A Globe and Mail opinion piece is calling out the transgender movement.

Margaret Wente said in the piece “Almost everyone is biologically born either female or male, a fact that neither surgery nor self-declared identity can change”.

She also wrote “Transgenderism is a fad that has been spread by social media and embraced by individuals (and families) as the explanation for their confusion, loneliness and dysfunction”.

An expert on the subject says this mindset is not only wrong but dangerous.

University of Alberta professor and Director of the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies & Services, Dr Kristopher Wells asked why anyone would want to choose an identity that would result in a lifetime of discrimination harassment and violence.

He said these kinds of opinions are particularly dangerous for the young people struggling through this.

“These young people who feel ashamed or who face stigmatization or discrimination because of who they are. For transgender people their identity is not a choice, the choice to live a full, authentic, rich life is the choice” he said.

Wells said studies show these young people are more likely to turn to drugs, alcohol and suicide.

But he said there is progress with people of all ages are coming out and the internet is one of the reasons why, as they can now find communities that accept them as one of their own.

“Having language being able to name one’s reality is critically important and that’s why we see children coming out at younger and younger ages” Wells said, “That’s why we see families changing and supporting these children to be loved, ultimately this is what all about”.