Pumping Gender-Bending Drugs Into Kids Is Even More Dangerous Than We Thought

A teen girl who “identifies” as a boy and wants to modify her body accordingly poses a dilemma. Most people balk at the idea of administering testosterone to her or having her breasts surgically removed. However, many of these same individuals perceive “pausing” puberty with puberty blockers as harmless for even younger children. Groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics even suggest that drugs like Lupron can be used to “pause” puberty without causing damage.

Some conservative lawmakers, such as Georgia State Senator Carden Summers, have also bought into this claim. His sponsored bill, which Governor Brian Kemp just signed into law, partially restricts “gender-affirming” hormones and surgeries for minors, but says nothing about puberty blockers.

But is administering these drugs to children really safe? A growing body of evidence suggests that it is not. Even some on the political left are beginning to sound the alarm.

Last month, a report in the British Medical Journal, written by a former editor of Ms. Magazine, argued that wrongly named “gender-affirming care” for minors is supported only by a contrived medical consensus, not scientific evidence. This is the protocol that involves social transition, then puberty blockers, followed by wrong-sex hormones and, ultimately, surgery. The article highlighted disagreement among medical professionals about the optimal treatment for children with gender dysphoria. The very publication of such an article in a major medical journal attests to such disagreement.

Two weeks before this report, self-identified “queer socialist” Jamie Reed, who is married to a “transman,” revealed the modus operandi of the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. She confirmed what critics have long been