(OPINION) A professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine who is involved in a LGBTQ+ “special interest group” claimed that parents must start including gender ideology in their families before a baby is born.
“This is my favorite topic,” =Lauren T. Roth, a professor of pediatrics at Einstein and a physician in the division of academic general pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, said. The doctor has specialized knowledge of transgender medical interventions on children diagnosed with dysphoria.
“Like, this is a normal thing. And we have to understand that gender is on a spectrum. There’s not just men and women,” she said. “Sometimes [a child’s gender identity] matches the chromosomes or the genitals that they were born with, but sometimes it doesn’t.” Roth also said children can have a nonbinary identity, or be genderless.
“There’s also a term non-binary, which means you’re someone who doesn’t necessarily identify with the categories of woman or man. You may identify as both as neither or somewhere in between on a gender spectrum,” she said.
“And when we talk about younger children, we often use the term gender expansive. These children may not necessarily follow the social norms of gender.” In June 2021, Dr. Roth said gender ideology must be adopted by parents “at birth or even before,” and proceeded to criticize the colors pink and blue for putting “expectations” on a baby.
“So it honestly starts at birth or even before,” she said. “I really think we need to try to stop making everything pink and blue [and also] avoid this huge gender reveal party.”
“You know, it’s okay to be excited when you find out that your baby’s a specific sex. You know, people have dreams about what they want their families to be, but it’s really important not to push all those expectations on your child.” Dr. Roth went on to claim that babies can develop their gender identity as young as 18 months old.
“Toddlers starts to notice physical differences and develop gender identity as early as 18 months to two years. They might begin talking about gender, playing dress up, having these established gender roles as early as age three or four.”
She also suggested parents can initiate gender-related conversations early in childhood in order to “give them space to explore” what gender they are.
“If your child was assigned male at birth and one day they tell you, ‘I want to wear pink sparkly dress. Instead of saying what a lot of people say, ’Boys don’t wear dresses, girls do.’ How about you know, say something like, ‘Tell me more about why you want to wear a dress today.’”
“You know be open and curious and just start the conversation. I really think having open conversations like that and just asking questions allows your child to share a little bit about themselves. And it shows that you support them, and it gives them that space to explore who they are.” (READ MORE)
