Kari Lake, a senior adviser for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, told Newsmax on Wednesday she’s relieved by a new study showing a sharp decline in the number of U.S. students identifying as nonbinary.
Lake joined “Rob Schmitt Tonight” to react to a University of Buckingham report published last week that finds the share of Gen Z Americans identifying as nonbinary has dropped sharply in recent years.
Lake said the study confirms what many parents have felt for years — that aggressive promotion of gender identity politics in classrooms has confused children and undermined parental authority.
“I’m glad that President [Donald] Trump came in and said no more pushing this in schools,” Lake said. “It’s a huge relief for parents to know their beautiful children aren’t being brainwashed and told that God goofed.”
Lake added that while the shift is welcome, she fears lasting damage for children who underwent so-called gender-transition procedures or were encouraged to identify as transgender.
“The detransitioning is going to be difficult. I don’t think many of these kids will ever be the same,” she said.
“We still need to look at justice when it comes to the doctors who performed these mutilation surgeries on children,” she added.
Lake also criticized what she called the “sexualization of culture,” arguing that vulnerable children were manipulated by “mentally ill adults” and teachers who “pushed this nonsense.”
“I don’t think there is such thing as a transgender child,” she said. “I think it’s a mental illness.”
The new study — which found a precipitous drop in students identifying as nonbinary — comes as schools nationwide roll back gender-identity programs following Trump’s executive order barring federal funding for instruction on gender transition or identity ideology.
“I’m glad we’re seeing an end to this,” she told Schmitt.
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