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A transsexual pioneer and human rights activist criticized modern trans activists and said children are facing “indoctrination.”
Buck Angel, a 59-year-old with gender dysphoria, told Fox News that when he began transitioning 30 years ago, there was a system and structure that ensured he was certain about his gender identity. He said that process, to children’s detriment, has since deteriorated.
“Now we have trans with no gender dysphoria, no need for mental health care, self ID, affirmation therapy,” Angel, who said he’s “a huge advocate for mental health care,” told Fox News. “That says to me on some level, some form of indoctrination.”
Angel, who said he never felt female, told Fox News he was one of the first in Los Angeles to use hormones to transition. He eventually became a porn star before becoming an advocate for self-acceptance with a mission to re-define gender.
“I’m an elder in a community I helped build,” Angel, who said he’s faced significant blow back for speaking out, told Fox News. “Now I’m being told that I’m old and antiquated.”
NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 24: L.G.B.T. activists and their supporters rally in support of transgender people on the steps of New York City Hall, October 24, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“Our community is failing our community,” he added. “We’re not being loving and we’re not being caring. We’re being weird.”
Angel said his parents allowed him to socially transition when he was a kid, meaning he could make behavioral changes, like using a new name and dressing more masculine. He also said it was a long process before he was allowed to receive hormones in his late 20s.
“I see a vast, huge desire to fast track, for lack of a better term, these children into this space of trans kids” and put them on puberty blockers, Angel told Fox News. “I personally believe blocking puberty could be disastrous.”
Puberty blockers are pharmaceuticals used off-label to prevent trans children from developing as their birth gender. If a child decides to transition, they may be given hormones to develop as their preferred gender.
The Department of Health and Human Services consider puberty blockers reversible, but studies have shown that they can have long-lasting side effects, including bone thinning. Adolescents who take hormone therapy can also become infertile, studies have shown.
“This isn’t a game, and it’s not something I can pick or choose,” Angel said. “Once you choose this life and do this what I did, there really is no turning back.”
Angel clarified that he knows some children would benefit from puberty blockers, but “it’s very few and far. It’s not the amount of kids that are immediately being put on blockers with no mental health care, no desire to sort of watch this kid kind of find their space.”
ASHBURN, VA – AUGUST 11: Supporters of Policy 8040 celebrate with signs as the transgender protection measures were voted into the school systems policies during a school board meeting at the Loudoun County Public Schools Administration Building on August 11, 2021 in Ashburn, Va. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
(Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Dr. Marci Bowers, a world-renowned vaginoplasty surgeon and president-elect of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health said trans children who are put on puberty blockers before having an orgasm could have trouble achieving one if they continue their transition and undergo genital surgery, though research on the topic is limited.
“And my fear about these young children who never experience orgasm prior to undergoing surgery are going to reach adulthood and try to find intimacy and realize they don’t know how to respond sexually,” Bowers told Abigail Shrier, who authored the controversial book “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.”
Additionally, Angel stressed that therapy is an essential part of transitioning. He said doctors shouldn’t simply affirm a child’s self-identification as trans.
“If a kid says they’re trans, they’re trans–oh, a kid says they’re an elephant, they’re an elephant? Are you kidding? That’s how ridiculous it is,” Angel told Fox News.
“It’s dangerous and it’s not therapy,” he continued. “Therapy is pushback on some level. It’s a pushback so that you can see, ‘am I making the right choice?'”
Angel said immediately affirming a child’s self-identification without questioning it is ultimately harmful.
IMAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN – Adri Perez, ACLU of Texas Policy and Advocacy Strategist, center, and other LGBTQ leaders speak outside the Travis County courthouse where a hearing was held to stop the newly mandated cruel and unconstitutional child welfare investigations targeting supportive families of transgender children, on Wednesday, Mar. 02, 2022 in Austin. (Erich Schlegel/AP Images for Human Rights Campaign)
(Erich Schlegel/AP Images for Human Rights Campaign)
“I see something as an elder in this community that is not right,” he said. “It’s hurting not only the community, but it’s hurting a bunch of people who should never be in this space.”
Angel also criticized rhetoric surrounding trans activism.
“The dishonesty is growing every day,” Angel told Fox News.
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He said phrases like “trans women are women,” “uterus havers,” and “period people” are “disrespectful to the women’s space, and secondly disrespectful to us.”
“I am not a biological man,” Angel said. “I never will be. I’m very honest about that, and it’s why the world is accepting of me.”
“So why are we teaching kids to lie?” he told Fox News.
