WASHINGTON – In recent years, people who believe they were born in a body of the wrong gender have become more public, and social justice warriors have jumped on the bandwagon, engaging in fierce debates about the condition affecting 0.1 to 0.5 percent of the population.

The name for this phenomenon has been changed from "gender identity disorder" to "gender dysphoria," in effect de-pathologizing it, in the latest edition of the psychiatrists' "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual," due to intense pressure from LGBT activists.

One aspect of the new wave of transgender activism that is not often discussed is its effect on children. But it's easy to imagine the impact on impressionable children who see such people celebrated in the media and given special privileges.

National Geographic magazine put a transgender child on the cover of its January 2017 issue, a feature that includes a section called "Helping Families Talk About Gender" and an article titled "Rethinking Gender." The message: Some children will be never be happy or healthy unless they are allowed to express their "perceived gender."

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Others, however, are worried that these children are merely going through a phase and will later regret any drastic steps taken to permanently switch their gender.

One such critic is Walt Heyer, founder of Sex Change Regret, who has first-hand experience with the issue. He cross-dressed starting at age 4 and went through hormone therapy and sex-change surgery. After eight years of living as a woman, he regretted his decision and had a second surgery to return to his birth gender.

Heyer is a frequent columnist for The Federalist. In a January article discussing the National Geographic gender issue, Heyer wrote that "studies have shown that childhood gender dysphoria does not inevitably continue into adulthood."

"An overwhelming 77 to 94 percent of gender dysphoric children do not become adults with gender dysphoria," he said.

Heyer blames the increase in the number of children who think they have "gender dysphoria" on magazines like National Geographic.

"A cover photo is visually exciting and can persuade young people that male and female gender models are not fixed, when they are. Photos like the one on the cover of National Geographic can encourage a child to question his or her gender and sex and act out accordingly," he wrote.

A paper written by three prominent doctors confirms Heyer's theory. Dr. Paul Hruz of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, along with Dr. Lawrence Mayer and Dr. Paul McHugh, both of Johns Hopkins University, published a study showing that cases of children with "gender dysphoria" have risen significantly in recent years.

They cited statistics from the Gender Identity Development Service in the United Kingdom, which only treats patients under 18 years old. Referrals of children with "gender dysphoria" jumped from 94 in 2009/2010 to 1,986 in 2016/2017 – an increase of almost 2,000 percent. Referrals at a clinic in Toronto, Canada, jumped from around 20 per year in 2004 to almost 100 per year in 2011.

The three doctors see the rise in such controversial medical intervention as exacerbating young people's obsession with becoming the opposite gender, when if just left alone, most would naturally grow out of the feelings.

"The medical treatments provided for children with apparent symptoms of gender dysphoria, including affirmation of gender expression from the earliest evidence of cross-gender behaviors, may drive some children to persist in identifying as transgender when they might otherwise have, as they grow older, found their gender to be aligned with their sex," they said.

"Gender identity for children is elastic (that is, it can change over time) and plastic (that is, it can be shaped by forces like parental approval and social conditions). If the increasing use of gender-affirming care does cause children to persist with their identification as the opposite sex, then many children who would otherwise not need ongoing medical treatment would be exposed to hormonal and surgical interventions."

Even though statistically most children outgrow transgender feelings as they get older if left alone, the heightened attention given to transsexuals has also led to more parents seeking treatment that solidifies the condition, experts warn.

However, in some countries, it's not only media coverage and peer pressure that force parents to seek medical affirmation for their gender-questioning child. It's the law of the land.

Get David Kupelian's culture war blockbusters: "The Marketing of Evil," "How Evil Works" and his latest, "The Snapping of the American Mind" at the WND Superstore. Also available in e-book and audiobook versions.