Emily Jashinsky Rachel Levine’s intentions are clear. As a transgender public official, Levine actively seeks to be a “role model” on LGBT issues for children and adults alike. In other words, Levine hopes to use the visibility that comes with serving in office to normalize transgender ideology. That, of course, is bad news for the many Americans who suffer with gender dysphoria and for our ailing culture more broadly.
“I am pleased to speak on this topic and be a mentor and role model to LGBT youth whenever I have the opportunity,” Levine told PennLive in a 2015 interview, after being appointed as the state’s first transgender physician general.
After President Biden named Levine assistant secretary of health at the Department of Health & Human Services, the seasoned physician brought that same mentality to Washington D.C. Last fall, Levine told one journalist that trans advocacy was part of the DHS job’s “portfolio” as “health equity work.”
“I want to advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and for vulnerable transgender individuals in particular,” said Levine. “That includes transgender seniors, that includes transgender individuals of color, and I particularly advocated for transgender youth, who I think are somewhat under siege in our country.”
“I have always been very pleased to advocate for LGBTQ+ and transgender individuals,” added Levine, “and to serve as a role model and to show transgender individuals, transgender youth, that people can accomplish whatever they set their minds to.”
In that same interview, Levine said advancing LGBT advocacy “informs many things in terms of insurance coverage and health care coverage” and insisted the department was working to “embed” the “health equity” agenda into its work.
Upon nominating Levine to HHS, President Biden described the move as “historic,” signaling that his administration also saw the pick as an opportunity to normalize trans ideology. Their belief is that Levine’s visibility as a successful trans adult signals to the public that it’s possible to overcome struggles with sex by transitioning. This also serves the purpose of exposing the public to a successful trans adult, normalizing the unscientific falsehood that sex can be changed and increasing tolerance for an intolerable lie.
The ideology that confuses vulnerable people and the public at large into thinking sex can be changed is wreaking what Abigail Shrier has famously described as “irreversible damage” on a mass scale.
In “Irreversible Damage,” Shrier noted that “Between 2016 and 2017 the number of gender surgeries for natal females in the U.S. quadrupled, with biological women suddenly accounting for — as we have seen — 70 percent of all gender surgeries.” But, as Shrier also wrote, “Several studies indicate that nearly 70 percent of kids who experience childhood gender dysphoria — and are not affirmed or socially transitioned — eventually outgrow it.” That combination confirms what heartbreaking anecdotes increasingly show: the push to normalize trans ideology is persuading people to treat their pain with harmful, irreversible, unscientific methods based on radical ideology.
Levine is not merely helping dysphoric kids and adults soothe discomfort or overcome suicidality. To the extent that’s the effect of Levine’s work as a “role model,” the comfort will be tragically temporary for most struggling individuals. For some, they’ll be left with transitions they regret, with physical and psychological scars that follow them for the rest of their lives.
Joe Biden and Rachel Levine are intentionally normalizing this harmful pseudo-
science. They are absolutely correct that Levine is serving effectively as a role model, bolstered by a complicit media and corporate support, but they fail to grasp how terrifying that prospect is for the health of the country.
