A comprehensive Department of Health and Human Services review published on Thursday found that there was never any evidence to support the radical gender ideology that was welcomed by healthcare institutions across the nation.
The 409-page report, commissioned in President Donald Trump’s January 28th executive order effectively defunding chemical and surgical mutilation on children, found that the doctors who embraced and advanced radical gender ideology in pediatric patients experiencing gender confusion “lacked sufficient scientific and ethical justification” for those interventions.
“While no clinician or medical association intends to fail their patients — particularly those who are most vulnerable — the preceding chapters demonstrate that this is precisely what has occurred,” the report concluded.
HHS specifically determined that the “gender-identity” method used to rationalize irreversibly damaging kids’ minds and bodies is senseless and should not have gained widespread traction due to a “lack of robust evidence.”
“In short, ‘gender identity’ as it appears in SOC-8 and related literature is ill-defined,” the review suggested. “It may be true that a person’s gender identity is subjective, or undetectable by blood tests or neuroimaging, or otherwise beyond the reach of science, but the more critical point
is that no tolerably clear definition of ‘gender identity’ has been offered in the first place. This is a serious problem, because the term figures centrally in the justification for medical intervention.”
Contrary to what corporate media and leading scientific sources want Americans to believe, HHS confirmed what other studies and analyses have long suggested: Chemically and surgically altering children in the name of transgenderism can cause numerous “significant harms,” including infertility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone density accrual, adverse cognitive impacts, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, psychiatric disorders, surgical complications, and regret.
“Meanwhile, systematic reviews of the evidence have revealed deep uncertainty about the purported benefits of these interventions,” the review continued, citing studies out of Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
In 2024, the United Kingdom’s Department of Health and Social Care indefinitely banned puberty blockers for minors under 18 years old based on the recommendation of an independent review, which concluded there is “no good evidence” that opposite-sex hormones “reduce suicide risk.”
HHS warned that the UK review and mounting evidence that proper medical care for children was sidelined in favor of an unsupported ideology were categorically ignored in U.S. healthcare circles. The report also determined that “dissenting perspectives” about chemically or surgically castrating children “were marginalized” and “those who voiced them were disparaged.”
“Researchers who study detransition, investigate social influences underlying epidemiologic changes in GD presentations, express concerns about PMT, or advocate for a more cautious approach to pediatric GD frequently encounter hostility and a lack of support from major publishers, medical societies, and academic institutions,” the review states.
Those who weren’t silenced or shamed with “silencing tactics and reputational attacks” boosted by radical gender ideology activists, the review noted, likely participated in “widespread self-censorship.”
While HHS makes it clear that the report is not intended to serve as a “clinical practice guideline” or “legislative or policy recommendations,” it does suggest the department is strongly pivoting from its actions under the Biden administration, which included targeting states, hospitals, and individuals who oppose mutilating minors.
Do No Harm Chairman Dr. Stanley Goldfarb celebrated the HHS’ quest to bring “needed scrutiny to the gender industry.”
“American children, especially those suffering from gender confusion, deserve better than to be used as a political pawn by gender activists,” he said in a statement, noting that the report “rightfully exposes a number of serious risks in the medical transition of young people.”
“It is clearer now more than ever that we must end this barbaric practice and replace it with evidence-based treatment for gender confused kids,” he concluded.
Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on X @jordanboydtx.
