I’ve been known to cause my mother to worry from time to time, and the situation I find myself in now is one of those. I’ve stuck my head up above the parapet, exposing myself and my family to whatever happens next.
We made the decision to go public with our human rights case with a lot of trepidation. The kind of discrimination we’re claiming isn’t supposed to happen in a civilised country like Canada. How would people react when we put that forward?
I was hoping someone from the Canadian media would contextualise our case but I didn’t expect Jordan Peterson to weigh in on it. His eloquent discussion of identity as a set of complex compromises that form “the essence of civilization itself” was particularly insightful. He also brought up Bill C-16 and the decisions taken by our provincial and federal governments in recent years, as well as commenting on the Tribunal, an institution he thinks should be abolished.
His article was a nice surprise, even if it gave me pause in terms of what we’re getting ourselves into.
It’s also been wonderful to see the positive response to our case so far.
But there’s another side too.
Friends of the family have questioned whether it’s really so wise to have our name associated with taking a stand that’s not, well, politically correct.
We’ve dared to question the narrative and we’ll pay the price; for better or for worse.
It’s been over a month now and we’re still waiting to hear back from the Tribunal on the next steps. Will they dismiss our case per the school boards request?
Regardless, I requested the lesson plans on gender and gender identity that were used in my daughter’s Grade 1 class. The Superintendent told me I’d need to go through the Freedom of Information process.
Given these lessons are how it was our daughter found herself at the age of 6 being excluded from public education on gender and we as her parents found ourselves feeling deceived and coerced into going along with the new reality – as they called it – I find it somewhat ironic that this process is called “freedom” of information.
It got me thinking about why any discussion about gender ideology in Canada is quickly shut down; compared with what’s happening in the UK, for example. Maybe it’s because we’ve all become so committed to the virtues of equity, diversity and inclusivity that any push back on the trans narrative is quickly denounced as a major faux pas.
Or maybe it’s because we don’t know the impact it’s having on children.
This is the most recent information we have from a study published by H Wood et al in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy. 2011 is the last year of full data and even then a sharp increase in adolescent referrals and in particular, female adolescent referrals can be seen.
The researchers also included data on sexual orientation which established that the percentage of girls who could be classified as homosexual was greater than boys (76% vs 56%) with strong statistical evidence that sexual orientation in adolescent girls struggling with gender dysphoria is a very important factor.
This data was collected by the Gender Identity Service clinic at Ontario’s CAMH (The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health – Canada’s leading research centre).
Our government must have had a different viewpoint on this kind of research because the clinic was shut down in 2015 and it’s director, Dr Ken Zucker, unceremoniously fired. [He’s since won a lawsuit over his firing and $500,000 in compensation.]
2015 is the year that same government introduced a new education curriculum with gender ideology sprinkled liberally throughout.
Co-incidence?
Or is this the new MO from people that value identity politics over the body politic.
One would have thought Kathleen Wynne, premier at the time and a lesbian herself, would have had an interest in this kind of research and ask what’s going on?
The researchers know something’s going on. Their comments in the paper even include a reference to the 1960’s revolutionary song For What It’s Worth.
There’s something happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear…
While Rainbow Health Ontario and other transgender activists applauded CAMH’s review and decision to close the clinic, Dr Zucker and other researchers signed a petition after his firing warning that the field of gender dysphoria has been “poisoned by politics”.
There certainly appears to be evidence that our world renowned experts are being shut out of the conversation.
And money isn’t the issue. Rainbow Health Ontario receives over $1m in funding every year from our provincial government. They spend it on education programs and have developed an extensive list of resources “to facilitate discussion of transition related surgeries between primary care providers and patients”.
Makes you wonder whether the rainbow flag really stands for promoting the acceptance of gays and lesbians or is being taken over by a group that’s helping to wipe them out.
That may sound harsh, but when it comes to transgender care, the record of ethics is shaping up to be an abysmal failure of protocols and ideological bullying.
In this series of articles published a few months ago in the UK Times, 5 former clinicians of the UK National Health Service gender clinic spoke out with their concerns. All 5 had resigned citing ethical and safety issues.
One clinician published an open letter to the UK Gender Identity clinic earlier this month.. It’s alarming in it’s allegations; not only because of the intimidation she faced for questioning some of the clinical practices, but for her observations of vulnerable children from impoverished backgrounds, or with ASD symptoms being brushed aside and even sexual abuse histories conveniently ignored.
In all cases, children given a quick diagnosis and fast tracked along a medical pathway of life changing hormones and surgery. She, in turn, was labelled “transphobic” and subjected to unprofessional attacks rather than accepted for her caution and integrity.
The UK government is finally taking some promising steps and has demanded an inquiry to understand why the rates of adolescent girls seeking gender transition in their country has risen 5,000% over the past 10 years.
And even more concretely, Scotland has repealed its transgender guidance for schools.
