In this excerpt from The Dennis Prager Show, Dennis Prager recounts a recent conversation with a Mormon family in a Utah city where a noticeable number of youth are publicly declaring themselves transgender. He asks listeners to consider what parents expect when they send their children to mainstream schools, questioning whether they assume gender‑identity issues will not arise. Prager references a thesis—often cited in gender‑identity debates—that peers exert a stronger short‑term influence on adolescents than parents, and he challenges its relevance by arguing that even temporary peer‑driven gender exploration can have lasting harm, including the risk of detransition or suicide. He cites data suggesting suicide rates after transition are comparable to pre‑transition rates and expresses skepticism that mentally healthy children would spontaneously identify as the opposite gender without deeper understanding. The monologue ends with a call to listen to the full episode on pragertopia.com.
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I was speaking right before the show. In other words, just a few minutes ago, I had a 20-minute conversation with an LDS or Mormon family that I have great affection for. They're a great help to PragerU, and they were telling me that in their area of Utah It is widespread in the major public school of this city, or I guess it's— yeah, I mean, it's a city, it's not a town, it's a city in Utah. It's not Los— not Salt Lake City. It, it is in to declare yourself a trans. Are you aware of that? It's in. Of course. You say, of course. So obviously, well, that means of course you're aware. I want, I want you to reflect on that, you who are listening, for a moment. This is Utah, generally considered a conservative city, a conservative state, and My only question, and I'd like, I'd like you to respond: what do you think parents are thinking in America when they send their kid to a regular school, private or public? In other words, not a specifically religious school or charter school that they know the values of, or homeschool. The basic 3 alternatives. What, what are they thinking? Are they, are they thinking this won't affect my child? And if they are thinking that, why? I wouldn't. And I, I have quite strong values, but It wouldn't matter. Oh, and early in my career, I had a woman on, I'll never forget. I don't remember her name. She wrote a book and I had her on as a guest. And her thesis, or maybe I didn't even have her on, maybe I just read from her piece. Her thesis was that peers are generally, not always, but generally more impactful than parents. Are you familiar with that thesis? And it did— it bothered me, but it did not strike me as wrong. You spend more time with your peers and your peers are your peers. They're more impactful in the short term but not in the long term. So my producer is saying they're more impactful in the short term but not the long term. That's fine, but it doesn't address my issue. He would agree. If they influence you, if you have issues, you know, you may really be in the wrong body. It may be a short-term thing, but it damages you the long term. Until you detransition or kill yourself. I saw data that suicide after transition is as great as before transition. Generally speaking, mentally healthy children do not wake up one day and say, oh, I'm in the wrong body. I'm really the other quote-unquote gender. I always wonder about that anyway. How do you know what the other gender is like? You don't have their brain or their body. How do you know? It's, it's a wild guess. Is there any one of you listening who really knows what it, what it is to be the other sex? For the full episode of The Dennis Prager Show, go to pragertopia.com, sign up, and become a full member.
