Phelim McAleer: It might be US trade regulators who defeat transgender extremism
In a very American twist to a tragic story, the downfall of one of the most pernicious ideologies of our era—transgenderism —may not come from measured medical studies or landmark court rulings, but from the quiet, methodical scrutiny of extremely unglamorous government trade regulators.
Just as the gangster Al Capone, was ultimately imprisoned not by Eliot Ness's G-men, but by mild mannered IRS accountants exposing his tax evasion, so too might the architects of “gender-affirming care” be toppled by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This agency, typically sedate and focused on curbing false consumer scams, has zeroed in on transgender medicine as a fraudulent enterprise. They claim it is ideologically fuelled, based on no scientific or medical need, is financially lucrative, and preys on vulnerable children.
The roots of this madness trace back to America itself, courtesy of Dr John Money who became famous at Johns Hopkins University in the 1950s and 60s. Money peddled the pseudoscientific notion that gender is a social construct separate from biology. His most egregious experiment involved David Reimer, a boy raised as a girl after a botched circumcision. Money falsely claimed that raising David as a girl was successful and therefore "proof" that nurture trumps nature. The experiment failed disastrously; Reimer suffered immense trauma and later took his own life.
Yet Money's new terms and descriptions for his failed experiment such as —"gender identity," and "gender role” have infiltrated academia, medicine, and culture, birthing the transgender ideology that now claims children can be "born in the wrong body". This American export spread globally, enabling a multibillion-dollar industry of unnecessary hormones, blockers, and surgeries.
What makes this fraud so insidious is its massive profitability for doctors, clinics, and hospitals. Providers took children presenting with low-revenue mental health issues—like anxiety or depression, often stemming from trauma—and reclassified them as "transgender," funnelling them into a lucrative pipeline of lifelong care. A single patient could generate hundreds of thousands in revenue: puberty blockers at $1,000–$5,000 monthly, cross-sex hormones for life at $200–$500 per month, and surgeries like mastectomies ($20,000–$50,000) or phalloplasties ($50,000–$150,000), mostly billed to insurance companies or the government.
Enter the FTC under Chairman Andrew Ferguson, whose leadership reflects a post-Biden era pivot.
As such, the FTC recently had a ‘Workshop on Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices in Gender-Affirming Care’, in Washington DC. This new FTC views ‘gender-affirming care’ as a deceptive and lucrative trade. Ferguson said it was akin to prosecuting fake cures or opioid pushers. Why spare those mutilating minors, he asked? The event featured doctors, mental health experts, detransitioners, parents, lawmakers, and even Department of Justice (DOJ) officials, blending harrowing personal stories with legal roadmaps for prosecution.
The workshop kicked off with victims of ‘trans contagion’. Simon Amaya Price, a young man from Massachusetts, shared how therapists ignored his sex assault trauma, pushing him toward transition instead. Claire Abernathy was prescribed testosterone at 14 after one phone call and was referred for a double mastectomy six months later—at an age when she couldn't legally get a tattoo. Detransitioner Kayla Lovegood endured Lupron and testosterone at 12, followed by mastectomy at 13. "This process destroyed me," she said.
Repentant whistleblowers exposed corruption. Jamie Reed, a former case manager at a St Louis paediatric gender centre and self-described lifelong Democrat and lesbian mum, revealed how she helped casually transition 1,500 patients aged 3 to 26, admitting, "Nobody ever gets told 'no'.”
Child psychiatrist Dr Miriam Grossman cited the language used by doctors and administrators: terms like "preferred pronouns" deny biology; "top surgery" sanitises mutilation; "genital reconstruction" falsely implies restoration, not creation.
DOJ Chief of Staff Chad Mizelle, invited victims to come forward, promising civil and criminal justice. She also announced the DOJ had sent subpoenas to more than 20 medical providers and individual doctors, ordering them to hand over documents revealing the extent of abuses.
Many were in tears when Elvira Syed spoke. Her brilliant daughter died by suicide post-transition with an autopsy revealing historic self-harm that was ignored by those pushing transition medication and surgery.
Is this the end? Or the beginning of the end? For countless families, it's hope.
• Phelim McAleer, from Tryone, lives in LA