LGBT

Chloe Cole: Good News in the Fight Against Transgender Mutilation of Children  

Chloe Cole, a brave young “detransitioner” from transgenderism, had a double dose of good news last week in her battle to keep other children from being harmed by “transgender” medical interventions.

First, on September 18, Senator Marsha Blackburn and Congressman Bob Onder introduced into Congress the Chloe Cole Act, also called The Victims of Chemical or Surgical Mutilation Act.

The federal legislation would “ban the chemical and surgical mutilation of children and provide detransitioners whose healthy body parts have been damaged by these procedures with legal recourse.”

The next day, Cole received more good news, learning that her lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente could move forward. The California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, ruled in her favor, allowing the case to go to trial.

Chloe Cole’s complaint against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Permanente Medical Group, and individual physicians, was filed in February 2023. It explains that she was 12 years old when “she wrote a letter to her parents telling them that she wanted to be referred to as ‘Ky’ or ‘Chi,’ and that she wanted to be treated as a boy.”

Her parents were unsure how to respond and sought the guidance of medical professionals. Cole was struggling with a variety of issues, including “anxiety, depression, social anxiety, shyness, limited friends, and feeling disgusted with her hips, chest, and thin arms.”

Rather than receiving counseling and moving toward healing for these issues, Cole was rapidly placed on the “‘conveyer belt’ of mimicry sex change,” as her suit explained.

She received puberty blockers and testosterone at age 13 and underwent a double mastectomy when she was 15.

Those interventions permanently damaged her body and brought no healing to her underlying mental, emotional and relational issues. According to her lawsuit:

As occurs in most gender dysphoria cases, Chloe’s dysphoria was not persistent and resolved when she was close to reaching adulthood. Consequently, she detransitioned and no longer identifies as a male.

Unfortunately, as a result of the so-called transgender “treatment” that Defendants performed on Chloe, she now has deep physical and emotional wounds, severe regrets, and distrust of the medical system. Chloe has suffered physically, socially, neurologically, and psychologically.

Rather than facing a public trial, Kaiser sought to bring the medical malpractice suit into private arbitration. But that option has been shut down.

Cole is represented by Limandri and Jonna, LLP, Dhillon Law Group, and the Center for American Liberty. Her legal team celebrated the victory with a post on X, saying, “See You In Court, Kaiser!”

Mark Trammell, CEO of the Center for American Liberty, said, “Today’s decision is tremendous news. Chloe will not be silenced. She will have her day in court, and the truth will come out.”

Chloe Cole’s fight to protect other children from the damage she experienced has borne more good fruit with the introduction of the eponymously named congressional measure.  

She posted on X:

“I’m so humbled by @RepBobOnder’s decision to name this extremely important bill after me. This bill will prevent further gender mutilation in The United States and also allow we, detransitioners to achieve justice and hold our doctors, and institutions who failed us to account.”

In a press release, Representative Onder said, “As a member of Congress, a doctor, a parent, and an American, I am committed to protecting our nation’s children. That’s why I am proud to introduce the Chloe Cole Act, a landmark bill that will put a permanent stop to one of the most dangerous and barbaric medical procedures in modern history.”

The legislation was proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice and endorsed by Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Bondi stated, “The Department of Justice has heard from far too many families who have been devastated by mutilative medical procedures that fly in the face of basic biology. While we continue our ongoing legal battle to protect children, we appreciate our colleagues in Congress who are working diligently alongside us to end these abusive procedures once and for all.”

Senator Blackburn explained the importance of the act. “No child should be pushed into irreversible chemical and surgical mutilation under the guise of so-called ‘gender-affirming care.’ The Chloe Cole Act would put a stop to this barbaric abuse of children and give those who have suffered the consequences of these harmful procedures the chance to fight back.”

Transgender ideology is inherently harmful, with its false belief that anyone can change from one sex to the other. This has led to irreversible damage for thousands. Cole has courageously told her story about being damaged by transgender interventions, and she’s been a terrific spokeswoman, as she battles for truth against “gender” ideology.

It’s vital that doctors and hospitals be held accountable for previous actions to “transition” minors and that this federal legislation is passed by Congress to protect children from the devastating effects of puberty blocking drugs, opposite-sex hormones and surgeries.

Chloe Cole’s lawsuit is Brockman v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals.

Read The Victims of Chemical or Surgical Mutilation Act here.

Related Articles and Resources

To learn more about Chloe Cole’s story, you can watch the new documentary Truth Rising.

Focus on the Family exists to help families, and that includes help navigating the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism. Focus offers a free, one-time counseling consultation with a licensed or pastoral counselor. To request a consultation, call 1-855-771-HELP (4357) or fill out our Counseling Consultation Request Form.

Chloe Cole: Gender Reassignment Surgery Regret

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

Expert in ‘Transitioning’ Children Admits ‘We Were Wrong’ About Puberty Blockers

Important New Journal Article Calls Out Doctors for Harming Youth with Medicalized Gender Ideology

Four Brave Young Women File Lawsuits Alleging Harm from ‘Transgender’ Interventions

God’s Amazing Grace in a Transgendered Person’s Life

Pam Bondi Directs DOJ Attorneys to Investigate Transgender Procedures for Minors

President Trump Signs Order Protecting Children From Transgender Medical Interventions

Questioning Drugs, Hormones and Surgery for Youth Confused about Their Sexual Identity

Support for Parent Whose Adult Child Identifies as Transgender

Teenager Identifies as Transgender

Transgender Ideology is Inherently Destructive

Transgenderism and Minors: What Does the Research Really Show?

