YouTube censors Christian pediatrician for criticism of trans surgery, deemed 'hate speech'
YouTube is censoring a video of an outspoken pediatrician openly critical of transgender medicine, particularly surgeries where reproductive organs are removed.
A 2017 video from the Daily Signal, a conservative outlet, featuring Dr. Michelle Cretella of the American College of Pediatricians speaking against medical practices that confuse children about their biological sex was recently removed from the video streaming platform.
During the video, Cretella elaborates the approaches to treating gender confusion within much of medicine, pointing out the difference between body integrity disorder and gender dysphoria.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
“See, if you want to cut off a leg or an arm, you’re mentally ill, but if you want to cut off healthy breasts or a penis, you’re transgender,” she quips in the video.
Those were the words that violated YouTube's policy on "hate speech," the Daily Signal learned, and the only way the video could be allowed back on the platform was to strike that sentence.
"In other words, we had two choices: censor the doctor’s words or have no video on the world’s biggest video platform," the outlet noted Tuesday.
"We are especially disappointed with YouTube’s decision because other social media platforms have allowed the video on their platforms. In fact, the video has more than 70 million views on Facebook. It might have even more if Facebook hadn’t temporarily removed it in July 2018. After our appeal to Facebook, it was quickly restored and remains on The Daily Signal’s page today."
In an email to The Christian Post Wednesday, Cretella said she was actually grateful for YouTube's actions because it unveils how entrenched the ideology has become within purportedly professional organizations.
"I want to thank YouTube for revealing once and for all that this video was not censored for containing 'hate speech,' but rather for a sentence that demonstrated how politicized our medical and psychological associations have become," Cretella told CP.
"Moreover, if I hadn't been unjustly censored, we would not have had an excuse to upgrade the original video and relaunch it for more to see."
She added, "Let's all respond as the Daily Signal did and maybe then the real bullies will cease and desist."
The Daily Signal concluded Tuesday that "censoring a medical doctor doesn’t put YouTube on the right side of history. It just shows that it’s a big tech company prioritizing the preferences of the activist left over free speech for all."
Criticism of gender ideology, and of the medical treatments associated with it, being deemed as an off-limits topic and worthy of censorship is not constrained to online platforms and social media utilities.
In April, following a February British Columbia Supreme Court ruling permitting a 14-year-old girl, Maxine (not her real name), to start taking drugs to transition to appear more like a male, the court issued a “protection order” in an attempt to stop her father (known as Clark) from continuing to privately or publicly refer to his daughter as a female.
The judicial order and a related document justifying it maintained that by referring to the child as her biological sex and female pronouns, the father had committed "family violence." If the father failed to comply, the judge ruled he could face arrest.
"Any Peace Officer, including any [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] Officer, having jurisdiction in the Province of British Columbia, who has reasonable and probable grounds believes that the respondent … is in breach of the terms of this order may immediately arrest that person and bring him before a judge of the Supreme Court promptly after the arrest to be dealt with on an inquiry to determine whether he has committed a breach of this order or is in contempt of court,” the order reads.
