Still Fighting the Fox in the Henhouse
We've been fighting Anne Arundel County Schools over a book promoting transgenderism. Their indifference to the book and to the evidence is damning.
Last year I wrote about My Sister Daisy, a book in Anne Arundel County Public School libraries that promotes transgenderism. Since then, I have been fighting the Anne Arundel County Public School system to get the book removed from elementary schools.
We have reached the final appeal to exhaust: to the entire Anne Arundel County Board of Education itself. Below is the full contents of my letter to the Board, laying out the evidence as to why this book has no business being in an elementary school library.
To The Board,
This letter serves as my written appeal to the Superintendent of Schools’ misguided determination that My Sister Daisy, a book normalizing/promoting gender dysphoria and aimed at elementary school-aged children, should remain in circulation among Anne Arundel County Public Schools (“AACPS”) elementary schools.
I will address each of the Superintendent’s reasons for denying my request as stated in the letter dated April 27, 2023. Points 1 and 2 will be addressed together.
1. My Sister Daisy is aligned with national and state standards, Board of Education Anne Arundel County Policy AF “Educational Equity” Its accompanying regulation, and the established mission, vision, and library collection protocols of AACPS Office of Digital Media and Learning Services.
2. The removal or limitation of access to My Sister Daisy would be contrary to Board of Education Anne Arundel County Policy AF “Educational Equity” Its accompanying regulation, and the established mission, vision, and library collection protocols of AACPS Office of Digital Media and Learning Services.
The first statement claiming that My Sister Daisy is “aligned with national and state standards” is vague. The Superintendent’s formal determination is not clear about what national and state standards are being used in the determination, nor does it provide any reference to these standards.
The Superintendent also claims that the text is aligned with AACPS Policy AF “Educational Equity” and its accompanying regulation. The regulation’s purpose is to provide for “educational equity and eliminate obstacles to accessing educational opportunities for all Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) students, enrich their educational career, and prepare for academic and career success.”1
Educational Equity is defined as “access to opportunities, resources, and educational rigor students need throughout their educational career to maximize academic success and social and emotional well-being, and to review each student’s individual characteristics as valuable.”2 Educational Opportunities are defined as “access to rigorous well-rounded academic programs and experiences that enrich each student’s educational career and prepare them for academic and career success.” In addition, the regulation includes thirteen procedures to address this “educational equity.” Only one of the listed thirteen procedures, number #9 remotely focuses on literature. (“Provide the access and opportunity for all students to successfully read on level by the end of grade 2”).
The definitions of the regulation reinforce its purpose—focusing on academic programs and academic success. The Superintendent fails to explain how My Sister Daisy aligns with and promotes academic success as defined in the regulation. More importantly, the Superintendent contradicts his own claim by stating that “[i]t is important to note that the text is noted as available for student checkout in library media centers and is not noted for instructional use within classrooms.”5 The Superintendent admits that My Sister Daisy is not for instructional use, therefore serving no academic purpose. If My Sister Daisy is not for instructional use in a classroom, then how could it possibly prepare them for academic and career success? If it’s not for instructional use, how does its removal affect a student’s educational career and preparation for academic and career success? The Superintendent fails to explain this.
The policy, which implements the regulation, also focuses on education. The policy states, “AACPS will have procedures and practices in place to provide for educational equity and ensure there are not obstacles to accessing educational opportunities and academic success.”3 The policy further states, “AACPS will provide every student equitable access to the educational rigor, resources, and supports that are designed to maximize the student’s academic success and social and emotional well-being.”7 Yet, the Superintendent fails to provide any reasoning how the text align with these “equitable” standards.
The Superintendent’s denial does not provide any evidence nor cite any specific reason how My Sister Daisy aligns with the regulation or policy. Rather, it remains dismissive of a parent’s concerns, almost patronizing in the way that it is written.
Removing this text will have no impact on a child’s academic success. The Superintendent cannot provide any evidence nor cite any study that would refute this statement. It’s also important to note that the policy and regulation mentions a student’s social and emotional well-being. This will be addressed in Section 2.
Finally, the Superintended claims that My Sister Daisy is aligned with the established mission, vision, and library collection protocols of AACPS Office of Digital Media and Learning Services.
Upon review of the AACPS library and media webpage, one can readily find the mission and vision.
