Children have the "universal right" to "alter their sexual biology," according to the latest piece by New York Magazine.
The magazine featured writer Andrea Long Chu’s piece "Freedom of Sex: The moral case for letting trans kids change their bodies" as its cover story Monday. Throughout the article, Chu suggested that children enjoy the "right to change sex," claiming they are already "full members of society."
In fact, she extended this right to almost anyone in any situation, writing, "We must be prepared to defend the idea that, in principle, everyone should have access to sex-changing medical care, regardless of age, gender identity, social environment, or psychiatric history."
"That trans kids’ access to care will in most cases be mediated by parents or legal guardians is an inescapable fact of the way our society regards children, rightly or not. For now, parents must learn to treat their kids as what they are: human beings capable of freedom," Chu wrote.
She added, "We will never be able to defend the rights of transgender kids until we understand them purely on their own terms: as full members of society who would like to change their sex."
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Chu said that most Americans already enjoy the "freedom" of choosing their sex, which children should also have a right to do.
"Many Americans, though they may not realize it, already enjoy a limited version of the freedom to alter their sexual biology. What is new is the idea that this freedom can be asserted as a universal right by a group as politically disenfranchised as the young," she wrote.
While she emphasized that no one should be forced to change genders against their will, she attacked critics of transitioning kids as attempting to "infantilize" them, calling out claims that children are "too young" to choose puberty blockers, and encouraging allowing trans kids to have "a right to the hazards of their own free will" and "the recklessness of youth."
"If we are to recognize the rights of trans kids, we will also have to accept that, like us, they have a right to the hazards of their own free will. This does not mean shooting testosterone into every toddler who looks at a football. But if children are too young to consent to puberty blockers, then they are definitely too young to consent to puberty, which is a drastic biological upheaval in its own right."
Chu explained, "The anti-trans bloc has in general targeted children because Americans tend to imagine children both as a font of pure, unadulterated humanity and as ignorant dependents incapable of rational thought or political agency. This has allowed the movement to infantilize not just kids but all trans people, whom it only wishes to shepherd through the ravages of mental illness and the recklessness of youth."
Her comments followed years of bills or laws passed by states to limit or restrict transgender treatments for children. These efforts, Chu claimed, come in the way of real freedom.
"What does this freedom look like in practice? Let anyone change their sex. Let anyone change their gender. Let anyone change their sex again. Let trans girls play sports, regardless of their sex status. If they excel, this means only that some girls are better at sports than others. Let people use the gender-segregated facilities of their choice; desegregate whenever possible," Chu wrote.
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In a comment to Fox News Digital, a New York Magazine spokesperson defended publishing the article despite its controversial take.
"This is a first person essay by a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic presenting her moral case for the right of anybody to change their sex. We publish commentary from a wide variety of viewpoints and are proud to have published this thoughtful piece," the spokesperson said.
