How Gender Ideology Is Reshaping Our Schools And Health Care System

As families shake out the last grains of sand from their kids’ shoes while their children bounce off the walls claiming to be “bored,” parents can now glimpse the upcoming joy of routine schedules, carpool lines, and after-school event coordination. It’s back-to-school time.

Of course, parents aren’t the only ones gearing up for school. So are teachers and school administrators, many of whom will make an enormous difference for the kids they love and educate this year. But as anyone paying attention knows, some officials care more about pushing harmful ideology than providing education. And governments across our country are backing these efforts with the force of law by pushing gender ideology on parents and children.

Take California’s recently signed “SAFETY Act.” This misnamed law forbids schools from requiring staff to discuss a child’s gender dysphoria with parents unless the child gives permission. The law targeted several California districts that recently created good parental notification policies—essentially declaring those policies unlawful. Just think. For children struggling to understand and develop, this law effectively endorses hiding vital information from parents about their own kids.

And this isn’t an isolated policy. Alliance Defending Freedom, where I serve as vice president of litigation strategy, is litigating a number of cases where parents have discovered that it is school policy to “socially transition” children without parental consent. In one instance, a mother sought to help her daughter work through her struggles without a “social transition,” and her daughter grew more comfortable with her body — but only after she withdrew her daughter from school after the district insisted that staff refer to the young woman as a male.

Of course, the Biden-Harris administration isn’t satisfied to leave the issue to the states, as it passed a rule to redefine “sex” in Title IX to include “gender identity.” In one of five lawsuits filed by ADF against this rule change, an 11-year-old girl found a boy in the school restroom and was so scarred by the experience that she only felt safe by waiting until getting home to use the restroom—which could take nearly nine hours. This is the reality facing girls in restrooms, locker rooms, and hotel rooms on overnight trips if the rule change stands.

Meanwhile, in the medical sphere, government officials are pushing this ideology harder than ever. Recent emails became public exposing that Rachel Levine—the head of the Biden-Harris administration’s Health and Human Services department — pressured medical groups to remove age limits on dangerous and even sterilizing surgeries trying to alter children’s bodies to make them look like the opposite sex. The FDA’s clinical team leader at the Division of General Endocrinology Products has recommended the FDA approve of puberty blockers for teens despite knowing of an “increase in depression and suicidality” linked to the drugs.

Not willing to stop there, the Biden-Harris administration also adopted a rule change to Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act that attempts to redefine “sex” in federal law to include “gender identity.” That change would force doctors to perform these harmful, sterilizing procedures and would require States and insurers to foot the bill. ADF has already filed three different lawsuits to maintain sound health practices and common sense in federal law. So far, the courts have issued a nationwide pause on enforcement as the lawsuits proceed.

Joining the federal government are over 20 states and roughly 100 cities and counties that have banned efforts to counsel kids who want help to grow comfortable with their bodies. While many of these states allow doctors to inflict life-altering surgeries and drugs on children, and allow counselors to push these procedures on kids and parents, these states simultaneously ban counselors from talking with and helping minors who want to grow comfortable with their bodies. And that is true even though respected authorities continuously find that pre-pubertal children who express confusion naturally grow out of their dysphoria as they mature, as long as no one interferes with the natural process of puberty. Indeed, counseling is a far more effective and safer treatment for these kids than running to the surgeon.

Ironically, while the Biden-Harris administration and their many allies rush full-steam ahead on trying to convince children they have the wrong body, the rest of the world has already put the brakes on. Nations like Finland, Sweden, and Norway, for example, are heavily restricting these procedures that fall under the “gender identity” umbrella. In England, a lawsuit involving Keira Bell and her ideologically-infused rush into cross-sex procedures led to the National Health Institute closing its gender clinic, followed by an independent review by Dr. Hilary Cass. The Cass review concluded that medical advice rushing kids into these procedures is marked by “remarkably weak evidence.” England then banned puberty blockers for minors outside clinical trials, which was quickly upheld by an English court.

If the tide has turned internationally, what’s being done to push back against the ideologues here in our country? A lot. Twenty-six states have now banned at least some of these dangerous procedures trying to alter children’s bodies, with New Hampshire being the latest. The Texas Supreme Court upheld one of these laws recently, agreeing with two federal appellate courts that had already done so. Eyes now turn to the U.S. Supreme Court, which recently agreed to hear a case out of Tennessee that could set national precedent. The stakes are dangerously high for America’s parents and children.

It’s getting harder to find school officials and medical professionals who will give children the best possible care rather than push harmful ideology. Parents need to be aware of the dangers facing children in this brave new world, but as we’ve seen, a number of brave Americans see the writing on the wall and are taking a stand for truth and common sense.

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Jonathan Scruggs is senior counsel and vice president of litigation strategy with Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal).

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.