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Trump administration probe could upend widely used transgender youth treatment guidelines
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The organization widely regarded as the leading authority on transgender medical treatment is facing allegations from the Federal Trade Commission that it built influential treatment guidelines for minors on evidence its own leaders privately acknowledged was limited and uncertain.
The complaint, filed in a Texas federal court by the Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas, accuses World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) of developing and promoting guidance that healthcare providers relied upon when recommending puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and sex-change procedures for minors.
The case could determine whether the medical guidance that shaped transgender treatment for thousands of children was built on solid evidence or agenda-driven speculation.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said the lawsuit is a consumer-protection case focused on whether families were properly informed about the risks and benefits of these treatments.
The FTC sued the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, alleging the organization misled parents and doctors about transgender medical treatments for minors. (Getty Images)
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«Children, but especially their parents, must have complete and truthful information when making decisions to purchase medical services,» Ferguson said in a statement. «For decades, the FTC has taken action against entities that make deceptive and unsubstantiated health-related claims.»
At the center of the lawsuit are allegations that WPATH publicly described its Standards of Care as evidence-based and rooted in expert consensus while some of the organization’s own leaders privately acknowledged limitations in the available evidence.
The complaint cites a 2023 strategy memo from Standards of Care 8th edition lead author Dr. Eli Coleman stating that «all of us are painfully aware that there are many gaps in research to back up our recommendations.»
People hold signs during a joint meeting of the Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine to establish new guidelines limiting gender-affirming care in Florida on Nov. 4, 2022. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service)
ESSAY EXPOSES CRUMBLING MEDICAL CONSENSUS ON YOUTH GENDER SURGERY
It also references comments from Dr. Amy Tishelman, lead author of the organization’s chapter on children, who acknowledged in an NPR interview that there was no established «research basis» for determining the best assessments or treatments for «transgender youth.»
Federal regulators further allege WPATH removed age minimums from its 2022 Standards of Care for procedures including breast removal surgeries without scientific justification. According to the complaint, internal discussions revealed some WPATH leaders struggled to identify evidence-based reasons supporting the change.
Kurt Miceli, chief medical officer for Do No Harm, a medical ethics advocacy organization, said the allegations raise serious questions about how the organization’s guidelines were developed.
PLASTIC SURGEON CITES ‘EMOTIONAL BLACKMAIL,’ POOR EVIDENCE IN WARNING AGAINST YOUTH GENDER SURGERIES
«The conflicts of interest that are within the standards of care are significant, and again, not brought to light, and this is part of that deception, and the concern that WPATH has sort of stated that the science is there behind pediatric medical transition when it is not.»
Federal regulators allege that many of the clinicians and surgeons who helped draft WPATH’s guidelines had financial and professional interests tied to the treatments being recommended.
«What WPATH did was stack the deck with folks who had a financial invested interest in promoting pediatric medical transition, and subsequently you get guidelines that push hormones, puberty blockers, and surgeries,» Miceli said.
GENDER DYSPHORIA TREATMENTS POSE ‘SIGNIFICANT RISKS’ TO KIDS AND TEENS, HHS REPORT REVEALS
The lawsuit argues WPATH’s influence extends far beyond its membership. Its Standards of Care have been widely cited throughout medicine and have helped shape treatment protocols, insurance coverage decisions and professional guidance across the United States.
WPATH is a co-sponsoring organization of the Endocrine Society’s widely used clinical practice guideline on gender dysphoria and gender incongruence. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry describes WPATH and Endocrine Society guidance as the two most widely known clinical guidelines used by providers caring for youth with gender dysphoria.
Among the most serious allegations are claims that WPATH promoted pediatric transition procedures as «lifesaving» despite insufficient evidence that such interventions reduce suicide risk.
PROGRESSIVES TRAPPED IN ‘MISINFORMATION BUBBLE’ ABOUT TRANSGENDER YOUTH TREATMENTS, ATLANTIC WRITER ADMITS
The complaint cites instances in which parents were allegedly asked whether they would «rather have a live daughter or a dead son» when considering treatment options for their children.
«When WPATH says that these are life-saving interventions, and then we hear physicians tell parents, ‘Would you rather have a dead son or a living daughter?’, and we hear that line repeated, which again is not supported by evidence by any means whatsoever,» Miceli said.
