Woke v. Parents: A Global Showdown

Lenin said, 'Give me your four-year-olds, and in a generation I will build a socialist state.' The Left has taken his dictum quite literally with CRT & the woke agenda.

From The European Conservative

By Lois McLatchie

Despite progress in banning puberty blockers in the UK, significant challenges remain across the world.

The UK has thrown down two major landmarks on the road to ending child abuse in the name of transgender ideology. 

First, this week, the High Court upheld the now out of power Conservative government’s ban on prescribing toxic “puberty blockers” to children, in line with the findings of the Cass Report. The report famously found that there was “weak evidence” regarding the impact of puberty blockers on gender dysphoria, mental, or psychosocial health. Instead, it presented evidence of significant risks associated with “trans-affirmative care,” including compromised bone density from puberty blockers and no real impact on preventing dangerous follow-up interventions including body mutilating surgeries. 

The second landmark was in the wholesale acceptance of the ruling from our newly-appointed Health Secretary—a member of the new left-wing Labour government. Wes Streeting said he welcomed the news from the court, adding that children’s healthcare must be “evidence-led.” 

Across the great chasm of 21st century politics, Brits are uniting on one issue—children cannot consent to puberty blockers. We must protect our kids from a path to bodily mutilation based on a powerfully dark ideology they cannot fully comprehend. 

The power of parenthood in overcoming the clutches of extreme wokism is spreading. Last week, parents across the world poured out sympathy for Elon Musk, who, in a recent interview with Dr Jordan Peterson, opened up about his grief of losing his son, Xavier, to trans ideology. 

“I lost my son, essentially. They call it deadnaming for a reason.” Said Musk. “The reason it’s called deadnaming is because your son is dead. My son Xavier is dead, killed by the woke mind virus.” 

Musk was convinced to give his son puberty blockers under the threat that preventing him would make him likely to commit suicide—a manipulative myth pedaled by gender ideologues, which has now been dispelled. Musk said it was not explained to him that puberty blockers are “actually just sterilization drugs” when he gave his consent for his son to undergo the treatment. He called the term “gender affirming care” a “terrible euphemism.” 

Across the West, the story is the same. Children are being falsely given the autonomy of adults with regard to permanent, life-altering changes to their bodies, while parents’ concerns are infantilized and demonized. The UK has benefited from a strong narrative of resistance, from JK Rowling’s outspoken activism to successive lawsuits against and the ultimate closure of the notorious Tavistock gender clinic, which, prior to 2022, had been responsible for administering puberty blockers to over 1,000 British children. This now-permanent ban—finalized by the new Labour government—shows the winds of change are blowing in favour of protection over ideology. 

Yet, while progress is being made, in other areas, parents have to fight all the more to have the right to guide their child to accept and feel comfortable in their own body. Even while puberty blockers are banned in England, the government is also promising a bill which could criminalise parents if they speak out against their child’s “social transition”—i.e., saying no to their ten-year-old son’s wishes to wear a princess dress and make-up. 

According to the Cass Review, “social transitioning” is not a neutral act. In fact, following this major psychosocial intervention, a significant proportion of children continue down a path to aggressive medical intervention. 

Although much of Europe is trending in the right direction with regard to trans ideology, enormous gaps remain. One need only look at what is happening in Switzerland—the “transgender capital of the world”—to see the extreme end of policies that “empower” children to make life-altering decisions against their parents’ guidance.  

The teenage daughter of parents living in Geneva, Switzerland, has been separated from her family for over a year by court order after they objected to her gender “transition.”  

Concerned that their daughter was being pushed to make hasty and potentially irreversible decisions, the parents declined “puberty blockers” and explicitly rejected her school’s attempt to “socially transition” her. The parents wanted to support her to feel loved and confident in her own body. In clear violation of parental rights, the school set her on the path to identify as a boy anyway. She has been living in a government shelter since April 2023 after having been removed from her home by court order. 

Now, a court has ruled that they must hand over her legal documents for the government to confirm her “sex change.” ADF International is backing the parents’ legal defence to reassert their rights to care for their daughter.  

Any ideology that operates in darkness, hidden from parents, should raise clear red flags. The Swiss case shows how even actively involved parents can be completely shut out when powerful actors coalesce around the rabid promotion of gender ideology.  

While the tide turns on puberty blockers in Britain, Finland, Denmark, Norway and elsewhere—we mustn’t allow the rest of the world to fall behind on protecting children. No matter their nationality, our kids deserve the highest degree of care and protection from harm. Now is the time for countries to reverse course and say no to gender ideology once and for all.