The American College of Pediatricians has stepped up to condemn National Geographic for featuring a 9-year-old transgender child on the cover of its January issue.

The issue features transgender boy Avery Jackson, who identifies as a girl, to advertise the "Gender Revolution" and quoted him as saying, "The best thing about being a girl is, now I don’t have to pretend to be a boy."

In an interview with LifeSiteNews, Michelle Cretella, MD, president of the American College of Pediatricians, accused the prominent magazine of "promoting a political agenda over science and the wellbeing of innocent children."

"'Affirming’ so-called transgender children means sterilizing them as young as 11 years old," said Dr. Cretella. "Puberty blockers plus cross-sex hormones causes permanent sterility. And biological girls who ‘transition’ to male by taking testosterone may have a double mastectomy at age 16. The life time use of cross-sex hormones also puts these children at risk for stroke, heart disease, diabetes, cancers and more."

The story of Avery's parents accepting his transgenderism is typical for a situation of this sort, which began first with resistance, and then buying him girl's clothes, and then openly calling him a "her," all because a three-year old insisted on being treated like a girl. 

In a video statement, the parents said: "Until that point she was quite a rough-and-tumble little boy with a buzz cut and a shark tooth necklace. But when she was three, she asked her dad and I if we could buy her a princess dress."

Eventually, the parents bought Avery a dress and just morphed out from there into "nightgowns, headbands, and sparkly shoes." The acceptance of Avery as a girl came when they visited a psychologist and endocrinologist, and there you have it. The parents now display their nine-year-old son as a girl on National Geographic so more confused little boys with gullible parents can end up just like him.

"When a child under the age of 12 thinks they are the opposite sex and is allowed to naturally pass through puberty, 75%-95% of the time that child will accept his or her biological sex by the late teen years," warned Cretella.

Cretella argues that supporting childhood "transgenderism" should be considered child abuse.

"When academic, medical and other public institutions propagate the lifetime use of toxic hormones and the surgical removal of healthy body parts as healthcare for children they are engaged in institutionalized child abuse," she said.