NDP leader Rachel Notley stood by a transgender activist who said they knew they were transgender at the age of five-years-old while denouncing Premier Smith’s recent policy announcement.

On Wednesday, Premier Smith announced policy changes related to vulnerable youth targeted by the transgender-lobby, including a ban on top and bottom surgeries on youth 17-years-old and under, and a ban on hormone therapy on youth 15-years-old and under.

Notley said Smith’s policies “are designed to further divide those who have been subjected to misinformation and conspiracy theories.” The NDP leader gave way to a transgender woman named Anna Murphy who said they knew “at a very young age” that they were transgender.

“By five years old, I was desperate to just be like any other girl,” Murphy said, while Notley nodded in the background.

Notley also lamented over the impact Smith’s policy announcement will have in schools, including the need for parental consent on any pronoun changes that teachers use on their children aged 15 and under.

When asked what she thought about Smith’s intention to have sports organizations ban trans women from competing in women’s divisions, Notley said she’s “very troubled.”

She further suggested there are no consistently idenfiable differences between men and women in sports abilities.

“A trans woman is a woman, and a trans man is a man,” she said, adding “The approach to the sports issue, is not broad-based and thoughtful. It is very targeted and irrational in its targeting. It doesn’t even make sense. What it is, is it’s about pandering to the most extremist element of what remains of the Conservative Party in Alberta.”

Science does not support giving minors medical interventions

Of course, not everyone accepts the concept of “trans kids,” especially given the fact that most minors who believe they are in the wrong body later realize they were simply confused. 

Moreover, a recent study suggests that giving puberty blockers to “trans kids” may lower their IQ, along with several other negative effects — including making them sterile.

Another recent study revealed that transgender women (biological males) who take “gender-affirming” hormones face a 95% higher risk of heart disease and other cardiovascular conditions.