LGBT

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Fires Director of ‘Transgender Healthcare’

Pete Hegseth has fired Navy Commander Janelle Marra, who had been serving as “Deputy Medical Director for Transgender Healthcare” at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego.

In announcing the move on Twitter, Secretary Hegseth’s communication was short and blunt, writing:

“Pronouns UPDATED: She/Her/Fired”

If you’re surprised that the United States military even had such a position, especially nearly nine months into the new Trump administration, you wouldn’t be alone.

“My passion for compassionate healthcare is reflected in my focus on women’s and LGBT + health ensuring inclusive and holistic care for all service members,” posted Commander Marra.

Big problem.

Back on January 27, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14183. It was titled, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” and made clear that the Armed Forces is no place for radical social experimentation:

“The United States military has a clear mission: to protect the American people and our homeland as the world’s most lethal and effective fighting force. Success in this existential mission requires a singular focus on developing the requisite warrior ethos, and the pursuit of military excellence cannot be diluted to accommodate political agendas or other ideologies harmful to unit cohesion.”

“Recently, however, the Armed Forces have been afflicted with radical gender ideology to appease activists unconcerned with the requirements of military service like physical and mental health, selflessness, and unit cohesion. Longstanding Department of Defense (DoD) policy (DoD Instruction (DoDI) 6130.03) provides that it is the policy of the DoD to ensure that service members are “[f]ree of medical conditions or physical defects that may reasonably be expected to require excessive time lost from duty for necessary treatment or hospitalization.” As a result, many mental and physical health conditions are incompatible with active duty, from conditions that require substantial medication or medical treatment to bipolar and related disorders, eating disorders, suicidality, and prior psychiatric hospitalization.”

Not surprisingly, lawsuits quickly followed and lower court judges immediately pounced, initially halting the move. But by a 6-3 vote in May, the Supreme Court issued an unsigned order allowing the federal government to enforce the ban.

In issuing his ban on “trans” troops, President Trump was right.

“Consistent with the military mission and longstanding DoD policy, expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”

Back in May, Secretary Hegseth posted, “We are leaving WOKENESS and WEAKNESS behind. No more pronouns, no more climate change obsessions, no more emergency vaccine mandates, no more DUDES IN DRESSES.”

And now, no more “Deputy Medical Director for Transgender Healthcare.”

Confusion and Delusion Lead to Tragic Deaths

Worshipers at Annunciation Catholic Church in southwest Minneapolis gathered this weekend for Masses, the first since last week’s horrific attack that killed two children and injured 21.

Pastor Dennis Zehren told parishioners, “We watch for that light that will scatter every darkness, we watch for that light that will never fade, that will only grow stronger. We watch for that light of the world. That light of the world is Jesus Christ.”

Families at the church and parish school are mourning the deaths of the two children slaughtered, Fletcher Alexander Merkel, age 8, and Harper Lillian Moyski, age 10.

Jesse Merkel, Fletcher’s father, posted a heartbreaking message on social media.

“Yesterday, a coward decided to take our 8-year-old son, Fletcher, away from us. Because of their actions, we will never be allowed to hold him, talk to him, play with him, and watch him grow into the wonderful young man he was on the path to becoming,” he wrote.

Harper’s parents, Michael Moyski and Jackie Flavin, described their daughter as “a bright, joyful, and deeply loved 10-year-old.”

Those interested in finding out what all happened last week have likely had to scan the internet to piece the puzzle together. That’s because while facts are fickle things, news coverage these days often includes fiction masquerading as truth.

Stories have referenced the murderer as Robin Westman, which was a legal name, but then they repeatedly referred to him as “her” or “she” when, in fact, Westman is male.

But the fiction didn’t start there.

Back in 2019, a district judge processed Westman’s request to change his name from “Robert” to “Robin” and noted the individual “identified as female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”

Individuals petitioning courts to recognize their new identities is all a charade and circus – but a tragic one with dire and increasingly deadly consequences.

Going along with mental illness, acknowledging a lie as something true, fanning a fictitious fantasy, is all a modern-day epidemic.

Reporters covering this story are understandably heartbroken digging into the details – but then go right along with the fundamental falsehoods that lie at the foundation of the story. They write things that just aren’t true. They refer to Westman as “she” or “her” simply because he said so.

