As always, Jaime, your communication is heartfelt, imbued with deep caring and absolute reason. Some of your last words in the quite problematic, to say the least, Protocol podcast are crucial. Telling kids that they are resilient and will be OK and that their natural puberty is not cause for panic and alarm is so crucial. I fear that we will see dire consequences of the attempt to return to sanity in helping kids who have been manipulated into thinking they are in the wrong bodies. Not the consequences of denying them the false, unethical, scandalous, supposed medical “care” they have been receiving, but the consequence of all of these years of telling them and their parents that they will kill themselves without it. Iatrogenic suicidality. We haven’t seen massive migration from or suicidality in the states that have banned this. But I do fear that in desperate protest of closures and bans and in response to this manipulative narrative, we might see more parents and glitter activists going off the rails as children continue to pay some dire costs.
I sincerely hope that the closure of this malign institution ends the career of Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, who hid the results of her NIH study (presumably because the results she promised were not obtained) and who has cavalierly removed the healthy breasts of girls as young as 13. When challenged about "what if they later change their minds?", her response was an airy, "well they can get new breasts". Tell that to their babies who will be formula fed and to the young women who won't have breasts as part of their adult sexual pleasure.
What does this do to California as a so-called "sanctuary state"? (Please note that taxpayer provided medical support to "trans kids" is not available to those same children if they decide they weren't trans after all. Then they are financially on their own, so who is going to fund those "new breasts" that Olsen-Kennedy so blithely referred to?) https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/the-cinderella-effect-another-way
What incentive do they have to do the long-term followup. They would be creating a body of evidence to support malpractice claims. Sadly, it won’t happen.
This is an excellent article. The focus on reassuring families who have bought into the need for medicalization, whether or not they are open to that message, is a breath of fresh air in the polarized atmosphere around GAC. I particularly applaud the recommendations for optimal follow up with the families who have been involved with the closing clinic. Careful ethical follow up of this type has been notable for its absence in the gender medicalization industry.
I do have one editing suggestion. There is repetition starting with the sentence, "The crisis is not a medical one; it's a mental and emotional one that can be addressed and overcome with calm, resilient dialogue and support" (end of paragraph 11). The following paragraph (12) makes the same point more comprehensively and could replace the above sentence.
I like the use of "gender industry" though I would up it to "the multi-billion dollar gender industry".
I hope that it does not take long before both civil suits and legal action for child abuse follow. That would help encourage insurance companies to reevaluate what they are willing to cover. It will take financial pain to move this forward.
I have been critical of the massive over diagnosis and treatment of minors for many years.
I began writing my book The War on Gender ~ Postmodernism and Trans Identity in 2015 and it was published in 2022. I am one of the very few outspoken transsexuals on this matter.
Why are there so few outspoken transsexuals? When I speak on this topic, some people discount what I say because there are no trans voices in the discussion. Indeed none of the several trans folks I know agrees with my critiques.
For a long time I have been criticising the massive overstretch of the LGBT lobby and many transsexuals I know online have agreed with my position.
But only a few have given reviews on my book, subbed to my channels or shared my material.
Then when I have written that the Trump EOs and the UK Supreme Court decision were an inevitable result of the decade of trans insanity that has gone down I have been made an outcast, even by the people who were previously complaining about transgender overreach.
Despite the SC ruling there are still people advocating for 'Self ID' of gender which is preposterous and only strengthens the arguments of those who wish to mandate the whole thing out of existence.
Because of my long experience of this subject, including my own academic history and training as a therapist I find myself in a position where I can write about the subject and feel morally obliged to.
Meanwhile the extremists on both sides ignore my work and each accuses me of being the other when I am neither.
As I always say, I will engage and discuss this with anyone who treats me with respect.
