new

response to article
Submitted by American College of Pediatricians on June 7, 2017 - 10:39am
The American College of Pediatricians is a professional organization confident in the science we present and in the traditional ethics we uphold. In the past, we have typically directed critics to the relevant content on our website. Mr. Jack Turban that is not only libelous, but also denies the fact that untold numbers of American children are being experimented upon, and many of them permanently sterilized, under the guise of treating a largely transient disorder known as Gender Dysphoria of Childhood. This warrants a more public response.

The American College of Pediatricians has held true to its founding principles summarized by its slogan, “Best for Children.” The College has also endured ad hominem attacks for making factual statements that threaten agendas which promote the wants of adults over the needs of children. Attacking the messenger is a tactic commonly used by those who cannot refute a truthful message. Labels, such as hate group, extremist, right wing, miniscule, Christian fundamentalist, and deceptively named, reveal desperate attempts to deflect attention away from facts that undermine a desired agenda.

The American College of Pediatricians is precisely what its name implies: a national nonsectarian organization of child and adolescent physicians and health professionals. We have never surveyed the religious identities of our membership, nor attempted to attract physicians of a given religion. In fact, members of our Board of Directors and various committees have identified themselves as Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist. We are physicians and healthcare professionals united by a commitment to traditional Hippocratic medicine; a medical tradition that respects life from conception to natural death and provides care to all patients, as delineated in our Statement of Inclusiveness. It is true that we are relatively smaller than other medical organizations; we have 500 members and counting. Ultimately, however, this is irrelevant to the veracity of our statements; sound science and ethics are not determined by majority vote.

Responsible journalism requires thorough investigation of the subject at hand. This appears lacking with Mr. Turban’s report on the ACPeds. He and others have expressed deep concern over our very legitimate name, yet they erroneously designate us as the “ACP,” which stands for the American College of Physicians. Our proper designation is ACPeds. Our web address, pretty much gives it away. Then again, most of our detractors have never bothered to give our website, position statements, let alone any of the hundreds of scientific references there, a careful read. Were they to do so, they would realize how easily their alternative facts would be refuted, particularly those regarding Gender Dysphoria in Children.

Yes, Mr. Turban, prior to the widespread promotion of transgender affirmation, 75 - 95 percent of prepubertal children with Gender Dysphoria eventually outgrew that distress. The vast majority came to accept their biological sex by late adolescence after passing naturally through puberty. The alternative fact, recently put forth by activists, that large numbers of children who desisted were actually “misdiagnosed” with Gender Dysphoria is debunked by data in Dr. Devita Singh’s doctoral thesis, and also by Dr. T.D. Steensma et. al., as noted in slides 23-25 of our Gender Dysphoria power point.

Yes, Mr. Turban, children diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria pre-pubertally are permanently sterilized when the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and Pediatric Endocrine Society Guidelines are followed. According to these Guidelines, children are placed on puberty blockers as early as Tanner stage II of puberty (as young as age 11) and then placed directly on cross-sex hormones by age 16. An article by Dr. A. Evan Eyler, referenced in our full position statement, confirms that children administered blockers beginning at Tanner stage II and seamlessly transitioned to cross-sex hormones are prevented from producing gonadal tissue (eggs or sperm) for cryopreservation. They will be unable to have genetic offspring of their own even with artificial reproductive technology.

There is an obvious self-fulfilling effect in helping children to impersonate the opposite sex both socially and pharmacologically. Logic leads one to predict that most, if not all, pre-pubertal gender dysphoric children treated in this way will lose the potential to identify with their biological sex, and instead go on to claim a transgender identity. As noted in our position statement, the single follow-up study of such children finds just that; 100% of the pre-pubertal children placed on the social affirmation/puberty blocker protocol failed to desist.

