Rory Leishman:

Over the past decade, physicians have subjected tens of thousands of vulnerable, transsexual teenagers to puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and permanently mutilating sex-reassignment surgery. Yet there is no solid evidence that these dangerous and experimental treatments have any lasting benefits. That is the stark conclusion of a definitive, peer-reviewed, scientific paper entitled “Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: Review of Evidence and Best Practice” that was composed by nine, leading experts on gender dysphoria and evidence-based medicine, led by Leor Sapir of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. These experts concluded that there is “deep uncertainty about the purported benefits of these interventions” for teenagers distressed by a conflict between their sex and gender identity

For teenagers who have been subjected to double mastectomies, this conclusion is especially portentous. Many of these victims are now mature adults who have detransitioned to affirming their gender identity as biological females and bitterly resent having been surgically mutilated as minors.

Hormone treatments for gender dysphoria are also demonstrably dangerous. Yet many family physicians in Canada routinely prescribe puberty blockers for transsexual children with the result that most of these youngsters go on to take cross-sex hormones — testosterone for girls and estrogen for boys. Parents of transsexual children should beware: Sapir and his colleagues cite evidence that the combination of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones can cause sterility, sexual dysfunction, cardiovascular disease, impaired bone density accrual, and lower intelligence quotients among children.

Regardless, the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Psychiatric Association, the Canadian Paediatric Society, the College of Family Physicians of Canada, and their counterparts in the United States are all officially in favour of “gender-affirming care” for transsexuals. Proponents of this approach claim that the proven risks of hormonal and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria are vastly outweighed by the potential benefits, especially in the form of reduced suicide rates among depression-prone transsexuals. Is there any compelling scientific evidence to support this argument by virtually all of the medical establishment? No, none whatsoever.

Instead, there is strong evidence to the contrary. In a peer-reviewed paper published in BMJ Mental Health in 2024, researchers in Finland reported that among the 2,083 adolescents and young adults who were referred to one of their country’s gender identity clinics between 1996 and 2019, 20 had committed suicide. That is tragic, but after adjusting for anxiety, depression, and other co-morbidities, researchers concluded not only that the suicide rate among these transsexuals was no greater than for the general population of Finland, but also that “medical gender reassignment” by means of hormone treatments and sex-reassignment surgery, “does not have an impact on suicide risk.” The Cass Review of paediatric gender medicine commissioned by England’s National Health Service likewise concluded: “It has been suggested that hormone treatment reduces the elevated risk of death by suicide (among transsexuals), but the evidence found (does) not support this conclusion.”

In response to these scientific findings, Britain, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway have all recently banned or placed severe restrictions on hormonal treatments for youngsters less than age 18. Alberta is the only jurisdiction in Canada to curb this dangerous practice.

What are parents of gender-confused children to do? What of the daughters who think they are boys?

First, parents should study the Sapir and Cass reviews (both are freely available online) so they can make an informed decision about risky hormonal treatments and sex-reassignment surgery. Second, the parents should gently try to help their daughter to cherish her sex as a girl, by not encouraging her to think, dress or act like a boy. Third, and most importantly: These parents should constantly reassure their daughter in words like the following: “Your friends, teachers, the family doctor, and everyone else might call you Jack, but you will always remain our beloved Jill and, no matter what you say, do or decide, we will always love you.”