(The Lion) — The stunning reversal by the American Medical Association and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons on child sex-change procedures last week appears to stem from two developments: a $2 million jury verdict in favor of a detransitioner and a change in the White House over the past year.

Evidence questioning pediatric gender surgeries has existed for years, as have concerns about long-term outcomes. Numerous studies have shown many children with gender dysphoria will outgrow it if given the chance.

Yet the nation’s largest medical association spent much of the past decade supporting drastic medical interventions for minors struggling with gender dysphoria, even as European nations began restricting or banning such procedures.

In the United Kingdom, a government-commissioned review found limited evidence of benefit, and concerns were raised about suppressed findings showing persistent mental health struggles among patients, even after treatment.

U.S. courts are now weighing in. Fox Varian, who underwent a double mastectomy at age 16 and later detransitioned, prevailed in a New York medical malpractice case late last month after a jury found her doctors showed more regard for their agenda than for her wellbeing.

“She was still anxious, she was still depressed, she still had all the same issues” after the surgery, Varian’s mother testified.

The verdict is one of several moves toward sanity since President Donald Trump retook the White House last year, promising to end the “gender-nonsense” propagated under his predecessor, Joe Biden.

Trump promptly signed executive orders banning boys from girls’ sports and only recognizing two genders, placing the power of the federal government squarely on the side of protecting women and children.

Courts and officials everywhere took notice. The dialogue changed as people witnessed the new fight. Many states and institutions have adopted policies in keeping with Trump’s orders, but some remain defiant – and face federal sanctions.

The verdict sent shockwaves through the medical community. One day later, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons reversed its position on surgical interventions for minors. The following day, the AMA announced it would no longer support such surgeries for children, citing insufficient evidence.

Dr. Quentin Van Meter, past president of the conservative American College of Pediatricians, called the change welcome but “very strange,” given the organization’s prior advocacy.

“The AMA has really never had a policy statement in terms of the care of kids who were struggling with gender identity and congruence,” Van Meter told Tony Perkins on This Week on Capitol Hill. “They were very much in favor of affirming the incongruent gender identity.”

Van Meter said the policy shift appeared to occur rapidly after the plastic surgeons’ statement.

“It was a very quick reaction, likely related to the malpractice suit that was won,” he said, noting the decision didn’t appear to go through the AMA’s typical House of Delegates review process.

Perkins pointed to the AMA’s longstanding opposition to the SAFE Act, which prohibits minors from undergoing gender-altering operations. Despite the opposition, 27 states have passed a version of the act.

“For more than a decade, the American Medical Association has supported irreversible surgeries and experimental drug treatments for children diagnosed with gender dysphoria,” Perkins said. “At the same time, it has actively opposed policies designed to protect those very children.

“Now comes this stunning announcement that there is insufficient evidence to continue supporting surgical interventions on minors under the banner of gender-affirming care.”

That shift raises obvious questions, he added.

“If there was insufficient evidence to justify these irreversible procedures,” Perkins asked, “why was the AMA intervening so forcefully in public policy debates to block laws protecting children?”

While European nations moved earlier to prohibit such surgeries and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services acknowledged last year that evidence supporting medical intervention for minors was “weak at best,” Perkins said the turning point came with the New York verdict.

“Suddenly the cost of playing make-believe became real,” he said. “It appears the prospect of accountability, not compassion, finally prompted the AMA’s change of heart.”

Accountability.

Perkins said the keyword.

Trump brings it and the whole nation is feeling the effect.

For doctors, no longer does “just following policy” suffice. For gender radicals, it’s no more rainbow flags at the White House. And for average Americans, it’s no more having to go along with a demonic agenda trying to neuter our children.

Perkins also pointed out how doctors in the New York case repeated the threat that gender-confused children will kill themselves if their parents won’t let them transition, something former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey uncovered in his investigation of the industry.

Sanity’s being restored and there’s many reasons to hope, including three more years of Trump’s leadership in the White House. Waves at the top have a ripple effect downstream.

Accountability is good. So is reality. Combine them and America is back again.

In 2026 and beyond, let freedom ring.