Viral video about ‘transgender’ 6-year-old not so heartwarming, says psychiatrist
SAN DIEGO, CA, June 3, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A well-known psychiatrist is raising concerns over a new viral video featuring a California couple who allowed their pre-school-aged daughter to begin living as a boy.
The video was created by the girl’s parents, Jeff and Hillary Whittington, who posted it to YouTube after showing it to homosexual activists at the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast, where they accepted an “Inspiration Award” for their decision to help their daughter “transition” to her chosen sex at such an early age. It has since been viewed over 4 million times.
Massachusetts psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow, an author and Fox News contributor, told LifeSiteNews that the video paints a happy picture while consciously ignoring the risks of early transition – which often involves genital plastic surgery and large doses of hormones.
“I am not convinced that the best option for children who are uncomfortable with their gender is to rapidly transition them to the opposite gender,” he said. “I believe that on reflection, it will be shown that other paths may be the wiser paths.”
A touching soundtrack accompanies the seven-minute-long photo and video montage of 6-year-old Ryland Whittington, interspersed with captions explaining the history behind her parents’ decision to allow their daughter to live her life as a boy.
According to the video, Ryland was born deaf, but after receiving a cochlear implant and speech therapy, she learned to speak. Among her very first words, according to her parents, were “I am a boy.” She told her parents that if they ever died, the first thing she would do would be to cut her hair “so I can be a boy.”
Her parents, concerned, sought professional help. They were told by a psychologist that their daughter was “transgender” and that the best thing they could do for her was to help her “transition” as soon as possible.
“Although Ryland was born with female anatomy, her brain identifies with that of a boy,” the couple wrote on the video montage. “For Ryland’s well-being, we were advised to allow [her] to transition as soon as possible.” Now, they think of Ryland as “our amazing son.”
The Whittingtons’ video ends with a clip of Ryland sporting a cropped haircut and dressed in a suit and tie, speaking at the Harvey Milk breakfast. The six-year-old thanked the late Milk for “helping the world be a better place” and said she is now “the happiest she’s ever been.”
Though the blogosphere and social media have largely treated the story as a heartwarming tale of love and acceptance, and a model for parents whose children may struggle with gender confusion, Ablow said it is missing the full picture.
“The video, which seems so full of joy, doesn’t forecast the time spent with urological and plastic surgery, and the possibility that this girl will question her decision down the road,” he told LifeSiteNews.
Some doctors recommend early childhood transition in order to prevent the onset of puberty, which they argue is particularly traumatic for children struggling with gender identity confusion. But Ablow says he believes differently.
“I believe that it is possible that developing secondary sexual characteristics that match one’s DNA may actually be part of someone becoming more comfortable with his or her God-given gender,” he said. He added that allowing a child to undergo transition at an early age may prevent them from ever becoming reconciled to their biological sex.
“Part of the problem with beginning a transition to an opposite gender in children is that it can confine them to their new image,” he continued. “We are taking children who, for any number of reasons, may have body image concerns, and rapidly rubberstamping those concerns, and writing them in cement.”
Ablow said children who undergo procedures to prevent them from developing normally are likely to be left with lingering dissatisfaction with their bodies – feeling neither fully male nor fully female.
“From a personal, not a professional standpoint, were my daughter to assert that she were a boy, not a girl, there is no chance we would be headed to a surgeon’s office without a trial of anti-psychotic medication,” Ablow said.
Ablow said that transgender activists have made it more difficult for therapists to do their jobs because they have turned gender dysphoria into a political issue instead of a medical one.
“The aggression shown by the LGBT community toward people who question whether children should prepare to have their genitals surgically altered and be injected with massive doses of hormones is such that clinicians are terrified to continue searching for the truth,” Ablow said.
Ablow offered his own assistance to parents of children suffering from gender confusion, saying, “I would recommend that in the current political climate, parents [of children who express gender confusion] come to my office so we can discuss privately how to address the issue in a rational and healing manner.”
To contact Dr. Ablow click here.
