Statement on Puberty Suppression (Annotated Version)
On August 21, 2022, Lesbians United released our review of the literature on puberty suppression.1 We cited over 300 sources, including clinical studies of adults who took GnRH agonists (the class of drugs also called “puberty blockers”) for prostate cancer, endometriosis, and other conditions.2
Our research shows that GnRH agonists (“puberty blockers”) can negatively affect the skeleton, cardiovascular system, thyroid, brain, genitals, reproductive system, digestive system, urinary tract, muscles, eyes, and immune system. GnRH agonists may be harmful to mental health, and may increase the risk of suicide.3
Studies also show that the majority of adolescents who are prescribed GnRH agonists for so-called “gender dysphoria” are girls, and that a wildly disproportionate number of these girls are likely to grow up lesbian.4
Based on these findings, Lesbians United concludes that the prescription of GnRH agonists to treat an actual or perceived mental illness constitutes medical malpractice5 and a crime against humanity6; that parental consent to puberty suppression to treat an actual or perceived mental illness is a form of child abuse7; that the widespread practice of administering GnRH agonists to adolescents who have received a gender dysphoria diagnosis is homophobic, sexist, and specifically anti-lesbian8; and that the widespread practice of diagnosing patients with gender dysphoria with the intent of prescribing or abetting the prescription of GnRH agonists9 is homophobic, sexist, and specifically anti-lesbian.
The U.S. medical, pharmaceutical, and psychological establishments are actively subjecting children and adolescents to the horrific effects of GnRH agonists, and willfully ignoring the overwhelming evidence against using these drugs to treat any condition that is not life-threatening. Lesbians United considers this practice to be a form of torture and abuse. It must be stopped. Every medical professional who participated must be held accountable financially, professionally, and socially, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
The review, titled Puberty Suppression: Medicine or Malpractice?, is available on our website at https://lesbians-united.org/resources.html.
“GnRH agonists” is a more accurate name for the drugs now sold as “puberty blockers.” These drugs were originally approved to treat prostate cancer. They have since been used for endometriosis, uterine fibroids, and central precocious puberty; to chemically castrate sex offenders; and as a debunked treatment for autism (a national scandal that cost Mark Geier his medical license).
There are plenty of reputable and well-designed studies that show that these drugs have devastating side effects when used on adults. If you’re looking into the science on puberty suppression and all you’re finding are poorly-designed recent studies claiming that these drugs are “safe” and “reversible,” try searching the term “GnRH agonists” instead of “puberty blockers.”
The media and pop-scientists keep claiming that puberty suppression improves mental health. Absolutely no evidence exists to support this claim—unless you count a 2020 paper by Turban, Beckwith, Reisner, and Keuroghlian, which made unreasonable extrapolations from data taken from an overtly biased voluntary-response survey.
For real evidence on the effects of GnRH agonists on mental health, see pp.10-11 of Puberty Suppression: Medicine or Malpractice?.
See Puberty Suppression: Medicine or Malpractice?, footnote 2 (p.2). “Gender dysphoria” diagnoses have skyrocketed in the past decade, and girls are diagnosed much more often than boys. Evidence shows that most children diagnosed with “gender dysphoria” will grow up lesbian or gay.
In the U.S., “medical malpractice” is a civil rather than a criminal matter (meaning it’s addressed by lawsuits rather than in criminal court). In order to prove medical malpractice, the patient must prove that the defendant owed them a professional duty, failed in that duty, and caused injury that resulted in damages (e.g. medical bills, lost wages, disability, disfigurement, pain and suffering).
A doctor automatically owes his patients a professional duty. If he fails in that duty by prescribing a drug that is known to cause harm and is not likely to improve the patient’s health, and if the drug then causes any kind of disability (say, osteoporosis, loss of sexual capacity, infertility, chronic pain, obesity, cognitive deficit, or depression) or additional medical expense (perhaps due to treatment for medical conditions the drug caused) or lost wage (for example, the lost career potential of a minor who develops a cognitive deficit or lifelong physical impairment as a side effect of the drug) or pain and suffering (including physical pain, or the emotional pain of permanently losing the ability to have a sexual relationship, or the psychological pain of being misinformed by a trusted medical professional as a child and spending years trying to unravel the lie) … well, you do the math.
The 1998 Rome Statute defines “crimes against humanity” as “Torture … enforced sterilization … inhumane acts … intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health,” when these acts are “committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.”
The effects of GnRH agonists are common knowledge in the medical community. When the Maryland State Board of Physicians revoked Mark Geier’s medical license for giving GnRH agonists to autistic kids, they cited “a known substantial risk of serious harm.” And when Alabama passed a law requiring sex offenders to take GnRH agonists as a form of chemical castration, medical experts called the requirement “impermissibly cruel.”
The fact that most children diagnosed with “gender dysphoria” are girls or gay boys is also public knowledge, and the studies that prove it are easily accessible. To boot, many of the diagnostic criteria for childhood “gender dysphoria” laid out in the DSM are early signs of homosexuality (see Puberty Suppression: Medicine or Malpractice?, footnote 2).
Medical professionals who prescribe GnRH agonists to minors diagnosed with “gender dysphoria,” or who diagnose minors with “gender dysphoria” knowing that this will lead to the prescription of GnRH agonists, are therefore targeting girls and homosexuals for serious harm. They have no excuse for not knowing what they’re participating in.
Knowledge + targeting civilian population(s) + serious harm = crime against humanity.
In the U.S., child abuse is defined by the Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. § 5101 note) as “any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation … or an act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm.”
The effects of GnRH agonists certainly present “an imminent risk of serious harm” and can cause “serious physical or emotional harm.” In some cases, they may result in death.
Again, evidence shows that girls are disproportionately diagnosed with “gender dysphoria,” and the majority of children diagnosed with “gender dysphoria” will grow up lesbian or gay. Studies also show that the vast majority of these children will desist, or grow out of any desire to be the opposite sex, if they are not “affirmed” or interfered with (see Puberty Suppression: Medicine or Malpractice?, p.10).
The takeaway: doctors are prescribing GnRH agonists to a lot of girls (a lot of whom are lesbians) and a lot of gay boys who would otherwise have grown up perfectly healthy.
Yes, this is happening. See, for example, this video of Dr. Ilana Sherer, who prescribes GnRH agonists to minors, talking about how she gets Dr. Diane Ehrensaft to “rubber-stamp” these kids’ diagnoses for her: “What we’ve started to do in our clinics is have someone like Diane [Ehrensaft] go in and give their rubb- I know you said you don’t rubber-stamp, but basically in my mind that’s sort of what it feels like.”
What is the UVM Medical Center here in Vermont waiting to learn more about? Stop administering these Franken drugs to children and calling it "affirmative care." There is no valid reason for interrupting puberty. Even treatments for "precocious puberty" are a stretch.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time ..." Not only did it turn out there are problems with these drugs, but they've been weaponized against girls, women, and lesbians. Actual gender dysphoria is quite rare, and it's telling that new "standards" claim one need not be gender dysphoric to be "trans" and in need of medical intervention. I find it quite telling that medical providers are among the detransition deniers. Competent care would expose potential patients to detransitioners' narratives in the name of informed consent, if nothing else. I believe it used to be that all other possible reasons for cross-gender treatment demands were ruled out before such treatment was approved. That usually meant other psychological conditions, but today it's clear that the sexist pressures on girls (including early sexualization) drive a lot of transgender ideations.