LBGT activist and medical professor claims infants can be ‘non-binary,’ parents should adopt gender ideology ‘at birth or even before’

A New York pediatrician and medical professor claims infants can be “non-binary,” therefore parents should adopt “gender ideology” for their children “at birth or even before.”

Dr. Lauren T. Roth, professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a pediatrician for the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, made the controversial statements in a June 2021 YouTube video, Fox News reports.

“This is my favorite topic,” she reportedly says in the video. “Like, this is a normal thing. And we have to understand that gender is on a spectrum. There’s not just men and women. Sometimes [a child’s gender identity] matches the chromosomes or the genitals that they were born with, but sometimes it doesn’t.”

“There’s also a term non-binary, which means you’re someone who doesn’t necessarily identify with the categories of woman or man,” she continued. “You may identify as both, as neither, or somewhere in between on a gender spectrum.

“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.”

Roth even takes issue with expecting parents using the colors pink and blue for gender reveals, arguing that in doing so, parents create undo pressure for the child to conform. 

“So, it honestly starts at birth or even before,” she claims. “I really think we need to try to stop making everything pink and blue [and also] avoid this huge gender reveal party.” 

The doctor goes on to claim infants can “develop gender identity” by 18 months. 

“Toddlers starts to notice physical differences and develop gender identity as early as 18 months to two years,” she said. “They might begin talking about gender, playing dress up, having these established gender roles as early as age three or four.” 

Her advice for parents is to be open to their toddler’s feelings about gender. She also recommends having conversations about “gender identity” early in their childhood to allow them “space to explore.” 

“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.’” 

Roth currently serves as co-chair of the LGBTQ Health and Well-Being Special Interest Group of the Academic Pediatric Association. She is also credited for helping develop the care standards for LGBTQ+ patients at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore – standards that reportedly include “transgender medical interventions on children such as cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers.” 

As previously reported by The Lion, top researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute recently found puberty blockers cause bone damage in children and should be considered “experimental” only. The researchers also found the treatments can cause “unintended” mental health issues. 

Other research which questions the efficacy of cross-sex treatments has also recently come to light. 

Last year, the FDA reported at least six incidents where children using puberty blockers experienced brain swelling, in what the FDA termed as “a plausible association” with the treatments. 

And, before becoming president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, Dr. Marci Bowers claimed puberty blockers given at a critical stage in a child’s development can cause sexual abnormalities.  

“Every single child who was, or adolescent who was truly blocked at Tanner Stage 2 (at the first signs of sexual development) has never experienced orgasm,” she said of the treatments. “I mean, it’s really about zero.” 

Dr. Bowers defended views at the time in the face of criticism, saying the field had been “hijacked” by political activists. 

“Unfortunately, [transgender care] has been hijacked by people who have their own political agendas,” she reportedly told Mount Sinai Health in June 2021.  

“I had concerns about initiating hormone blockers for children because it affected their surgical results that might affect how they respond sexually. And I got a lot of backlash on the left also for people who felt like I was abandoning the cause.” 

To date, Dr. Bowers has made no public statement regarding why she changed her stance on the puberty blockers when she joined WPATH, an organization which promotes the treatments for children internationally.