Join National Review on the front lines as we work to expose one of the biggest medical scandals of our time.
In a recent interview for his Apple TV+ show, Jon Stewart asked the Arkansas attorney general why her state banned so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors, given that major medical associations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association endorse these treatments.
And that, right there, exposes how the Left has tried to control this debate. This is the same question asked of Dr. C. Alan Hopewell, a senior clinical neuropsychologist in Texas, during the James Younger custody dispute, which I reported on three years ago in an exclusive cover story for National Review. “Just because an organization takes a stand really doesn’t have anything to do with either science or the membership of the body itself,” Hopewell answered. He explained a point that can’t be made often enough: Medical associations’ policy statements are decided by a tiny percentage of overall membership, often by non-experts, sometimes by non-physicians, and, in some instances, for entirely political reasons.
Stewart’s line of questioning was cheered by progressives on Twitter, but the fact remains: Those who support tampering with the sexual development of physically healthy children are incapable of winning the debate on the merits. Instead, they try to bypass it entirely by hinging the entire transgender façade on arguments from authority. Thanks to outlets such as National Review, however, the credibility of that authority is beginning to crumble.
Caroline Downey just reported how Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s transgender clinic has suspended medicalized gender transition for minors after a backlash. The U.K. and other countries are having second thoughts, as NR has detailed. At the state level, lawmakers are pushing back, and it’s important to keep exposing the actual, physical harm that this movement is inflicting. This is a big part of my beat here at NR. Michael Brendan Dougherty also recently wrote a compelling essay examining the cultural origins of the craze.
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I argued in a recent column that Republicans may have the upper hand in this culture war. Certainly, the polling — as much as Republicans’ midterm strategies in key swing states — suggests as much. Even Democrats such as Laura Kelly, the Kansas gubernatorial candidate, have been forced to contend with public opinion concerning males in female sports. Rich Lowry pointed out her cynicism and dishonesty in talking right while walking left on the issue.
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