The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has approved a range of exhibitors for its national annual conference in October…But last month, the association denied an information booth request from the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) with no explanation.

View Comments (0)

The SEGM represents 100 international clinicians and researchers who evaluate the scientific evidence behind transgender medical interventions. The group objects to the “gender affirmation” approach endorsed by the AAP and other major U.S. medical associations. That approach sets adolescents and children with gender dysphoria on a path that involves puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries.

The AAP’s rejection of the SEGM signaled it has no interest in debate over what constitutes evidence-based care for children with gender dysphoria, the group said in a statement…

Questions and concerns continue to surface in the pages of prestigious medical journals, at renowned European hospitals, and in U.K. courtrooms over the lack of evidence supporting the gender affirmative approach…

Meanwhile, three major European gender clinics have reversed course and taken a more cautious approach to transgender interventions…as the number of youth who claim to have gender dysphoria continues to skyrocket. The Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden…suspended pediatric transgender treatment outside of clinical trials. Finland’s gender clinic issued new guidelines last year prioritizing psychotherapy over hormones and surgery for children with gender dysphoria.

The United Kingdom halted hormone treatments for minors under age 16, and its pediatric gender transition policies are under review following a High Court ruling last year in the Keira Bell case. That ruling determined that children are incapable of providing informed consent to experimental transgender treatments and procedures…

International developments such as these reveal the growing disconnect between reasonable doctors and scientists and U.S. medical organizations such as the AAP. “That’s ‘politics’ in a nutshell and a form of intellectual cowardice,” Zucker said.

Are you concerned about the gender affirmation approach? Share in the comments below!

(Excerpt from World. Article by Mary Jackson. Photo Credit: National Cancer Institute/Unsplash).