When it comes to transgender treatments for children and adolescents, it’s essential to separate fact from fiction. That’s what Do No Harm Senior Fellow Dr. Miriam Grossman did in testimony at Congress on June 14th. A practicing child psychiatrist, she outlined the truth that transgender activists tend to ignore, with the goal of guiding policy in the direction of protecting children.
Dr. Grossman testified before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health. She made clear from the start that this debate desperately needs an infusion of reality, not more radical activism:
“I’m here today to provide you with facts you haven’t heard. You haven’t heard them because when it comes to youth gender dysphoria (also called ‘transgenderism’), the public and most importantly parents, are, I am sad to say, consistently fed misinformation.”
Dr. Grossman then discussed 7 key truths grounded in science and evidence, directly contradicting the misinformation spread by activists:
- Suicide of youth with gender dysphoria is extremely rare.
- Gender dysphoria is a psychiatric condition. There is no established evidence of a biological cause. Most cases resolve on their own, by young adulthood.
- There is no evidence that puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and gender surgeries are lifesaving or medically necessary.
- The U.S. is increasingly an outlier in the treatment of youth with gender dysphoria.
- Health authorities in the UK, Finland, Sweden and Norway now recommend exploratory psychotherapy as the first line of treatment and have severely restricted hormonal interventions, reserving them for exceptional cases.
- Those countries have done systemic reviews and concluded that long term benefit from medical interventions has not been established, while the risk of harm is significant.
- In US hospitals, young teens’ natural puberties are prevented. Girls as young as twelve are having mastectomies. Minors are also having genital surgeries. We have no long-term evidence of benefit of these drastic interventions in the current population.
Dr. Grossman’s full testimony via video is available above and here. Her insights will hopefully guide Congress as it considers ways to protect young Americans. One thing is certain: The status quo, dominated by transgender activists, is actively endangering more children and adolescents by the day.
In Dr. Grossman’s testimony, she references her new book Lost In Trans Nation: A Child Psychiatrist’s Guide Out of the Madness.
About Do No Harm
Do No Harm is a diverse group of physicians, healthcare professionals, medical students, patients, and policymakers united by a moral mission: Protect healthcare from a radical, divisive, and discriminatory ideology. We believe in making healthcare better for all – not undermining it in pursuit of a political agenda.
By Do No Harm Staff
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Testimony Transcript
Chairman Guthrie, and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to address you. My name is Miriam Grossman. I’m a board-certified child adolescent and adult psychiatrist, author, and Senior Fellow at Do No Harm. I’ve been taking care of patients for 45 years. I’m going to use my time to respond to Dr. McNamara.
First, I’m struck by her use of the phrase sex assigned at birth. Sex is not assigned at birth. Sex is established at conception and it’s recognized at birth, if not earlier. Dr. McNamara claims her views are science-based, but to claim that sex is assigned at birth is without any scientific basis whatsoever. It’s language misleads people, especially children, into thinking that male and female are arbitrary designations and can change. That is simply not true. Dr. McNamara claims that social and medical interventions are the only evidence-based treatment, and that scientific evidence shows it is life-saving. Without it, she’s warning us, kids will commit suicide.
Well, a growing number of countries have effectively banned the care to which she’s referring. And, thank God, there’s been no wave of suicides or other mental health catastrophes.
Three years ago Finland placed strict limitations on medical interventions for minors. Sweden did the same thing, after a fourteen year old girl was found to have osteoporosis and spinal fractures from puberty blockers. An investigation concluded “the risks of anti-puberty and hormone treatment for those under 18 currently outweigh the possible benefits.” The UK conducted a review and called the evidence very low. They’ve also placed severe restrictions on the care that Dr. McNamara calls life-saving. Norway also analyzed the data and has made similar changes in policy. The National Academy of Medicine in France warned, “Great medical caution must be taken in children and adolescents given the vulnerability of this population and the many, undesirable, even serious, complications the therapies cause. Doctors in New Zealand and Australia have published similar statements. Is Doctor McNamara suggesting that all these countries are rejecting evidence-based treatment and placing their kids at risk of suicide? Regarding that point of view, Finland’s gender expert Dr. Riitta (Riittakerttu) Kaltiala said, “It’s purposeful disinformation, the spreading of which is irresponsible.” All seven countries, and Florida, too, of course, concluded that kids don’t need their development interrupted. The girls don’t need their period stopped and their voices lowered. And the boys don’t need to grow breasts. What they need is psychotherapy.
I have other objections to Dr. McNamara’s testimony. She insists that her position, only hers, represents standard medical care. What she doesn’t want you to know is that there is no standard, there’s a debate, there’s a fierce debate. And on the side opposite her stands such prominent figures as Stephen Levine, Kenneth Zucker, Paul McHugh and James Cantor, among others. These doctors are giants in the field. They have been treating transgender patients and gathering data and publishing papers about them ,and I mean no disrespect here, but before Dr. McNamara was born. The point is, that those veteran clinicians and others who have wisdom and experience are ignored because they disagree with the current narrative. They’re against medical interventions for the same reason those seven countries are. There is no evidence of long-term benefit, but there is evidence of harm.
I’ll end by quoting Jamie Reed, the courageous whistleblower from the children’s gender clinic in St Louis. I believe that that hospital receives the medical education funding that we’re discussing today. She said that doctors of that clinic said, “We are building the plane while we are flying it.” We are building the plane while we are flying it. That’s how they describe the treatment at their gender clinic. Our precious tax dollars should not support such a perilous experiment. Thank you.
