Back in August Laura Ingraham accused parents who affirm and support their transgender children of child abuse.
Experts in transgender and child health care condemned her comments as "dangerous", "ignorant" and "wholly divorced from reality."
When one speaks from ignorance, there is a good chance that they will say ignorant things. This could be no more true than for Laura Ingraham.
If we do nothing for these children, just let them be children, as Ingraham suggests, we are actually doing something, and that something is not good: we put them at risk for anxiety, depression, poor school performance, and later--drug abuse, self-harm, sexual acting out, suicidal thoughts, attempts, or completions... Ingraham repeats what so many in my own field, mental health, have done to significantly harm gender-nonconforming youth: dismiss what they are trying to tell us, blame the parents who are trying to support them, and deny them adequate care in one fell swoop... We might even consider the denial of the service a form of child abuse--there's a life jacket right there, we're watching, and we're letting the child drown.
--Diane Ehrensaft, clinical psychologist and head of the University of California-San Francisco's Child and Adolescent Gender Center
She said it's child abuse to give children hormone therapy? It's child abuse to withhold treatment from a child who might require it.
--Jack Drescher, DSM-5 Workgroup on Sexual and Gender Disorders
[R]esearch shows that family acceptance improves drastically the lives of gender nonconforming and transgender youth. Therefore, discouraging a young person from discovering themselves and apply pressure to conform to socially stereotypical norms of gender is now considered not only unethical but potentially harmful for our youngsters and for their family... Withholding access to reversible interventions such as hormone blockers for the these young people would be cruel and clinically unfounded.
--Jean Malpais, director of the Gender and Family Project at the Ackerman Institute
From a journalistic perspective, her comments are sensationalized and irresponsible. There are much better ways to go about this conversation than through this kind of misinformation.
--Cathy Renna, GLAAD
Ignorance ... is far from bliss, and in this case in fact, is quite dangerous.
Ms. Ingraham very clearly has little idea what she is talking about... Many of her comments are misleading or entirely false... She should keep her misguided and inaccurate thoughts regarding transgender children to herself. What these children and families need is healthcare that is supportive and based in science. The ranting of a political pundit on the health care needs of these children is entirely unethical, irresponsible and unnecessary.
--Robert Garafalo,, head of Lurie Chldren's Hospital's gender identity clinic at Northwestern University
A new study out of The Netherlands concludes that her statements were not only ignorant, they were wrong. The study,
Young Adult Psychological Outcome After Puberty Suppression and Gender Reassignment by Annelou L. C. DeVries, Jenifer K. McGuire, Thomas D. Steensms, Eva C. F. Wagenaar, Theo A. H. Doreleijers, and Peggy T. Cohen-Kettenis from the Center of Expertise on Gender Dysphoria, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands and the Department of Human Development, Washington State University found that affter gender reassignment in young adulthood, gender dysphoria was alleviated and psychological functioning had steadily improved.
The study followed 22 biological boys and 33 biological girls who underwent puberty suppression at the average age of almost 14 who ultimately underwent sex reassignment at an average age of 21. They were assessed for their "psychological well-being" up to one year following surgery.
By young adulthood, anxiety, emotional distress and body image concerns were no more prevalent among the transgender group than among the general public, the researchers determined. Also, quality of life and happiness levels were on par with their peers, gender dysphoria was no longer an issue, and no patients expressed regret about the transition process, including puberty delay.
DeVries said that children who do go on to gender reassignment would "have the lifelong advantage of a body that matches their gender identities without the irreversible body changes of a low voice or beard growth or breasts, for example" by undergoing puberty blocking.
Guidelines from the Endocrine Society and World Professional Association for Transgender Health recommend not beginning hormone replacement until the age of 16 and not having surgical intervention until the age of 18.
But children usually go into puberty much earlier than that. And you can imagine the anxiety and depression and overwhelming fear that a young child might experience when they are about to go into puberty while feeling an insistent mismatch between their biological gender and their actual gender identity.
There's no way to make the child not feel the way they do. So the goal should be to help them be less afraid... Treating them with a safe, well-known hormone to temporarily prevent puberty has become a standard of care because it buys these children time and a measure of relief. And if gender reassignment surgery does happen, it will be a much easier, much less tough process.
--Susan Maasch, director of the Trans Youth Equality Foundation in Portland, Maine
[These findings] seem to confirm the idea that puberty suppression is generally a good idea.
[S]o far it does seem to be a relatively safe and benign intervention. And this thoughtful and careful study suggests that it can be very helpful at relieving psychological distress seen among those children who experience panic when facing the onset of puberty.
--Drescher