Robert Westman has clearly been mentally ill for years – and yet in the interest of political correctness, officials have cooperated with and even enabled his delusion.

It seems from personal journal entries that, at some point, even Westman himself acknowledged what authorities and officials have been afraid to say themselves.

“I only keep [long hair] because it is pretty much my last shred of being trans,” Westman wrote. “I am tired of being trans, I wish I never brain-washed myself.”

In another journal entry, he wrote: “I don’t want to dress girly all the time but I guess sometimes I really like it. I know I am not a woman but I definitely don’t feel like a man.”

So much for the lie of so-called “gender-affirming care.”

Various media outlets have gone out of their way to question any motive for the attack, instead suggesting Westman showed hatred and disdain for everyone. They conveniently leave out evidence that he posted a video with Jesus in the bullseye of a target and obviously chose his own former Catholic school as the setting for his evil and final act.

But perhaps most telling is a journal entry where he writes, “I am not well. I am not right. I am a sad person, haunted by these thoughts that do not go away. I know this is wrong, but I can’t seem to stop myself. I am severely depressed and have been suicidal for years. Only recently have I lost all hope and decided to perform my final action against this world.”

Sexual confusion and delusion don’t always lead to a mass shooting, of course, but enabling and even celebrating what is an obvious lie benefits absolutely nobody and puts countless individuals and groups into grave and perilous danger.

Image from Getty.

New Research Shows ‘Transgender’ Identity Dramatically Driven by Immaturity

It is well established that being “transgender” is a not an objective medical condition. It is not something that can be objectively determined by science; it exists in the very subjective feelings and claims of the individual.

Research continues to document how identifying as “transgender” is a function of age and developmental immaturity. The fact is: The older one becomes, they are markedly less likely to identify as “trans.”

It has been well documented that “trans” youth tend to strongly desist in their gender confusion as they grow into puberty and young adulthood.

A 2024 Dutch study published in the highly respected Archives of Sexual Behavior found that “gender non-contentedness is most common around the age of 11 and that the prevalence decreases with age.”

Conducting research in both clinical and general population samples, this research team found that 11% of early adolescents reported “gender non-contentedness” but this “prevalence decreased with age and was only 4% at the last follow-up (around age 26).” Only 2% reported increasing discomfort with their biological sex as they aged. The study concludes, “Gender non-contentedness, while being relatively common during early adolescence, in general decreases with age and appears to be associated with a poorer self-concept and mental health throughout development.”

A 2021 study examining Taiwanese youth struggling with gender dysphoria showed that only 0.9% were still struggling with gender contentedness by the time they exited their teen years. Some 13% of Taiwanese youth struggled in their teen years, marking a 93% desistence reduction. The research population came from the Taiwan Youth Project and is the first research project tracking gender issues across adolescent development in that nation.

A 2023 British Medical Journal publication found that patients being diagnosed with gender dysphoria are getting younger with those in older age groups increasingly desisting. They chart the rise in gender dysphoric feelings rocketing in early adolescence and then declining sharply in late adolescence and early adulthood.

These scholars conclude that “GD [gender dysphoria] is not a permanent diagnosis” as the “concept of gender is a cultural construct rather than a genetic fact.” It is highly influenced by subjective issues of self-perception, social influence and personal expressiveness.

Additional research by the decidedly pro-gender ideology Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law finds much the same thing.

“Transgender” identity is highest among teen-age individuals and then starts to drop precipitously from there with age and maturity. Table one on page seven of their report demonstrates just how stark the decline by maturing age is.

Only 0.8% of Americans age 18 and older identify as “transgender” while 3.3% of youth age 13 to 17 do. This is true across the large, diverse populations and geographical locales in the United States. The population of “transgender” identified individuals age 13 to 17 is three times higher across the West, Midwest, Northeast and Southern United States than those aged 18 and older.

Being “transgender” is certainly not something someone objectively is. It is most often a psychic phenomenon, increasingly driven by social influence and immaturity. The older and more mature people get physically, mentally and psycho-sexually, the more likely they become comfortable with their biological sex. Maturity and a rejection of “trans” identity largely follow the same trajectory.

