When I was in seventh grade, I shaved the right side of my head and dyed a few strands of hair green. I even considered a belly button ring before realizing I was terrified of needles. Why? Because punk rock was in, disco was dead, and I wanted to belong. It was a harmless phase inspired by a trend.
At 17, I began dating women. At first, it was curiosity - all the cool kids were doing it.
Madonna had a girlfriend. Sharon Stone's devastatingly sexy character in Basic Instinct, Catherine Tramell, had a girlfriend. It opened a door I hadn't realized was even there. And when I walked through it, I discovered something deeper: for me, it wasn't just a phase; it was permission.
Now, as I think back to my adolescence, I wonder: what if I had been presented with another option? What if I had seen popular culture embrace the belief that a person can be neither gay nor straight but something else entirely? That I could 'correct' some cruel twist of fate - biologically and irreversibly.
Of course, that's the controversial message being broadcast to America's youth from many in the medical, media and political establishment.
It is an ideology championed by those who defend 'gender-affirming care,' the idea that an individual who declares an identity that does not match their gender must have their feelings affirmed.
With each passing day, it seems, that dangerous ideology - rightfully - suffers another blow.
Political scientist Erik Kaufmann recently released his analysis of data from the annual Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) survey of American undergraduates, as well as student surveys from Andover Phillips Academy (a private prep school) and Brown University.
His findings were striking. While the percentage of young adults identifying as transgender tripled between 2020 and 2023, the share fell by half over the next two years. Meanwhile, Kaufmann found, the percentage of those identifying as gay and lesbian was stable from 2020 to 2025.
It is, according to Kaufmann, the 'first indication that the transgender trend among young people has reversed.'
Let's be clear: this research doesn't invalidate anyone's experience. Some people undoubtedly struggle with gender dysphoria and would benefit from transition. But these findings, once again, force America to re-examine the way we treat individuals - especially children - who say they were born in the wrong body.
Currently, the American Academy of Pediatric - and many major US medical organizations - support gender affirming care, while many independent experts and European countries have rejected the practice.
In early 2024, medical whistleblowers and investigative journalists released the WPATH Files-internal communications from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the organization that sets international standards for 'gender-affirming' care. The documents revealed clinicians were privately alarmed by irreversible treatments - like hormone treatments and mastectomies - being offered to minors while publicly defending them as best practice.
The WPATH Files exposed confusion about consent, lack of long-term data, and pressure to fast-track interventions despite clinical uncertainty.
Around the same time, the Cass Review - a four-year, government-commissioned investigation led by pediatrician Dr Hilary Cass - delivered its final report in the UK.
The conclusions were sobering: evidence supporting puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors was 'extraordinarily weak,' and the clinical model at Britain's well-known Tavistock gender clinic was deemed 'unsafe.'
The review found that ideological and political pressure had overtaken scientific rigor, prompting the UK, Sweden, Finland and Norway to roll back or pause medicalized gender treatments for minors.
Yet in the United States, many of our institutions still behave as though every adolescent identity crisis demands affirmation or even medicalization, often with irreversible consequences.
Consider California, where a 12-year-old in public or private school can request to be addressed with alternative pronouns and a new name. And educators are empowered to keep this 'social transition' a secret if the child claims it's 'unsafe' to tell their parents.
At 17, I began dating women. At first, it was curiosity - all the cool kids were doing it
While the percentage of young adults identifying as transgender tripled between 2020 and 2023, the share fell by half over the next two years. Meanwhile, Kaufmann found, the percentage of those identifying as gay and lesbian was stable from 2020 to 2025
Then there's Colorado, where a 2019 'conversion therapy' ban - originally intended to prevent abusive practices - has morphed into something Orwellian. The law has been interpreted to forbid licensed therapists from discussing alternatives to transition with minors in distress.
Therapist Kaley Chiles, who told the Daily Mail that she is now harassed by critics and receives death threats, has taken her case to the US Supreme Court, arguing that her conversations with patients are protected speech, not criminal conduct.
Colorado claims it is 'protecting children.' In truth, it's protecting an ideology-one that demands blind obedience.
For years, those who questioned this orthodoxy were branded hateful or ignorant. Parents who hesitated to 'affirm' their children's claims were called transphobic. Teachers who suggested caution were labeled cruel. Therapists who explored alternative explanations risked losing their licenses.
But gender-affirming care is an affront to common sense.
The very premise of progressive child-rearing - protecting minors until they can make adult decisions - has been abandoned in favor of fashionable activism. The human brain doesn't fully mature until the mid-twenties. That's why we don't let minors get tattoos, buy alcohol, or gamble.
The reported decline in trans identification should invite humility, not hysteria.
If numbers rise and fall this quickly, maybe not every child who questions their gender should have their feelings legitimized. Maybe some just need time, therapy, and unconditional love from the people who know them best-their parents.
If the rise and fall of trans identification teaches us anything, it's that identity trends shift faster than public policy. The least we can do is build systems rooted in truth, transparency, and parental involvement that are flexible enough to adapt.
No one's asking to roll back compassion.
We're asking to roll back ideology.
The pendulum is swinging. The data says so. The culture says so. But left-wing policymakers and ideologues haven't caught up. They still cling to the illusion and 'affirmation-only' dogma protects children.
I, for one, have read and heard enough.
The medicalization of gender distress in minors should be off the table entirely. Hair grows back; breasts do not. Fertility lost in adolescence cannot be restored, and the hormones withheld at 13 cannot simply be replaced at 25 to rebuild the brain and bones they were meant to shape. These are biological facts, not political talking points.
A loving nation doesn't ignore evidence for the comfort of ideology. It weighs facts, considers consequences, and acts with empathy and restraint.
True empathy isn't doing what's easy or popular - it's doing what's right, even when it demands courage to go against the grain.