Advocates for transgender ideology and the idea of “gender-affirming care” have been locked into what might be one of the most widespread efforts to gaslight the American public into believing they don’t see what they are actually seeing. This movement seeks to convince people to believe that those believing they are members of the opposite sex are correct in their delusions and have resorted to insidious tactics to compel the rest of us to go along with this farce.
This story provides a stark illustration showing us the lengths to which these people will go to trick the public into supporting transgenderism. Researchers at the University of Washington, in conjunction with local media outlets, published and promoted a deceptive study intended to get folks to believe that gender-affirming care has a positive impact on transgender individuals.
Seattle journalist Jason Rantz published a piece outlining how these people put out a study that supposedly found that encouraging transitions to the opposite sex lowered rates of depression and suicide. The problem? The study found no such thing.
Rantz wrote:
A University of Washington study, in partnership with Seattle Children’s Hospital, claimed gender-affirming care via puberty blockers leads to positive mental health outcomes for transgender teen patients. That characterization, however, was false, forcing substantial edits to the materials used to promote the study and prompting UW to cease promoting the research.
Emails obtained by Rantz’s show revealed that the university’s staff “chose not to proactively respond to ‘some pretty concerning claims’ about the study because it had already received glowing media coverage.”
The researchers tracked the mental health of 104 transgender individuals between the ages of 13 and 20 for a year. These people received gender-affirming care, which involves the use of several medications designed to alter hormonal levels and help them transition medically.
In a press release, UW Medicine said this treatment “dramatically reduces” depression” and referred to it as “lifesaving care.”
In a press release published in March, the university claims that “researchers recently found that gender-affirming care for transgender and nonbinary adolescents caused rates of depression to plummet.”
This was a bald-faced lie.
The study did not claim that gender-affirming care had a beneficial impact on rates of depression. In fact, it showed there was essentially no improvement in the patients’ mental health after undergoing the treatment.
Nevertheless, local media outlets praised the study. “KING 5 uncritically reported the study’s press release. Psychology Today added it to a list of studies showing the beneficial impacts of gender-affirming care. It received positive support from Science Friday,” Rantz noted.
Independent journalist Jesse Singal published a piece in which he highlighted serious flaws in how the study was conducted.
“What’s surprising, in light of all these quotes, is that the kids who took puberty blockers or hormones experienced no statistically significant mental health improvement during the study,” he wrote. “The claim that they did improve, which was presented to the public in the study itself, in publicity materials, and on social media (repeatedly) by one of the authors, is false.”
Singal also noted:
Among the kids who went on hormones, there isn’t genuine statistical improvement here from baseline to the final wave of data collection. At baseline, 59% of the treatment-naive kids experienced moderate to severe depression. Twelve months later, 56% of the kids on [Gender Affirming Model (GAM)] experienced moderate to severe depression. At baseline, 45% of the treatment-naive kids experienced self-harm or suicidal thoughts. Twelve months later, 37% of the kids on GAM did.
Singal notes that “these are not meaningful differences” and goes on to deconstruct other issues in the study.
After the journalist published his report, Rantz noted that “internal emails between UW Medicine and Seattle Children’s acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations.”
Indeed, Laura East, spokesperson for the Department of Epidemiology, said she would refrain from promoting the study.
“The article resulting from the inquiry was recently posted on the author’s Substack, and includes some pretty concerning claims. UW Epidemiology/UW SPH/UW News will not be including this article in our media tracking/or otherwise driving traffic to this piece,” she wrote in an email.
In another exchange, East suggested the university should not bother to correct the record on the study’s findings. She wrote:
As there is an overwhelming amount of positive coverage of the study’s findings, I don’t believe there’s a need for a proactive response beyond continuing to monitor, but welcome your ideas for any other actions or messaging with the study team. Happy to jump on a call too, if that’s easier.
UW Medicine Communications Manager Barbara Clements also addressed the matter and echoed East’s sentiments.
“FYI, I read through his exceedingly long (very, very long) article, which claimed the research was flawed or, at worst, made up, but given the extremely positive pick up by mainstream media, I would agree and just let this be,” she wrote.
However, UW Medicine did quietly update its press release page, removing the word “plummeted” and explaining that the study found that “gender-affirming care for transgender and nonbinary adolescents likely decreased rates of depression and suicidality.”
If Rantz and Singal had not shone a light on this matter, it seems unlikely the university would have made the correction on its own. However, the media has yet to update its reportage on the matter, meaning they are still deceiving people into believing that gender-affirming care is a benefit for those experiencing gender dysphoria.
But to these people, their blatant disinformation is not an issue. They don’t have to worry about mainstream fact-checkers taking a look at this story. This is because it’s all part of the agenda. Progressives want to help minor children transition to the opposite sex regardless of how it could affect their physical and mental health. They are fighting to have schools assist in this effort.
School districts across the country have implemented policies requiring teachers to keep parents in the dark if their children indicate they believe they are transgender. They are promoting this ideology in K-12 schools. This is not a case in which these people want to work for the best interests of the child – this is an attempt to persuade more children to believe they are actually members of the opposite sex.
This story also further illustrates why we can’t trust everyone in the medical industry. Indeed, it means we should have a healthy level of skepticism toward these people. After all, how can we trust the science when so many of the “scientists” are untrustworthy?