Transgender Resources

Image Credit: Truth Rising

Transgender Ideology is Inherently Destructive

The assassination of Charlie Kirk by an accused shooter with numerous ties to transgenderism has placed a spotlight on violence from transgender–identified individuals and their allies.

But transgenderism’s harms don’t just come from individuals. Transgender ideology, in and of itself, is inherently damaging and it has led to great destruction.

Ideas have consequences and transgender dogma, rooted as it is in falsehood and the destruction of the body, has wreaked incredible damage on all of society. It has reaped a dark, dismal harvest across the West.

To be clear, most transgender-identified individuals are not violent. Many wrestle with deep emotional, spiritual and psychological issues, but they still choose not to commit crimes. Many simply want to live in peace – without political engagement or even imposing their beliefs on others.

Scripture calls us to love those caught in the transgender web of deceit.

At the same time, as Paul said, we pull down strongholds, “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

That’s why we must understand and courageously speak the truth: Gender ideology is innately harmful, and it has fostered and led to great destruction.

The harms from gender ideology stem, first of all, from its originators, men with twisted thinking and actions who founded the transgender movement, creating and fostering a false dogma.

Instead of trying to help people (usually men) struggling with disorders like cross dressing or sexual identity confusion, men like Magnus Hirshfeld and Harry Benjamin, who believed someone could change from male to female with hormones and surgeries. The two were early “sexologists” who helped perform experimental – sometimes deadly – medical procedures on men.

John Money, the disgraced researcher who is lauded as the father of modern transgender theory blatantly lied about a failed attempt to change a boy’s “gender identity” from male to female.

Money invented the term “gender identity,” using it to differentiate between sex – being male or female, a biological reality – and “gender” – a completely internal, subjective construct. “Gender” now refers to what people believe about themselves as male, female, neither, both or something completely different.  

These men were forerunners, laying the rotted foundations for the transgender movement.

The belief that sex is somehow less important than and separate from “gender” is a key component of gender ideology, which is built out of other falsehoods and contradictory ideas. These include:   

  • Male and female are “social constructs” not rooted in physical reality.
  • Some people are neither male nor female; others are a combination of the two.
  • “Gender” is fluid and changeable, and there are an infinitude of “genders.” 
  • “Gender” is innate and immutable, and it is damaging to help someone embrace their bodily reality. 
  • Drugs, hormones and surgeries can be used to change a person’s body to match their internal “gender.”
  • Others must agree with gender ideology, or they are hateful, transphobic bigots.
  • Those who disagree with transgenderism cause suicidality and violence against transgender-identified individuals.

These lies, having no basis in medicine, science or reality, have brought incalculable harm to millions. Here are some examples.

Transgender ideology harms children. Teachers and librarians have introduced transgender books, curriculum and classroom readings to children, inappropriately sexualizing and confusing them.

The federal government, state legislatures, departments of education and local school boards are guilty of harming children as they mandated the teaching of gender dogma and the implementation of school “transgender policies.”  

Even more damage is done when children do what they’re taught – and embrace a false identity as something other than their innate sex.

Transgender ideology leads to the devastation of children’s bodies, minds and souls. At a recent conference, a young woman described how she embraced transgender ideas and had a double mastectomy and hysterectomy in her early 20s.

Transgender beliefs affirmed her adolescent discomfort with her body and taught her she could turn into a boy. She’s now become a follower of Jesus Christ, but her body remains damaged, ravaged by medical professionals with the completely unscientific belief that drugs, hormones and surgeries can change a woman into a man.

Multiply the damage done to her healthy body by tens of thousands of other children, adolescents, teens and young adults and it’s clear how many lives are affected.

Transgender ideology destroys families. Children with sexual identity confusion are told, by schools, clinicians and online influencers not to trust their parents. Parents are the enemy and therefore transgender involvement should be hidden from them.

Children are encouraged to live with one identity at home and a different one at school. They pursue body-damaging chest binders, puberty blockers and opposite-sex hormones without parental consent or knowledge.

Parents are falsely told, “affirm them or they will die,” and blackmailed into helping a child attain destructive medical interventions – often against their intuitive understanding that these procedures are not good. If they don’t agree, those caught in transgender deceit are told to shun their parents – and any other family members who won’t affirm their “true identity.”

Transgender ideology tramples on parental rights. Schools have lied to parents and hidden children’s sexual identity confusion from them. State child protective service agencies and courts have removed children from their parents because the parents refuse to allow their children’s bodies to be mutilated and irreparably injured.

There’s much more to say, but ultimately, transgender ideology is an assault on reality. It’s undeniable that humans are sexually dimorphic: Individuals are either male or female, with innate differences. Transgenderism seeks to replace truth with fictitious ideology.

Despite recent advances in protecting children, education and parental rights, all right-thinking people must continue to speak the truth and do battle against this pernicious false belief system.

Related Articles and Resources

Cakegender? Genderfaun? Orbgender?

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

Charlie Kirk’s Accused Assassin and His Links to Transgenderism

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

Free Speech Victory for Virginia Teacher Fired Over ‘Transgender’ Pronoun Policy

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’

Minnesota Government Helps Provide “Sex Change” for Teen – Without Parent’s Consent

One Mom’s Journey Advocating for Children and Parental Rights

Teaching Deception? School District Adopts Gender Policy, Keeps Parents in the Dark

‘Transgender Means Many Different Things’ — And Nothing

What Are Male and Female in God’s Story?

Why a Trans Woman is a Not a Woman

Image from Getty.

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

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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.