Vision: The Office of Library Media Services envisions school libraries that are the hub of the school and are innovative, vibrant, and flexible spaces, staffed with school librarians who inspire students to become tech-savvy and independent life long readers and learners.
Mission: The mission of the Office of Library Media Services is to develop students who are lifelong readers and effective users of technology and information. We do this by teaching critical thinking and research skills and ensuring access to information resources and literature.
My Sister Daisy has nothing to do with becoming tech-savvy or inspiring lifelong readers and learners. The book’s removal would not be contrary to the vision. My Sister Daisy also has no influence on critical thinking (there are specific books on this subject) skills, nor does it teach research skills. A gain, the book’s removal would not be contrary to this mission.
While the Superintendent relies on an exhaustive list of policies and statements to keep My Sister Daisy within the grasp of vulnerable elementary school students, his office and/or designee fails to provide any context or reasoning for the decision. This is an argument without merit. As stated, the clear text and purpose of the policies and regulations do not provide any support for the Superintendent’s shallow arguments.
3. My Sister Daisy represents a family and its presence in the library does not create, influence, or promote gender dysphoria.
While the various institutional levels of AACPS, including the Superintendent, lean on their pillar of “educational equity” or the excuse that this book simply “represents a family” to keep it within the reach of a vulnerable five-year-old, we must understand that normalizing gender dysphoria is a dangerous precedent, especially to those children suffering from other serious mental illnesses—children ultimately sacrificed to hyperpolitical gender reassignment specialists who routinely misdiagnose children with gender dysphoria rather than the underlying mental condition that requires proper medical care.
The Board is aware that there is a mental health crisis among school-aged children. On September 29, 2023, the Board filed a lawsuit against social media companies Meta, Snap, Google, and TikTok. The Complaint alleges that the four social media platforms have contributed to the deterioration of school-aged children’s mental health, specifically those children within the AACPS system. To use the Board’s exact words:
Suicide rates for youth are up an alarming 57%. Emergency room visits for anxiety disorders are up 117%. In the decade leading up to 2020, there was a 40% increase in high school students reporting persistent sadness and hopelessness, and a 36% increase in those who attempted to take their own lives.
The Board’s Complaint continues,
Children and their parents and guardians across the country have struggled to cope with the severe, lasting damage visited on their families by anxiety, depression, addiction, eating disorders, self-harm, suicidality, and the cost of outliving one’s child.
Id.
From 2009 to 2019, the rate of high school students who reported persistent sadness or hopelessness increased by 40% (to one out of every three kids. The share who considered suicide increased by 36%, and those who created a suicide plan increased by 44%.
Id. at 63
From 2007 to 2016, emergency room visits for youths aged 5-17 rose 117% for anxiety disorders, 44% for mood disorders, and 40% for attention disorders.
Id.
By 109, one-in-five children aged 3-17 in the United States had a mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral disorder. Mental health issues are particularly acute among females.
Id.
On February 13, 2023, the CDC released new statistics revealing that, in 2021, one in three girls seriously considered attempting suicide.
Id.
Throughout the Complaint, the Board attempts to tie the four social media platforms to the rising mental health crisis among school-aged children, citing concerns for eating disorders, increased suicide rates, child exploitation, and depression. The Complaint regularly uses noted medical journals as evidence to support its claim. There is no doubt that the Board is aware and
concerned about the mental health crisis among children, as it should be. The Complaint is an affirmative step by the Board to address and possibly alleviate some of the crisis.
However, one area that the Board has overlooked, perhaps through no fault of its own or just plain ignorance, is the rising tide of gender dysphoria and its relationship to the rising mental health crisis among children. As detailed below, there is no doubt that social media has had an impact on the increase of gender dysphoria diagnosis among children, particularly those children who suffer from mental health issues disguised as a desire to be the opposite sex.
As stated, the diagnosis of gender dysphoria are currently experiencing a prolific rise among the adolescent population.4 (“From a baseline of approximately 50 referrals per annum in 2009, there was a steep increase from 2014-15, and at the time of the CQC inspection of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in October 2020 there were 2,500 children and young people being referred per annum, 4,600 children and young people on the waiting list, and a waiting time of over two years for the first appointment”) (“In 2021, about 42,000 children and teens across the United States received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, nearly triple the number in 2017, according to data Komodo compiled for Reuters.”) Among school-aged girls, this number has skyrocketed.5 (“There has been a dramatic change in the case mix of referrals from predominantly birth-registered males to predominantly birth-registered females presenting with gender incongruence in early teen years. Additionally, a significant number of children are also presenting with neurodiversity and other mental health needs and risky behaviors which requires careful consideration and needs to be better understood.”).