I am glad to have met you online here, and have ordered your book and subscribed to your Substack. I am also encouraged to revisit this subject with a medically transitioned former colleague. I first reached out to her in 2019 when I was absolutely floored by what you so aptly call the overreach of the LGBT lobby, sure that she would see it as a danger to her own rights. I was shocked to hear her defend every position of that lobby. I did not continue the discussion for fear she might feel personally attacked. But the climate has shifted and it is time to revisit the topic with her. I have a similar story about my brother-in-law, also medically transitioned, who continues to staunchly defend the lobby and all its endeavors—when in 2019 I complained to him about the nonbinary identity I was sure he’d have found it a threat to his identity and rights. I will not bring this up with him again because it is crystal clear he sees my critiques as transphobic. My current form of activism is to post about this on my widely read (but still private) Facebook page where it has been so so so hard to get across to my so-called progressive friends that I am critical of the trans rights movement AND support rights for trans people. I am in the U.S. Looking forward to reading your book and the material on your Substack.
Thanks a lot Terry, I am immensely encouraged to read posts like yours from people who are willing to see a middle ground. And thanks for subbing and ordering my book.
I know a TS woman locally who is the same as those you mention who virtually calls me transphobic because I want to rein in the overreach, despite the fact that I've been medically transitioned for thirty years longer than her!
It's quite clear to me that the TG lobby which is advocating for 'Self ID' are a very large part of the problem, if not the problem itself. Then there's the massive detransition demographic which demonstrates how wrong this has become.
If you would like to post any of my material on your FB page I should be honoured and I'd be delighted to do whatever I can to assist you in your outreach. I'd like to be able to put my position to your 'progressive' friends. I was speaking to a friend yesterday who distinguished between 'progressive' and 'woke'. This has moved on way beyond the first and is almost exclusively the province of the latter.
They lied to their patients...again...just as the FTC is looking into fraud: " a critical HHS review that "dismissed current evidence-based care protocols and standards of care" used by clinics like CHLA. "
Maybe they’re waiting to see if this actually ends if being permanent or if they end up caving to activist?
After all, CHLA also said they would stop providing GAC to minors back in January when Trump’s EO was first released, but then resumed it after pressure from activists.
Thanks for identifying yourself as a child groomer. It would be great if groomers like you were publicly ridiculed, but unfortunately pedophiles generally fly under the radar.
Then what are you doing about child circumcision. That's genital mutilation that no one seems to care about. Also I don't even care and detest children. I just know that if you go after their care then you will go after adults. It never ends with "just the children"
Yes, this is definitely progress. I do worry about the kids though. They are going to be more distressed than ever. You have linked to Therapy First, which is a wonderful organzation, but what about 'conversion therapy laws'? Also, a great number of therapists are still bought into gender ideology. It's incredibly important that kids can get into regular 'old fashioned' therapy that simply helps them sort through emotional issues without either 'conversion'/coercion or blind affirmation. The corallary to shutting down affirmative care needs to be the widespread availability of good quality therapy. Or, at the very least, parenting that recognizes their pain without buying into a false narrative. But what affirming parent is going to do a 180° on this issue?? These poor kids. Maybe you could do a piece on this aspect?
Once again Jamie, we are so grateful for all you do. Thank you thank you, thank you.
I think you may overestimating CHLA's dedication to this decision. While I agree that they should do many of the things you suggested here, I really don’t think they will.
They’re not going to acknowledge any harms because they don’t think they actually did anything wrong. They’re only doing this because they’re afraid of losing federal funding, not because they’re had a change of heart about these procedures. As such they’re not going to be any more inclined to do the things you’ve listed here than they were a year ago. If anything, they’ll probably be less inclined to do things like follow ups since they’ll no longer have a dedicated clinic to do it in.
I highly doubt they’re going to provide long term follow up and accountability. These are changes you would expect to see from a hospital that actually realize what they were doing was wrong and willfully choose to stop because they wanted to do the right thing and reevaluate their practices. But that’s not what happened here. Since CHLA was basically forced into stopping out of fear of losing their federal funding, they probably won’t be providing any follow up care because they’re now too afraid to have anything to do with them. Shutting down the clinic means fully shutting it down. If they had any intention of following up with these patients or tracking them they probably wouldn’t have fully shut it down.
