Transgender campaign 'surgically mutilating' children

The president of the American College of Pediatricians has come to the defense of an Australian physician who is under investigation for re-tweeting posts critical of "radical gender indoctrination" of children.

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency is investigating David van Gend, a general practitioner from Queensland who is accused of retweeting promotions of books that "push back on radical gender indoctrination of children" and an article titled "SSM (same-sex marriage) has led exactly where we warned it would."

Dr. Michelle Cretella, president of the American College of Pediatricians, told WND the probe of Gend is "a blatant violation of freedom of speech and association that has absolutely nothing to do with tolerance, science, or health."

"Physicians dedicated to primum non nocere have the duty to boldly pushback against this pervasive, tyrannical transgender ideology that is gaslighting, chemically castrating and surgically mutilating our children," she said.

The Latin phrase means "first, do no harm," and sometimes is written as primum nil nocere.

The Christian Post reported Gend's troubles began after he retweeted posts by Conservative Party Senate candidate Lyle Shelton.

One of the tweets featured a picture of Shelton posing at an event in Brisbane, Australia, with Ryan Anderson, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation and a prominent critic of transgender ideology. Anderson is the author of "When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment."

Shelton also promoted an article by conservative columnist Miranda Devine that was critical of "gender fluidity classes" in schools.

Devine said in an interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson that the "transgender ideology" is producing "large-scale child abuse."

See the Fox News interview:

"I think it's important to say that everyone on both sides of this is concerned about finding loving and helpful solutions for children," she told Carlson.

The problem, she said, is that "transgender ideology" is not "grounded in reality."

"Sex is hard-wired," said Devine.

She said feeding children and their families ideas about changing sexes, and giving them chemicals and surgeries, is "child abuse."

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency told van Gend a complaint was filed "questioning his professional conduct and told him that he was being investigated for violating board policies," the Post said.

The AHPRA notification contended that while van Gend has presented himself as a medical practitioner, he has provided information that is "clearly not medically, psychologically, not scientifically based."

Van Gend has been required to "explain in writing" his actions.

His case could have major implications for the free speech rights of conservative and religious doctors in Australia, the Post said.

The report pointed out much research is still needed to show the long-term health effects of gender-reassignment therapies.

"This month, a survey based on about 5,000 Kaiser Permanente patients who have undergone gender transition hormone therapy in the United States found that biological males who take hormone drugs to transition into female are anywhere from 80 to 90 times more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke," the Post said.

WND reported a feud has developed between lesbians and others in the "LGBT" movement. The lesbians argue they are women attracted to women and there's no room for men who claim they are women. Biology matters, they insist, and it's not enough to simply "identify" as being of a particular gender.

Last week, a federal judge in Oregon ordered a public school district to allow boys who "identify" as girls to use the girls' showers and rest rooms.

U.S. District Court Judge Marco Hernandez in Oregon did offer an alternative, however: Parents who object to mixed-sex showers for their children can take them out of the schools for which they pay.

"Once the parents have chosen to send their children to school ... their liberty interest in their children's education is severely diminished," he declared.

His ruling, however, conflicts with President Trump's rescinding of an Obama administration guidance letter directing schools that want to continue to receive federal funding to let students use facilities that correspond with their "gender identity."

Hernandez, who was appointed by Obama, rejected the claims from Parents for Privacy, Kris Golly, Jon Golly, Lindsey Golly, Nicole Lille, Melissa Gregory and Parents Rights in Education against the Dallas School District No. 2 and the Oregon Department of Education.

The judge defined "sex" as "processes that lead to or denote male or female."

But he said "gender" is a person's "subjective, deep-core sense of self as being a particular gender."