Over the past two to three years, NLPC pressed a number of shareholder proposals against companies to highlight the dangers their health benefits policies pose by covering so-called “gender transition” treatments and surgeries for dependent children of employees. We warned that by providing — and advocating for — such “care,” which basically amounts to child mutilation, without providing remediation treatment for “detransitioners” who regret their decisions, would open the companies to litigative and reputational risks.
Our highest-profile proposal was presented two years ago at Disney‘s annual meeting, where detransitioner Chloe Cole (pictured above) addressed the board of directors and CEO Robert Iger. In her compelling remarks, she told of her personal experience and called upon the company’s leadership to heed her warnings:
As a result, I am suing those professionals who steered me into taking these destructive steps that have permanently scarred me.
But Disney, in its arrogance, has responded to our proposal by stating that I am only trying to “generate attention” for a “limited agenda.”
Mr. Iger, Disney, under your watch is pushing the “limited agenda” of gender ideology.
Disney has become the Ursula that is stealing the voices of thousands of little Ariel’s across the world, by telling us we can be something that we can never become.
The lawsuits are coming, sir.
It’s only a matter of time before current or past employees, whose bodies and lives have been irreversibly harmed, will show up at your door looking for justice and restitution.
Now such lawsuits against Corporate America may be closer than executives like Iger could have imagined. On Jan. 31, a detransitioner won a $2 million jury verdict against the New York doctors who pushed her to get a double mastectomy while a minor. According to the New York Post:
Fox Varian had the life-altering surgery when she was just 16-years-old — getting approval from a psychologist and a surgeon — both of whom a jury found liable of medical malpractice on Jan. 30, The Epoch Times reported.
Varian, now 22 and considered a “detransitioner,” was awarded $1.6 million for past and future pain and suffering, and an additional $400,000 for future medical expenses — in the first detransitioner malpractice lawsuit in the nation to go to trial and win…
The doctors should have ensured Varian did not have other psychological conditions, such as depression, ADHD, autism, or body dysmorphia before suggesting the surgery, her lawyers argued, according to the National Review...
All told, 28 detransitioner lawsuits are now in different stages of legal proceedings across the US.
Companies like Disney are likely at similar risk, not only because they provided health insurance coverage for similar procedures, but also because they advocated for and boasted about their support for so-called gender transition policies, as our report to investors two years ago highlighted:
“[Disney] boasts about its 100 percent score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI) and HRC’s designation as a ‘Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality,’ noting the Company complies with CEI’s ‘equitable benefits for LGBTQ+ workers and their families’ requirement.”
While many advocates and various companies – who aspire to win the approval of groups like HRC – would like to advance the narrative that there is no rational or reasoned opposition to the affirmation of transgenderism, real-world facts tell otherwise.
Some believe the verdict in Fox Varian’s case may break the dam open for detransitioners’ lawsuits that are pending or yet to be filed. According to an interview with a whistleblower by Fox News:
Jamie Reed, a former caseworker at the Washington University Transgender Center, said the $2 million verdict validates warnings she has made for years about doctors pushing minors toward irreversible surgeries.
“She deserves justice for this,” Reed said Tuesday on “Fox & Friends.”
“She really is the tip of the iceberg on how this industry has been treating these young people and their families.”…
She added that doctors often fail to present non-surgical alternatives, even though surgery is typically considered a last resort.
Reed also mentioned there could be many more similar cases and that there is “no evidence” to support claims of suicide if surgery is denied.
Chloe Cole told Fox News in an interview following the verdict that “Frankly, I think that $2 million is not nearly enough to compensate for the damages that these doctors have done to my generation. I think that would only be right if every single doctor and clinic involved in this has their wallets completely drained, and they’re all thrown in prison with the keys thrown out, but I think that $2 million, this, especially in a blue state like New York, this bodes well for the rest of 28 cases including my own, of all the children who have been harmed and are seeking legal justice.”
Despite the warning signs, and with many companies now declining to cooperate with Human Rights Campaign to support its agenda, Disney is not among them. The entertainment and media giant still scores 100 percent on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, which was just released this week. Iger, and the company’s new leadership, apparently prefer to risk learning the hard way.
