Written by Tony Perkins

Lynn Meagher seriously considered killing herself. Desperate, tormented, and out of options, she went to see a therapist. How should she cope, she cried, knowing that two of her children wanted nothing to do with her? Two children, who, through horrible, mutilating surgeries, destroyed the bodies she’d carried inside her? “I felt I was living in a dream, a nightmare,” she says quietly. That nightmare, the one she wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy, is real. And from now on, every time you walk through the door of a Starbucks, you’re telling moms like Lynn you couldn’t care less.

“I can’t even describe what it’s like to see your own child’s face with the opposite gender superimposed on it. It’s just… I can’t even describe it…” Parents like Elaine Davidson still struggle to talk about the bloody bandages covering the place where their daughters’ breasts used to be. “I begged everyone I could [to stop the surgery]. I begged her. I couldn’t stop it.” Losing a child to this tortured life is like a death in the family. Only, there was no goodbye. No ceremony. “No one sent us flowers,” Lisa grieves. “No one dropped off a casserole.”

So imagine their horror when they scanned the headlines and saw an American company — one as large and powerful as Starbucks — trying to inflict that pain on as many people as possible. In an announcement shocking even for them, the coffee chain is launching a campaign to actively push kids into sex changes that damage them for life. Using #whatsyourname as its call sign, Starbucks started placing ads in the U.K. featuring a young girl (dressed like a boy) who wants the barista to write “James” on her cup. “Taking a customer’s name, writing it on a cup, and calling it out is a symbol of our warm welcome,” Starbucks says.

But it isn’t just the “welcome” customers are supporting. The mega-chain has a much more serious agenda — donating piles of money to trap kids into this lifestyle of pain and suffering. “In addition to the ad campaign, Starbucks states it is partnering with Mermaids,” an activist group for “supporting trans and gender-diverse children.” “Transgender children,” the website says, “deserve the freedom and confidence to explore their gender identity wherever their journey takes them, free from fear, isolation and discrimination.” The goal? For Starbucks to raise at least 100,000 euros for the cause.

These aren’t grown men and women the coffee giant is after. These are children — young girls and boys who are hurting, confused, and being destroyed by adults pushing them to chase these identities, despite the cost. And the cost, hundreds of parents and patients will tell you, is irreversible.

“I remember breaking down. It was like, this was a mistake. It should never have happened. But what do you do about it? How do you go through another harrowing transition? What do you do? I’ve got no hair. I’ve got a beard. I’ve had all [of] my body mutilated. How do I go back?” Debbie was 17. She would do anything to turn back time. “There are thousands of us,” another young woman told the BBC, desperately wanting a way out. A way out from the life companies like Starbucks are telling children is the way to finally get noticed and valued. They don’t mention the heartbreak. The regret. The years of physical agony.

But then, it’s not as if Starbucks’s agenda is a surprise. The liberal business has never truly cared about kids — not after spending thousands of dollars helping Planned Parenthood abort them — or working to deprive them of a married mom and dad. And yet, despite it all, plenty of Christians will still rationalize turning their cars into the first drive-thru sign they see. “We’re uncomfortable with boycotts,” they’ll say. But surely we’re all more uncomfortable funding a war against innocent children. Try clicking through these stories and finding peace at Starbucks — or any company where your dollars help create more victims. Is the coffee really so good that you’re willing to give a portion of every cup to promote this self-destruction? Ask yourself when you read this plea from a mom whose family will never be the same.

“Once we have cut that beautiful body, when the voice is permanently broken, the beard is there for good, the breasts are gone, what happens if the body was never wrong to start with? What will you tell the daughters that realize, too late, that they have destroyed their ability to bear children, or to nurse them? When they find that their wounds had other causes, other origins, and required other treatments? I plead with you to hear the parents, and the many stories of young people who have changed their minds after medical transition. This is not health care, this is a medical experiment. This is not life-saving care, these are criminal actions. And [it] must be stopped.”

You can help. Contact Starbucks and ask them to stop contributing to agendas that permanently scar our kids. Meet Lynn and hear why below.

This article was originally published at FRC.org.

The 2019 Illinois Family Institute Worldview Conference on “Trans” Ideology concluded with a Q&A session moderated by IFI’s cultural affairs writer, Laurie Higgins. During this final session, speakers Dr. Michelle Cretella, Denise Shick, Walt Heyer, and Pastor Doug Wilson field questions from conference attendees.

Higgins begins by addressing the endgame of LGBTQ activists regarding transgenderism, the effect of the transgender agenda on privacy and culture, and the smoke and mirror tactics of the American Academy of Pediatrics in regard to transgender protocols. Topics and questions covered by our speakers include gender confusion and regret; transitioning/detransitioning; calls to lower the age of consent; Planned Parenthood’s evolving business model; an effective Christian approach to government schools; the biology of sex determination; and loving, biblical responses to transgender family members and friends.

IFI depends on the support of concerned-citizens like you. Donate now

-and, please-

I earnestly hope and pray that every child and adult struggling with gender identity issues will find wholeness, peace, and happiness from the inside out. I earnestly hope and pray that we will live to see the day when every person who feels trapped inside the wrong body will find internal resolution without hormones and radical surgery. At the same time, I wholeheartedly oppose the transgender revolution and predict that, ultimately, it will fail. Here’s why.

