WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Independent Women applauds the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ comprehensive report on treating gender dysphoria, marking an anticipated end of the affirmation-only approach to gender confusion. The Trump administration ordered this report to be compiled in January as part of the president’s Executive Order—and promise—“Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.”
“The emperor of ‘gender medicine’ never had any clothes,” said Neeraja Deshpande, Independent Women policy analyst. “America is finally catching up with Europe and the UK in officially recognizing the obvious: the experimental field of pediatric gender medicine irreversibly harms the bodies and minds of children with gender dysphoria and lies to them by telling them that they can change sexes. That it took so long for America to get to this place is an indictment of the liberal politicians and medical establishment who have aided and abetted the bodily mutilation and psychological conditioning of children.”
Highlighted by HHS is reporting by Independent Women Features (IW Features), the grassroots storytelling and original journalism arm of Independent Women, and the stories IW Features has exposed through its “Identity Crisis: Real Stories About Escaping Gender Ideology” series.
In 2022, IW Features launched “Identity Crisis” to tell the stories that the media discounted, dismissed, and ignored. Bringing the raw and jaw-dropping stories of medical professionals, parents, and detransitioners, IW Features sheds light on the crippling dangers of gender ideology and its toll on America’s youth. IW Features first told the stories of Prisha Mosley, Soren Aldaco, Isabelle Ayala, Daisy Strongin, and other detransitioners who had easy and quick access to wrong-sex hormones and surgery to manipulate their healthy bodies. Today, they live with the scars and abandonment of a medical industry that sold them a lie.
Specifically sourced for the groundbreaking HHS report is IW Features’ story of Tamara Pietzke, a therapist from Washington state who was fired and threatened by a state investigation for nearly a year for questioning “gender-affirming care” in her practice. Pietzke’s whistleblower story, told through IW Features, highlights the pervasive gender ideology agenda that has crept into critical institutions for vulnerable youth—and the pushback faced by those who dared to question it.
Andrea Mew, managing editor of IW Features and author of Tamara Pietzke’s profile, whose name and journalism was specifically cited in the HHS report, said: “The inclusion of Tamara Pietzke’s story in this new HHS report marks a turning point. For too long, policies rooted in ideology—not biology—have silenced women like Pietzke and punished those who uphold reality and push back on an affirmation-only approach to gender confusion. This report signals that those days are coming to an end. By recognizing voices like hers and the brave detransitioners like Prisha Mosley, the new administration is taking the steps America so desperately needs to restore truth and common sense to how we treat issues of sex and gender. It’s an honor to have been cited in this pivotal HHS report about the investigation Washington State leveraged against Pietzke, and the quiet dismissal—a clear acknowledgement that she acted appropriately all along.”
Prisha Mosely, an Independent Women ambassador and detransitioner, whose traumatic experiences faced with gender ideology were told exclusively twice through IW Features’ Identity Crisis series, said in reaction to this report: “HHS acknowledges the work of detransitioners and whistleblowers who have been sounding the alarm for years. It’s great to see the report say exactly what we have been saying—the chemical and surgical mutilation of minors who believe they were born in the wrong body is medical abuse!”
“In the past five years, the UK, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Norway, and Denmark have all restricted access to puberty blockers and surgeries for minors in most cases. Hopefully, America will soon join that list and end this barbaric experimentation on children once and for all,” added Deshpande.
From “top surgery,” nipples peeling off, clitoral growth, trapped milk ducts, and hairy bodies, Identity Crisis documentaries bring to light the graphic stories of young adults now reckoning with the physical and emotional scars of gender ideology:
- Claire and Carrie Abernathy’s Story | Detransitioner and Mother Were Sold the Lie of Gender Transition — Now They’re Exposing the Real Costs
- Soren’s Story | How One Detransitioner Found Peace Outside of Medicalization
- Washington Therapist and Whistleblower Fired for Calling Out Reckless Treatments Against Youth
- Prisha’s Story Pt. 1 | Mentally Ill Teen Betrayed by Health Professionals Who Recommended Testosterone and ‘Top Surgery’
- Prisha’s Story Pt. 2 | A Detransitioner’s Pregnancy Journey
- Isabelle’s Story | The 20-Year-Old Detransitioner Taking on the American Academy of Pediatrics
- Cat’s Story | Detransitioner Loses Natural Singing Voice After ‘Gender Affirming’ Care
- Daisy’s Story | After ‘Top Surgery’ & Hormones, Female Detransitioner Decided She Wanted to Be A Mom
- Cristina’s Story | Meet the Detransitioner Suing Planned Parenthood
- Detransitioner Speaks Out About Irreversible Damage After “Disastrous” Misdiagnosis
- Controversy Erupts in California School District Over Radical Gender Ideology in Classrooms
- This Therapist Network Helps Gender-Confused Children Through Counseling, Not Surgery
Direct media inquiries and booking requests to [email protected].