The New York Times has published a lengthy front-page story admitting that “gender-affirming” drugs for those the White House refers to as “transgender kids” could cause permanent physical and emotional damage.
The story, “They Paused Puberty, but Is There a Cost?”, is written by Megan Twohey and Christina Jewett, and breaks the liberal media taboo on reporting the scientific evidence of adverse outcomes for puberty blockers.
They write:
[The drugs’] use is typically framed as a safe — and reversible — way to buy time to weigh a medical transition and avoid the anguish of growing into a body that feels wrong. Transgender adolescents suffer from disproportionately high rates of depression and other mental health issues. Studies show that the drugs have eased some patients’ gender dysphoria — a distress over the mismatch of their birth sex and gender identity.
…
But as an increasing number of adolescents identify as transgender — in the United States, an estimated 300,000 ages 13 to 17 and an untold number who are younger — concerns are growing among some medical professionals about the consequences of the drugs, a New York Times examination found. The questions are fueling government reviews in Europe, prompting a push for more research and leading some prominent specialists to reconsider at what age to prescribe them and for how long. A small number of doctors won’t recommend them at all.
…
[T]here is emerging evidence of potential harm from using blockers, according to reviews of scientific papers and interviews with more than 50 doctors and academic experts around the world.
The story discusses the fact that some children change their minds about their chosen gender after being administered the drugs, and that some of the physical changes, such as bone density, are difficult to reverse.
It quotes concerned and outraged parents who are worried about the long-term effects of puberty blockers, and notes that activists pressured authorities into approving the drugs before the doctors even understood them.
The Times is largely confirming the reporting of writer Abigail Shrier, whose 2020 book, Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, was attacked by LGBT activists and suppressed by Amazon.
Earlier this year, President Joe Biden signed an executive order promoting “gender-affirming care,” including drugs and surgery for LGBTQI+ “children.” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) recently signed a law making his state a sanctuary for minors seeking such treatments. Concerns about the long-term damage potentially being done to children were dismissed as evidence of bigotry and a desire to harm transgender youth.
The fact that the Times, long the arbiter of liberal opinion and Democratic Party policy, has broken from the official administration line could give others on the left room to join critics of the rush to “gender-affirming” treatments
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.