In a move that casts fresh light on on the very controversial topic of transgender hormone therapy in youth, Dr. Walid Farhat, a professor of Urology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, applied for a research grant to delve into the subject.
The research will study the long-term effects of cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers on prepubertal rats. The findings are aimed at informing the use of these interventions on transgender, nonbinary, and/or gender-diverse (TNG) minors.
According to emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Daily Caller News Foundation, Farhat—who also serves as the chief of Pediatric Urology at the university’s School of Medicine and Public Health—submitted his grant application to the Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP) in April.
In the application, Farhat criticized attempts to withhold access to such medication to minors deeming them “relatively safe.” He highlighted the “severe” research gap on the subject and claimed the study would offer a more solid scientific ground to examine interventions for TNG youth.
“The politicization of conversations about TNG identities … has impaired open and honest discussion about the best ways to support transgender children and adolescents,” the application reads.
Farhat argued that this void in credible scientific data was exploited to “delay or deny GAHT (Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy) for TNG youth, which results in further stress and harm to an already marginalized group.”
The research team includes not just Farhat, but also Dr. Anthony Auger, a professor of psychology specializing in behavioral neuroendocrinology, and Dr. Joan Jorgenson, an expert in sex-specific differentiation and fertility.
Pending approval, the group plans to conduct a comprehensive, five-year study in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health that would span “each life stage into old age.”
However, the endeavor doesn’t exist in a vacuum of academic curiosity. Medical professionals have voiced concerns that current data indicating high rates of suicide and depression among TNG individuals often rely on self-reported surveys and could thus be biased.
The application itself acknowledged lingering questions about long-term side effects, particularly pertaining to bone health and fertility. Even so, it posited that vitamin supplements could alleviate concerns about bone density, and that fertility could potentially be preserved through sperm or egg freezing prior to treatments.
This last point aligns with practices at Seattle Children’s Hospital, which also recommends “fertility preservation” for transgender minors undergoing gender-affirming procedures that could result in sterilization.
Dr. Farhat sought endorsement for the grant from Dr. Jennifer Rehm, a faculty member at UW’s American Family Children’s Hospital. Both were instrumental in launching the Gender and Sex Development Program at the hospital in December 2020.
The program integrates UW’s Pediatric and Adolescent Transgender Health (PATH) clinic and the Variations of Sex Characteristics (VarSeC) clinics, aiming to offer comprehensive support for TNG youth.
Although WPP has yet to confirm the status of the grant application, the issue remains a medical and societal flashpoint. The PATH clinic, part of UW’s medical system, stipulates that minors can receive hormone therapy or puberty suppression, provided they offer “mental health documentation of readiness for hormone therapy.” It does not, however, perform sex-change surgeries for those under 18.
Requests for comment from Dr. Farhat, who is currently out of the country, and other key players including Drs. Rehm, Auger, and Jorgenson, have gone unanswered as of this reporting.
The medical and psychological professions seem determined to allow transgender intervention procedures in youth, at least for hormone replacement therapy. The study itself admits there is no real science as to the long term effects of this treatment and is done to prove their hypothesis that hormone replacement therapy in pre-pubescent youth is “relatively safe.”
The truth is they don’t really know. Everyone seems to agree that transgenderism and gender dysphoria are on the mental illness spectrum. What is confusing is their treatment which seems to only man’s attempt to change biology rather than alternative forms of treatment.
God help our children who are really just being used as guinea pigs at this point.
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