Kentucky legislature’s anti-trans bills are about concern, not hate | Opinion

Protesting high schoolers, LGBTQ activists, drag queens and the Herald-Leader have joined in pronouncing recent bills passed by the state legislature as hateful and potential causes of suicide. What are in these “hate-filled” bills? One seeks to prevent transgender care such as hormone treatments and surgical procedures on children under 18. Another seeks to protect children from performances by men impersonating women in sexual ways. Both have to do with parental control, prevention of lifelong consequences and protecting childhood innocence. Obviously, there are great differences of opinion as to whether these are desirable outcomes.

We are told that even very young children can sense and determine whether they have been born in the “right” body. If they have not, in order to pursue happiness and enjoy the right gender, they must be not only allowed but encouraged to change their name, their pronoun, their clothing and, yes, their body. The latter comes through hormonal treatment and even surgical procedures. We are assured that this will bring them peace and happiness and prevent their suicide. But does it?

One might first ask how much autonomy a child should have over their decisions. When does an adult, especially a parent, have more experience and knowledge than a child? What responsibility does the adult bear for allowing the child to be put in harm’s way just because that’s what they want? Changes to the body last through adulthood and minors have little or no knowledge of consequences or how their desires may change in later years. Consequently, an increasing number of those who have been “transitioned” as minors now as adults proclaim their desire to be “detransitioned” but too late. Would it not have been a “loving” act to have encouraged them to at least wait for adulthood to make those lifelong changes?

Although this “care” is becoming more and more available in the U.S., other more progressive countries are pulling back from their former enthusiastic embrace of transitioning. Some examples: After gender transitioning surgeries rose 500% between 2016 and 2019, the English National Health Service is now warning against children being encouraged to change names and pronouns or more since most of them are going through a transient phase which they will outgrow.

French medical research is urging “great medical caution treating transgender children” and reportedly plans to restrict treatment for those under 18.

Sweden has halted hormonal therapy for minors except in very rare cases and says that the “uncertain state of knowledge calls for caution”. The Netherlands, one of the first to experiment with hormone replacement and gender transitioning for minors, has now said that research from decades earlier is “no longer valid given the scope of the epidemic.”

Finland’s Dr. Riittakerttu Kaltiala, an often-quoted authority on gender-affirming care, now says that the explosion of gender dysphoria in adolescent girls now gives us “no scientific knowledge about the constancy of this experience” and that the “narrative of transition or suicide…is purposeful disinformation and spreading it is irresponsible.” In fact, she cautions against parents calling their child by a trans name and dressing them in that way since, she says, 4 out of 5 children outgrow this desire.

The other “hate-filled” bill prevents drag shows from being performed where children are likely to be present. We are assured that these performances are art and not sexual. When did we lose our concern for the sexualizing of children and the protection of their innocence? When did that protection become something to be scorned and ridiculed? Somehow children have become pawns in our determination to saturate our culture with sex. In my opinion, this God-given gift meant for marriage has itself become the god that is worshiped and promoted. My heart breaks for those caught in the dire consequences.

No, these bills are not hate-filled. They are the product of love and concern for the well-being of our children and the protection of their innocence.

Ruth Cook is the wife of a career naval officer, volunteer worker with life-long concern for community and family issues.

This story was originally published March 23, 2023 at 12:20 PM.