Stopping the spread of the radical ideology in Latin America.
Yesterday, a young woman named Laura filed the first medical malpractice lawsuit against doctors in Latin America for perpetrating the lie that she was born in the wrong body. Doctors from the Clínica Valle del Lili in Colombia diagnosed Laura with gender dysphoria on her very first visit. Though only 15 at the time, they told her that testosterone and puberty blockers would solve her distress. Despite Laura’s desire to breastfeed one day, they performed a double mastectomy after she turned 18. Now, with the help of lawyers, she is going to court and to the public because “kids and teenagers shouldn’t be able to transition.”
Like youth in other countries, Laura first encountered gender ideology online. After seeing a Swedish girl use a breast binder, she became seized with the idea that she could “become a boy.” This offered her escape from impending womanhood—something she dreaded. Additionally, at only six years old, Laura was sexually assaulted by a person who worked in her household. As she began to go through puberty, that trauma resurfaced, and crippling fear made it hard just to leave the house.
After Laura’s parents took her to a psychologist and psychiatrist, they referred her to Clínica Valle del Lili. None of the doctors addressed the trauma of sexual assault. Instead, to treat her anxiety and depression, they injected her with chemicals so she could have “a normal life like a man.” When she expressed interest in having children, they promised her they were just putting her hormones to “sleep” and that she could get pregnant one day.
What Laura didn’t know was that there’s an astounding lack of evidence that hormones lead to mental health improvements for youth who are distressed by their bodies. Her doctors, who had visited a gender clinic in San Francisco, also hid the medical risks that accompany puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones: cardiovascular and cognitive problems, chronic pain, infertility, and sterilization. They never bothered to ask Laura or her parents to give written consent, nor did they provide information about the risks or the alternatives. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, she realized that “transitioning” was a terrible mistake and attempted suicide. No longer able to “keep up with the lie,” she began to realize the truth that she was and always will be female.
Though tragic cases like Laura’s are happening in the Global North as well, the weight of evidence is causing gender ideology to fall here like a house of cards. Courageous detransitioners, whistleblowing medical professionals, and parents are exposing the dangers of medical experiments on children. Policymakers are trying to hold doctors accountable for their responsibility to do no harm.
European countries like Sweden and Finland have made a U-turn on so-called gender transition. In England, the National Health Service commissioned a systematic review of evidence on pediatric gender dysphoria and concluded that there’s a lack of credible evidence that stopping puberty leads to improvements in mental health. Children who were told that transitioning would solve their problems continued to experience distress after the process was completed. And contrary to claims of transgender advocates, suicide rates among those who attempt to live adult life in a transgender identity are shockingly high. After all, the problem is in their minds, not their bodies. No cosmetic change can alter the reality of being male or female.
In the U.S., the Supreme Court recently upheld Tennessee’s law that protects children with gender dysphoria from experimental and harmful drugs and surgeries. More than 20 states have enacted similar protections for children, and the Trump Administration banned federal funding for chemical and surgical mutilation. Detransitioners have filed civil lawsuits against doctors and insurers, and gender clinics are shutting down.
But just as this profitable practice is waning in the Global North, doctors in Latin America are trying to build a business out of their young patients.
Pope Francis has decried the “ideological colonization” of the Global South by those who promote and finance gender ideology. In Latin America, this includes the United Nations, European governments, the Biden Administration, and LGBTQ groups.
The U.N. promotes gender ideology through comprehensive sexuality education, which its agencies use as a benchmark to evaluate countries like Colombia for development aid. Taking its cues from transgender activists, the World Health Organization recoded gender dysphoria in children from being a mental disorder to a “condition related to sexual health,” which makes it easier to access and receive insurance coverage for chemical and surgical treatments. And the Biden Administration funded gender ideology through its National Strategy on Gender Equity, including USAID-supported transgender programs in Colombia, Peru, and Guatemala.
Mexican judicial authorities have silenced Gabriel Quadri and Teresa Castell, two legislators, for proposing bans on chemical and surgical mutilation. When former congressman Rodrigo Iván Cortés disclosed the biological reality about a male legislator who describes himself as a woman, the government charged him with “gender based political violence.”
In Brazil, the Supreme Court created the crime of “transphobia,” which carries sentences of up to five years. The government has prosecuted pastors, feminists, and other critics of gender ideology for their speech. The Brazilian government is now pledging to increase online censorship of disfavored speech with a new AI tool.
Like Laura, mothers in Brazil and Argentina are also standing up to protect children. The Supreme Court of Brazil is being asked to uphold new guidelines by the Federal Council of Medicine that effectively ban experimental interventions to treat gender dysphoria in minors. In Chile, the opposition has successfully challenged government financing of the mutilation and sterilization of minors.
Every child is born in the right body and deserves to grow up with self-worth and self-acceptance. Children are the most vulnerable members of any society. They deserve unwavering care, protection, and support for their full development and mental and physical integrity. To stop the spread of this poisonous ideology, Laura needs the visible, vocal, and tangible support of the Global North. By telling the truth about gender ideology, Laura is ensuring that she is not its first victim, but its last.
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