Progressives trapped in 'misinformation bubble' about transgender youth treatments, Atlantic writer admits
"Many common political claims made in defense of puberty blockers and hormones" amount to nothing more than "zombie facts," The Atlantic's Helen Lewis wrote on Sunday, using a term for sound bites that are repeated as accepted truth when they've been repeatedly discredited.
"Many liberals are unaware of this, however, because they are stuck in media bubbles in which well-meaning commentators make confident assertions for youth gender medicine—claims from which its elite advocates have long since retreated," she wrote, later saying, "We can support civil-rights protections for transgender people without having to endorse an experimental and unproven set of medical treatments—or having to repeat emotionally manipulative and now discredited claims about suicide."
Among the anecdotes Lewis cited were ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio admitting in front of the Supreme Court last year that studies have shown no connection between blockers and hormones and saving the lives of troubled youths. The Supreme Court would ultimately rule 6-3 in that case, U.S. v. Skrmetti, to uphold a Tennessee law banning puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors with gender dysphoria.
"[T]he movement has spent the past decade telling gender-nonconforming children that anyone who tries to restrict access to puberty blockers and hormones is, effectively, trying to kill them. This was false, as Strangio's answer tacitly conceded. It was also irresponsible," Lewis wrote, citing a 2024 study in England finding no rise in suicides after the restriction of puberty blockers there in 2020.
Yet, proponents of youth gender treatments continue to frequently invoke the emotional language of suicide to bolster their case, she fretted.
Lewis also took exception to the idea that the evidence supporting gender transition for adolescents was based on scientific study and evidence, calling it "perhaps the greatest piece of misinformation believed by liberals."
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) also came under fire in Lewis' piece, as she said documents show, even internally, that the organization had doubts about recommending youth gender treatments, and only wanted to publish reviews that supported its desired conclusions.
WPATH didn't respond to a request for comment.
In a similar fashion, last year, Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, the medical director of The Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Los Angeles Children's Hospital, admitted reluctance to publish research that didn't serve the purpose of promoting youth gender treatments, for fear it would be "weaponized."
Lewis urged fellow progressives to pierce the "misinformation bubble."
"On the left, support for youth transition has been rolled together with other issues—such as police reform and climate activism—as a kind of super-saver combo deal of correct opinions," she wrote, noting democratic socialist New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani has pitched funding gender transition for minors as part of his platform.
"But complicated issues deserve to be treated individually: You can criticize Israel, object to the militarization of America's police forces, and believe that climate change is real, and yet still not support irreversible, experimental, and unproven medical treatments for children."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Onion
16 minutes ago
- The Onion
All The Demands Trump Is Making Of The Smithsonian
The White House has announced they will be reviewing all exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution in order 'to assess tone, historical framing, and alignment with American ideals.' Here is a selection of the changes President Trump is demanding be implemented immediately. New wing about the Cola wars Plaques updated to confirm that wooly mammoths were white Artifacts will be returned to the people who originally stole them Air and Space Museum must loan all planes, shuttles, and gliders to Israel Portraits and sculptures of nude women relocated to men's bathroom Overnight dismantling of anything even resembling disability accommodation Melania added as newest of the 274 lifelike specimens in the Hall of Mammals Blindfolds handed out at the entrance to the National Museum of African American History The Wright brothers will be referred to as the Flight brothers because it just makes more sense At least one exhibit about how magic tricks work Last sentence of all plaques changed to 'and they lived happily ever after'
Business Insider
17 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Russia put out an unusual propaganda video of a 'captured' US-made armored vehicle flying American and Russian flags in Ukraine
Russian media released a new video appearing to show a US-made armored vehicle captured in Ukraine. What was identified as an M113 armored personnel carrier is seen hoisting a Russian and American flag. Ukrainian officials said that the footage underscores Russia's attitude toward ongoing peace talks. Russian state-run media has released a video of troops driving a captured US-made armored vehicle in Ukraine — flying both Russian and American flags in an unusual bit of propaganda. The footage, published Monday by RT, shows what appears to be a US M113 armored personnel carrier operating near the front lines in Zaporizhzhia. RT said the APC was "captured" from Ukrainian forces. The broadcaster suggested that a US vehicle flying a Russian and American flag into combat against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could be a "sign of the times." The US Department of Defense has sent over 900 M113s to Kyiv since Russia's invasion in February 2022. However, according to the open-source intelligence site Oryx, which tracks equipment losses on both sides of the war, at least 397 of these combat vehicles, made by American company FMC Corporation, have been destroyed, damaged, abandoned, or captured by Russia. Official figures on combat losses are unavailable. Using a captured American M113 APC, now emblazoned with russian and US flags, russia is sending a signal of its 'peace intentions' in the frontlines of Zaporizhzhia