According to the APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology (2014), among those youth who did resolve their Gender Dysphoria prior to the present-day transgender affirmation ethos, 63 - 100% of boys would identify as gay adults, and 32-50% of the girls would identify as lesbian by young adulthood. Affirming pre-pubertal gender dysphoric children as transgender potentially translates into a significant percentage of LGB adults being sterilized. Consequently, some members of the LGB community stand with the ACPeds against this “transgendering of children” which they view as nothing less than the single greatest form of homophobic hatred, namely, eugenics.
Contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence that the elevated rates of mental illness and suicide among transgender-identified youth and adults are due solely, or even predominately, to societal prejudice or discrimination. At least one 2008 study by LGBT-affirming researchers, noted in our Gender Dysphoria position statement, found these factors not to be causative. Mr. Turban’s article also alleges that the College has ignored evidence that transition improves mental health in gender dysphoric children. The “evidence” consists of two small short term studies that contain methodological flaws, and therefore, prove no such thing. There is also no scientifically rigorous, large, prospective or sufficiently longitudinal evidence that transition of gender dysphoric children prevents suicide in the long term. However, there is long-term research on the mental health of adults who transitioned with Gender Dysphoria. This reveals that despite initial relief of the dysphoria, one or more decades after transition, they often present with worse mental health than that of the general population, including a suicide rate nearly twenty times greater. This observation raises more questions than it answers, and should, therefore, give pediatric health professionals great pause- at least those who value evidence-based medicine and are dedicated to ‘first do no harm’.

Some members of the transgender community recognize this and have expressed solidarity with the ACPeds. Rene Jax, a Male to Female Trans author, wrote:

"Dear Dr. Cretella,
Chemical castration, sterilization and surgical mutilation are more than just words to me. They are personal and brutal realities; no child should be subjected to this. Thank you."

The ACPeds has also been contacted by clinicians and academic physicians across the political spectrum, including LGB affirming clinicians. They have expressed their gratitude to the ACPeds for saying publicly what they cannot. Division chairs in psychology and sociology, and many pediatric endocrinologists have told us that to stand for science and go against transgender group think is professional suicide and often results in relentless harassment including death threats.

Belief is in the mind; not in the body. Everyone knows that thinking or feeling that something is true does not make it true. When people consistently and persistently insist something that is contrary to physical reality, they are, at best, confused, or at worst, delusional. According to the alternative logic of transgender experts, however, this is true in every instance except where biological sex is concerned. In this case alone, the persistent and consistent insistence of something contrary to physical reality is definitive proof of the metaphysical claim that an immaterial essence, or in the words of Dr. John Money, “[an] internal sexed identity” is trapped in the wrong body. This foundational claim of transgender medicine has far more in common with a quasi-religion than it has with evidence-based science. How much longer will society sacrifice the health of its children upon these altars?

Michelle Cretella, MD, FCP President

(responding to a post on her channel called "The Silencing of the Lambs", link goes here:
https://onenewsnow.com/perspectives/michael-brown/2019/03/21/the-silencing-of-the-lambs?utm_source=OneNewsNow&utm_medium=email&utm_term=16793253&utm_content=68268707811810616&utm_campaign=38366

Lady Checkmate:
AuntiE*TFL, its like you've taken a page out of our history here on DISQUS. I have chills just thinking about the door you just opened for us by posting this OP. I've been trying to find the right time and way to share with everyone here how insane, violent, hateful and obsessed the radical-left is with conservative Christians. They hate us and they stalk us to find ways and opportunities to act on their hate.

AuntiE, if it's ok with you, I would like to share examples of their hateful, obsessive stalking, threats, intimidation tactics and attempts to silence us. These are real life examples that have happened here on DISQUS. I ask your permission because this is your thread and I don't want to derail it. I can always start a separate thread, if you prefer. No hard feelings either way????.

P. S. I will not post his most vulgar posts like his porn, violence, threats, etc., if you agree.

I'm very familiar with the tactics of the alt-left. They were tried here, on me. This is not sympathy-shopping. I need to obey God and get the truth out-hopefully equipping others to face the persecution that is surely coming to all believers. This is me sharing examples of what their MO looks like when it's played out irl. It saddens me when I hear that "Christian" forums are hosting blasphemy, mockings, heresy and that which is not right in God's eyes for fear of being "trolled" and persecuted. I would prefer to please God than to compromise and be a man-pleaser; nevertheless, I love the brethren and continue to pray for them. I'm doing this for all of us.