«The benefits that WPATH is claiming are there actually aren’t,» Miceli told Fox News Digital. «In fact, the benefits are a very low certainty.»
CHLOE COLE REVEALS INTENSE PRESSURE TO TRANSITION AS A MINOR, PARENTS WERE TOLD SHE’D ‘PROBABLY DIE’
Graham Linehan poses with a placard reading «There’s no such thing as a transgender child» outside Westminster Magistrates Court in London on Sept. 4, 2025. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
The complaint alleges that some minors who underwent medical transition experienced lasting complications, including chronic pain, sexual dysfunction, urinary incontinence, fertility concerns, nerve damage and ongoing psychological distress.
WPATH rejected the allegations Wednesday, calling the lawsuit politically motivated and legally flawed.
«This is the second time this year the Trump Administration has abused the authority of its agencies to interfere with Americans’ rights to seek and obtain the healthcare that should be decided between a patient and their physician,» the organization said in a statement.
PRISHA MOSLEY: DOCTORS TOOK MY BODY APART FOR GENDER ‘CARE.’ NOW THEY ADMIT IT WAS WRONG
«For more than 50 years, WPATH has been committed to developing guidelines informed by established scientific standards, expert consensus, and patient centered values.»
Miceli said the lawsuit should prompt a broader review by medical organizations that have relied on WPATH’s guidance.
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«We need the American Medical Association, the Endocrine Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association—the list goes on—we need them to look at the evidence as well, and they need to do that immediately,» he said.
«The standards of care is terribly flawed, and again it has done considerable harm as a result,» Miceli continued.
health care, surgery, childrens health, medical research, parents
La PNC informó que agentes de la SGAIA localizaron, erradicaron e incineraron 68.160 matas de marihuana en Las Cruces, Petén, durante un operativo realizado el 20 de junio en una zona montañosa de difícil acceso, una acción que las autoridades valoraron en Q34,08 millones (USD 4,463,278.60) y que se enmarca en la ofensiva del Estado contra los cultivos ilícitos en el norte de Guatemala.
El golpe se suma a otros operativos recientes en el mismo departamento. Según la Agencia Guatemalteca de Noticias, el 6 de junio fueron destruidas más de 115.416 plantas en el caserío Ixmuconé, Petén, con un avalúo superior a Q57,7 millones.
La operación más reciente fue ejecutada por la Subdirección General de Análisis e Información Antinarcótica de la Policía Nacional Civil tras tareas de reconocimiento y búsqueda en áreas remotas del departamento. Después del hallazgo, los agentes arrancaron e incineraron las plantaciones conforme a los protocolos establecidos.
Las autoridades calcularon que el cultivo destruido tenía un valor aproximado de 34 millones 80 mil quetzales. La PNC sostuvo que la destrucción representa un golpe a las estructuras dedicadas a la producción y comercialización de drogas.
El municipio de Las Cruces se ha convertido en uno de los puntos más sensibles para este tipo de operaciones por sus extensas áreas montañosas, su difícil acceso y su cercanía fronteriza. De acuerdo con la información oficial incluida en el reporte, Petén es hoy el principal foco de localización de sembradíos clandestinos de marihuana en Guatemala.
En mayo de 2026, en el caserío Flor de la Esperanza, también en Petén, las fuerzas de seguridad localizaron e incineraron 87,800 plantas distribuidas en tres campos de cultivo, con un avalúo de Q43,9 millones. Ese mismo mes, en el caserío Ixcoch, agentes de la SGAIA erradicaron y quemaron 59.904 matas dentro del plan de desarticulación de bandas del crimen organizado.
La respuesta a la pregunta central del operativo es concreta: la plantación destruida estaba compuesta por 68,160 matas de marihuana y fue encontrada en un sector montañoso del municipio de Las Cruces, Petén. La intervención terminó con la erradicación total y la quema en el lugar para impedir su traslado y su comercialización.
Según el Ministerio de Gobernación, la destrucción de estos cultivos forma parte de una estrategia permanente para impedir que la droga llegue a los mercados ilícitos de Guatemala y otros países de la región. La publicación oficial añadió que los operativos continúan en distintos puntos del país, sobre todo en áreas rurales y montañosas donde grupos criminales buscan establecer cultivos clandestinos.
