Letter: Compelling testimony from transgender youth

This letter is by Renee McGuinness, of Monkton. She is a member of the Vermont Family Alliance.

The following statement was sent to all Vermont legislators:

On April 12, before the House Committee on Healthcare, transgender youth Westley Pitcher and his father Lance Pitcher provided stirring emotional testimony in support of S.37, a bill that proposes to shield gender-affirming practitioners from increases in medical malpractice premiums.

While Westley is currently pleased with the results of his care, current studies call into question the validity of gender-affirming care. Time will tell whether Westley remains satisfied with his on-going treatments.

Meanwhile, we would like to remind you of the list of serious side effects and complications of so-called “gender-affirming care” as a part of VFA’s testimony, along with the 2011 Sweden study that concluded suicidality and morbidity remains much higher than the general population AFTER receiving gender-affirming care.

H.89 and S.37 propose to shield gender-affirming care practitioners legally and financially, at a time when both individual and class-action lawsuits by youth and minors receiving “care” have been filed.

None of the committees received testimony from youth, minors, and adults harmed by gender-affirming care.

In addition, the only expert witness who is a health care practitioner, Dr. Erica Gibson, failed to provide her so-called “emerging evidence” and stated that she is not able to collate treatment data at UVMMC. Dr. Gibson claims some medications are reversible and others are partially reversible in her written and oral statements, yet she fails to provide evidence-based studies backing her claims.

While most countries in Europe are now shielding youth and minors from gender-affirming care practices, most Vermont legislators plow forward regardless of evidence of the harms of gender-affirming care.

For the sake of the mental health and physical well-being of our children and youth, we ask you to vote “NO” on both H.89 and S.37.

Best Regards,

Renee McGuinness
Vermont Family Alliance
Monkton

Image courtesy of Public domain

One thought on “Letter: Compelling testimony from transgender youth

  1. As tragic as it is, the only thing that will halt this madness in Vermont is the first child/young adult who steps forward to testify to the harms been done.

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