Would You Starve Her to Death Because She Believed She Was Fat? Imagine your daughter, age fourteen. She stands in the mirror with tears in her eyes, ribs pressing through skin like scaffolding on a collapsing house. She weighs eighty-two pounds. Her cheeks are sunken. Her periods have stopped. Her heart rate is slowing.

And yet she whispers, “I’m so fat.”

Would you nod solemnly and say, “Yes, sweetheart, you’re right. You are fat. You’re brave to say it out loud. We’ll get you a gym membership. We’ll support you in your truth”?

Of course not.

Because to affirm her distorted perception would not be compassion—it would be complicity.
To validate her delusion would not heal her—it would hasten her death.

You would fight. You would cry. You would plead. You would take her to doctors, therapists, perhaps a hospital, even against her will. Why? Because her life is worth the discomfort of the truth. Because love tells the truth, even when the truth hurts.

And yet—

In this same age, parents by the thousands are being told to do precisely the opposite when it comes to their sons and daughters with gender confusion.

“Your son says he’s a girl? Affirm him.” “Your daughter wants her breasts removed at sixteen? Celebrate her bravery.” “Don’t question it. If you don’t affirm, they may kill themselves—and it’ll be your fault.”

This is the chilling mantra of the modern age: affirm, or die.

But pause. Breathe. Step back from the propaganda long enough to see what’s actually being asked of you.

Would you affirm a starving girl’s belief that she is obese?

Then why would you affirm a boy’s belief that he is a girl?

Why is one a psychiatric crisis, and the other a civil right?

The Case for Affirmation (as Advocates Present It):

Supporters of the transgender affirmation model argue the following:

1. Mental health outcomes improve when children are affirmed. They cite reduced suicide attempts and depression when a child’s chosen name and pronouns are respected.
2. Gender is internal, they say, not based on biology but on identity—so it is cruel and invalidating to challenge someone’s felt reality.
3. Rejection leads to death. If a parent refuses to affirm, they risk their child feeling abandoned, rejected, and driven to suicide.

To the frightened parent who simply wants to protect their child, this argument feels like a lifeline. “If I just nod along, maybe they’ll stay alive. Maybe we’ll all be okay.”

But feelings—though real—do not define truth. And fear is a poor foundation for medical or moral decisions.

The Cracks in the Foundation:

1. Suicidal ideation is complex. Studies show that transgender-identifying youth do have higher suicide rates—but those rates remain high even after full transition. Gender affirmation is not a magic bullet; it’s often just a detour around deeper trauma.
2. No other mental health issue is treated this way. We do not affirm bulimia by handing out laxatives. We do not affirm depression by nodding when someone says they are worthless. We do not affirm schizophrenia by feeding the hallucination.
3. Puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries carry irreversible consequences—infertility, loss of sexual function, bone density problems, cardiac risks, and profound regret. Especially when given to minors who cannot legally consent to a tattoo.
4. The evidence base is thin. The most cited studies for transgender affirmation are low-quality, often relying on short-term self-reporting and activist funding. In contrast, long-term studies from countries like Sweden and Finland—who once led the world in transgender care—now urge caution or have halted transition procedures for minors entirely.

The Emotional Blackmail of “Affirm or They’ll Die”

Perhaps the cruelest manipulation of all is the emotional gun placed to the parent’s head: “If you don’t affirm, they’ll kill themselves—and it will be your fault.”

This tactic exploits love. It weaponizes compassion. It paralyzes righteous resistance in the face of fear. And it’s not based on science—it’s based on silence and coercion.

Let’s return to our original analogy.

If your anorexic daughter threatened suicide unless you let her continue starving, would you give her diet pills and a scale?

Of course not.

You would love her by resisting her distortion of reality. And you would suffer her anger. And you would endure her tears. Because her life matters more than your approval.

A Return to Truth:

“Male and female created He them.” (Genesis 1:27)
“Let not mercy and truth forsake thee.” (Proverbs 3:3)
“Speaking the truth in love.” (Ephesians 4:15)

The Creator of the universe wrote our bodies into being. He carved the lines of gender into our flesh with infinite care. He did not make a mistake when He made your son a boy or your daughter a girl. And He does not ask you to pretend otherwise for the sake of social acceptance or modern trends.

It is not hate to tell the truth. It is not love to lie.

The truth is not a weapon. It is a healing sword.

And though it may cut at first, it is the only instrument that can remove the cancer of confusion.

The Final Word:

So I ask you—parent, pastor, teacher, citizen:

Would you starve your daughter because she said she was fat?

Then why would you mutilate your son because he says he’s a girl?

Would you affirm her delusion to her grave?

Then why affirm his?

The answer is not cruelty. The answer is not shame.

The answer is love that dares to see clearly.

And love, real love, dares to say:

“No, my child. You are not what you feel in your worst moment.
You are what God made you to be.
And I will walk through the fire with you, but I will not walk into a lie.”

Let that truth thunder in the heart like a bell.

Let it be louder than fear, stronger than despair, and clearer than any chant of a confused age.