This fact is very telling. We are wise to be mindful of it.

Related Articles and Resources

If you or someone you know is struggling with transgenderism or other sexuality issues, and you don’t know where to turn, Focus on the Family is here to help.

Focus offers a one-time counseling consultation with a licensed or pastoral counselor free of charge thanks to generous donor support. If you would like to request a consultation with Focus’ Counseling Department, call 1-855-771-HELP (4357) weekdays from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM (Mountain Time) or complete our Counseling Consultation Request Form.

‘Transgender’ Means Many Different Things — and Nothing

American Academy of Pediatrics Captured by Gender Ideology; Mainstream Professionals Are Calling Them Out

Transgenderism and Minors: What Does the Research Really Show?

What Does it Mean to Be Trans, Anyway?

Do Not Fall for the ‘Affirm Them or They Will Die’ Lie

New Research Confirms Previous Findings: Most Gender Confused Kids Desist

The Shifting Ground of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’

How the “Trans” and Gender Redefinition Issue Attacks the Family

How to Respond to “Trans” and Gender Ideology? Simple: Live Not by Lies

Are Sex and Gender Different Things?

No, Trans Rights Are Certainly NOT Human Rights

The Embarrassing Crack-Up of the LGBT Project

Yes, Transgenderism is a False Belief System

Image from Shutterstock.

One Mom’s Journey Advocating for Children and Parental Rights  

Lori Gimelshteyn’s life was going along pretty smoothly. A wife and mother of two children, she also had a successful career as a speech language pathologist. In addition to her private practice she ran a ministry called the Let’s Talk Initiative, for children and adults with complex communication needs.

But then she and her husband, Max, began noticing something was very wrong with their children’s schools. Even though Cherry Creek School District was one of the top districts in Colorado, children were learning false and harmful ideologies in direct opposition to their family’s beliefs.

Their children were being lied to.

The first sign something was wrong, she told the Daily Citizen in an interview, was when their eleven-year-old daughter came home from school and said that a girl friend “was now going to be a boy and have a boy name and use he/his/him pronouns … and use the boy’s room.”

Lori thought they must have missed an email from the school. Had she overlooked an announcement about a workshop for parents, informing them that a girl would now be using the boy’s restroom?    

But there was no email. And no workshop.

Lori’s daughter explained to her, “Oh no, mommy, She goes home every day as a girl. His [sic] parents have no idea.”

The Gimelshteyn’s second wake-up call came when their eighth-grade son came home with a language arts assignment. He was asked to write an essay answering the question: “Why is your favorite hobby racist?”

Lori said, “After looking at the rubric and seeing he was being compelled to make the statement that skiing, his favorite hobby, was racist, against people of color.”

She told her son, “You will get an F on this paper before you lie. We don’t lie in this family.”

Shockingly, he responded, “You don’t understand, mom. I have to think one way at home and another way at school.”

The Gimelshteyn’s had just encountered two of our education system’s reigning ideologies: transgenderism and critical race theory.

Lori discovered that children were being taught that “they were born in the wrong body,” and they could somehow be transformed into the opposite sex – an obvious lie.

Critical race theory, as Lori explained, teaches children “they’re part of a systemically racist country that is basically bad” and “they are either in a group of what would be called oppressors or oppressed.”

She added, “And the districts are requiring the teachers to take professional coursework in this.”

These events sent Lori on a journey – talking with other parents, reaching out to teachers and speaking with the school principal.

Lori said, “When I uncovered what was happening, I thought, well, my goodness, all I have to do is tell people that this is happening and everybody will be outraged. And this will end.”

But when she questioned the Cherry Creek Board of Education about teachers being trained in critical race theory, she was vilified by local media – and even some parents. This created a chilling environment where other parents were afraid to speak out.

The very next day, I was in the papers as a crazed parent, a conspiracy theorist. I heard words like militia leader, anti-LGBTQ mom, and really just harmful, hurtful words.

And what that did was it set the precedent for every parent around me that had concerns. They did not want that to happen to them. They were afraid that they were going to be fired. They didn’t want to take a stand because the risk was so great.

