WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — In a recently circulated clip, the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health claimed that pediatricians, particularly those who push gender ideology, are “truth tellers” and “healers.”
“I believe in our role as truth-tellers,” Richard “Rachel” Levine, a gender-confused man, told attendees at a University of Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital event called Pediatric Grand Rounds. “And the truth that we need to confront now is that medicine and science are being politically perverted.”
Levine has been a pediatrician for the past 40 years and a man his entire life.
9/22/22 Pitt Pediatric Grand Rounds: @SecretaryLevine tells MD’s they need to be activists for medical transgender care in minors.
“I believe in our role as truth-tellers. And the truth that we need to confront now is that medicine and science are being politically perverted.” pic.twitter.com/FbBFK450WR
— Megan Brock (@MegEBrock) December 4, 2022
Levine is correct that “medicine and science are being politically perverted,” but not in the way he argues it is. Medical professionals who push gender ideology, including the surgical removal of reproductive organs and the suppression of puberty through drugs, are not the “truth tellers” and they are not “healers.”
However, what we consider “medicine” has indeed become “perverted” by the people who target girls and boys for genital and chemical mutilation or falsely claim that the “science” is on the side of transgenderism.
Exhibit 1: There is not a natural increase in the number of individuals who identify as gender dysphoric or “transgender.”
It is largely driven by social influence and mental illness, as concluded by several social scientists and medical researchers. There is a strong link between mental illness and liberal political beliefs and LGBT identification, Birbeck College political scientist Eric Kaufmann concluded in a 2022 study.
Kaufmann, a social scientist with degrees in political science and economics, concluded that peer pressure drove much of the increased LGBT identification. This comports with the findings of Brown University’s Lisa Littmann, who pioneered research into Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria, which linked increased identification of transgenderism to social pressures.
Littman’s research drew on established studies on social and psychological disorders that affirmed how peer groups can lead to others identifying with the same issues. “Peer contagion has been associated with depressive symptoms, disordered eating, aggression, bullying, and drug use,” she noted. An attempt by a paid consultant for the LGBT lobby to debunk Littman’s research was called a “disaster.”
Exhibit 2: Individuals who have “detransitioned,” meaning they are no longer trying to present themselves as the opposite sex, detail how alleged medical professionals misled them, lied to them, or failed to uphold basic standards of informed consent.
“Scott” Newgent, a woman who went through transgender surgeries to appear as a man, has frequently warned about the harms she faced after “transitioning.”
“I have suffered tremendously, including seven surgeries, a pulmonary embolism, an induced stress heart attack, sepsis, a 17-month recurring infection, 16 rounds of antibiotics, three weeks of daily IV antibiotics, arm reconstructive surgery, lung, heart and bladder damage, insomnia, hallucinations, PTSD, $1 million in medical expenses, and loss of home, car, career and marriage,” Newgent wrote in 2021. “All this, and yet I cannot sue the surgeon responsible — in part because there is no structured, tested or widely accepted baseline for transgender health care.”
This is not science, and the numerous medical professionals who participated in this absolute scam were neither “healers” nor “truth tellers.”
Helena Kerschner would raise objections to Richard Levine’s claims as well. She has shared her story about how Planned Parenthood and other medical professionals barely questioned her claims as a teenager that she was “transgender.” Instead, Planned Parenthood happily signed off on her puberty blockers and began injecting her with testosterone. She is a testament to the role social influence plays on transgenderism.
“The gender ideology is very prominent there [on Tumblr],” she told Michael Knowles in 2022. She said there are a lot of “social incentives” to change pronouns and embrace gender ideology to stay in those online groups. “There are people in these communities who will say, if you don’t like your body, that’s a sign of gender dysphoria, if you don’t fit in with other girls, that’s a sign of gender dysphoria, if you don’t like the way your voice sounds in a recording, that’s a sign of gender dysphoria.”
Exhibit 3: Credential medical experts have debunked the claims of transgender advocates.
LifeSiteNews has compiled a series of resources on the harms of transgenderism. Two articles in particular detail concerns from credentialed medical experts about the harms of transgenderism. Even European medical officials, who would often be considered more liberal and open to gender ideology, have raised concerns.
Endocrinologist Dr. Michael Laidlaw wrote an extensive review of problems with puberty blockers and concluded “[a majority of] children who experience gender dysphoria but are allowed to go through puberty normally…do not persist in identifying with the opposite sex.”
The French Academy of Medicine concurred with Laidlaw’s concerns and released a statement in 2022 that concluded that children should not be given puberty blockers.
“Great medical caution must be taken in children and adolescents, given the vulnerability, particularly psychological, of this population and the many undesirable effects, and even serious complications, that some of the available therapies can cause,” the medical group wrote. “In this respect, it is important to recall the recent decision (May 2021) of the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm to ban the use of hormone blockers.”
RELATED: Transgender Biden official ‘Rachel’ Levine: We should ‘empower’ children to ‘transition’ genders
LifeSiteNews is concerned about the growing push to encourage kids and adults to identify as transgender. It is not possible for someone to change sex – individuals who struggle with gender dysphoria must be supported with prayer and counseling. LifeSiteNews will continue to cover this important issue and expose the harms of transgenderism.