region. — Center for Countering Disinformation (@CforCD) August 18, 2025 Business Insider could not independently verify the video shared by Russian media. The video footage comes three days after President Donald Trump hosted his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska for negotiations aimed at stopping Moscow's invasion. Ending the three-and-a-half-year conflict has proven to be an elusive foreign policy goal for the White House. While the Alaska summit did not yield any immediate, tangible results, at least not publicly, Russia has sought to frame the meeting — Putin's first visit to the US since 2015 — as the end of the international isolation brought on by its brutal invasion. Dan Rice, a former US Army officer and special advisor to Ukraine's military leadership, said the Russian information space "is working overtime" to frame the summit as a major victory for reestablishing normal relations with the US. "It's not," Rice, now the president of the American University Kyiv, told Business Insider. "It's the US attempting to end a war started by a madman with nuclear weapons. The US and the West will never be normalized again with Putin." Ukrainian government agencies and officials said that the RT footage underscores Russia's attitude toward the peace talks. The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security wrote on social media that Russia was "further trolling peace efforts by placing American flags alongside Russian flags on their meat assault wagons yesterday in Mala Tokmachka," a small village in Zaporizhzhia. Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, said that "Russian propagandists are showing a video in which Russian equipment is storming with the flags of Russia and the USA." "In fact, the Russians are using the symbolism of the United States in their own terrorist, aggressive war with the killing of civilians," he wrote on the Telegram messaging app, according to a translation of his remarks. "Maximum audacity." The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump is set to host a war-weary Zelenskyy and other European leaders at the White House on Monday for a high-stakes engagement that the US president hopes will pave the way for a trilateral meeting with his Ukrainian and Russian counterparts. It remains unclear what — if any — concessions Zelenskyy will agree to in Washington. On Sunday, Trump previewed the big meeting by suggesting Ukraine give up its efforts to retake Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, and walk away from its aspirations to join NATO. Both of these critical concessions would likely be welcomed developments in Russia. Trump officials have also hinted at major land swaps and security guarantees for Ukraine as part of the peace process. Ukraine has repeatedly sought security guarantees while rejecting calls to relinquish territory.
Fox News
24 minutes ago
- Fox News
RFK Jr., Hegseth face-off in impressive pullup, pushup Pentagon showdown
FIRST ON FOX: Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the Department of Defense to challenge Secretary Pete Hegseth to a pullup and pushup competition, dubbed the "Pete and Bobby challenge," as the Trump administration leaders encourage Americans to drop "fat" for "fit." The two squared off to notch 50 pullups and 100 pushups in under five minutes while surrounded by military members of the Navy and Marines, video first shared with Fox News Digital shows. "We had our big Pete and Bobby challenge today, 50 pull ups. 100 push-ups. You try to get under five minutes," Kennedy said while wearing his typical gym attire of jeans and a T-shirt. The challenge comes as Kennedy unleashes the "Make America Healthy Again" movement, which includes promoting that Americans eat whole foods versus processed meals, and Hegseth rallies the U.S. military to be the most fit and well-equipped to handle defending the nation. "Completely unacceptable," Hegseth posted on X in response to a headline declaring two-thirds of the military is overweght. "This is what happens when standards are IGNORED — and this is what we are changing. REAL fitness & weight standards are here. We will be FIT, not FAT." The pair squared-off to see who could beat the five-minute challenge, with Hegseth coming in just over the five-minute mark but defeating Kennedy. "We got close. I was about 5:25," Hegseth said in the video. "You were right behind me," he added referring to the HHS chief, who is 71 years old. Hegseth remarked that a few of the Marines in the gym at the time beat the challenge and came in under four minutes, while one other completed the challenge under three minutes. "It was President Trump who inspired us to do this," Kennedy said in the video shared with Fox Digital. "This is the beginning of our tour challenging Americans to get back in shape, eat better, but also, you need to get out and exercise." The pair also challenged another Cabinet member to join them in the competition: Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. "Secretary Duffy, you're invited to do the Pete and Bobby challenge. Can you do it in under five minutes? 50 pull-ups, 100 push-ups. What do you think?" Hegseth asked in the video as the pair chuckled. President Donald Trump has championed Kennedy's efforts encouraging Americans to cut out processed foods and get active through the MAHA movement, as well as repeatedly touting the U.S. military as "without a doubt the greatest fighting force in the history of the world" under Hegseth's leadership. At the youth level, Trump reinstated the Presidential Fitness Test and the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition for American schoolchildren after former President Barack Obama retired it in favor of the Presidential Youth Fitness Program. Trump signed an executive order in July reestablishing the program and directed the council to launch "school-based programs that reward excellence in physical education and develop criteria for a Presidential Fitness Award." "Thank you, President Trump, for setting the example. Presidential physical fitness. Make America Healthy Again. Fit, not fat. We're going to have a war-fighting force, young men and women who are prepared to defend the nation. We're doing it as a team. Join us," Hegseth added in the video.
