A gender equality clinic researcher admits that she is withholding the results for political reasons. Facts are facts

Reporters and scientists have a lot in common. The methods are different, but at their core they both involve finding facts, often stubbornly hidden, and sharing them with the world. Theoretically, more facts lead to more truth and a better world.

Scientists and journalists do themselves a great disservice when they prioritize creating a “better world” as part of their efforts over finding and sharing facts.

This was clearly visible this year, when many Washington journalists seemed more concerned with fact-checking and Republican complaints that President Joe Biden was losing confidence than with uncovering the stubbornly hidden fact that Biden was losing confidence.

When it suddenly became obvious that Republicans were right after their disastrous debate performance, the fallout was swift as the political world sprang into action to sweep Biden off the stage. Journalists, who in the minds of too much of society were mixed into an undifferentiated herd, had problems with credibility.

I worked in Washington for 25 years and I can tell you that the fear of helping Donald Trump was the real reason so many of us balked at being the first to report that Biden was losing a step. When the Wall Street Journal front-paged Republicans’ allegations, criticism With other journalists but also professional Democrats was blisters.

But journalism and science are not popularity contests. Facts are facts, regardless of whether they deserve the public’s gratitude.

Transgender medicine research

Currently, medicine is experiencing a period of longer and much more serious breakdown in credibility. Last week, a new crack appeared in the transgender medicine edifice. Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, senior researcher at the nation’s largest youth gender equity clinic at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, leader of a $10 million project to test whether puberty-blocking drugs and hormones improve the mental health of children as young as 8 gender dysphoria, she admitted that she did withholding results federally funded study for policy reasons.

“I don’t want our work to be weaponized,” she said, explaining why she didn’t publish the results that show the treatments don’t work, leaving behind lasting side effects such as sexual dysfunction. The study, which had an average age of 11 participants, included almost 100 children and teenagers – a small study, but still larger than the Dutch study that argued for the treatment in the first place.

Dr. Olsen-Kennedy also insisted that the children in the study were mischaracterized. Today he tweets: “They’re in really good shape when they come in and after two years they’re in really good shape.” This is not what researchers want he said earlier. About 30% percent suffered from depression, 20% from anxiety, about a quarter had thought about suicide, and 8% reported a suicide attempt. “In really good shape” – they are not. After two years of treatment, mental problems still persist.

Further delays in scientific publications

This is not the first time that key researchers have hidden results that do not please LGBTQ+ ideologists. A 2011 study on the same topic in the UK was long completed in 2016 when it was reported at a conference, but only made public in 2020. Research from an English youth clinic on gender equality also found that medical interventions did not improved the mental health of children with gender dysphoria.

Puberty blockers are not a Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment for gender dysphoria. This is an experimental treatment method that uses, among others: off-label drugs.” Nevertheless, thousands of children used drugs according to 2022 reports, after doubling in the last few years. There is no reason to believe that this population growth has stopped. It was reported this year by a database that likely underestimates the popularity of such interventions because it only records those covered by insurance almost 9 thousand minors has undergone such treatment in recent years.

According to the latest data, even more radical interventions, including surgeries, are performed on thousands of children in the United States.

But common sense is breaking down. Earlier this year, Britain’s National Health Service ended such treatment in the country, except in controlled experimental trials. An independent review found that science supporting puberty blockershormone treatments and surgeries were perfunctory at best. In August, the first important medical association he withdrew from the operation.

Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris administration is doubling down. Earlier this year, authorities tried to do just that remove all age restrictions on operations to remove the breasts of girls designated at birth and the genitals of both sexes.

In time, the entire structure will collapse and we will finally be able to have open conversations about this problem and how we help children who are clearly suffering. In such a case, the credibility of science itself will be called into question when it is found that its practitioners have put politics ahead of their task of finding facts and helping children in need.

Perhaps this debate could take place in the newspapers and help rebuild their credibility in the eyes of a wary public. After all, it was The New York Times that uncovered the latest hidden research. Fact-seeking reporters are a powerful tool for holding accountable those who prefer to act unchecked. Like honest scientists, we need more reporters who will follow the facts fearlessly, even carelessly.