The transgender craze is being driven by a powerful political, medical, and cultural lobby. They insist that children have the right to consent to powerful hormones and disfiguring surgeries in order to "change" their gender.
The trans lobbyists' argument flies in the face of common sense, science, and the legal protections we give to minors. Children generally cannot enter into legally binding contracts, they can't vote, they cannot get tattoos or get piercings, they can't drink alcohol, or be prescribed medications without parental knowledge and consent.
The trans lobby is desperately trying to knock down these traditional restrictions on minor children's ability to make life-changing, irrevocable decisions. Some states are passing laws telling confused kids that they can go to those "trans sanctuary states" to get treatments their parents oppose.
Some of the arguments the trans lobbyists are making would be laughable if they weren't so insane and dangerous. A perfect example of this is a recent opinion piece by a New York Times columnist, Lydia Polgreen.
She begins her argument by telling us that in the sixth grade, she made a decision that changed the course of her life. She decided "not to try out for the middle school swim team." She assures the reader this decision is a "big deal."
She claims that if she had continued swimming in junior high, she might have won a scholarship to a top college. Instead, she was only able to attend a community college.
Ms. Polgreen then gets to her point. She compares her decision not to play a sport to a child's decision to take sterilizing drugs or mutilate his or her body.
She writes, "We allow children to make irreversible decisions about their lives all the time … So what are we saying, really, when we worry that a child will regret … the decision to transition? And how is it different, really, from the decision I made to quit competitive swimming?"
Her argument is simply ludicrous. Children are being given powerful hormones, and studies show there are major medical and mental health risks. Young girls are having their breasts removed. These are profound decisions involving major risks and are far more consequential than just changing hobbies.
But take note. The New York Times is a powerful media institution. It owns dozens of other newspapers around America. In many ways, it is the voice of American progressives. We must do everything possible to protect our children and resist the Left's impulse to undermine parental rights.