1) The transgender revolution is oppressive. As reported on July 16 on Lifesite News, “Failing to refer to a gender-confused student, professor, or staffer by his or her ‘preferred’ pronouns could become a fireable or expulsion-worthy offense at the University of Minnesota, according to proposed guidelines currently under consideration.”

It is not enough to allow a biological male to identify as a female. Hardly. Society must conform, or else. If “he” now identifies as “she” (or “xe” or “ze”) and you fail to use the right pronoun, you will be punished.

This is already the law in New York City. And Canada has taken steps to make this kind of enforced speech the law across the country.

This cannot succeed in the long-term. Society will push back.

2) The transgender revolution is irrational. As a result of trans activism, tampons are now available in some college campus bathrooms. After all, we are told, men menstruate as well!

Yes, a woman who identifies as a man but still gets her monthly period is actually a menstruating man.

And we are supposed to believe this nonsense? We are supposed to shake our heads and say, “How quaint”? I don’t think so.

Recently, however, trans activists have taken things to a new depth of irrationality. Men who identify as women have declared that they get their periods too – just differently! So, other biological realities must now be redefined as well, and a monthly cycle is no longer a physical event.

To quote a “trans girl” directly: “Nobody teaches trans girls about our periods. We just get these weird times where we’re moody and crampy and sad and we don’t know why and just chalk it up to another reason we’re not good enough in life.

“So, just so you all know: Trans. Girls. Get. Periods.”

Enough said. This is beyond irrational.

3) The transgender revolution is unhealthy. Trans advocates tell us that failure to diagnose and treat gender dysphoria will result in depression, suicide, or other forms of self-harm. And I’m sure that, in some cases, post-hormone and post-surgery, many individuals are more satisfied with their quality of life.

Others would point to the high percentage of suicides after surgery, along with the substantial number of people who experience sex-change regret.

But there’s more to be concerned about. A recent headline on a gay website announced, “Hormone therapy linked to dangerous health issues in trans women.” Yes, “Researchers set out to examine heart and circulatory health in transgender people, and found that transgender women face a greater chance of strokes, heart attacks, and blood clots compared to their non-transgender counterparts.”

And what about kids who are put on hormone blockers before puberty, then put on a life-long regimen of hormonal therapy? What will the ill effects be?

4) The transgender revolution is extreme. Scarlett Johansson, one of the biggest female names on the big screen, recently felt the wrath of transgender activists, withdrawing from her starring role as a trans man after protests. How dare a female actor play the role of a trans man when there are plenty of trans men who can play the role.

But isn’t this what actors do? It’s one thing for a white man to paint his face in order to play the role of a black man.

But actors act. They play all kinds of roles that are unrelated to their private lives. They play villains and thieves. They play athletes and politicians. They play liars and saints, good guys and bad guys. They play super heroes and super criminals. They play aliens and vampires. And all that is acceptable – unless they play a trans person.

Enough said.

5) The transgender revolution is dangerous. When you insist that a biological male who identifies as a female has the “right” to use a women’s bathroom, locker room, and dressing room, you are asking for trouble.

A headline from England stated, “Transgender prisoner who was put in a female jail despite not having sex-change surgery ‘sexually assaulted four women inmates before being moved to a male prison’.”

So, a biological male with male organs intact (and obviously, still attracted to women) was put in a women’s prison. Should we be surprised by what happened?

In the States, Planet Fitness sided against a female, former sexual assault victim who protested against the presence of a man (identified here as “Mr. Rice”) in the locker room. As explained in the case being brought by Liberty Counsel, “This is not the only incident with Mr. Rice known to Planet Fitness. Another woman reported that he exposed his naked body to her in the women’s locker room at this location. In another instance, he was involved in an argument with another woman over use of the tanning room. Misogynist, anti-woman harassment should have no place in Planet Fitness locations, and violates Florida law.”

6) The transgender revolution is unnatural. There are fundamental, undeniable differences between men and women, which is why there is an increasing pushbackagainst biological males competing against biological females.

Even among some feminists and lesbians, there is resistance to trans women being accepted as females. And it is for good reason. A biological male will never be a female.

7) The transgender revolution is an attack on children. Trans advocates would tell us that they are helping children, that they are saving them many years of grief and pain and confusion. In reality, for every child they might help (and even at that, in a temporary, non-holistic way) they are confusing many more children — innocent, tender kids.

As the Daily Mail asked, “Are children as young as 11 really capable of making life-changing decisions about their gender?”

We are playing with fire here, and there will likely be many, many casualties before we wake up.

There is much more that could be said, but here’s a final reflection. For decades now, billions of dollars have been invested to discover a cure for cancer. Chemotherapy is not sufficient. Radiation treatment only goes so far. Other “cures” fall short of the mark.

In the same spirit, let us continue to pursue better treatments for those diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Surely there is a better way than hormone blockers for children, double mastectomies and sex-change surgery for older teens, and hormones for life.

Let’s work toward this while firmly resisting the transgender revolution. We owe it to our kids and grandkids.

This article was originally published at Townhall.com.