I just watched a break-down of this on the Sam Seder’s The Majority Report. The mother was anti-trans to begin with and did not want their child to transition. The article written by a report from an organization created by well known transphobic Bari Weiss, who is a right wing hack who first came to fame trying to get professors who supported Palestinians fired, is complete wrong and filled with anti-trans bias. When the teen the article was based on tried to correct the lies written, the writer Emily Yoffe told them they had no say in it and published the misinformation, including dead naming the teen. Lies, myths, and fringe unscientific conspiracy theories are what these anti-trans haters use to influence the public. The saddest part of this is they are hurting the very people they pretend to be helping, just like crisis pregnancy centers claim to be helping pregnant people while they are really just pushing a right wing ideology to deny others the right to live their lives as they wish, but instead force all others to live by their right wing ideology based in some idea of 1950s social myths of morality. Hugs
The Missouri teen says their mother misrepresented their story in an anti-trans piece published by Bari Weiss’s ‘Free Press.’
A Missouri teen has refuted their mother’s account of being “bullied” into allowing her child to go on puberty blockers.
On Monday, The Free Press, a conservative outlet founded by former New York Times columnist Bari Weiss, published a story based on Caroline Miller’s claims that she was pressured by doctors at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital to allow her then-14-year-old child to receive a pharmaceutical implant that would deliver the puberty blocker Supprelin for two years. According to the Free Press piece, Miller and the child’s father were both informed of potential side effects, and after some initial resistance on Miller’s part, both parents signed off on the implant.
Hormone therapy improves mental health for trans youth
Researchers tracked 315 trans and non-binary young people in what is reportedly the largest study in the U.S. to date.
But Miller claims that within months of receiving the implant, her child’s mental health declined, their grades dropped from “all As and Bs to a report card dotted with Ds and Fs,” and they expressed “suicidal thoughts.” Blaming all of this on the puberty blocker, Miller revoked her consent and demanded that the implant be removed. Doctors declined, saying that they needed both parents to sign off on the removal.
In an April 4 tweet, Miller said she was contacted by The Free Press after reaching out to a lawyer. She gave the outlet permission to report on her child’s treatment. The resulting story, by writer Emily Yoffe, identified Miller’s child as “Casey” and misgendered them throughout.
On Tuesday, the now 16-year-old “Casey,” whose real name is Alex, took to Twitter to refute the Free Press story. In a long tweet thread, Alex, who uses they/she pronouns, said that their mother’s account is based on “false perceptions that my mom has about the doctors and clinic.”
Alex says that Miller informed them of the story only after speaking with Yoffe. “When I read the draft I was disgusted with what the reporter and my mom had made my experience out to be,” they wrote.
After speaking with Yoffe, Alex says they were told they had no say in whether the story was published.
Miller claimed that she felt pressured to agree to the puberty blocker implant after doctors implied that Alex was at high risk of suicide if they didn’t receive the treatment. Alex says that while doctors did quote statistics around suicide in transgender adolescents, they never said that Alex was at substantial risk.
They also say that Millers claims about their grades and mental health were exaggerated. “My grades were on a steady decline since 2020 due to unrelated mental health concerns,” they wrote. “The article claims that my mental health issues can be attributed to the Supprelin implant, however, my personal experience shows that this is not the case. Since Covid-19, my mental health has been declining, and it was already an issue.”
Alex also praised their counselor at Washington University Transgender Center, but says that they were denied access to counseling after Miller retroactively objected to the Supprelin implant.
In atweet responding to Alex’s thread, Miller identified herself as Alex’s mother (the Free Press story omitted her last name) and asked that users not “harass my child.” She also defended her decision to speak to The Free Press. “This is actually my story about how I was treated as a parent at this center,” she wrote. “Alex has a story too, but this article wasn’t it. Don’t confuse the two.”
Below I have unrolled the entire twitter thread. Hugs
I have reinstalled Twitter to respond to this story and make sure my voice is fully heard. I am Casey.
My real name is Alex but my mom decided it would be best to hide it for anonymity. But this is my story, not hers. This is not the free press’s story.
Caroline was told that a puberty blocker would relieve her child's psychological distress. That's not what happened.
About a week ago my mom contacted @EmilyYoffe without my knowledge and told her what was supposed to be our story. She expressed her frustration with the transgender clinic at Washington University, many of which are false perceptions that my mom has about the doctors and clinic.
I learned of this article through my mom over the phone when she asked if it was okay that @TheFP published the article. I said that I wanted to read it first. When I read the draft I was disgusted with what the reporter and my mom had made my experience out to be.
Upon interviewing Emily Yoffe myself I was told that I had no say in whether or not the article was published. I asked if my consent was required to publish the article and the reporter told me, “that’s not how these things work.”
After she had edited the article and published it (I had not found this out until 20 hours later) I was extremely frustrated. The article makes it out that my mother had no say in the implant of the Supprelin. This is completely false.
My mother claims that she was pressured into saying yes by the doctors. A big issue they point out is that the doctors quoted suicide statistics in transgender adolescents. I do not deny that these statistics were quoted, but I also sustain that the doctors didn’t say (continued)
(continued) that I was at substantial risk of this.
The article mentions that my grades dropped from A’s and B’s to D’s and F’s in a semester. This is a completely exaggerated statement. My grades were on a steady decline since 2020 due to unrelated mental health concerns.
Speaking of mental health, the article claims that my mental health issues can be attributed to the Supprelin implant, however, my personal experience shows that this is not the case. Since Covid-19, my mental health has been declining, and it was already an issue.
I was in counseling with the Washington University transgender care center in which I was treated amazingly by my counselor. She was a friend to me and offered a great amount of support. This was taken away when my mom revoked consent for the Supprelin.
After she revoked consent, my father and I, along with the university, attempted to set up a meeting with my mom. She did not attend this meeting, claiming that she was not contacted. Later, she admitted that she was.
I am an older gay guy in a long-term wonderful relationship. My spouse and I are in our 33rd year together. I love politics and news. I enjoy civil discussions and have no taboo subjects. My pronouns are he / him / his and my email is scottiesplaytime@gmail.com
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