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Democrats like to compare the United States to Europe and the rest of the world to show that the U.S. is an outlier against their preferred left-wing policies. But they ignore how the world is treating transgenderism and gender medicine for minors. That’s because the Democratic Party is the world’s outlier on the subject.
Earlier this month, Singapore became the latest country to crack down on transgender treatments for minors. The Singapore Ministry of Health declared that children under the age of 18 “should not be offered hormonal or surgical treatment.” The guidelines extended even beyond restrictions for children, with the Ministry of Health saying that those treatments should be offered to those above the age of 18 “only in exceptional circumstances,” and that hormonal treatment should “be limited to only gender-affirming hormonal therapy, excluding pubertal suppression.”
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It is a far cry from the Democratic Party’s position of cross-sex hormones and sex change surgeries on demand for children, and Singapore is not the only country that has more sanity on this issue.
United Kingdom
The U.K.’s National Health Service stopped routinely prescribing puberty blockers to gender-confused children in March 2024. The NHS also recommended that gender-confused children not be prescribed cross-sex hormones if they were under the age of 16. Legislation later that year formally placed an indefinite ban on puberty blocking prescriptions for gender-confused children, with the first reevaluation of that policy coming in 2027.
Aside from policy, the NHS website punches several holes through the transgender ideology embraced by the Democratic Party. For instance, the NHS website says that “in many cases gender variant behavior or feelings disappear as children reach puberty,” a refutation of the transgender movement’s assertion that toddlers and even unborn children can “know” they are transgender.
The website admits that “there is not enough evidence on the “clinical safety and effectiveness” of puberty suppressing hormones for children, that cross-sex hormones “cause some irreversible changes,” that they “may cause temporary or even permanent infertility,” and that “there is some uncertainty about the risks of long-term gender-affirming hormone treatment.”
The Nordic countries
In 2022, Sweden similarly banned hormone therapy for minors except in extreme circumstances. In 2024, the Swedes actually lowered the age to legally change one’s gender (such as on a driver’s license) from 18 to 16, but medical restrictions remained. While states run by Democrats allow for sex change surgeries for minors, possibly as young as 15, Sweden sets the age limit at 18, and even sets the age limit for surgical removal of ovaries or testes at 23.
Norway’s national guideline similarly recommends that surgical “gender confirmation” not be permitted for children under the age of 18. Finland’s recommendations also claim that “surgical treatments are not part of the treatment methods for dysphoria caused by gender-related conflicts in minors.” Finland also prioritizes psychotherapy over puberty suppression for minors.
Chile
In 2025, Chile’s Chamber of Deputies (its equivalent of the House of Representatives) adopted the findings of a Special Investigatory Commission that called for a suspension of “gender transition” programs for children. The commission’s report was very blunt, stating that “It is clear that the current programs, under the guise of accompaniment, have operated as a gateway to irreversible medical and hormonal transition for children, without the necessary scientific, ethical, or legal safeguards,” and that “The therapeutic indication of these treatments in minors lacks adequate evidence and carries high risks.”
The commission recommended banning hormone treatments for children, auditing hospitals pushing these transitioning procedures, and even pursuing criminal action against doctors involved in “prohibited interventions,” policies that you would see in GOP-run states in the U.S.
Brazil
Brazil has a left-wing president who counts communist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) among his biggest international supporters. And yet, Brazil’s Federal Council of Medicine adopted a resolution in April 2025 that “banned the use of hormone blockers for minors under 18 in Brazil, increased the minimum age for cross-sex hormone therapy from 16 to 18, and permitted gender transition surgeries only for individuals over 21.”
The council said in a statement that it made its decision “based on more than 100 scientific studies published in recent years,” with the goal being “to protect children and adolescents from procedures that are often completely irreversible and can cause lifelong problems and sequelae.” The Brazilian Congress has also been considering several bills that would authorize prison sentences for doctors who provide cross-sex hormones to minors for sex changes.
Japan and South Korea
Both Japan and South Korea heavily restrict gender changes for children. South Korea does not even allow legal gender changes for anyone below the age of 19, and Japan does the same for children under the age of 18. Not only that, but both Japan and South Korea have had standards that prevent transitions for parents of minor children, to avoid such cases as Stefonknee Wolscht, a man in his forties who decided to “transition” into becoming a six-year-old girl (yes, really), abandoning his wife and children in the process.
That was only recently changed in South Korea by its Supreme Court, which ruled that having minor children is not a reason to immediately reject an attempted gender transition of a parent. That requirement still exists in Japan.
Puerto Rico
Democrats have spent the last decade or so clamoring for the American territory of Puerto Rico to be granted statehood, as Democrats think it would give them an automatic two additional senators in Congress. Notably, on transgenderism, Puerto Rico makes Florida look like California.
Last year, Puerto Rico banned cross-sex hormones and sex change surgeries for gender-confused individuals under the age of 21. Puerto Rico considers 21 years old to be the legal age of adulthood, with the law reading as follows: “Minors, having not yet reached the necessary emotional, cognitive, and physical maturity, are particularly vulnerable to making decisions that can have irreversible consequences.”
Puerto Rico’s law would hit doctors who perform banned “gender-affirming” procedures on those under the age of 21 with a $50,000 fine per violation and a set prison sentence of 15 years. Offending doctors would lose their medical license and be permanently banned from conducting business on the island.
Meanwhile, in Democratic states
States run by Democrats are still pushing full throttle in favor of gender transitions for children on demand at any time. New Jersey is currently working on a bill to protect doctors from being prosecuted over transitioning children. New Jersey actually intends to make it a crime to interfere with gender transitions for children, punishable by a maximum fine of $150,000 and a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.
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Meanwhile, California Democrats still present their state as a “sanctuary state” for “transgender” children, encouraging families across the country to flock to California to secure sex change hormones and procedures for their children. As Gov. Gavin Newsom said in preparing for his 2028 presidential run, “I want to see trans kids. … There’s no governor who has signed more pro-trans legislation than I have.”
Newsom prides himself on being the leader of transgender children permissiveness among U.S. Democrats, who are fast becoming the global outlier on this issue and are still pushing for far more permissiveness with little thought to the consequences of what will happen to the “transgender” children they are rushing through these permanent, irreversible transitions.