Europe Led Trend, But Not Anymore
I
n Europe, which was ahead of the U.S. in starting transgender
surgeries, there is newfound caution and restraint. Several socially liberal countries
have backed away from using puberty blockers and early surgery in adolescents who complain of gender dysphoria. These include England, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Scientists there have concluded
“Gender-affi rming care” (GAC), in which breasts are removed, children are castrated, and attempts are made to provide opposite sex genitalia, which don’t work sexually, and which leave the patient infertile for life, is on the rise. Author Chris Rufo of the Manhat-
tan Institute described the practices at the Oregon Health and Science University clinic led by self-described “queer surgeon” Blair Peters, who performs vaginoplasty, in which the male organ is used to create some- thing that looks like a vagina. The clinic has an 18-month wait-
ing list for a consultation, and a three- to six-month waiting list for a surgical appointment. Peters has performed this surgery on adoles- cents.
Rufo also describes a thriving
clinic in Austin, Texas, operated by surgeon Curtis Crane, which has begun doing “nonbinary” surgeries in which a patient’s sex organs are
that the evidence that transitioning addresses the mental health issues that prompt the desire to do it is meager, leaving individuals just as unhappy as they were to begin with. They have concluded that there is not enough good research to justify widespread use of hormones or surgery. And there are costs to the permanence of the treatments that minors can’t properly evaluate. While several of these countries
now have very small experimental transition programs, they have mostly reverted to treating gender dysphoria in minors with mental health services and therapy.
In England, the Tavistock Clinic,
removed. Crane says that “sex is not bina-
ry,” and he believes he is helping patients “become the person they were always meant to be.” Crane has been sued for medical malpractice numerous times, occa- sionally by those who transitioned as minors, Rufo reports. These practices are accepted by
all branches of popular media — TV news, newspapers of record, puta- tively conservative radio shows, etc. They now speak as if anything
that opposes medical transitions for children is abnormal, and hormone treatments and radical surgeries are now the default standard for how things should be done.
the country’s main “gender-af irming care” facility, is going under in a flood of lawsuits by detransitioners. This is not happening in the U.S.
because our medical establishment and judges take their cues from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups. As always, these issues are politicized here. — L.S.
Whether this counts as real medi-
cine or something else, the question arises, should adolescents ever be operated upon in gender-affi rming surgery? Should they be given puber- ty-blocking hormone treatments, which have permanent eff ects? So far, 20 states have respond-
ed with legislation forbidding both hormone treatments and surgery for those under 18. More of that would be a good thing.
DECEMBER 2023 | NEWSMAX MAXLIFE 79
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