Transgender Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levin claims children can go through ‘the wrong puberty’.
Levine, 65, supports providing gender-affirming care to minors, arguing that treatment options are ‘evidence-based’.
“Gender-affirming care treatment options for transgender youth are truly evidence-based,” Levine said.
He was asked about the possibility of preventing transgender youth from seeking body-altering treatment until at least age 18.
Levin has previously said the Biden administration has “the utmost support” for so-called gender-affirming care for minors.
In an interview with the ABC, Rachel Levin claimed that children can go through ‘wrong puberty’, so pre-adolescent children should have access to so-called gender-affirming care.
Levin is the nation’s highest-ranking openly transgender federal official and was named a four-star admiral in the Public Health Service.
He tends to sport his admiral’s uniform during public appearances. Levine, who grew up male, went through puberty as a man, attended medical school, married and became a father before deciding to transition.
Levine’s support for gender-affirming care for minors would, in some cases, take away opportunities that Levine enjoyed as a man for decades before transitioning, his critics noted.
The ABC host asked Levine: ‘What do you say to people who think it’s reasonable to say ‘Why can’t children wait until they’re 18?’
‘Adolescence is hard and puberty is hard. Are you going through the wrong puberty? What if you thought you were a woman, but now you’re going through a male puberty?’ Levin replied.
The Assistant Secretary followed by declaring that ‘gender-affirming care is medical care.’
‘Gender-affirming care is mental health care. Gender-affirming care literally prevents suicide.
‘A supportive adult can make all the difference. Now one can expect to be a parent or relative. Sometimes it’s a teacher or coach or religious advisor or someone else in their life.’
Levine adds that ‘for pre-adolescent children, no treatment is done. The standard of care allows them to explore this through therapy.’
Although no surgery is performed on children under the age of 13, puberty blockers are given to children before puberty.
Transgender Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levin says Biden administration has ‘strongest support’ for gender-affirming care for minors
Several months ago, Levin gave a speech in which he promised that medical gender reassignment of children would soon be normalized, praising the controversial medical intervention that has been banned in several states.
‘I can say that you, the children you serve, the youth you serve, their families and all of you have support at the highest level of the federal government.
‘President Biden supports you. I will support you as assistant secretary of health and I talk about this issue, wherever I go, to get the word out,’ he said during a pediatric grand rounds session at Children’s Medical Center in Hartford.
‘But I’m positive and hopeful and optimistic that after this the wheels will turn and this issue will not be such a minefield politically and socially.’
At the time, Republican congressman Rep. Andy Harris – himself a doctor – called Levin’s comments ‘reprehensible’.
Levine, 65, grew up male, went through puberty as a man, attended medical school, married and became a father before deciding to transition.
‘It is reprehensible for a government official, let alone the assistant US secretary of HHS, to promote genital mutilation of minors as a standard practice in the United States,’ he said.
‘As a physician, I was proud to co-sponsor the ‘Protect Children’s Innocence Act’ which would ban harmful medical procedures used to treat gender dysphoria in transgender minors, including puberty blockers and surgeries where minors change their bodies to match their biological sex.
He added: ‘Many paediatricians, particularly pediatric endocrinologists, have expressed serious concerns about the use of puberty blockers, hormone blockers and sex transition surgery in minors.
‘These doctors know that these drugs and procedures can affect children’s bone growth, fertility and the risk of breast and prostate cancer.
Meanwhile, HHS has pressured providers to provide this care or face discrimination lawsuits. We have to protect our children.’
Levin then lied and said that ‘for pre-adolescent children, there is no medical procedure. The standard of care allows them to explore this through therapy.’ Although Levin probably meant that no surgery was performed, no genital removal, no breast tissue harvested—which is reserved for ages 13 and up—children are given puberty blockers before they reach that stage.
Levine was asked about bills that have been proposed or enacted in more than 20 states that are designed to prevent minors from using drugs or otherwise medically intervene in sex reassignment services. Levine is opposed to the law despite being able to lead a normal sex life. Levine also spoke favorably about being a father and raising children.
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