Biden's 'trans-kid surgery' affirmed
GOP anger at Levine gender talk
Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine has been called “reprehensible” for proudly announcing that “gender-affirming” treatment of transgender kids is supported “at the highest levels” of President Biden’s administration.
Levine, the highest-ranking transgender official in US history, made the claim at a talk in Connecticut last month when asked about criticism of health centers treating children with the likes of puberty blockers and hormones.
She maintained the attacks are “ideologically and politically motivated” and “unconscionable.”
“I can say that the children, their families and you all as their providers have support at the highest levels of the federal government,” Levine told the Pediatric Grand Rounds session in Hartford.
“President Biden supports you . . . Vice President [Kamala] Harris supports you. Across the administration, the departments support you,” she said, adding that she talks “about this topic everywhere I go.”
‘Medically necessary’
Levine, 65, firmly supported the procedures despite previously admitting she was glad she’d never considered transition until she was “about 40” — and then taking at least 10 years to complete it.
“Young people are not willing to do that anymore,” she complained in an interview that went viral in 2019, blaming a cultural shift.
“I have no regrets because if I had transitioned when I was young, then I wouldn’t have my children. I can’t imagine a life without my children,” she said of Dayna and David, both now adults.
But she claims treatments like hormone and puberty blockers are “medically necessary, safe and effective” and crucial for trans youth suffering depression and “attempting suicide at an alarming rate.”
“It is the bullying, harassment, discrimination of transgender youth that leads to these conditions,” whereas those who get support “actually have excellent mental health outcomes,” she maintained.
“Gender-affirming care is medical care. Gender-affirming care is mental health care. And literally, gender-affirming care is suicide prevention care,” Levine said, vowing to “try everything we can legally” to block states from implementing laws blocking treatments.
“But I am positive and optimistic and hopeful that the wheel will turn” and “this issue won’t be as politically and socially such a minefield,” she said.
Pushback
However, her newly unearthed comments faced fierce pushback.
Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), a physician and member of the House Doctors Caucus, told Fox News that it is “reprehensible for a government official — let alone the assistant US secretary of HHS — to promote the genital mutilation of minors as becoming a standard practice.”
“Many pediatricians . . . have expressed serious concerns about the use of puberty blockers, hormone blockers, and sex transition surgeries in minors,” he said, adding that “HHS has pressured providers to provide this care or else face discrimination lawsuits.”
Harris said he was “proud” to co-sponsor the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” which would prohibit such treatments.
Dr. Stanley Goldfarb of the Do No Harm organization — a body of medical professionals combating “woke activism” in health care — also told Fox News that Levine’s claims that such treatment will soon be fully embraced are “wrong and must be countered.”
“There is no good evidence that children treated with gender-altering hormones or puberty blockers have improved mental health assessments,” Goldfarb said.
Biden supports such treatments — calling Florida’s push to ban them “close to sinful.”
“It’s just terrible what they’re doing,” he told “The Daily Show.” “It’s not like, you know, a kid wakes up one morning and says, ‘You know, I decided I wanted to become a man,’ or ‘I want to become a woman’ . . . I mean, what are they thinking about here?
“It’s cruel,” he said.
In the latest outburst of Team Biden’s gender extremists, Assistant Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine announced at a Connecticut children’s hospital that practices “gender affirming” pediatric care — i.e. cross-sex hormones and even surgeries — that these procedures have “support at the highest levels of the federal government.”
“President Biden supports you. I, as the assistant secretary for health, will support you,” said Levine (who’s herself transgender).
Parents, science and possible regrets be damned: Get these kids on drugs and the operating table!
Levine’s remarks come amid a global trend of growing, justified skepticism about the value of such treatments for kids. Sweden, Finland and Britain have moved sharply away from them. Here in America, Florida and seven other states have banned them outright, and 23 more are taking similar actions.
No more than the actual evidence demands. These treatments bring with them major risks and permanent life-altering side effects, like loss of bone density, sterility and sexual dysfunction.
And if, as many do, you decide you made the wrong choice, you can face a lifetime of added medical hardship to go back.
Zero good evidence suggests surgeries or hormones help the psychological well-being of minors, despite wild claims that only such treatments stand between kids who feel out of place in their bodies and suicide.
Indeed, Levine herself said in 2019 that she was happy she waited until adulthood (age 54, in fact) to transition: “If I had transitioned when I was younger then I wouldn’t have my children. I can’t imagine a life without my children.”
She understands all the dangers here. But for the children of other people? Hormones before puberty hits and surgery.
What’s driving her gender extremism — and that of her boss — is unclear. But whatever the motive, it has nothing to do with science. Or the best interests of confused kids