The abuse from the press and the shunning by other parents, painful as it was, had the positive effect of deepening the Gimelshteyn’s faith. Lori told us the family had been, up until that point, “kind of Sunday Christians, if you will.”

But what they were facing led them to pray, seek God’s guidance, read the Word and grow in their relationship with God.

Max and Lori sat down together to decide what to do next.

The bottom line – they couldn’t fear men. She said, “We had to move beyond that because we have to protect these children.”

After a lot of prayer, talking with others, and discerning where God was guiding them, Lori stopped her speech pathology work and became a full-time advocate for children, parents and families.

She founded Colorado Parent Advocacy Network, with the goal of “building a statewide network of parents, educators, and citizens united in purpose to restore accountability, uphold parental rights, and protect children from harmful ideological and institutional overreach.”

Colorado Parent Advocacy Network’s work includes:

  • Advocacy support for families in education, healthcare, and government systems.
  • Informational classes and resources for parents, educators and community members.
  • Mentorship for launching local advocacy groups.
  • Statewide policy engagement and legislative action on issues impacting children and families.

That policy engagement includes Lori’s work with Protect Kids Colorado, where she is a board member. The organizations are sponsoring three measures they hope to place on the ballot in 2026.

  • “Protecting Our Children From Child Sex Trafficking” sets a penalty of life in prison without parole for anyone who buys or sells a minor child for sex in Colorado.
  • “Protecting Our Girl’s Sports from Biological Males” ensures girls sports are protected, requiring sports leagues and teams be specifically designated male, female, or co-ed.
  •  “Protecting Our Children From Irreversible Sex Change Surgery” prohibits irreversible sex change surgeries on minor children, age 17 and younger.

Lori is very hopeful about placing these measures before Colorado voters.

She’s optimistic about the future, even for states like Colorado, deeply mired in radical leftist ideology and politics. Concerned voters are rallying around the three ballot initiatives to protect children, she said, adding, “And that tells you that in a state like Colorado, where a lot of people feel like it’s a lost cause, that the people – we the people – are shifting this culture.”

Lori’s also encourages other parents to do something to advocate for children, parental rights and a return to academic excellence. Concerned citizens don’t need to start new organizations or give public speeches – most states have parental rights advocacy groups to connect with, donate to and volunteer for.

Parents can take steps to protect their own children by opting them out of objectionable lessons, surveys or assignments, she said. If enough parents do this, teachers will have to alter their curriculums to accommodate them.

Not everyone will become a full-time activist, but everyone can do something to protect children and stop harmful education practices. 

Related Articles and Resources

YouTube Interview: Mom Takes a Stand: Protecting Children from Ideology in Schools

California Family Harassed After Trying to Opt-Out of Activities Teaching Gender Ideology

Colorado Parent Advocacy Network – Resources for Parents

Protect Kids Colorado

‘Equipping Parents For Back-To-School’ – Updated Resource Empowers Parents

Equipping Parents for Back-to-School

Is ‘Critical Race Theory’ Being Taught in Public Schools? CRT Deniers Claim it Isn’t

Liberal Father Seeks to Disprove Concerns Over Sexually Explicit Books in Schools, Becomes Convinced These Books Are Not for Children

National Day of Reading Celebrates ‘Stories Supporting Transgender and Non-Binary Youth’

NEA President Wants to Transform Education Into ‘Something It Was Never Designed to Be’

Sexualizing Schoolchildren: Classroom and Library Books

What’s Your School District’s ‘Transgender’ Policy?

Poetic Justice: Virginia school district loses federal funding day after bogus suspension.

The Department of Education (DoEd) put five Northern Virginia school districts on “reimbursement payment status” Tuesday pending full termination of their federal funding.

The decisive edict follow the districts’ continued violations of Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded educational programs and institutions.

Alexandria City, Arlington, Fairfax County, Loudoun County and Prince William County Public Schools allow students to use bathrooms, locker rooms and other sex-segregated facilities consistent with their subjective “gender identity,” rather than their biological sex.

Late last month, DoEd’s Office of Civil Rights found these policies violate Title IX. It ordered the districts to segregate bathrooms, locker rooms and sports by biological sex — or risk forfeiting a combined $50 million in annual federal funding.

None of the districts complied. Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), per usual, actually made a show of failing to comply.