And obviously there won’t be any accountability. If they’re that afraid of the Trump administration, then they may even try to destroy or hide any documents that could be used against them in a potential federal investigation. But since they still fully support the gender affirmation model, they’re not going to track things like detransition (at least no more than they were before) since the outcome could show a high detransition rate which could be used against them and other clinics still offering these treatments.
I think the reason other hospitals didn’t comment on the closure is because they’re don’t want to draw any attention to themselves that could cause Trump to target them. Hospitals and clinics that still provide GAC to minors are increasingly doing so in secrecy. Many hospitals that still provide it have removed mentions of it from their website. While many that still have it on their website no longer specify what ages they provide it for to avoid federal attacks.
I highly doubt this will cause the medical community to “reflect, reassess, and return to an ethical, developmentally appropriate approach” because once again they still see nothing wrong with what they were doing, they just can’t afford to lose federal funding.
It's also worth mentioning that CHLA said that they rely on federal funding more than any other children's hospital in the state and without federal funding, the entire hospital would only last 50 days. So they really can't afford to lose all federal funding.
Also if this was a troll account why the hell would I use my legit username and first name? Who are you? Your username leads to only your substack. You are more like a troll than me.
As always, Jaime, your communication is heartfelt, imbued with deep caring and absolute reason. Some of your last words in the quite problematic, to say the least, Protocol podcast are crucial. Telling kids that they are resilient and will be OK and that their natural puberty is not cause for panic and alarm is so crucial. I fear that we will see dire consequences of the attempt to return to sanity in helping kids who have been manipulated into thinking they are in the wrong bodies. Not the consequences of denying them the false, unethical, scandalous, supposed medical “care” they have been receiving, but the consequence of all of these years of telling them and their parents that they will kill themselves without it. Iatrogenic suicidality. We haven’t seen massive migration from or suicidality in the states that have banned this. But I do fear that in desperate protest of closures and bans and in response to this manipulative narrative, we might see more parents and glitter activists going off the rails as children continue to pay some dire costs.
Yes, now that the never achievable alternative world these children were offered is no longer available to them, they will need more support than ever. https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/the-alternative-universe-offered
Thank you for this, and for all you do. I have restacked, and I hope this piece will be widely read and shared.
Another small but important brick removed from the (Stone)wall of iatrogenic “care”.
Tear down the wall!
Puberty is not a crisis. That would make a good t-shirt. Thank you, Jamie, for being a calming anchor in a sea of insanity.
I sincerely hope that the closure of this malign institution ends the career of Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, who hid the results of her NIH study (presumably because the results she promised were not obtained) and who has cavalierly removed the healthy breasts of girls as young as 13. When challenged about "what if they later change their minds?", her response was an airy, "well they can get new breasts". Tell that to their babies who will be formula fed and to the young women who won't have breasts as part of their adult sexual pleasure.
What does this do to California as a so-called "sanctuary state"? (Please note that taxpayer provided medical support to "trans kids" is not available to those same children if they decide they weren't trans after all. Then they are financially on their own, so who is going to fund those "new breasts" that Olsen-Kennedy so blithely referred to?) https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/the-cinderella-effect-another-way
What incentive do they have to do the long-term followup. They would be creating a body of evidence to support malpractice claims. Sadly, it won’t happen.
This is an excellent article. The focus on reassuring families who have bought into the need for medicalization, whether or not they are open to that message, is a breath of fresh air in the polarized atmosphere around GAC. I particularly applaud the recommendations for optimal follow up with the families who have been involved with the closing clinic. Careful ethical follow up of this type has been notable for its absence in the gender medicalization industry.
