CNN faces backlash for promoting acceptance of 4-year-olds’ gender identities

CNN was slammed online after a Sunday article advising parents to take their four-year-olds seriously when they say they are transgender.

“If your kid just told you they’re trans, here’s what you should know,” the article’s headline reads.

The article cites a Methodist pastor who said her four-year-old daughter told her that she “told God when I was a star in the sky that I was a boy, but God made me a girl.” The four-year-old had “preferred typical boys’ clothes, hairstyles and activities since preschool.”

Another mother “gave birth to a baby she thought was a boy,” but the child “came out” as non-binary at age 8 and began identifying as a girl at age 10, the article says. That mother is now co-lead for the group Families United for Trans Rights.

The article cites Nova Bright-Williams, a trans-identifying man at the Trevor Project, a nonprofit that says it works to prevent LGBT youth suicides.

“One of the hardest things for us to do as parents is pause when that vision gets interrupted and really listen to what our kiddos are saying to us,” Bright-Williams said.

Bright-Williams repeated the common claim that affirming children’s new gender identities helps prevent their suicides. Several recent studies have suggested that social transition does not necessarily improve children’s and teens’ mental health.

“Rejecting them could not only cause hurt and anger but also could ruin chances of a long-term relationship,” the article warns. “Therefore, when your child tells you they’re trans, your first response should be to thank them for sharing and learning about their experience, Bright-Williams said. Say you want to get to know more about this part of who they are. Ask how long they’ve known this about themselves, who else they’ve shared their identity with and how you can support them.”

Parenting advice from ⁦@CNN⁩: if your 4-year-old starts talking about gender identity, you need to listen. To the four-year-old. Who is 4. Years old. https://t.co/Qq4pbmRkvI

— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) June 2, 2024

Must-read on @CNN: “If your kid just told you they’re trans, here’s what you should know”

(take note, @NYTimes, this is how to report on trans youth accurately and without bias) https://t.co/luheXqw2vP

— GLAAD (@glaad) June 3, 2024

Social media users quickly criticized CNN for recommending parents push their small children toward a gender transition.

Many X users mocked the left-leaning outlet for recommending parents take their small children’s gender identity declarations seriously.

“Parenting advice from CNN⁩: if your 4-year-old starts talking about gender identity, you need to listen. To the four-year-old. Who is 4. Years old,” posted conservative commentator Joel Pollak.

“My nieces are 4 years old. Guess what they want to do? Listen to Disney princesses and play with their toys. Why? BECAUSE THEY’RE 4 YEARS OLD,” posted another X user.

Others said that ironically, they agreed with CNN that parents should listen if their children say they are transgender — they should listen so they can figure out how their kids were exposed to gender ideology.

“If your [4-year-old] talks about gender identity, find out who has been talking to your [4-year-old] and stop it,” wrote one X user.

“If they’re bringing it up, it’s because they’re being indoctrinated by it at school. Therefore it is time to go directly to the school and find out what is being taught because as we found out during covid, what we think is being taught and what is actually being taught are not the same,” wrote another user.

The article also claims that it is “rare” for children to detransition, or stop identifying as transgender, and it promotes puberty blockers as a way to relieve children’s gender distress by “temporarily” pausing puberty. One parent realized that “withholding them would not be a neutral decision, since puberty is permanent — which could have negative consequences for a child who doesn’t identify with that body,” the article says.

Puberty blockers can have profound effects on bone growth and density and cause sexual dysfunction, voice damage, and infertility, among other issues.

GLAAD, which monitors LGBT media coverage, praised the article calling it a “must-read” and took the opportunity to chide The New York Times, which has published opinion articles skeptical of medical transition for children.

“Take note, @NYTimes, this is how to report on trans youth accurately and without bias,” GLAAD posted on X.

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