The last few years have shown that just because someone has the letters “MD” after their name doesn’t mean they are automatically trustworthy. From disinformation about COVID-19 to gender theory, doctors with radical agendas have proven themselves to be not only wrong, but dangerous as well. Dr. Rose Marie Leslie, a family practitioner at Allina Health in Faribault and a TikTok influencer, serves as a disturbing example.
Using her substantial TikTok following, Dr. Leslie spreads dangerous lies about transgender surgeries and hormones. In one video, she stated that “giving gender-affirming care to transgender children is medically necessary and supports their health and well-being.” Dr. Leslie’s rhetoric and “advice” are dangerous for both children and adults. Her actions suggest that she is not a competent care provider for patients at Allina Health – and we urge that her employment there be reconsidered.
“Gender-affirming care” is a fictitious term that refers to giving puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and transition surgeries to impressionable children and uninformed young adults. It affirms no one and helps nobody. In fact, it should be called “reality-denying care.” In reality, God created people in two distinct sexes, male and female. Each has a different role, but the same value before God. Sadly, the world is a sinful place, where mankind is given over to our depraved desires (Romans 1:24). Transgender activists want to defy God’s wonderful created order by blurring the lines between men and women, and to some extent, they have succeeded, as Dr. Leslie’s popularity testifies.
Dr. Leslie’s TikTok videos target children whose brains are not fully developed. While pretending to offer objective care, she is taking advantage of vulnerable young people. Care that denies reality is not healthcare, it’s child abuse. Transition surgeries, which are irreversible, should never be advertised to young children. The solution to young people struggling with the changes that come with puberty, or merely “feeling” masculine or feminine, is not puberty blockers or hormone therapy. Instead, parents should love and support their children while promoting the truth about God’s good design for sexuality. Unfortunately, Dr. Leslie wants to strip parents of any influence they still maintain over their children.
In another video, overlaid in front of the Minnesota Department of Health website, Dr. Leslie encourages children to find ways to get transgender care “sans-parentals.” Dr. Leslie is openly calling for young people to get life-altering “care” without parental knowledge. Parents are being bulldozed by trans activists while their children are being taught lies – in schools, and now in clinics. It’s time for parents to say “no” to people like Dr. Leslie. Its time to reclaim the influence and authority parents have been given by God, to fill the gulf of knowledge and authority that encourages quacks like Dr. Leslie.
Children are extremely susceptible to the lies of this world. Without parental protection the influence of Dr. Leslie (and many others on TikTok) could swallow kids whole. Whether intentional or not, her rhetoric has disastrous consequences, likely leading to many years of pain and hurt down the road for young people who go down the road of irreversible medical treatment.
How can these wrongs be righted? First, Allina Health must immediately reconsider Dr. Leslie’s employment. Her encouragement of life-changing actions without the knowledge of parents cannot be ignored. Her unscientific and destructive claims should have consequences. Second, every parent must ensure that their children can see through the deception of gender ideology. Through prayerful instruction, children can see it for what it really is – dangerous and false, not compassionate and true.