I do have one editing suggestion. There is repetition starting with the sentence, "The crisis is not a medical one; it's a mental and emotional one that can be addressed and overcome with calm, resilient dialogue and support" (end of paragraph 11). The following paragraph (12) makes the same point more comprehensively and could replace the above sentence.
Thanks for catching that!
Thank you, thank you, and thank you.
I like the use of "gender industry" though I would up it to "the multi-billion dollar gender industry".
I hope that it does not take long before both civil suits and legal action for child abuse follow. That would help encourage insurance companies to reevaluate what they are willing to cover. It will take financial pain to move this forward.
I have been critical of the massive over diagnosis and treatment of minors for many years.
I began writing my book The War on Gender ~ Postmodernism and Trans Identity in 2015 and it was published in 2022. I am one of the very few outspoken transsexuals on this matter.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/War-Gender-Postmodernism-Trans-Identity/dp/1914208811/
Why are there so few outspoken transsexuals? When I speak on this topic, some people discount what I say because there are no trans voices in the discussion. Indeed none of the several trans folks I know agrees with my critiques.
I am at a loss as to why this is Terry.
For a long time I have been criticising the massive overstretch of the LGBT lobby and many transsexuals I know online have agreed with my position.
But only a few have given reviews on my book, subbed to my channels or shared my material.
Then when I have written that the Trump EOs and the UK Supreme Court decision were an inevitable result of the decade of trans insanity that has gone down I have been made an outcast, even by the people who were previously complaining about transgender overreach.
Despite the SC ruling there are still people advocating for 'Self ID' of gender which is preposterous and only strengthens the arguments of those who wish to mandate the whole thing out of existence.
Because of my long experience of this subject, including my own academic history and training as a therapist I find myself in a position where I can write about the subject and feel morally obliged to.
Meanwhile the extremists on both sides ignore my work and each accuses me of being the other when I am neither.
As I always say, I will engage and discuss this with anyone who treats me with respect.
I am glad to have met you online here, and have ordered your book and subscribed to your Substack. I am also encouraged to revisit this subject with a medically transitioned former colleague. I first reached out to her in 2019 when I was absolutely floored by what you so aptly call the overreach of the LGBT lobby, sure that she would see it as a danger to her own rights. I was shocked to hear her defend every position of that lobby. I did not continue the discussion for fear she might feel personally attacked. But the climate has shifted and it is time to revisit the topic with her. I have a similar story about my brother-in-law, also medically transitioned, who continues to staunchly defend the lobby and all its endeavors—when in 2019 I complained to him about the nonbinary identity I was sure he’d have found it a threat to his identity and rights. I will not bring this up with him again because it is crystal clear he sees my critiques as transphobic. My current form of activism is to post about this on my widely read (but still private) Facebook page where it has been so so so hard to get across to my so-called progressive friends that I am critical of the trans rights movement AND support rights for trans people. I am in the U.S. Looking forward to reading your book and the material on your Substack.
Thanks a lot Terry, I am immensely encouraged to read posts like yours from people who are willing to see a middle ground. And thanks for subbing and ordering my book.
I know a TS woman locally who is the same as those you mention who virtually calls me transphobic because I want to rein in the overreach, despite the fact that I've been medically transitioned for thirty years longer than her!
It's quite clear to me that the TG lobby which is advocating for 'Self ID' are a very large part of the problem, if not the problem itself. Then there's the massive detransition demographic which demonstrates how wrong this has become.
If you would like to post any of my material on your FB page I should be honoured and I'd be delighted to do whatever I can to assist you in your outreach. I'd like to be able to put my position to your 'progressive' friends. I was speaking to a friend yesterday who distinguished between 'progressive' and 'woke'. This has moved on way beyond the first and is almost exclusively the province of the latter.
Thanks again :-)
Thank you--
They lied to their patients...again...just as the FTC is looking into fraud: " a critical HHS review that "dismissed current evidence-based care protocols and standards of care" used by clinics like CHLA. "
It's interesting how limited the coverage of that closure is. Nothing, from what I can find, in NYTimes or Wash Post.