El marco legal que rige estas acciones es la Ley Contra la Narcoactividad, Decreto 48-92, que prohíbe de forma estricta la siembra, el cultivo y la cosecha de marihuana en territorio guatemalteco. El protocolo establece que, tras localizar un sembradío, el personal antinarcótico realiza el conteo, toma muestras para pruebas de campo en coordinación con jueces fiscales y luego arranca e incinera la totalidad de la plantación en el mismo terreno.
Los registros oficiales citados por el medio también señalan que en 2025 Guatemala superó la erradicación histórica de 2,6 millones de matas de marihuana. Ese balance anual incluyó además la destrucción de miles de kilos de marihuana procesada y de plantaciones de otras sustancias ilícitas, como amapola y hoja de coca.
Fuera de Petén, los reportes oficiales ubican otros focos de incautación en San Marcos, en localidades como Tajumulco y Sipacapa, y en Totonicapán, donde se han desmantelado plantaciones menores en municipios como Momostenango.
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Obama Center visitors say project symbolic of ‘Black excellence,’ claim scandal-free legacy while Trump ripped
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CHICAGO — Opening weekend visitors at the Barack Obama Presidential Center called the 44th president’s legacy an example of unifying, scandal-free «Black excellence,» while they lamented what they view as a dark turn for the U.S. under President Donald Trump.
«The community is great, we’re just kind of glad it’s here,» Lauren Tillman, who lives about 40 minutes outside of Chicago, told Fox News Digital. «We needed something like this. Chicago looks like a certain place to certain people who are not from the area… so I just think this brought everybody together, like, ‘oh there’s something for the community,’ for Black people, and on Juneteenth, so I thought that was great, too.»
The presidential center’s opening weekend began with a star-studded private ceremony and concert on Thursday night, and the 19.3-acre campus opened to the public on Friday during the Juneteenth holiday, which celebrates the day Black slaves were declared free in 1865.
TOM HANKS, OPRAH, STEVEN SPIELBERG TURN OBAMA’S PRESIDENTIAL CENTER OPENING INTO HOLLYWOOD’S HOTTEST TICKET
The Obama Presidential Center building is shown with its glass facade and surrounding trees. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)
«Just knowing that Chicago doesn’t always get the best rep, to know that we’ve had a Black president come from this place, and then to memorialize his legacy is just great,» said Ashley Woods, who joined Tillman at the opening.
«To know that [Obama] was going to try to do at least something for his people, that meant a lot to me and being here means a lot,» added Tillman.
«And I think, to piggyback off that, I think the legacy is Black excellence,» continued Woods. «Again, growing up in a place like Chicago, you don’t really think you can do much besides being a rapper or, you know, going into sports, but so see that somebody actually made it to the top per se, they were able to run the nation, there was very little scandal around him and his family, like it just shows you that we can be more than what America tells us we can be.»
OBAMA’S LEGACY PROJECT OFFERS LITTLE HOPE FOR CHICAGO’S SOUTH SIDE RESIDENTS
Lauren Tillman and Ashley Woods speak with Fox News Digital at the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago on Friday. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)
Sheryl Rogers and Peggy Neely-Harris made the trip from St. Louis for the weekend’s festivities.
«What it means for African Americans [is] a coming together, a reckoning, a remembrance of the excellence that is within each one of us, particularly in African Americans and particularly at this time when our very existence is under attack,» Rogers told Fox News Digital.
Neely-Harris agreed, and said that the brand new presidential center is a symbol of hope and renewal, and that the center is a «light in this present darkness.»
OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CENTER SLAMMED FOR PROMOTING ‘FAR-LEFT’ AGENDA ON PUBLIC LAND
Sheryl Rogers and Peggy Neely Harris speak with Fox News Digital on the opening weekend of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, Friday. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)
«[Obama] has left an excellent example of how you should live, what type of character you should have and the love of family and community,» Rogers continued. «You can see love just exudes from them, and I love to see love in action.»
«No scandal,» she added.
However, Obama did face some major scandals and controversies during his two terms in the White House.
Obama’s DOJ infamously seized records of Fox News’ phone lines, including a phone number that belonged to the parents of a reporter.
