Washington, D.C. – Last night, during a townhall on ABC, Joe Biden endorsed gender transition for eight-year-old children. Biden seemed to be promoting the unfounded belief that all children with “gender dysphoria” are innately and immutably “transgender,” by referring sarcastically to “the idea that an 8-year-old or a 10-year-old, decides, you know, I want to be transgender -- that's what I think I'd like to be, make my life a lot easier.” In response, Family Research Council released Friday a new issue analysis publication that details the scientific evidence of long-term harm of gender transition procedures on minors.
Peter Sprigg, Senior Fellow for Policy Studies at Family Research Council Action, who authored the publication, stated:
“Joe Biden is wrong to encourage gender transitions for 8-year-old children. The implementation of invasive physiological gender transition procedures—puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and/or gender reassignment surgery—upon minors raises grave concerns.
“Joe Biden’s answer in last night’s townhall ignores studies that have shown that, when left to themselves, most children with such conditions outgrow them and do not identify as ’transgender’ adults. However, such conditions and identities are increasingly being embraced and actively affirmed, not only through ’social transition’ (changing one’s public expression of gender identity), but through radical physiological interventions as well. These include the use of drugs to block normal puberty, cross-sex hormones, and gender reassignment surgery. Biden was right about only one thing—these procedures do not make a child’s life easier,” concluded Sprigg.
As Peter states in the new FRC publication:
“Each of these procedures has serious negative side effects—up to and including permanent sterilization. Despite claims to the contrary, these procedures are often not reversible, and they are not ‘evidence-based,’ because research has not shown that these procedures are effective in accomplishing their purpose, which is to improve the patient’s mental health. They violate the most fundamental principle of medical ethics—'First, do no harm.’”
To read the publication, visit: www.frc.org/gendertransition
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