Affirmation-Only Policies Are SO Last Year
It’s time to get with the times. The gender-affirmative model has no place in school policy.
Can you dig it?
All kidding aside, the myths underpinning the gender-affirmative model have no place in ethical medical practice or school policy, as they risk causing irreparable harm to vulnerable individuals… our children.
What myths? These myths:
Myth 1: "Gender identity is fixed and immutable.”
Myth 2: "Biological sex is a spectrum.”
Myth 3: "Puberty blockers are fully reversible.”
Myth 4: "Affirmation prevents suicide.”
Read “Grounding Gender Care in Biological Reality:”
Myth 1: "Gender identity is fixed and immutable.”
This is a claim, not a fact.
Gender dysphoria in children usually resolves naturally during adolescence without medical intervention.
Studies have consistently found that 60-90% of children who experience gender dysphoria desist by puberty and go on to identify with their biological sex.
The affirmation-only model disregards this evidence, funnelling children into irreversible medical pathways that preclude natural developmental resolution.
By prematurely medicalizing gender dysphoria, the current model risks misdiagnosis and lifelong regret.
Myth 2: "Biological sex is a spectrum.”
While it is true that disorders of sexual development (DSDs) exist, these conditions are extremely rare and do not invalidate the binary nature of biological sex in humans.
The overwhelming majority of individuals are unambiguously male or female, determined by chromosomal, gonadal, and phenotypic markers.
Effective care must differentiate between DSDs and gender dysphoria and avoid using the rare exceptions of DSDs to justify broad, uncritical affirmation of gender identity.
Myth 3: "Puberty blockers are fully reversible.”
Puberty blockers interrupt critical stages of physical and neurological development, affecting bone density, fertility, and cognitive maturation.
Emerging research indicates that these effects may not be fully reversible, particularly when puberty blockers are followed by cross-sex hormones.
Nearly all children placed on puberty blockers proceed to cross-sex hormones, effectively locking them into a medicalized pathway.
Myth 4: "Affirmation prevents suicide.”
While it is true that individuals with gender dysphoria are at an elevated risk of mental health challenges, the simplistic equation of non-affirmation with suicide is both unscientific and harmful.
Long-term data on the outcomes of gender-affirming care are scarce, and existing research suggests that mental health struggles often persist even after medical transition.
This highlights the importance of addressing underlying psychological issues rather than focusing solely on affirmation.
What To Do:
Given these facts, we must communicate to our local elected school boards in no uncertain terms that, given the evidence, the gender-affirmative model has no place in school district policy, as it risks causing irreparable harm to the vulnerable individuals in their care.
Those of us who are able must write letters, send emails, address our boards directly at public meetings, and make appointments with board members for coffee or a brief office visit to inform them personally of the harms of the four myths.
It is up to us to urge our school boards to take action now, specifically with the intent and purpose of restoring scientific integrity to schools’ response to students claiming a “gender identity” that is different from their biology.
Specifically, school districts must:
Resolve to implement policy which is informed by data. This will require knowledge of reliable research studies. To this end, school boards may commission working committees tasked with reviewing available high-quality, long-term studies of different approaches to gender care for minors, and which will provide boards and the communities they serve with specific data on the outcomes of different approaches.
Upon review of the evidence, districts must critically reevaluate affirmation-only policies and be prepared to replace current guidelines with policy that is informed by rigorous, peer-reviewed evidence rather than ideological advocacy.
Require the schools in their jurisdiction to notify parents when a child exhibits gender dysphoric behavior at school, and recommend to parents that they pursue a thorough, multidisciplinary evaluation of their child to identify underlying factors of the distress and tailor care accordingly.
Eliminate classroom lessons and supplemental materials which promote a biologically inaccurate depiction of sex, present “gender” as something that is divorced from biology, or that conveniently gloss over or omit altogether the risks and limitations of transgender medical interventions. Disallow any discussion of alternative pronouns.
Halt all “preventative,” universally-applied mental health education, such as SEL, which exacerbates and even creates the problems it is intended to mitigate, including gender confusion. Any intervention provided by the school of a psychological nature should only be implemented for students who exhibit a need. School districts should put clear policy into place which permits school counselors and school psychologists to provide a troubled student with cognitive behavior therapy or other psychoanalytical intervention ONLY if a) the student’s parents have given specific permission, in writing, as to the nature and frequency of such sessions and b) one or both of the student’s parents are present in the sessions, and c) the personnel providing the counseling are qualified, licensed and regulated by an independent board to administer therapeutic care to minors.
Remember, “gender identity” claims are belief assertions, not facts, and as such they have no place in school lessons, books, supplemental materials, or school messaging (wall posters, assemblies, etc.).
Like any ideology, religious assertion or doctrine, these claims should always be prefaced by “Some people believe…” when presented to children:
Some people believe gender identity is fixed and immutable.
Some people believe biological sex is a spectrum.
Some people believe puberty blockers are fully reversible.
Some people believe affirmation prevents suicide.
It’s 2025. It’s time to ditch the myths, or beliefs, which underpin the gender-affirmative model, which is currently practiced in school districts all across the U.S.
Tell your school board it’s time to get with the times. Non-factual belief claims should in no way serve to inform school policy, especially when they risk causing irreparable harm to kids.
Tell a friend.
#KIDSFIRST