On February 29th, 2024, I testified in favor of banning Gender medicine for minors in the state of Kansas. I was there along with former trans teen, Chloe Cole, gender clinic whistleblower, Jamie Reed and retired adult gender medicine doctor, Ivan Abdouch.
This is my testimony:
This was 2 1/2 minutes, but we were originally told we had 5 minutes to speak, so at the last minute, I cut my testimony in half. Below is my full testimony:
Hello, my name is Pamela Garfield-Jaeger. I’m a licensed clinical social worker who graduated from New York University in 1999. I’ve been licensed in California since 2005. I worked in schools, hospitals, residential programs and private practice. In addition, I spent 10 years of my career as a clinical supervisor. The bulk of my experience is with vulnerable children with complex mental health issues, which is exactly who we are talking about protecting today.
I have an interesting personal story. In early 2017, I was forced to leave my profession due to a debilitating disability. After four years, I finally returned to work in 2021. I was essentially like Rip Van Wrinkle, who woke up in a completely different world because so much in my profession had changed in those short years. In 2017, there were virtually no trans kids, but in 2021 at the teen program I worked at,1/2 the girls identified as non-binary. It was shocking because those girls were honest about having other issues such as trauma and problems in their families. They admitted to using their trans identities as a way to feel powerful in a world they felt powerless in. Imagine being a lost lonely teen and suddenly you could call every adult that wants to tell you what to do a bigot or a transphobe. That feeling is intoxicating. However, it is short-lived and those kids did not get the help they needed because the program insisted on affirming trans identities, rather than address their deeper issues.
You might be thinking, but what if they KILL themselves? We must be kind, The data says, and of course - Affirmative Care Saves Lives!
1st: we must step back and recognize that anything clinically sound never fits neatly in a slogan. We have never had a one-size fits all solution for any other clinical issue.
2nd, lets take a closer look at that data.
There are ZERO studies that prove that affirming a person with a trans identity prevents suicide. None have control groups to make this claim. The only data we have tells us that the transgender population has higher rates for suicide. This is true because the people who identify as trans have coinciding mental health issues such as trauma, attachment issues, autism, depression, and anxiety. The trans community admits this in their data and in their marketing because they even have a special flag for trans identified autistic people. They would say this flag is for inclusivity. I would say this is a way to attract vulnerable kids who struggle socially, don’t feel at home in their bodies, feel invisible and spend more time online. These kids get recruited with own special trans flag.
Anecdotally, many trans people say they feel happier when affirmed. They are getting what they want, but we don’t know if that is good for them in the long-term. Have they been followed up on 8-10 years later? That’s impossible for children since this explosion of trans youth is relatively new. Children often will say they are happier when they get ice cream for dinner, but does that mean it’s right?
Plus, despite the fact that trans activists insist that the science is settled, a new study just came out from Finland and found people who received all the trans care had more psychiatric needs both before and after treatment compared to the general population.
Data aside, lets think about this from an ethical standpoint. How is it clinically sound to tell vulnerable kids that they will kill themselves if they don’t get what they want? As a therapist who has worked for years with youth with suicidal ideations, I know that all this suicide talk is against everything mental health professionals ever stood for. We are setting kids up for a life of emptiness because they are getting the lesson that they must blackmail people with suicide threats to receive love. When we reinforce this suicide myth, we are telling children that we don’t believe in their ability to handle problems. In addition, they start to believe that they must go through painful surgeries or die. This is a scary message to put on repeat to children.
I beg for you to step back and think outside of repeated slogans and what seems like kindness, and recognize that we are talking about protecting vulnerable kids.
There hasn’t been a vote on the bill yet, but we got positive feedback from the committee chair. Plus, the opposition didn’t do itself any favors. There were many people there in support of the bill who thanked us behind the scenes. We are David fighting Goliath, but it’s working.
From left: Gender clinic whistleblower, Jamie Reed, retired adult transexual doctor, Ivan Abdouch, former trans teen, Chloe Cole and me in the Kansas State Capital on February 29, 2024 to support the ban of gender affirmative care for minors.
Yes, we told the WHOLE ASS TRUTH!
Pamela Garfield-Jaeger is a licensed clinical social worker in California. She completed her MSW in 1999 from New York University. She has a variety of experience in schools, group homes, hospitals and community-based organizations as a clinician and supervisor. Since getting fired for not getting the C*VID vaccine, she has dedicated herself to educate parents and embolden other mental health professionals to challenge the ideological capture of her profession.
For more detailed information on how to empower yourself as a parent and navigate the mental health field, see the Parents' Guide to Mental Health.
NEW BOOK COMING March 12th:
“A Practical Guide to Gender Distress, Tips and tools For Families”
"We are setting kids up for a life of emptiness because they are getting the lesson that they must blackmail people with suicide threats to receive love." - that is so profoundly powerful. Praying the Assmbly listens to you - of course, our D Gov may veto...but thank you for your powerful testimony.
I am proud of you.