Cal Thomas: Harmful mislabeling

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, June 27th, 2024. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: And I’m Paul Butler. Up next, WORLD commentator Cal Thomas has some advice for the Supreme Court on a case it will hear next term.

And a word to parents, this story references medical procedures and young people.

CAL THOMAS: As if current Supreme Court cases were not controversial enough, the justices have accepted an appeal by the Biden administration “seeking to block state bans on gender-affirming care for minors.” The media declares the state bans “controversial” because they go against the favored position of liberal elites.

As with abortion and “climate change,” the way the media talks about this issue—and the information they chose to ignore—shapes public opinion. So-called “Gender-affirming care” is the preferred label…though “transgender health care” is another favorite mislabeling … but these terms are about as accurate as “reproductive rights” on that other issue.

Gender dysphoria is the medical diagnosis. Dictionary.com defines it as “a psychological condition marked by significant emotional distress and impairment in life functioning, caused by a lack of congruence between gender identity and sex assigned at birth.”

The only part I disagree with is “gender assigned at birth.” One is born male or female. In my opinion, anything else is psychological, as the definition states, or influenced by culture.

Minor children are prohibited from many things. We used to agree on boundaries for certain behavior, but the secular left has been busy since the 1960s erasing boundaries…except the ones they prefer.

As with abortion where the media rarely do stories about women who regret their decision, so it is with their coverage of “transgender youth.” One almost never reads or sees stories about people who have had gender-reassignment surgery and later regret it.

WORLD recently decided to find and interview some of those people. Admittedly they appear few in number, but by telling their stories it conveys information that especially young people should consider before experiencing the consequences of surgery, which include an inability to have children.

Ritchie Herron of the UK is one of several stories WORLD reported. Herron, who was born male, had surgery to change his body parts to mimic female ones. The article states: “Herron’s surgery lasted over twice as long as planned. Major blood loss required a blood transfusion. When he came to his senses days later, his surgeon wheeled over to his bedside with a bright procedure light and showed him the result. Herron gasped at the sight of the wound and was instantly flooded with regret.

“’When I finally got out of bed and stood in the full-length mirror I just broke down. It was horrible’…”

“Five years after his surgery, Herron is living life once again as a man. But the nightmare is hardly over. He suffers from serious complications related to the vaginoplasty and other treatments. His symptoms include pain, urogenital disorders, and sexual dysfunction. He is suing (Britain’s) National Health Service for the permanent damage done to his body.”

As WORLD reported: “National Health Service (has) confirmed it would no longer routinely prescribe puberty blockers for children with gender dysphoria. But many doctors have no qualms about such protocols. Files leaked from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and published on March 4th in WORLD revealed member doctors encouraging one another to prescribe transgender interventions to patients as young as 9 – including hormones and surgeries – even as some doctors expressed uncertainty. Currently, U.S. gender clinics rely on WPATH’s pro-transgender guidelines for treating kids.”

No minor child should be allowed to make such a decision and no parent should allow them to make it. Psychological and spiritual counseling have worked for others and like a lot of stuff teens and pre-teens go through, many will work their way out of what some critics have labeled a fad.

The Supreme Court should affirm state laws banning the procedure for minor children, and parents should seek help for any child experiencing gender identity issues.

I’m Cal Thomas.

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