The seizure was approved after a warrant was granted by a judge, and in an affidavit seeking the warrant, an FBI agent called reporter James Rosen a likely criminal «co-conspirator» in a violation of the Espionage Act.
Obama also faced government weaponization claims when his IRS allegedly slow-rolled the tax-exempt nonprofit approval of grassroots conservative organizations that set out to oppose his agenda.
Groups with words such as «Tea Party» or «Patriot» in their names were allegedly hindered from forming for months and years.
OBAMA CENTER SUBCONTRACTOR FILES $40M DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT AGAINST ENGINEERING FIRM FOR OVERRUNS
Barack Obama speaks during the dedication of the Barack Obama Presidential Center, Thursday, in Chicago. (Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)
Operation Fast and Furious was another chart-topping Obama scandal.
ATF agents intentionally allowed illegal straw purchases of weapons near the U.S. southern border with Mexico, in hopes that tracking the firearms would lead them directly to high-level cartel kingpins. But the Obama-era agency failed to monitor at least 2,000 of the weapons, which did in fact make their way into the hands of dangerous characters.
One of the weapons in the ill-fated sting was used to kill Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010.
When, in 2012, then-Attorney General Eric Holder was subpoenaed during a House Oversight Committee investigation into the matter, he refused to comply, disallowing the committee from seeing thousands of pages of records pertaining to the operation. He later became the first U.S. cabinet official to be held in contempt of Congress, but the Obama DOJ failed to prosecute him.
Obama ordered the extrajudicial drone strike killings of four terror-tied Americans in Yemen without due process.
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Valerie Reynolds speaks to Fox News Digital during the opening weekend of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, Friday. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)
Twenty-six-year-old Chicago resident Valerie Reynolds told Fox News Digital she thinks the center will improve the image of the city’s South Side, which often finds itself in news headlines for violence and poverty.
«I think Barack Obama’s legacy is and will continue to be the inspiration of togetherness, of the power of what can be done and what can be created when we all come together,» she said. «It’s absolutely something that we are missing today. I’ve seen divisions in this country in ways that I’ve never seen before, and I was reminded of just how vast those divisions are being out here today, because it’s the first time I’ve felt this closeness since he ran for office in 2008.»
An emotional Kia Ware, a woman from Virginia, said the grand opening of the center was a sad reminder of the direction of the U.S. since Obama left office.
OBAMA REMAINS DEM HEADLINER WHILE PRESIDENT WITH MOST VOTES EVER FADES INTO BACKGROUND: ‘IT WAS ALL A DREAM’
Kia Ware speaks with Fox News Digital during the opening weekend of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago on Friday. (Peter D’Abrosca/Fox News Digital)
«It makes me sad because I was so proud of everything that was accomplished during that legacy in terms of, you know, fighting for vulnerable people and vulnerable lands and protection of so many things that are now being erased forever, and I feel like it’s setting us back,» she said.
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Ware added that Obama is still a «powerhouse» in the Democratic Party, and said that people who believe in his legacy want him to «step back in.»
«I guess it just means, like for me, I just am feeling very thankful that we have those eight years of history for putting women forward, putting minorities forward,» she said. «I felt like that unification, just seeing all people of different backgrounds and ages and generations here, I get that same feeling.»
barack obama, chicago, donald trump, illinois, politics
INTERNACIONAL
Balotaje en Colombia: el izquierdista Iván Cepeda enfrenta al ultraderechista Abelardo de la Espriella, favorito en las encuestas
Entre fuertes medidas de seguridad por temor a la violencia armada, Colombia elegirá este domingo a su nuevo presidente en un balotaje histórico entre dos modelos ideológicos y económicos enfrentados.
El favorito Abelardo de la Espriella, un “outsider” de ultraderecha que busca emular al presidente salvadoreño Nayib Bukele con su política de “mano dura”, se enfrenta al heredero del presidente Gustavo Petro, el senador izquierdista Iván Cepeda.
La mayoría de las encuestas, divulgadas en los últimos días, auguran un claro triunfo de De la Espriella, postulante respaldado por Donald Trump, con una ventaja de entre tres a siete puntos. Solo Celag Data vaticinó una victoria del candidato del Pacto Histórico por muy escaso margen en un escenario de empate técnico.
