What young people in crisis need is the opportunity to strengthen their bonds with family and community
On Oct. 5, 2023, Moms for America hosted a screening of the award-winning docudrama "Gender Transformation: The Untold Realities" and a panel discussion on the complex issues surrounding gender confusion in our culture today.
The film features the real-life stories of people who underwent gender transformation hormone regimens and surgery and then detransitioned. A term that was unheard of even a few years ago, "detransitioning" means that people who previously underwent gender transformation stopped cross-sex hormones and sometimes endured additional surgeries in an attempt to return to their biological sex.
The painful stories of detransitioners, which are becoming more common with every passing year, reveal the predatory nature of the gender confusion social contagion.
Children and teens are alienated from their families and brought into political activist groups where their decision to transition is celebrated and affirmed. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
Vulnerable young people are being told that their true identity is found in lifelong hormone "treatment" and destructive, often irreversible surgical procedures. Children and teens are alienated from their families and brought into political activist groups where their decision to transition is celebrated and affirmed.
What is most striking about the stories of people who have detransitioned is just how much damage has been done. Young people without the ability to consider the long-term consequences of their choices are pressured by peers and – more disturbingly – teachers, counselors and school administrators to make decisions that will affect the rest of their lives.
The panel, co-hosted by Moms for America Vice President Debbie Kraulidis and board member Mercedes Schlapp, addressed the many considerations involved in the issue of gender confusion, with additional insights and input from medical doctors, legal experts, legislators and, most importantly, moms.
Moms and dads are on the front line of this issue. When a child or teen is taken in by the gender confusion propaganda in our schools and on social media, parents are increasingly painted as the enemy. When parents object to aggressive and invasive gender transition "treatment" of young teens, they are told over and over that they must affirm the new "gender identity" or risk losing a child to suicide.
As parents who have walked this road will tell you, it is not that simple. The so-called "gender-affirming care" offered does not address the underlying psychological distress.
What young people in crisis need is the opportunity to strengthen their bonds with family and community, not create a new community based on a new identity that threatens their physical and mental health.
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These issues are, unfortunately, becoming less rare. Moms for America recently highlighted the disturbing findings of a study on gender transition surgeries. What the research found is that thousands of teens have already undergone surgeries. It is estimated that 3,678 minors between the ages of 12 and 18 underwent elective surgical procedures in an attempt to transition between 2016 and 2020. Of those, 3,215 underwent "breast/chest surgery," 405 had "genital surgery," and 350 unspecified "cosmetic surgery."
These are operations that are in no way medically necessary, that mutilate functional organs of the body, and that jeopardize the long-term health of young people.
Parents need to realize what they are up against. This is already happening. The statistics cited in the recent study are from three to seven years ago.
As the gender confusion social contagion spreads and hormones and surgery become more widely pushed and available, imagine how many more thousands of our young people will be subjected to this life-altering medical malpractice. As many detransitioners recount with great pain, these gender transitions cannot be fully reversed and will affect the rest of a young person’s life.
Parents need to understand how these messages are reaching our kids. It is not only through social media, but also through school-sanctioned programs and activities. Interventions that are offered to vulnerable children and teens have been co-opted to further confuse them about their sexuality and gender identity.
As Moms for America has previously reported, suicide prevention programs, seemingly important and life-saving resources, have become predators pushing gender confusion on young people who need real help.
The message may be difficult to hear, but informed parents are needed now more than ever. Despite the disturbing statistics and the tragic personal stories of the damage done by gender confusion, there is hope. Moms for America is focused on getting resources into the hands of parents.
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By connecting with other parents and experts in the field, moms (and dads!) can combat the lies being fed to our children. When we know what we are up against, we can talk openly with our children and be aware of the influences that seek to harm them.
Our children and teens face a serious threat in the gender confusion complex taking over our popular culture and infiltrating our schools. The greatest asset they have, however, are informed parents who are willing to take action to protect them.
Kimberly Fletcher is the founder, president and CEO of Moms for America, a national, nonprofit educational corporation rooted in the principles of liberty and virtue our nation was founded on, and focused on promoting these principles, values and virtues in the home and family, particularly through the women and mothers of America.