Initially, it came as a surprise. I (along with a couple of other mods-who are better at modding than me btw) mod a small community of channels. Our community hosts mostly Christian Conservatives, traditional conservatives and a few liberals. All are welcome as long as they comply with our community guidelines. At some point, I had to ban an alt-left troll that was blaspheming, mocking God, and wanted to use our community to promote sin and abominations. He then warned me that he would, "be a proverbial thorn in my side". I shook the dust from my feet. I figured there are many channels on DISQUS, he'll move on and find one that's a good fit for him. He came back with dozens of sock accounts...all of which were promptly banned as socks violate our community guidelines and DISQUS ToS. He initiated his first level of attack...

By ridicule:
He started with personal insults (b-word, c-word, questioning my faith because I'm a bible-believing, conservative Christian, etc.,), more blasphemy, more mocking what we believe (all of which violated our community guidelines), with many lies peppered in and he was repeatedly sanctioned. He refused to comply with our community guidelines, refused to comply with Disqus ToS and refused to honor the sanctions. He increased his sock and bot usage. He formally notified me that he would be targeting me, stalking me, harassing me and encouraging others to do the same:

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I continued to obey God. He increased his trolling, sock and bot usage and peppered in something about "slander" and "burden of proof" in the comment above, as if he were preparing for a legal battle-perhaps this was his way of trying to intimidate me or convince me that he had the legal right to target, threaten and harass me (implying he might have the upper hand in any legal battle). In the process, he informed me that our community guidelines were "worthless to him".:

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I continued to operate our community as I said I would. It seems he felt his trolling-war tactic had given him the upper hand and he could get me to obey him and give in to his demands. He then "urged" me to read a comment of his barking orders at me and issuing ultimatums that I had to bow to him OR he would continue to troll me:

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I chose to live on my feet, obeying God rather than bow before him. When I ignored his demand and ultimatum, he sent me a comment in which he thanked his socks and bots for helping him target and harass me and he included a reminder to me to obey him or continue to be trolled and harassed:

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When I ignored his reminder as well, he addressed the fact that I was "ignoring" him and indicated he felt he'd won a victory of some sort through trolling and harassing me:

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By legal action & by expulsion
He began rallying others to help him get a petition to started to have me banned and our Conservative Christian community closed. Make no mistake, he wanted me expelled because I would not bow to him and his demands and he hates the fact that Christian conservatives (who don't want to be hounded, vexed, harassed and dogged by trolls) have a safe space here to fellowship in peace. I chose to honor God. He began to post his calls for my expulsion and our community's closure all over DISQUS, including in our community:

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He literally went all over DISQUS, on different channels, claiming he was getting a petition together to have me removed and our community closed. When a mod told him that wouldn't happen and he had no grounds to have me removed, he stated he hoped I was "scared".

By exclusion
When he failed to have me removed as a mod and our channels closed, he began trying to exclude my communities from the trending list via mass down-voting and decided that he'd just try to keep others from commenting in our community and use his troll channel to tell other users not to post here:

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It's really important that we point out that when he failed to get me to obey him, failed to troll me into submission, he started in with the death wishes, death fantasies and death threats (those are on file with the authorities). The alt-left does not tolerate opinions that differ from theirs.

Please do not overlook that he uses different sock accounts/user names to circumvent his sanctions-violating the DISQUS ToS and our community guidelines to stalk and harass me, but expects AND actually demands that I obey him and entertain his trolling or continue to be trolled. The alt-left is manipulative, hateful, conniving liars who will use threats, deception, ultimatums and intimidation in their attempt to control the thoughts, beliefs, and even speech/comments of Christian conservatives. This is not a game. These people are strategic in how they approach targeting, stalking, harassing and trying to destroy Conservative Christians, Christian business owners, Christian places of worship and anyone who stands against their anti-christ agenda. This is one of their new forms of persecution. Watch and pray.

*I intentionally blocked the inappropriate parts of his comments: lies, spam links, profanity, etc. My intent was to show the insanity in their actions, not allow trolls a platform to continue to harass and troll.

Thank you again, AuntiE*TFL (AuntiE*TFL). We have to get the truth out so that others experiencing this form of persecution know whats going on and how to respond. I apologize for the length.