More than half of parents of trans children say they were “pressured” to have their child transition

A large survey of parents of children who identify as transgender has revealed disturbingly high numbers complaining of ‘pressure’ to have their children transition, even though they felt it was not in the best interests of the child.

The survey of 1,655 parentspublished in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, found that more than half of parents who were referred to gender therapists said they felt obligated to give their children medical treatments or change their wardrobe.

The paper, authored by Michael Bailey, a psychology professor at Northwestern University, stems from concerns about the increasing number of young people who identify as trans and non-binary, and as Republicans push for a ban on trans medical treatments for minors.

It also follows the damning testimony of a former employee of a youth gender clinic in Missouri, where doctors reportedly told parents they could either have a transgender child — or a child who would commit suicide.

A nurse administers a testosterone shot to an 18-year-old transgender person in Overland Park, Kansas. Republicans have moved to ban gender-affirming care, famously, for children and even young adults in some states

The responses came from parents of children who identified as transgender, who were concerned that the decision had more to do with mental illness, social media and peer pressure than any real discomfort with their gender.

They were part of an online group called Parents of Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria Kids. Rapid onset gender dysphoria is part of a controversial theory that the surge in trans-identifying youth is a social contagion.

Three quarters of the transidentifying children were biological females. Most of them came out as trans at the same time as friends and seemed to respond to social media cues, the parents said.

“When they turned to their trusted medical professionals for help, they were told to affirm their child’s newly created identity and support their gender exploration, which means supporting them through social, medical and surgical transition,” the group said in a statement to DailyMail. com.

“If these parents express any doubts, or ask that their child’s mental health issues be addressed first, they are being warned that they are doing their child even more emotional harm — and may even drive them to suicide.”

In addition to describing the pressures of gender clinics, they said their children developed emotional problems an average of four years before expressing a desire to change gender, and that the transition worsened their mental health.

Bailey stated that respondents “tended to be socially progressive” and expressed support for LGBT issues, but did not believe their adolescent and young adult children were actually transgender.

“Instead, they believe these youth are socially influenced by peers and other cultural factors to adopt a transgender identity,” Bailey told DailyMail.com.

“Parents reported many pre-existing emotional problems for the youngsters — on average, the problems started almost four years earlier than the gender problems. It is therefore not surprising that many parents were dissatisfied that the gender therapists they had advised were pushing for gender transition.’

Responses were collected between December 2017 and October 2021. Most respondents were mothers and fathers of a trans-identifying child, although some were step-parents, grandparents or adoptive parents.

Critics have derided the survey as self-selection. Alejandra Caraballo, a prominent male-to-female transitioner and Harvard Law School instructor, dismissed the findings as “surveys of anti-trans parents recruited through online anti-trans sites.”

Offering sex reassignment treatments to children has become a frontline issue in America’s culture wars.

Parents said by large margins their child’s mental health deteriorated after they began to change socially, meaning changes in wardrobes, styling, names and/or pronouns

Parents of trans children said those born female were more likely to experience gender dysphoria than boys

Protesters in support of transgender rights demonstrate outside the Alabama State House in Montgomery amid a debate over whether to ban sex reassignment care for minors

Children who identify as trans often change their name, pronouns and how they dress. Some ask for puberty blockers, sex hormones, and even surgery.

Trans activists, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and other major US medical groups, and the Biden administration say such care could save lives among a suicide-prone group.

Some say that going through the “wrong” puberty is harmful for transadolescents.

Opponents of the trans ideology say that sex is determined at birth and cannot be changed, that medical groups have been hijacked by trans activists, and that politicians should step in and prevent parents, doctors or therapists from permanently harming children.

Many have been alarmed by the surge in the number of teenage girls with autism and other mental health problems seeking sex reassignment drugs in recent years, and by new studies linking puberty blockers to weaker bones and osteoporosis.

America has witnessed a series of groundbreaking moments in the trans debate in recent weeks, with a growing number of pediatricians, parents, politicians and even young trans people questioning whether confirmation on demand is always the best answer.

In a whistleblower statement this month, Jamie Reed, a former employee of the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, revealed how the clinic administered a litany of irreparable treatments to minors, often without parental consent.

Reed said doctors would ask questions like “do you want a dead daughter or a living son?” to “bully” children’s parents into going through with gender reassignment—on the pretext that if they didn’t, they would become suicidal.

The Free Press, which published Reed’s testimony, op Monday published the story from Caroline, whose 14-year-old son was given a puberty blocker to stop his sexual development and alleviate his mental health problems by the St. Louis clinic.

“Instead of providing relief, her son experienced a devastating decline in his mental and physical health following this intervention.

‘Within a semester [he] went from all A’s and B’s to a report card littered with D’s and F’s. For many days he found it impossible to get out of bed. He missed so much school that an official meeting about his truancy got under way, which also included a circuit court judge.”