An information website encouraging children to use puberty blockers has caused considerable outrage. In justifying its advice, the site says puberty blockers give the kids some time to decide whether they feel comfortable in a male or a female body.

The federal Ministry of Family Affairs has advised children struggling with their gender identity to take puberty blockers in order to to delay their natural physical development.

„Are you still very young, and are you not puberty age yet? Then you can take puberty blockers,”

writes Regenbogenportal, an information site that practically belongs to the family affairs ministry.

Das Regenbogenportal spricht hier direkt Kinder an, die noch nicht in der Pubertät sind.

Wie Du in 10 Jahren leben wirst, ist egal.
Du bist noch nicht in der Pubertät? Dann kannst Du Pubertätsblocker nehmen.https://t.co/cMhs5fYubu pic.twitter.com/z4Oi4ftCAm

— Madeleine (@missdelein2) October 12, 2022

Puberty blockers are strong medicines that stop children’s impending puberty. In other countries, they are used as chemical castration for sex offenders. The portal describes the function of the drug for children as follows:

„Puberty blockers are special medicines. The word ‘blocker’ means that it stops something. These medicines ensure that a person does not reach puberty, which means their body will not continue to develop into either a male, or a female one.”

The site opines that these medicines give children more breathing room to consider which body suits them. The site also provides a sneak peek into the world of gender reassignment surgeries and informs kids that this is the only way their genitalia can be removed or changed.

The case has triggered a full-blown scandal in Germany. The ministry has come heavy under fire from all directions, except government politicians. Experts argue that such reckless advertising of puberty blockers is outrageous and irresponsible.

„The facts that hormones are also affected when taking such medicines and that the endocrine metabolism gets disrupted are not sufficiently explained and elaborated on. The same goes for the fact and information that serious side effects can occur if blockers are administered in adolescence, at a too young age. These blockers are intended for other purposes and should not be used or misused,”

ministerial family affairs counselor Dennis Riehle has said. Meanwhile, the right-wing opposition Alternative for Germany (AfD) party lashed out at the federal family affairs ministry. Mariana Harder-Kühnel stressed that

„Such downplaying of the issue is scandalous. The aim of the family ministry headed by the Greens is clear: they want, in the case of kid, to block the development of their gender characteristics and change their biological sex. Planting this idea into the heads of easily influenced children is extremely irresponsible and dangerous”.

The government encourages children to harmfully manipulate their bodies, and even tells them to rebel if their parents protest, the AfD politician added.

„Protecting children, strengthening parental rights, ensuring peace within the family and promoting the establishment of new families is the real task the family ministry is entrusted with,”

Mariana Harder-Kuhnel underlined. Her party colleague, Carlo Clemens, took to social media to mockingly note that in Germany, gas and electricity may soon be rationed, people are advised not to heat their homes or take showers, and can hardly use any form of transport, but at least they will be able to change their name and sex and „pump their children full of hormonal puberty blockers,” legally.

Du lebst in Deutschland, wenn Strom und Gas bald rationiert werden, du nicht heizen und duschen sollst, ohne Maske nicht Zug fahren kannst aber willkürlich dein Geschlecht ändern und dein Kind ganz legal mit hormonellen Pubertätsblockern vollpumpen darfst. #MaskenpflichtJetzt pic.twitter.com/oNxQUGhhAK

— Carlo Clemens MdL (@clemens_carlo) October 13, 2022

Julia Klockner, lawmaker of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), called it crazy that the family affairs ministry supports such an information portal.

Das ist doch irre – sollte das kein Fake sein: Bundesregierung empfiehlt sehr jungen, unsicheren Menschen Pubertäts-Blocker https://t.co/1LHblCESEl pic.twitter.com/Ilv1Vi3TkW

— Julia Klöckner (@JuliaKloeckner) October 12, 2022

The site in question was re-edited later and it now suggests – among other things – that these interventions require a doctor’s approval. However, the subtle correction has had little effect in quelling the general outrage.