Peer pressure—this social contagion amplified by social media—has contributed to this substantial increase of gender dysphoria among children, particularly young females.6 The Board understands how peer pressure can contribute to children suffering from mental disorders. Its Complaint states in clear, unambiguous words, “[g]iven their limited capacity to self-regulate and their vulnerability to peer pressure, children are at greater risk of developing a mental disorder...”. A 2023 study resulted in the same conclusion.7(“Results of our study are generally consistent with other recent research about the current surge of gender dysphoria among youth with onset during adolescence or young adulthood. There was evidence of immersion both in social media and in peer groups with other transgender-identifying youths.”). Shockingly, the same study found that 60% of females and 38% of male adolescents had at least one friend who declared a transgender identity around the same time.
Emerging studies have found that, unlike the minute percentage of those suffering from gender dysphoria prior to the turn of the century, the majority of adolescents currently being diagnosed with gender dysphoria suffer from underlying mental illnesses. The 2023 study indicated that, among the children who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria, 57% had a prior history of mental health issues and 43% had a formal mental health diagnosis.8
I reiterate for the Board: There is a sharp increase of adolescents who claim they are the opposite gender but also have accompanying mental health issues. These health issues include suicide and depression, issues that the Board stated it was concerned about within its Complaint. Among the surge of gender dysphoria cases, a large percentage are young females. The Board fully understands and has stated in its Complaint that mental illness is acute among school-aged girls, going as so far as to cite the CDC statistic that 1 in 3 girls contemplated suicide. There is a positive correlation between the rise of mental illness in school-aged children, especially girls, and the rise of gender dysphoria. Ignoring such a correlation amounts to ignorance.
There is an inherent danger is misdiagnosing a child with gender dysphoria rather than treating the underlying mental illness. Misdiagnosing a child with gender dysphoria can lead to irreversible damage to the child’s health. For example, the use of puberty blockers to “treat” the gender dysphoria causes terrible health consequences, it amplifies the child’s desire to commit suicide, and causes further depression. This is all emerging science now, most within the past two years as previous cases of misdiagnosing a child with gender dysphoria are now bearing terrible fruits, including increased depression and unnecessary and irreversible medical interventions.
Puberty blockers are dangerous. As concluded in the Komodo analysis commissioned by Reuters, puberty blockers suppress the release of the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen. The FDA has approved the drugs to treat prostate cancer, endometriosis and central precocious puberty, but not gender dysphoria. The off-label use in gender dysphoria cases lacks the support of clinical trials to establish their safety for such treatment.
Gerald Posner’s July 23rd Wall Street Journal Op-Ed details the dangers of puberty blockers:
The Center for Investigative Reporting revealed in 2017 that the FDA had received more than 10,000 adverse event reports from women who were given Lupron off label as children to help them grow taller. They reported thinning and brittle bones, teeth that shed enamel or cracked, degenerative spinal disks, painful joints, radical mood swings, seizures, migraines and suicidal thoughts. Some developed fibromyalgia. There were reports of fertility problems and cognitive issues.
The lack of research demonstrating that benefits outweigh the risks has resulted in some noteworthy pushback in the U.S. and abroad. Republican legislatures in a dozen states have curtailed or banned gender-affirming care for minors. Finland, citing concerns about side effects, in 2020 cut back puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors. Sweden followed suit in 2022 and Norway this year. Britain’s National Health Service shuttered the country’s largest youth gender clinic after 35 clinicians resigned over three years, complaining they were pressured to overdiagnose gay, mentally ill, and autistic teens and prescribe medications that made their conditions worse.
Posner, G. (July 23, 2023). The Truth About ‘Puberty Blockers’, The Wall Street Journal.
