Over the weekend we covered the heartbreaking story of a child whose medical "transition" was captured on video. One clip that was posted to X/Twitter, which is from a 2012 NBC News story, shows an 11-year-old child who was a biological boy preparing to have hormone blockers implanted. In one clip the child, whose name had been legally changed from Joseph to Josie, asks his mother, "Sometimes I think I’m a boy kinda.. Will you love me if I’m a boy?" In another, filmed at the doctor's office, shows Josie crying and clearly uncomfortable as the hormone blockers are implanted.
We heard from many of our readers who were upset that the article was behind the paywall, feeling that the powerful videos and the doubt Josie showed as this life-altering procedure was carried out should be shared far and wide. We share that view. The reason it was placed behind the paywall, however, is because recently big tech has ramped up censorship efforts by demonetizing articles that violate the woke agenda, mainly articles pertaining to climate change, COVID/vaccines, and transgender issues. Every time an article is flagged for demonetization, that hurts the domain's overall "brand score," which can eventually lead to full site demonetization. (My counterpart over at PJ Media, Paula Bolyard, wrote an excellent piece going into detail on this topic.)
I had planned to write a piece today explaining our decision to put that piece behind the paywall and provide links to the videos on X/Twitter for our readers to share, and to just leave it at that. But what I found when curiosity led me to look into what happened with Josie and her family after that changed my course.
First, I found the entire video from that NBC News Dateline story about Josie.
It's 22 minutes long, and both heartbreaking and disturbing - but worth the time to fully appreciate what is happening. As it turns out, while Josie started living as a girl at age 6, by age 9 her mother, then known as Vanessa, was attempting to have Josie medically transitioned by use of both hormone blockers and estrogen therapy. To do this, she flew Josie to California to meet with the doctor who ultimately implanted the hormone blockers, Dr. Johanna Olson, at Children's Hospital LA. At age 9. Since endocrinological testing revealed that Josie wasn't starting puberty at that time, Olson didn't take action at that time.
From this clip, in which Dr. Olson says that since kids make the decision to kill themselves at 12 and 13 they should be able to make decisions on undergoing medical sterilization (while ignoring the clear and significant differences between the two situations, in which one is medically assisted and the other clearly is not), it's clear that Dr. Olson has a bit of a Dr. Mengele streak.
There are quite a few disturbing incidents (from a psychological and parenting perspective) portrayed in the video that bolster the argument that children seeking hormone therapy and puberty blockers aren't capable of giving informed consent - something rational adults already understand. I'll list a few here, and I'd challenge those who think that even teenagers are capable of making such decisions to watch the video and honestly say that Josie was making an informed, non-manipulated choice.
The video (from 7:17-8:36) shows that even before age 9 Josie believed that she was starting puberty and was anxious about this - so anxious that, according to Vanessa, Josie nearly performed "surgery" on herself.
She was in the bathroom, and she's standing in the shower and she's got her penis in one hand, and her nail clippers in another hand. It was like she was building up her determination to go through with doing it. Then I ran in, literally, and grabbed the nail clippers from her hand and squeezed her to me.
Then, when Dr. Olson told the family during Josie's visit at age 9 that the lab results didn't show the onset of puberty so any treatments would have to wait, Josie said:
I just want it to get done...like, I want to get surgery right now, but you can't.
I wanna go through puberty... so I can be like all the other girls.
Vanessa explains to Hoda Kotb, the Dateline interviewer:
Once she really understands that she's not gonna walk out the front door with breasts, I think she's gonna be really disappointed.
At this time, Josie is 9 years old. Girls are going through puberty much younger these days, but not many are sprouting breasts at age 9, and as a girl who once went through puberty (fortunately for me, even slightly visible changes didn't start until I was about 12), I don't remember being excited about going through puberty or knowing anybody who was excited about it. In addition, why would this child think that one doctor's visit would result in breasts? That alone shows what unrealistic expectations Vanessa was setting up in her child.
Between age 9 and 11 Josie voiced uncertainty on more than one occasion, and the interactions between mother and child show that Josie is willing to change beliefs based on what the mother wants. This clip was shared in Bonchie's piece, and on X/Twitter.
In the full video, immediately after the clip above ends the following interaction takes place:
Vanessa: "I feel like maybe there's a part of you that's afraid to tell me what you really want. What if I said, 'Oh, please, don't be a girl.'"
Josie: "Then I guess I would be ... a boy. I don't know."
Vanessa: No, honey."
Josie: "I need to listen to you. You're my mom."