Last week, the school board formally voted to refuse DoEd’s order. Yesterday, it suspended two high school boys for expressing discomfort with a girl in their locker room.

Of LCPS’ laundry list of wrongs, its failure to protect single-sex sports and spaces are some of the most egregious.

In 2021, shortly after LCPS passed its policy equating “gender identity” and “sex,” a “gender fluid” boy in a skirt sexually assaulted a fifteen-year-old girl in the girl’s bathroom..

Subsequently, the Daily Citizen writes:

LCPS’ Superintendent and Board dragged the [assaulted] girl’s father out of a board meeting, tried to cover up the incident and transferred the boy to another school — where he assaulted a second girl.

Then, in May, a female student filmed two boys in the boys’ locker room asking, “Why is there a girl in the boy’s locker room?”

Though the female had violated school policy by filming in the locker room, it was the boys, not her, who faced punishment.

On Monday, the district concluded the boys had committed sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination by asking why a girl had violated their privacy. They will serve a ten-day suspension and establish an additional “corrective action” plan with administrators upon their return.

Though both boys were sanctioned, only one will serve his unjust punishment. The other moved away from Virginia entirely, taking refuge in North Dakota, after district investigator Christopher Moy indicated he could choose to drop cases if the subjects left the district.  

But Moy didn’t drop the investigation. Instead, he informed the family if their son ever re-enrolled in Loudoun County, he would first have to serve his suspension.

Now, the high school junior’s school record includes accusations of sex discrimination and sexual harassment — just in time to start applying for colleges.

The Daily Citizen asked Victoria Cobb, President of the Focus on the Family-allied Family Foundation, how LCPS could come to such an unjust conclusion.  

“LCPS is targeting these boys, plain and simple,” she said. “Punishing boys who complain that a biological girl is in their changing area is a top-down effort to normalize unacceptable privacy invasions by the opposite gender.”

Family Foundation’ legal affiliate, Founding Freedoms Law Center, represents the boys and their families. Cobb says they plan to hold LCPS accountable for their radical policies:

To allow this punishment to stand is to allow a school system to force children to bow to a woke ideology that defies reality, science and God’s created order.

Cobb and the Family Foundation are far from the only ones to question the validity of LCPS’ “investigation.” In June, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares released a report finding:

LCPS is utilizing an unlawful, discriminatory and retaliatory Title IX investigation to silence students’ sincerely held religious objections to [LCPS policies equating sex and “gender identity.”]

Miyares referred the report to DoEd for further investigation.

Now, the writing is on the wall for LCPS and its compatriots. DoEd has “commenced administrative proceedings seeking suspension or termination of federal financial assistance to [the districts].”

In the meantime, the districts will get no federal money up front. Instead, while on “reimbursement status,” they will have to foot their own bills and submit them for federal reimbursement.

“States and school districts cannot openly violate federal law while simultaneously receiving federal funding with no additional security,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon explained in a press release.

“The Northern Virginia School Divisions that are choosing to abide by woke gender ideology in place of federal law must now prove they are using every single federal dollar for a legal purpose.”

The Daily Citizen heartily praises DoEd for its unflinching enforcement Title IX. As Craig Trainor, Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at DoEd, said in July:

It’s time for Northern Virginia’s experiment with radical gender ideology and unlawful discrimination to come to an end.

Additional Articles and Resources

Loudoun County Schools Defy Education Department Over Multiple Title IX Violations

DoEd Finds Northern Virginia School Districts Violated Title IX

Irate Parents Excoriate Loudoun County Schools Superintendent and Board Over Sexual Abuse Coverup

Virginia School District Ignores Parents’ Opposition, Implements ‘Gender Identity’ Lessons

‘Equipping Parents For Back-To-School’ – Updated Resource Empowers Parents

Department of Education Launches Multiple Investigations Into Title IX Violations

Department of Education: Schools Embracing DEI Will Lose Funding

Department of Justice Launches Title IX Task Force to Protect Women’s Sports

New Education Secretary Linda McMahon: ‘Send Education to the States’

Trump Signs Executive Order Protecting Women’s Sports and Spaces

What’s Your School District’s ‘Transgender’ Policy?