The American College of Pediatricians warns educators and legislators that “a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex” is dangerous for children.

In a strongly worded statement issued today, the professional association of pediatricians says “a person’s belief that he or she is something they are not is, at best, a sign of confused thinking.” It describes such thinking as problem that exists in the mind and not the body and “it should be treated as such.”

The college of pediatricians is joining a heated debate that increasingly pits concerned parents against school teachers, administrators, legislators, and transsexual advocates who are pushing the trans agenda in grade-schools, city governments, state governments, and the federal government.

A wave of “non-discrimination” bills are appearing around the country that require public women’s restrooms to accommodate men who think they are women and even those who consider themselves “gender non-binary,” that is, men who appear to be men but who say there are neither male or female.

The American College of Pediatricians will release a full statement this summer. The statement released today explains, “human sexuality is an objective biological binary trait: ‘XY’ and ‘XX’ are genetic markers of health — not genetic markers of a disorder.”

The statement goes on:

The exceedingly rare disorders of sex development (DSDs), including but not limited to testicular feminization and congenital adrenal hyperplasia, are all medically identifiable deviations from the sexual binary norm, and are rightly recognized as disorders of human design. Individuals with DSDs do not constitute a third sex.

The statement points out that such gender confusion should be treated as a psychological disorder called “gender dysphoria” and is “a recognized mental disorder in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-V).”

The group is most concerned about the regimen of drugs that are given to children to block puberty. “Children who use puberty blockers to impersonate the opposite sex will require cross-sex hormones in late adolescence. Cross-sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen) are associated with dangerous health risks including but not limited to high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke and cancer.”

Rates of suicide among adults who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex change reassignment surgery are “twenty times greater” than the rest of the population even in such trans-friendly places as Sweden.

The doctors argue that “Conditioning children into believing a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse.”