April 2020
Submitted as a letter to the editor by Barb Anderson to ABC Newspapers published May 13, 2020

This letter is to alert citizens to the Minnesota Department of Education’s proposed plan to expand their current definition of gender beyond male/female. MDE should establish policy based on facts—not feelings. No child is born in the wrong body, no child is ‘assigned’ a gender at birth and there are only two genders.

It is dangerous to affirm a child in a wrongful gender. These children are often encouraged to take puberty-blocking drugs that disrupt the normal process of puberty. A Dutch study of 70 children who were on puberty-blocking drugs found that every one of them continued on to take cross sex hormones. (Puberty Suppression in Adolescents with Gender Identity Disorder: A Prospective Follow-up Study). All of them are now infertile.

In addition to infertility, females taking male dosages of testosterone have significant risk of heart disease. Endocrinologist Michael Laidlaw of Rocklin, California warns, “These wrong sex hormones are very dangerous and have blood clot, cardiovascular, and cancer risks.”

Once physically and psychologically harmed by puberty blockers, children become even more confused and often go on to having their breasts, ovaries, testicles and penises surgically removed. Laidlaw asserts that this is “one of the most insidious child sterilization programs ever devised.”

A landmark government study in Sweden revealed that people who identify as transgender have approximately eight times the risk of attempting suicide above the general population. (Long-Term Follow-Up of Transsexual Persons Undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery: Cohort Study in Sweden 1973-2003, published online Feb. 22, 2011). In addition, there are alarmingly high rates of successful suicide for those who have undergone surgical interventions. Dr. Laidlaw warns, “Their risk of death by suicide is nineteen times higher. And the risk does not decline after surgery and hormonal therapy….people who have had sex reassignment procedures remain at high risk for suicide both before and after therapy.”

Identities are psychological (based on thinking and feeling)—not biological. Thoughts and feelings can change because they are not biologically hardwired. On the other hand, our DNA is hardwired and present in every cell of our bodies from the moment of conception. Embryos with XY chromosomes become boys. Embryos with XX chromosomes become girls.

It’s time for the Minnesota Department of Education to affirm the biological reality of only two sexes—male and female.