Health

‘We’re Affirming That They Should Hate Themselves’: Doctor Says Support For Gender Transitions Drives Youth Suicides

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Laurel Duggan Social Issues and Culture Reporter
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A physician at a children’s hospital that offers cross-sex medical procedures to minors anonymously shared his concerns that the practice was driving children to suicide in an interview with Christopher Rufo for City Journal, a publication of the Manhattan Institute.

The three core tenets of the theory behind medical gender transitions are that patients truly are whichever sex they say they are, that doctors should automatically affirm patients’ gender identity and that patients are more likely to commit suicide if they do not receive cross-sex medical interventions, according to the doctor. Other doctors have previously said the transgender suicide rate is exaggerated and warned that frequent references to transgender suicides by doctors and activists actually exacerbate suicide risk in a self-fulfilling prophecy. (RELATED: Obama-Appointed Judge Strikes Down Arkansas Ban On Child Sex Changes)

“In reality, when you ‘affirm’ these individuals’ gender identity, what you are doing is affirming their hatred for themselves. You have these children who are going through confusing times, difficult times; when you affirm this belief system, what you’re really doing is telling them: ‘You hate yourself at this moment, and I will affirm that,'” he told City Journal.

“We have to ask ourselves, why do these people have such high rates of suicide? Because we’re affirming that they should hate themselves and that they should try to destroy themselves,” he said.

The threat of suicide is used to justify biomedical interventions for young patients who believe they are transgender, including puberty blockers at age 11, hormones at 13 and mastectomies before patients turn 18, the doctor told City Journal.

“The threat of suicide removes any of the guardrails for what we must do to affirm that individual’s identity,” he told the outlet.

The doctor compared child sex changes to human sacrifices, suggesting doctors expressed their devotion to transgender ideology by destroying innocent children.

“What becomes the greatest expression of faith to other believers? To sacrifice the most pure and innocent. Once they do that, they become heroes. They become martyrs. They have their flag hung up at the White House,” he said. “And there’s no going back, because if they were to demonstrate any degree of humility, they would have to come to terms with the fact that they advocated for and participated in a practice that destroyed the lives of innocent children.”

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