Suicide Threats Have No Place in Debates About Child Protection
WoLF submitted testimony yesterday in support of a bill that would prohibit the use of “gender transition” surgeries and hormones. Idaho House Bill 465 prohibits actions that “circumcise, excise, infibulate, or mutilate the reproductive organs and parts of a child,” as well as “medications that induce profound morphologic changes in the genitals of a child or induce transient or permanent infertility.”
The removal of sex organs or sexual function has not been studied as a long-term treatment for severe depression, in spite of its permanent effects. Nonetheless, trans-activists demand that they be allowed to continue.
Opponents of the bill leaned heavily on the threat of suicide: they came to the podium and claimed, over and over, that children denied access to genital surgeries, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones would inevitably kill themselves. One woman told the state’s legislators that voting to prohibit the use of these practices on minors means “you’re a child murderer.” Several counselors and physicians operating in the state proudly claimed that they had “treated” many children’s suicidal depression by impairing or removing their sexual function.
Trans-activists are lying to and manipulating legislators into believing that children are likely to commit suicide if they are not given these poisonous hormones and life-altering surgeries.
One has to ask who benefits from all of this. In South Dakota, the state’s Chamber of Commerce, the state’s Retailers’ Association, and a pharmaceutical industry representative all testified in opposition to a bill similar to the Idaho bill. It is not difficult to imagine what the pharmaceutical industry has to gain from physicians putting children on prescriptions and performing surgeries that will lead to a lifetime of further medical dependence.
WoLF would like to remind the trans-activist organizations and individuals speaking publicly about these issues that they are violating every established guideline for discussing suicide in public.
According to those guidelines, trans-activists must STOP:
Presenting suicide as a common or acceptable response to hardship;
Oversimplifying or speculating on the reason for suicide; and
Overstating the problem of suicide by using descriptors like “epidemic” or “skyrocketing.”
Even setting aside the fact that trans-activist claims about suicide are exaggerated and lack evidentiary support (see our testimony below)—If trans-activists are truly serious about preventing suicide, they must make changes to the way they discuss the issue.
If you need help please contact the Crisis Text Line: 741-741,
the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or
the Veterans and Military Crisis Line, 1-800-273-8255 Press 1
Prepared testimony of Natasha Chart
Thank you for considering my testimony. I’m the board chair of the radical feminist organization, the Women’s Liberation Front, and a longtime political progressive. We’ve been told that gender identity issues are complicated, maybe beyond our understanding.
This is misdirection.
I’m a bisexual woman on the autism spectrum. When I was young, I liked dinosaurs, archaeology, and science fiction. I hated my body as puberty started. I hated the way grown men started leering at my chest. Doctors and schools didn’t usually catch mild autism in girls then, either, it was hard.
But today, I might be told that my odd interests, my social unhappiness, or my nonconformity to stereotypes might mean I had been born in the wrong body. I was depressed and had few friends. I might have diagnosed myself as transgender, as so many girls do now, after seeing hundreds of transition testimonials on social media.
Today, girls like me are put on puberty blockers like Lupron and sent into premature menopause as young as 12, maybe to get mastectomies soon after. Then they may need a hysterectomy by their early 20s, because supraphysiological doses of testosterone wreak havoc on otherwise healthy female organs. This is already happening.
We can all be sure that humanity has not suddenly developed a new type of child that needs their sexual function removed before adulthood.
Though sadly, I’ve now seen years of press coverage of girls who sound much like I was, saying they want to be boys, and damaging their bodies to prove it. Doctors shouldn’t help kids take out their sadness and anger on the only bodies we can ever have.
Please vote yes to forbid the sterilization of these young people.
Prepared testimony of Jennifer Chavez
Thank you for considering my testimony. I serve on the board of directors of a radical feminist organization, the Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF). WoLF is an all-woman organization with over 700 members who live across the country and abroad, including in Idaho.
The Idaho legislature should take action to stop unethical surgeons and psychologists – and yes, even parents – who seek to perform acts that deprive children of their reproductive function. We urge every Committee member to VOTE YES to report bill 465 out of this Committee with a “do pass” recommendation, for three reasons:
Idaho has the chance to lead the nation in halting the medical scandal that is euphemistically described as “childhood gender transition.”
The protection of vulnerable children must take priority over profit.
The bill is well within this legislature’s proper authority, and legal challenges are likely to fail.
Read the full testimony here:
Appendices
Appendix A: Evidence of childhood medical gender practices
Appendix B: Bailey Blanchard Suicide or transition
Appendix C: Eugenics Then and Now 1-26-2020
Appendix D: Wild Wild West Trans Surgeries
Appendix E: Amer Neurological Assoc on eugenic sterilization
Photo credit: Kat Jayne
