You do not understand this
Because no one does
A recent tempest in my local library's teapot prompted me to speechify about it to my city council. I'm publishing a version of my remarks here, in case they're helpful. It's a primer (with helpful links) about the current state of the research into pediatric gender medical interventions. A lot has happened in just the past few months.
I live in [town] and my children love the library.
I’m sure the librarians feel like they're helping struggling children. But their lack of knowledge about what gender ideology actually does to children is dangerous.
These books implant a powerful and volatile idea into children’s minds. The idea of transgenderism–that my body is wrong and must be medically altered to match my mind–is powerful, volatile, and has consequences that you do not understand. I know you do not understand it because no one does. Researchers do not understand it. Advocates are suppressing research showing they do not understand it.
We now have more than a decade worth of peer-reviewed studies on pediatric gender medicine. And every in-depth review of that research has concluded we do not understand these interventions.
Britain’s national health service commissioned a four-year in-depth review of the research. It concluded:
The published studies are overwhelmingly poor quality according to evidence-based medicine standards.
There is not enough good evidence for doctors to make clinical decisions, or for families to make informed choices.
Doctors cannot reliably diagnose whether a child’s transgenderism is lasting, or only temporary.
The evidence of benefit from puberty blockers is weak, and researchers haven't even consistently defined what the blockers are meant to accomplish. We do not understand their effects on cognitive and psychosexual development, including the very possible negative effects.
There is insufficient evidence to safely use cross-sex hormones on minors. No high-quality evidence shows they improve mental health or suicidality. No conclusions can be drawn about hormones’ effect on dysphoria, psychosocial health, cognitive development, or fertility. We do not understand their effects on growth, cardiometabolic and bone health.
We do not have good follow-up data to understand long-term outcomes. This is unconscionable when life-altering procedures are being performed on children.
That’s all from the British report. A similar review in Finland found the same.
A similar review in Sweden found the same.
A similar review in Florida found the same.
A similar review in New Zealand found the same about puberty blockers specifically.
Moreover, the activist World Professional Association for Transgender Health, or WPATH, commissioned a similar review by researchers at Johns Hopkins. WPATH refused to publish the results because the results undercut their activism. The Hopkins researchers protested this illegitimate manipulation of the research process.
Moreover, WPATH claims to merely follow the evidence, but changed its guidelines after pressure from a transgender federal official and another activist organization.
Moreover, the New York Times reported that activist medical researchers have just concluded a large federally-funded study hoping to provide better evidence. They are refusing to publish the results, because the results undercut their activism.
There is no good evidence for subjecting children to these interventions, and activists are manipulating the research. Refusing to publish null or negative results is research malpractice, especially on a matter of such immense importance for vulnerable children.
The library should not be planting this powerful, volatile idea into children’s minds. You do not understand these issues. You will not be there to clean up the mess if things go wrong.