In April 2007, millions of Americans tuned in to ABCs20/20 as Barbara Walters introduced the world to psychiatrysmost devastating creation: the "transgender child." In a segment titled"My Secret Self," Walters profiled three childrenincluding a young Jazz Jenningsbeing raised as the opposite sex, explaining that they had been diagnosed with "gender identity disorder."DETRANSITIONER PENS NEW BOOK ABOUT 'EMBRACING GOD'S DESIGN' AFTER LIVING AS A WOMAN FOR EIGHT YEARSThe episode marks the moment the Western world lost its grip on reality. A brand-new type of human being had beenconjured into existence through the collision of psychiatry, endocrinology, and political activism. Yet while the concept defied everything known about childhood development and identity formation, large swathes of societyalmost overnightbegan believing the unbelievable: that a child could be born in the wrong body.To understand how such a belief materialized, we must go back to an obscure corner of psychiatry in the 1960s, where a fringe group of doctors were studying what motivated men who believed they were women to seek hormones and surgeries. These researchersturned their attention to feminine boys, hoping to identify future transsexuals, and in the process they pathologized childhood gender nonconformity.In the decades that followed, it became clear that what those pioneers mostly found were not "transsexual children," butfuture homosexuals. However, by the time this was understood, it was too late. The seed had been plantedand the concept of the "trans child" was poised to take on a life of its own.A pivotal moment arrived in 1980, when "gender identity disorder of childhood" was included in the American Psychiatric AssociationsDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III). After the diagnosis was made official, along came the medical "solution": puberty suppression, developed in the Netherlands during the 1990s.While psychiatry conceived the idea, puberty blockers brought the transgender child to life. Before this intervention, it was impossible to raise a boy as a girl, or vice versa, with puberty looming on the horizon. But when the Dutch made puberty optional, they handed deeply misguided adults the means to sever gender-nonconforming children from the reality of their sexed bodies.At the same time, a critical shift was also unfolding in the realm of trans activism. In the 1990s, trans activists decided toredefine transgender identities as innate and healthy, rather than rooted in mental disorder or paraphilic desire. This wasnt grounded in new science; it wasstrategic rebranding. The old labels, while accurate, didnt suit the nascent movements political goals.The concept of the transgender child, freshly minted by medicine, fit perfectly into this new narrative. If being trans is innate, then transgender children must exist. And if transgender children exist, then trans identities must be naturalnot pathological or deviant. It was a self-justifying loopcircular and compelling, but based on ideology, not evidence.In the decades that followed, "trans kids" were thrust onto the forefront of what was framed as a civil rights struggle. This devastating convergence of medical, political, and cultural forces ensured that countless childrenrather than being given the freedom to grow, mature, and explore different identitieswere locked into a lifetime of medicalization, embodying an identity imposed upon them before they were old enough to understand what was at stake.Every story of a "trans kid" begins withtired stereotypeslittle boys who likeBarbies andprincess gowns, ortomboys with short hair and adislike of dresses. What separates a gender-nonconforming child from one diagnosed withgender dysphorianow considered a "trans child"is not biology, but belief. Specifically, thechilds belief that they are the opposite sex. In our upside-down world, the child leads and the adults follow.Yet, only a society in the grip of mass psychosis could treat children as wise oracles capable of divining an authentic gender soul while still young enough to believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONThe tragic reality is: trans kids dont exist. What does exist are gender-nonconforming children trying to make sense of themselves in a world that hasabandoned reason in favor of ideology. These childrenthe majority of whom would grow up to begay orlesbianare being lied to during a crucial stage of identity development, and the consequences will haunt them for a lifetime.Once the forces that collided to create the transgender childpsychiatric labeling, medical experimentation, and activist messagingare understood, the dark irony of trans activisms favorite slogan,Protect Trans Kids, becomes unmistakable.In truth, children need protection from the very people who believe there is such a thing as a trans kid. Thecrowds marching in the streets waving pink, blue, and white flags in zealous solidarity may see themselves as righteous heroes, but they are not fighting to protect children. Instead, they are modern-day Pied Pipers, luring confused, vulnerable children away from safety and down the dangerous path first paved by psychiatryone of false promises and irreversible harm.