names “desired” by a minor, even if their “desired” labels are different from the child’s given (by parents) name or inconsistent with the child’s true sex. Regretfully, when others socially affirm a minor who claims to be transgender, the child is motivated to seek the next level of “gender affirming care”, i.e., risky medical interventions.
In Vermont, the public schools REQUIRE the use of social affirmation. The schools also teach all students about transgender theory and encourage students to declare their gender, even without parental consent or knowledge. Through these practices, our public schools are evangelizing a dangerous ideology that at best confuses children, mentally and emotionally, and that could result in great harm. Educators are not psychotherapists!
With the release of this HHS Review, SPEAKVT insists that Vermont public schools immediately suspend all education standards, guidelines and policies that establish (or support the establishment of) mandatory social affirmation practices or social affirmation without parental consent.
Parents, not the educational system, have final say in what is taught their children
SPEAK VT is a registered non-profit corporation in Vermont, dedicated to excellence in educating our children. Please join us for this worthwhile cause to work for the good our children and families.
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