The White House Press Secretary touted transgender therapies as the "best practice" for children and teens who are confused about their gender.
The Biden administration's White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday promoted the use of experimental puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to youth who suffer from gender dysphoria, touting it as a "best practice." She also warned against states that prohibit such practices for gender-confused youth, saying that the federal government would take action against the states.
During a White House press briefing on Thursday, Psaki criticized Republican officials for "ngaging in a disturbing cynical trend of attacking vulnerable transgender kids for purely partisan, political reasons." The White House Press Secretary specifically cited Republican lawmakers in Alabama for discussing legislation that she believed would "target trans youth with tactics that threatens to put pediatricians in prison if they provide medically necessary, lifesaving healthcare for the kids they serve."
Meanwhile, critics of irreversible gender transition surgeries that remove breast tissue and mutilate the reproductive body parts of underage youth argued that such practices are "unethical and lead to a lifetime of sterilization and maimed bodies," the Christian Post reported.
Psaki announced that lawmakers and legislators in Alabama have been "put on notice by the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services" that laws prohibiting "gender-affirming care" that healthcare professionals recommend for transgender minors "may violate the Constitution and federal law."
The White House Press Secretary said that "every major medical association agrees that gender-affirming healthcare" for gender-confused youth is a "best practice and potentially lifesaving." However, Psaki also recognized the American College of Pediatricians's findings that "there is not a single long-term study to demonstrate the safety or efficacy of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries for transgender-believing youth."
In fact, the American College of Pediatricians stated that puberty blockers can actually cause "depression and other emotional disturbances related to suicide." Lupron, which is the most commonly prescribed puberty blocker in the U.S., lists on its packaging "emotional instability" as a side effect. It also warns users to "monitor for development or worsening of psychiatric symptoms during treatment."
The Biden administration's push for cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers may be influenced by lobbying from large pharmaceutical companies. The Jewish Voice reported that pharmaceutical companies have increased funding for LGBT groups and transgender research in the recent years. Researchers from Stanford who released an influential study endorsing hormone treatments were actually funded by Pfizer, which produces estradiol, an estrogen hormone used by males transitioning to females, and Arbor.
The Biden administration's endorsement of cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers may pave the way for its broader use among minors. In its fact sheet on Transgender Day of Visibility, the Biden administration declared that transgender children have "the right to access gender-affirming health care."
The Biden administration in March decried the "hundreds of anti-transgender bills" proposed in 2021 and 2022, calling them "political attacks" on transgender children, the Daily Mail reported. President Joe Biden declared, "Visibility matters, and so many transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming Americans are thriving. Despite this progress, transgender Americans continue to face discrimination, harassment, and barriers to opportunity."