“La muerte anunciada, como decía (Gabriel) García Márquez, indica que va a ganar Abelardo por una diferencia tan considerable como para invalidar reclamos por fraude, que ha sido el único argumento que en primera vuelta manejaron Petro y su candidato Cepeda como reacción” a su inesperada derrota, dijo a TN el asesor y analista argentino Ángel Beccassino, considerado un verdadero “gurú” de las campañas electorales en Colombia.
En la primera ronda del 31 de mayo, el candidato del partido ultraderechista Defensores de la Patria ganó con alrededor de tres puntos de ventaja (43% a 40%) sobre Cepeda.
La Constitución colombiana prohíbe la reelección consecutiva. Por ello Petro no pudo ser el candidato natural de la izquierda. El ganador asumirá el gobierno el 7 de agosto por los próximos cuatro años (2026-2030) .
Inseguridad y desafíos
Más de 41 millones de colombianos están habilitados para votar en un clima crispado por una ola de violencia vinculada a la guerrilla y el narcotráfico que sacude el país desde hace tiempo y que incluyó el asesinato de un precandidato presidencial el año pasado.
El gobierno estima que 27.000 hombres están hoy en armas en 16 zonas en disputa territorial entre las disidencias de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), el Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), grupos paramilitares y organizaciones criminales y del narcotráfico.
En la primera vuelta de las elecciones se desplegaron 248.000 policías y militares para custodiar el proceso electoral. Se prevé ahora un escenario similar.
La violencia endémica que enfrenta el país desde hace décadas será sin dudas uno de los principales desafíos del nuevo presidente, además de afrontar un pronunciado déficit fiscal del 7% del PBI y una crisis sanitaria que puso en jaque al sistema de salud. Ivan Cepeda, candidato del Pacto Histórico (Foto: REUTERS/Sergio Acero)
Dos estilos opuestos
En ese marco, De la Espriella y Cepeda no solo representan dos modelos ideológicos enfrentados. También dos estilos opuestos.
El candidato ultraderechista, apodado “El Tigre” se ha mostrado en campaña descontracturado. Así, ha subido a sus redes sociales videos en los que se lo ve haciendo flexiones de brazos con su hija a cuestas, tocando el piano, bailando con su esposa o hasta cantando ópera.
Por el contrario, Cepeda muestra un estilo sobrio, alejado de los discursos incendiarios de Petro, aunque en las últimas semanas buscó confrontar con su rival y lo acusó de poner en peligro la democracia y la soberanía nacional.
Beccassino, quien ha asesorado a varios candidatos presidenciales, entre ellos al propio Petro, dijo que la campaña de De la Espriella superó a la de Cepeda.
“La campaña de Cepeda es muy floja frente a una profesional. De la Espriella repitió un guión que ha funcionado en otros países, comenzando por Argentina (con Javier Milei) y que sobresalió como espectáculo en unas elecciones grises”, indicó.
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Liberal en lo económico, De la Espriella promete convertirse en el “Bukele colombiano”. No solo imita sus poses, su corte de pelo y su barba. También su discurso de mano dura. Así, promete bombardear a los grupos armados ilegales y criminales que azotan el país y construir megacárceles. Abelardo De La Espriella busca la presidencia de Colombia (Foto: REUTERS/Cesar Quiroz)
Por su lado, Cepeda defiende el modelo de Petro con una fuerte influencia estatal y políticas sociales. Su histórica actuación en el campo de los derechos humanos lo convirtieron en un político de prestigio en sectores progresistas de la sociedad colombiana.
Además, como Petro, apuesta al diálogo con los grupos armados para pacificar el país.
Sin embargo, los sondeos lo muestran en una posición de desventaja. De la Espriella no solo parte de una elevada base electoral alcanzada en la primera vuelta con el 43% de respaldo.
La tercera candidata más votada, Paloma Valencia, del Centro Democrático (derecha tradicional), logró alrededor del 6% de respaldo y llamó a votar por De la Espriella.
Admirador de Bukele, Milei y Trump, otro “outsider” se encamina a asumir el poder en un país de la región.
Colombia, Abelardo de la Espriella, Iván Cepeda, Sumario
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