Vanessa: "Well, yeah, you need to listen to me about what's healthy to eat, and you need to listen to me about what time to go to bed. But you are the one -- I need to listen to you."
Josie: "Yeah, what if you said I needed to be a boy and you made me? I'd have to."
Vanessa: "No, no."
A minute or two later, this interaction occurs.
Josie: "You look like you're about to cry."
Vanessa: "I'm just kinda surprised by some of these answers today. It's the first time you've given them to me."
Vanessa then tells the camera:
For her to have any indecision now, I don't know what it's rooted in, and I really need to find that out. Everything I thought I knew is kinda in question.
Hoda Kotb then interviews Josie, and asks why Josie asked Vanessa that question.
You know, my dad, he -- when i started to change, he was a little sad because he wanted his little boy back. So I didn't want the same thing to happen to my mom, like being sad all the time.
Why does this child shoulder that burden? Josie's words also show that perhaps dad wasn't fully on board with what was going on when Josie was younger.
After that, "Josie and her psychologist discussed that moment of wavering, and just a few weeks shy of her 11th birthday she told us she never really changed her mind; she still really wants to be a girl." I bet they discussed that "moment of wavering," and it's quite convenient that the confirmation came just before that next visit with Dr. Olson.
As Josie and Vanessa sat in Dr. Olson's waiting room for that next visit, Vanessa noted that Josie "looked really nervous." That's the visit in which the hormone blockers were started.
The NBC News piece ends with Josie reading an essay about what the future looks like, including, "I'm going to be a mommy." It's not clear that Josie understands that estrogen therapy does not create a womb, or exactly how that dream of motherhood can be achieved.
New Names, New Experiences
When scouring the internet to see what happened to Josie and Vanessa Romero, I found a reference in one Reddit thread to a new name that Josie apparently was going by, and a new name for Vanessa. It seems that less than a year after that Dateline episode aired, Josie was going by the name "Sadie Croft" and Vanessa was going by "Sage." When Barack Obama mentioned the LGBT community in his second inaugural address, Sadie wrote a speech calling him out for not mentioning the trans community, too. Sage uploaded it to her Facebook page, set to public, and it went viral. From the Daily Mail's coverage:
When Obama addressed the nation in his inaugural speech on Monday, he became the first president in history to speak about gay rights during the momentous swearing-in ceremony.
But while many in the LGBT community lauded his support, one 11-year-old transgender girl was left disappointed that he failed to address her community too.
Sadie Croft, who transitioned to a female when she was in kindergarten, has now written an eloquent essay in light of the speech, explaining how transgender people also need the nation's support.
Here are a few paragraphs from Sadie's speech:
The world would be a better place if everyone had the right to be themselves, including people who have a creative gender identity and expression. Transgender people are not allowed the freedom to do things everyone else does, like go to the doctor, go to school, get a job, and even make friends.
Transgender kids like me are not allowed to go to most schools because the teachers think we are different from everyone else. The schools get afraid of how they will talk with the other kids' parents, and transgender kids are kept secret or told not to come there anymore. Kids are told not to be friends with transgender kids, which makes us very lonely and sad.
Aside from being factually incorrect about the rights transgender people have, Sadie's speech reflects a level of extreme indoctrination. The fact that Vanessa/Sage has documented so many parts of her child's life for the camera then sought out publicity through the Dateline piece and publicizing Sadie's speech/essay is alarming as it shows a strange type of stage mother syndrome.
Sage told the Huffington Post that she encouraged Sadie to write the speech as 'it might help empower her and overcome any feelings of oppression'.
'When she chats with people, she introduces herself as, "Hi, I'm Sadie, my favorite color is pink, I'm vegan, and I'm transgender. Who are you?"' Sage said.
Sadie attends public school in Arizona after being home schooled until this year.
Sadie, who has a younger sister adopted from China, is passionate about the environment and wants to work for Green Peace when she grows up - as well as being a mother.
Sage is now a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Tucson, Arizona. On her Trans Youth Family Allies page in 2013 she said she "aspire[d] to work with LGBTQ youth at the crisis intervention level," and her current professional page lists LGBT issues as an area of specialty.
There's no mention of Joey/Josie/Sadie's father in any subsequent news pieces or on Vanessa/Sage's internet profiles.
I have found social media profiles that seem like they could belong to Sadie, but am not going to link to them. In my opinion, Sadie is a victim of medical malpractice and parental neglect/abuse, and as such deserves privacy. Sadie's story is a devastating reminder of what many children are being subjected to today, and not just from parents and activist doctors, but from activist legislators and teachers, as well.
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