Maybe they’re waiting to see if this actually ends if being permanent or if they end up caving to activist?
After all, CHLA also said they would stop providing GAC to minors back in January when Trump’s EO was first released, but then resumed it after pressure from activists.
Thanks for the list of transphobes to block. Saw you at Boston Pride and publicly getting ridiculed
Thanks for identifying yourself as a child groomer. It would be great if groomers like you were publicly ridiculed, but unfortunately pedophiles generally fly under the radar.
Then what are you doing about child circumcision. That's genital mutilation that no one seems to care about. Also I don't even care and detest children. I just know that if you go after their care then you will go after adults. It never ends with "just the children"
Yes, this is definitely progress. I do worry about the kids though. They are going to be more distressed than ever. You have linked to Therapy First, which is a wonderful organzation, but what about 'conversion therapy laws'? Also, a great number of therapists are still bought into gender ideology. It's incredibly important that kids can get into regular 'old fashioned' therapy that simply helps them sort through emotional issues without either 'conversion'/coercion or blind affirmation. The corallary to shutting down affirmative care needs to be the widespread availability of good quality therapy. Or, at the very least, parenting that recognizes their pain without buying into a false narrative. But what affirming parent is going to do a 180° on this issue?? These poor kids. Maybe you could do a piece on this aspect?
Once again Jamie, we are so grateful for all you do. Thank you thank you, thank you.
I think you may overestimating CHLA's dedication to this decision. While I agree that they should do many of the things you suggested here, I really don’t think they will.
They’re not going to acknowledge any harms because they don’t think they actually did anything wrong. They’re only doing this because they’re afraid of losing federal funding, not because they’re had a change of heart about these procedures. As such they’re not going to be any more inclined to do the things you’ve listed here than they were a year ago. If anything, they’ll probably be less inclined to do things like follow ups since they’ll no longer have a dedicated clinic to do it in.
I highly doubt they’re going to provide long term follow up and accountability. These are changes you would expect to see from a hospital that actually realize what they were doing was wrong and willfully choose to stop because they wanted to do the right thing and reevaluate their practices. But that’s not what happened here. Since CHLA was basically forced into stopping out of fear of losing their federal funding, they probably won’t be providing any follow up care because they’re now too afraid to have anything to do with them. Shutting down the clinic means fully shutting it down. If they had any intention of following up with these patients or tracking them they probably wouldn’t have fully shut it down.
And obviously there won’t be any accountability. If they’re that afraid of the Trump administration, then they may even try to destroy or hide any documents that could be used against them in a potential federal investigation. But since they still fully support the gender affirmation model, they’re not going to track things like detransition (at least no more than they were before) since the outcome could show a high detransition rate which could be used against them and other clinics still offering these treatments.
I think the reason other hospitals didn’t comment on the closure is because they’re don’t want to draw any attention to themselves that could cause Trump to target them. Hospitals and clinics that still provide GAC to minors are increasingly doing so in secrecy. Many hospitals that still provide it have removed mentions of it from their website. While many that still have it on their website no longer specify what ages they provide it for to avoid federal attacks.
I highly doubt this will cause the medical community to “reflect, reassess, and return to an ethical, developmentally appropriate approach” because once again they still see nothing wrong with what they were doing, they just can’t afford to lose federal funding.
It's also worth mentioning that CHLA said that they rely on federal funding more than any other children's hospital in the state and without federal funding, the entire hospital would only last 50 days. So they really can't afford to lose all federal funding.
Also where are your financial reports? You're a 501c3 yet I can't find them.
Also, where is your actual identity? You appear to be a troll account created purely to harass those who care what happens to children.
Dude, try harder.
Also if this was a troll account why the hell would I use my legit username and first name? Who are you? Your username leads to only your substack. You are more like a troll than me.