WSJ: Elites’ Enthusiasm for Transgenderism Endangers Gay, Lesbian Youth

Elites’ reckless applause for transgenderism is a massive medical threat to vulnerable kids who may otherwise grow up as gay or lesbian, says an op-ed by two university biologists.

“Biologists and medical professionals need to stand up for the empirical reality of biological sex,” wrote Colin Wright from Penn State and Emma Hilton from the University of Manchester. Under the Wall Street Journal’s headline, “The Dangerous Denial of Sex,” the two biologists continued:

The denial of biological sex also erases homosexuality, as same-sex attraction is meaningless without the distinction between the sexes. Many activists now define homosexuality as attraction to the “same gender identity” rather than the same sex. This view is at odds with the scientific understanding of human sexuality. Lesbians have been denounced as “bigots” for expressing a reluctance to date men who identify as women. The successful normalization of homosexuality could be undermined by miring it in an untenable ideology.

Those most vulnerable to sex denialism are children. When they’re taught that sex is grounded in identity instead of biology, sex categories can easily become conflated with regressive stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. Masculine girls and feminine boys may become confused about their own sex. The dramatic rise of “gender dysphoric” adolescents—especially young girls—in clinics likely reflects this new cultural confusion.

The large majority of gender-dysphoric youths eventually outgrow their feelings of dysphoria during puberty, and many end up identifying as homosexual adults. “Affirmation” therapies, which insist a child’s cross-sex identity should never be questioned, and puberty-blocking drugs, advertised as a way for children to “buy time” to sort out their identities, may only solidify feelings of dysphoria, setting them on a pathway to more invasive medical interventions and permanent infertility. This pathologizing of sex-atypical behavior is extremely worrying and regressive. It is similar to gay “conversion” therapy, except that it’s now bodies instead of minds that are being converted to bring children into “proper” alignment with themselves.

Many medical experts echo those warnings. For example, Susan Bradley, founder of the Toronto Gender Identity Clinic, told National Review in September 2018 that she is “deeply concerned that [the American Academy of Pediatrics’] guidance has gotten so far ahead of the current knowledge base about gender dysphoric children.” She continued:

We know from multiple studies that around 80 percent of gender dysphoric children will desist from their cross-sex identification in childhood to identify with their natal sex. Most of these will grow up to be gay or lesbian; a substantial minority have also been diagnosed with autism.

Many experts — and some government studies — have also pointed out the growing danger of transgender “therapies,” such as surgery and sterilization for pre-teen kids.

This debate has largely been suppressed in the United States because wealthy transgender activists have taken over the progressive groups that have championed status for women, gays, and lesbians.

But in the United Kingdom, opponents of the transgender ideology split the leading gay advocacy group, Stonewall, into two groups — pro-transgender and pro-homosexual. The new LGB Alliance opposes the expanding definition of “gender,” saying:

But in the United States, there is no broad left-wing coalition to protect children from transgender ideology — nor even any recognition from the many establishment journalists who prefer to empathize with minorities.

So the feminist, gay, and lesbian groups who oppose the transgender ideology argue for rights and status via their own public debates, YouTube channels, and Twitter accounts, such as 4thWaveNow and Women’s Liberation Front.

The groups cautiously cooperate with conservatives amid the many deep differences with conservatives over abortion, sexual freedom, marriage, the role of judges, and the value of civic solidarity.

The cooperation is based on the groups’ fundamental agreement with conservatives that society and government must recognize that biology makes men and women different, even as the two sexes are also complementary and equal.