Penna Dexter

This election we’ve heard discussions of some radical, far-left ideas on the campaign trail. But it was a real shock last week to hear a presidential candidate voice support for a right to gender transitions for 8-year-olds. At the ABC townhall in Philadelphia, the mother of a third-grader who identifies as transgender asked candidate Joe Biden, how he, if elected president, would protect the rights of people who claim a different gender under U.S. law. Vice President Biden answered. “I will flat out just change the law. Every---eliminate those executive orders, number one.” Then he went on to describe the scenario where “an 8-year-old child or a 10-year-old child decides, ‘You know I want to be transgender.’’’ Of the life-altering decision for a child to begin a gender transition, Mr. Biden said to this mother, “there is no reason to suggest that there be any right denied your daughter…” Parents, doctors, and good government are God-given protectors to help children follow the best, most healthy paths in life. For no child does that path lead toward offering a gender change. But Joe Biden implied that children have the right to pursue gender transition and to deny this is “discrimination.” Mind you, we don’t have any federal laws that ban gender transition procedures for minors. But some states do. And others are working on passing such legislation. This is exactly the right and wise thing to do for several reasons: First, studies have shown that most children with gender confusion outgrow it by puberty. To step in with drugs that block puberty is not only unwise but medically harmful. The pressure escalates, then, for more serious interventions. The next step in the transition process is to administer cross-sex hormones. And the third— radical, but increasingly common—step is gender reassignment surgery. To set a child on this path is wrong. The American College of Pediatricians calls it “child abuse.” It’s now a campaign issue.