Of note, Posner’s article highlights Sweden’s concern with prescribing puberty blockers, stating that “[u]ncertain science and newly acquired knowledge means that the National Board of Health and Welfare now recommends restraint when it comes to hormone treatment.”9 The report continues:
Based on the results that emerged, the National Board of Health and Welfare's overall conclusion is that the risks of puberty-inhibiting and gender-affirming hormone treatment for those under 18 currently outweigh the possible benefits for the group as a whole.
For the group that regrets or cancels a started treatment, there may be a risk that the treatment has led to poorer health or quality of life, says Thomas Lindén. The risks outweigh the benefits at this point.
Sweden and other European countries have now reversed course in their diagnosis of gender dysphoria. They are fully aware that a majority of these cases are not gender dysphoria, but children who have other mental health condition that must be treated.
Whistleblowers have now come forward regarding the misdiagnosis of children. Earlier this year, a former case manager at The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital recently came out regarding the misdiagnosing of children:
The girls who came to us had many comorbidities: depression, anxiety, ADHD, eating disorders, obesity. Many were diagnosed with autism, or had autism-like symptoms. A report last year on a British pediatric transgender center found that about one-third of the patients referred there were on the autism spectrum.
Frequently, our patients declared they had disorders that no one believed they had. We had patients who said they had Tourette syndrome (but they didn’t); that they had tic disorders (but they didn’t); that they had multiple personalities (but they didn’t).
The doctors privately recognized these false self-diagnoses as a manifestation of social contagion. They even acknowledged that suicide has an element of social contagion. But when I said the clusters of girls streaming into our service looked as if their gender issues might be a manifestation of social contagion, the doctors said gender identity reflected something innate.
To begin transitioning, the girls needed a letter of support from a therapist— usually one we recommended—who they had to see only once or twice for the green light. To make it more efficient for the therapists, we offered them a template for how to write a letter in support of transition. The next stop was a single visit to the endocrinologist for a testosterone prescription...
Besides teenage girls, another new group was referred to us: young people from the inpatient psychiatric unit, or the emergency department, of St. Louis Children’s Hospital. The mental health of these kids was deeply concerning—there were diagnoses like schizophrenia, PTSD, bipolar disorder, and more. Often they were already on a fistful of pharmaceuticals.
This was tragic, but unsurprising given the profound trauma some had been through. Yet no matter how much suffering or pain a child had endured, or how little treatment and love they had received, our doctors viewed gender transition—even with all the expense and hardship it entailed—as the solution.
Some weeks it felt as though almost our entire caseload was nothing but disturbed young people.
Reed, J. (February 9. 2023) I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing The Whistle, The Free Press.
Both America and Europe are now experiencing a surge of young adults who have made the choice to detransition. These same people who are detransitioning were diagnosed with gender dysphoria during adolescence. There are numerous lawsuits against gender transition advocates and doctors who misdiagnosed these children, some leading to unnecessary surgeries, an obvious consequence of puberty blockers and hormone therapies.10 Another 2023 study examining participants who detransitioned stated that “psychological health had improved dramatically since detransition/desistance, with marked decreases in self-harm and gender dysphoria and marked increases in flourishing. The most common reason given for initial trans identification was confusing mental health issues or reactions to trauma for gender dysphoria.”11
These recent studies make it clear that the meteoric rise of gender dysphoria cases is simply a misdiagnosing of children with underlying mental health issues, especially among school-aged girls. Social media’s proliferation among our children has contributed to this concerning trend. Any type of media can influence kids, including books. Individuals within AACPS who incorrectly state that My Sister Daisy is simply a book about a family and does “not create, influence, or promote gender dysphoria”12 are clearly misguided, if not being malicious.
The author of My Sister Daisy, Adria Karlsson, clearly states—shortly after she admits to reading a bedtime story to her five-year-old son about gender identity—in unambiguous terms that the book is about gender transitioning:
Just before my daughter turned six, while reading a bedtime story, she told me she was a girl. This was surprising as I had always assumed her to be my son. The book we were reading discussed gender identity and the gender spectrum-how the idea of boy versus girl doesn't work for everyone and mentioned that the gender people are assigned at birth might not match who they are inside. But it is up to each person to determine and share their own identity…That is what inspired me to write this book-our family's story. While Daisy and her bravery in expressing her gender are at the heart of it…
Karlsson, A. (2021), My Sister Daisy
The book is littered with a need for pronoun identification and a boy convincing his older brother that he’s a girl. It unnecessarily introduces a topic with unsettled science—science that has now changed course over the past 18 months—among our most vulnerable population. It normalizes gender dysphoria as if nothing else could be wrong with that little child in the story. The book easily serves as validation to those suffering from genuine mental issues disguised that they have rapid-onset gender dysphoria, as if it were normal for children to want to mutilate their own bodies or desire to be another gender. This validation by AACPS can be spread through both social media and groups of children who socialize together. Again, AACPS is aware of the current mental health crisis among school-aged children. AACPS should look at all avenues that could affect a child’s mental health, not just select those that are politically convenient.