There seems to be no debate at all in Canada, and the general public is happily going along with the activist-led narrative that believes social affirmation and medical transition are the compassionate response to anyone with symptoms of gender dysphoria.
The UK GIDS clinic publicly admitted this month that social transition of children under the age of 12 exposes them to risk of long term harm.
The alternative “watchful waiting” approach for young children is no longer the standard of care here in Canada; abandoned, it seems, with the ushering out of Dr Zucker and the shuttering of his clinic under pressure from political activism.
Most of the public probably assumes there are proper protocols and safeguards in place so that mistakes don’t happen. But how are we to know for sure? The latest affirming care model seems to involve laying out a menu of options for patients without the need for a detailed assessment of patient history.
Parents report on Twitter and Reddit that doctors in Canada are prescribing testosterone to their adolescent daughters within days of a first appointment.
And the amount of personal bias entering into clinical decisions is astounding. The psychologist who provided testimony in the case of the 14 year old in BC who won the right to start puberty blockers against the father’s wishes is on record saying:
“Pull a stunt. Suicide, every time, they will give you what you need.”
This professional apparently made these comments while lamenting the lack of services available for transgender care.
What kinds of services is he requesting?
Meanwhile, Dr Susan Bradley, former Chief of Psychiatry at Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital recorded this podcast with neuroscientist Dr Debra Soh in which she raises concerns about the impact of the current care model on vulnerable children and says “there’s no evidence-based care going on”.
She warns that trans supporters are not able to understand the vulnerabilities involved with children who have symptoms of gender dysphoria and that their support may not allow a child the time and space needed to make the right decision.
She’s able to speak out, she says, because she’s retired and is no longer at risk of losing her job.
Evidently that’s a risk in Canada as Dr Zucker well knows.
Other experts with decades of experience treating and researching gender identity disorders warn that lack of knowledge is malpractice. Two of the world’s most experienced gender researchers (Dr Ray Blanchard and Dr Michael Bailey) call out transgender ideology in these shocking terms:
The subculture that fosters ROGD appears to share aspects with cults. These aspects include expectation of absolute ideological agreement, use of very specific jargon, thinking of the world as “us” versus “them” (even more than typical adolescents do), and encouragement to cut off ties with family and friends who are not “with the program.”
They claim ROGD – rapid onset gender dysphoria – is a new type of gender dysphoria that we’re seeing with the spike in adolescents suddenly identifying as the opposite sex.
If they’re right, this truly is a parents’ worst nightmare.
We felt the ideology our daughter was learning was already creating a wedge between us and her. Dividing and weakening the parent/child relationship.
For what purpose?
Thankfully, more people are starting to speak up and more information and resources are being created for parents – at least in other parts of the world.
Someone reached out to me because she’s publishing a Parents Resource Guide for the US. She said our story was very compelling and would I endorse the guide.
It’s hard to write only a few sentences on this topic. How could I warn parents that the policies belie how they can be applied?
I did my best; and I’ll keep writing to get the message through to as many parents as possible.
Because it’s the kind of thing that warrants a lot of discussion and open conversation. The kind of thing you don’t want to be blindsided by.
Like the family who got in touch with me after our story broke.
Their 11 year old daughter suddenly started identifying as non-binary.
Her mother expressed the anxiety and worry they were going through and the research they were doing to understand what’s going on and what they should do about it.
I could sense the confusion and crisis this family was facing. What was happening to their daughter? Why did they feel that she was being stripped of her identity instead of being gifted a new one? Why was their daughter suddenly convinced, at the tender age of 11 and having never before exhibited any signs of discomfort as a girl suddenly wanting to adopt a new identity?
Or another family; 11 year old son – a late developer; suddenly identifying as a girl after a workshop in their school by the group The Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity. Apparently over 20% of the class started questioning their identities after this workshop. Parents were never informed.
These are stories that echo Lisa Littmans research on parental reports. ROGD as a new form of gender identity disorder and yet our educators and medical professionals would have us believe this is simply a diversity issue.
Just kids being gender creative.
Lovely narrative.
The narrative our school adopted was that they were protecting one of the children in our daughter’s class. From my vantage point, it looks far more like they’re protecting the adults – activists at that.
Since I’ve stuck my head up above the parapet I’m meeting more families that have been through crisis mode. All of them were blindsided; disoriented. They know their kids and know what’s happening doesn’t make sense. But what can they possibly do?
One mother told me her new bible is the book “Hold on to your children”.
Sounds like good advice to me.
I have no idea what will happen with our case or how our family will be impacted by the choice we made to take a stand for the rights of our daughter.
But it gives me comfort to know I’m standing with the researchers.
There’s something happening here.
We need to start asking difficult questions and demanding answers. This is not the time in our history to look the other way and pretend it doesn’t concern each and every one of us.
Image source: momaha
Adult Human Female 