WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — President Donald Trump last week condemned gender ideology, which promotes transgenderism, as “child abuse” in a proclamation declaring April 2025 to be National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
“Sadly, one of the most prevalent forms of child abuse facing our country today is the sinister threat of gender ideology,” wrote Trump in his April 3 proclamation. Gender ideology refers to the idea that people have a “gender identity” that is distinct from their sex, and is used to promote so-called “gender transitions.”
“Proponents of the gender ideology movement are outrageously indoctrinating our children with the devastating lie that they are trapped in the wrong body – and that the only way they can be truly happy is to alter their sex with hormone [use], puberty blockers, and sexual mutilation surgery,” continues the proclamation.
“The evil and backwards lies of gender insanity are robbing our children of their happiness, health, and freedom, while imposing unimaginable heartbreak on parents and families. As I stated during my Joint Address to the Congress last month, my message to every American child is simple: you are perfect exactly the way God made you.”
Among American young adults alone, the number of those who identify as “transgender” has skyrocketed over the course of a decade. A study published last year found that among 18- to 24-year-olds, those who identify as “transgender” has risen from .59 percent in 2014 to 3.08 percent in 2023, a 422-percent increase.
The number of high-school teenagers who identify as “transgender,” as most recently estimated, is about the same, three percent.
Many observers, such as psychologist and author Jean Twenge, attest that this steep rise in gender confusion among the young is due largely in part to social contagion, facilitated by social media.
This rising number of gender-confused youths have largely been encouraged, disturbingly, to physically “transition” in an attempt to resemble the opposite sex, through hormones and mutilating surgeries. This has accompanied a growing cultural promotion of transgenderism, prevalent especially among leftists.
Critics warn that the judgement of medical professionals is further compromised by the fact that gender interventions are extremely lucrative. For example, according to reported estimates, the total cost of a full “transition” for a male is $87,300–$410,600 and the cost of a full “transition” for a female $66,500–$605,500.
“Gender transitions” not only defy biological reality — they physically and psychologically harm children and adults. A significant body of evidence shows that affirming gender confusion carries serious harms especially when done with impressionable children who lack the mental development, emotional maturity, and life experience to consider the long-term ramifications of the life-altering, often irreversible surgical and chemical procedures committed on them.
Studies find that more than 80 percent of children suffering gender dysphoria outgrow it on their own by late adolescence and that “reassignment” procedures fail to resolve gender-confused individuals’ heightened tendency to engage in self-harm and suicide — and even exacerbate it, including by reinforcing their confusion and neglecting the actual root causes of their mental strife.