There are thousands of books that promote and encourage a child’s development in reading and writing. Why would AACPS choose this one? A book whose foundation is based on unsettled science—unsettled science that is now questioning the validity of the rapid rise of gender dysphoria cases? A book that fosters a sense of normalcy around gender dysphoria. A book that could influence hundreds of children who suffer from serious mental health issues. Such a decision seems reckless as best, malicious at worst. A decision that calls into question AACPS’s genuine concern for the children in our community’s mental health.
Then I ask myself, why is a book like Catcher In The Rye restricted to AACPS public high schools, a book I assume is relegated to that age group because of sensitive subjects, but this book, a book clearly about gender dysphoria, is within the grasp of kindergarteners? Again, I question the motives.
In summation, my appeal highlights and provides ample proof that AACPS is aware of and is concerned about the mental health crisis among school-aged children13; gender dysphoria cases are skyrocketing among school-aged children; there is a correlation between the rise of social media, tight social groups, and the rise of these cases; the majority of gender dysphoria cases are accompanied by kids, especially girls, with mental health issues that AACPS professes to be concerned about, and that misdiagnosed cases can have lasting negative effects on children into adulthood.
As Mr. Posner states, “Gender-affirming care for children is undoubtedly a flashpoint in America’s culture wars. It is also a human experiment on children and teens, the most vulnerable patients. Ignoring the long-term dangers posed by unrestricted off-label dispensing of powerful puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, combined with the large overdiagnosis of minors as gender dysphoric, borders on child abuse.”14
AACPS is aware of the ongoing mental health crisis among school-aged children yet condones the inclusion of a book that influences and quite possibly compounds mental health issues among the youngest of our students. I highly doubt a reasonable person would come to the same conclusion as to keep the book within the reach of a kindergartener. The risk of planting that seed of confusion is not worth any possible reward.
Board of Education of Anne Arundel Regulation AF-RA “Educational Equity”
Id.
Id.
https://cass.independent-review.uk/publications/interim-report/; https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special report/usa-transyouth-data/
https://gpsych.bmj.com/content/36/3/e100972; https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec services/npc-crg/gender-dysphoria-clinical-programme/implementing-advice-from-the-cass-review/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-018-1204-9
The majority of those diagnosed with gender dysphoria during the 20th century were men wanting to become female, representing about .6% of the population at the turn of the century.
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-transyouth-data/
https://www.socialstyrelsen.se/om-socialstyrelsen/pressrum/press/uppdaterade-rekommendationer-for hormonbehandling-vid-konsdysfori-hos-unga/
https://www.deseret.com/2023/9/15/23874181/gender-surgery-minors-detransition-lawsuit; https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/dec/5/surge-of-detransition-lawsuits-pose-threat-to-boom/; https://www.iwf.org/2023/10/24/breaking-female-detransitioner-sues-american-academy-of-pediatrics-alleging-fraudulent-affirmative-care-model/; https://thehill.com/opinion/4284777-matthews-here-come-the-gender detransitioner-lawsuits/
Littman, L., O’Malley, S., Kerschner, H. et al. Detransition and Desistance Among Previously Trans-Identified Young Adults. Arch Sex Behav (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02716-1
Exhibit 2, Page 1.
Of note, the Superintendent cites the “Educational Equity” policy and regulation as a reason to keep My Sister Daisy among the school library collection. The policy and regulation specifically address the student’s social and mental well-being. With the amount of evidence produced in this record about mental health issues being misdiagnosed as gender dysphoria the Board would be completely justified in removing this text from circulation. Failure to remove this text would contradict this policy and regulation.
Posner, G.