Initially, you may be tempted to shrug off an item that appears to be “old news”, since the study was published two years ago in the professional Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA Pediatrics), but when you understand how frequently this study is circulated, for what purpose, and that the research is ongoing, a more investigative dissection is warranted.
“The Prevalence of Gender-Diverse Youth in a Rural Appalachian Region”, was the study conducted by Kacie M. Kidd, MD, MS, (of WVU Medicine) Gina M. Sequeira, MD, MS, Michael J. Mann, PhD, et al, at 16 Appalachian public schools in grades 7-12. As the title suggests, the purpose of the study was to identify the prevalence of gender-diverse youth (GDY) in a demographic largely unknown— children of rural West Virginia, or, “Appalachian Region” to use their terminology since our FOIA request to identify the schools was denied.
Public school students became part of this study, under passive parental consent, surveyed anonymously during school hours through the Integrated Community Engagement (ICE) Collaborative prevention effort. West Virginia students in grades 9-12 are already surveyed randomly regarding behaviors that education and public health try to influence through the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). They are asked questions about drug use, bullying, seatbelts, guns, alcohol, sexual violence, and suicide ideation to cite a few items. Partnering with the ICE Collaborative, the reach for public school students broadened to include 7th and 8th grade for the purposes of the gender study.
According to the Fayette County Health Department website, the ICE Collaborative’s purpose in collecting data:
“This anonymous and confidential data is gathered annually through surveys taken by students in the 7th-12th grades. The data helps to secure funding for things like meaningful, youth centered programs and for changing the environment around youth to decrease risky behaviors.”
The researchers attempting to recognize gender-diverse youth in Appalachia objected to the word “transgender” on the 2017 YRBS, suspecting that students do not identify with the word “transgender” and therefore, may not recognize who they truly are. This exploration into a child’s sexual awareness and feelings appears to have been a major impetus for the study.
To remedy this perceived incomprehension of nomenclature, the new gender survey included a two-step question to assess “gender identity” and “sex assigned at birth”. Lead-in terminology was added to assist student's influence and confusion by the social contagion of the gender craze, such as “trans girl”, “nonbinary”, “assigned male”, “trans boy”, “genderqueer”, “agender” and “two-spirit” for example. Our FOIA request asking for the specific questionnaire, to pinpoint the wording of the questions, was deflected, pointing us to the more vague description in JAMA Pediatrics.
These sexual identity questions were asked of West Virginia public school students during school hours under passive parental consent, an ethically questionable practice for research on children. Passive consent means that permission is assumed unless the parent signs a form to refuse their child’s participation.
Was this done because the response rate is typically higher under passive consent? Because they suspected parents might resent their 7th grader being asked about their sexuality? Or to be introduced to terms such as “genderqueer” and "two spirit"?
According to the NIH:
“Passive consent, which is ethically questionable, requires parents to sign and return a form if they refuse to allow their child to participate in research. Active consent requires parents to sign and return a form if they consent for their child to participate.”
Another curious aspect of the “Prevalence of Gender-Diverse Youth in Rural Appalachian Region” study is the conflict of interest disclosures. None are reported even though the first author listed is Kacie Kidd, MD, MS who was hired as Medical Director of the Gender & Sexual Development Multidisciplinary Clinic at WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital in October of 2021. She is, of course, listed as affiliated with WVU Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, but how is this not a conflict of interest to be the director of a gender clinic while at the same time pursuing research to locate your potential patients?
Perhaps the study was completed before she was hired into this position, but it remains a fact that the online publication in JAMA Pediatrics was in August of 2022 and accepted for publication in May of 2022, seven months after she assumed this role at WVU Medicine. It begs the question of why a disclaimer was not added and continually presents a deceptive perception of this questionable study.
It is imperative for parents of West Virginia public school children to know their children are being studied in this manner and, according to the reply from WVU Medicine in response to our FOIA requests, “…there are additional studies that are ongoing with these schools.”
“The Prevalence of Gender-Diverse Youth in Rural Appalachian Region” study is far from being shelved; it is being built upon, possibly for the growth and profitability of WVU Medicine’s Gender & Sexual Development Multidisciplinary Clinic.
According to tracking components at JAMA Pediatrics, this research paper has been mentioned by 17 news outlets, even as recently as April 2024. It has garnered over 25 million research outputs across all sources and is in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric. People are reading and referencing this study to inform their opinions and viewpoints.
An anonymous study of The Mountain State’s children conducted under passive parental consent, failing to inform readers of the connection with WVU’s Gender Clinic with lead-in questions and terminology from social contagions deserves the scrutiny of every West Virginian.
Could it possibly be that the political activists in our state’s healthcare system are attempting to show you the “problem” so that they can deliver the “cure” ?
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