UPDATE 7/13/16: The Tawani Foundation is actually an alternate name for the registered charity “Colonel IL James N Pritzker Charitable Distribution Fund.” See below for details.
How did it happen so fast? That’s what so many of us keep wondering: the complete saturation of the media, government policy, school systems, psychology and medicine with unwavering promotion of the notion that people can change sex—with or without medical transition.
A societal upheaval this big doesn’t happen without a lot of funding, and the money has been flooding into medical clinics, summer camps, and every other conceivable outpost of the transgender child initiative, with a seeming acceleration in the last 2 or 3 years.
One source of gushing cash is the Tawani Foundation via its billionaire CEO and Director, 66-year-old Colonel (ret.) James “Jennifer” Pritzker, one of several family heirs to the Hyatt Hotel fortune, who announced a transgender transition a scant 3 years ago.
According to the 2013 announcement of Pritzker’s transition in Chicago Business, Pritzker’s net worth as of that year was roughly $1.5 billion. The article mentions Pritzker’s philanthropic work, including efforts to include transgender people in the military, Pritzker’s investment and real estate ventures, but nothing about child transition—even though Tawani’s money was used to launch the gender clinic at Lurie Children’s Hospital, an initiative announced several months before Pritzker came out as trans.
Oddly enough, the current website for the Tawani Foundation still, in 2016, makes no mention of that group’s ongoing philanthropic donations to the cause of transgendering children; all we see are military charities, military history, and a few museums.
Even under the grant guidelines (“not accepting inquiries at this time”) and grant history sections, there is no mention of the sizeable amount of Col Pritzker’s Hyatt Hotel fortune that has been devoted to the cause of transgender children. The annual reports section stops in 2012—the year before Pritzker’s transition was publicly announced. A search of all grantees in that 2012 report does yield a $25K donation to Lurie Children’s Hospital for the “launch of new multi-disciplinary ‘gender management’ clinic,” as well as $9.5K to the Kinsey Institute for “the LGBT talk at Indiana University with Chaz Bono for Sexploration Week.”
Given the far larger June 2016 Tawani grant to the pediatric transition clinic at Chicago’s Lurie Children’s Hospital, it’s very odd that there is zero evidence of current philanthropic giving to transgender causes on the Tawani Foundation website. An exhaustive Internet search for more information on Tawani also came up empty, including the Illinois Attorney General’s database of charitable organizations–despite a clear statement on that website requiring philanthropic foundations to register with the state.
UPDATE 7/13/16: Further research reveals that Tawani is actually an alternate name for the private foundation registered as the “Colonel IL James N Pritzker Charitable Distribution Fund” (EIN: 300040386). The so-named fund (with assets of around $50 million) filed with the state of Illinois and the IRS (latest filing 2014).
The question arises: Why does Pritzker donate (and receive press accolades) under the Tawani name, which has no information on its website about grants made after 2012, while the legal entity continues to be registered under Pritzker’s male name, Colonel James N. Pritzker?
In addition to funding the Lurie Children’s gender clinic, in January of this year, the Chicago Tribune announced that Tawani donated $2 million to “the world’s first endowed academic chair of transgender studies” in Canada’s British Columbia. Global capital knows no national boundaries.
In June, Pritzker announced the $1 million grant to the Lurie Children’s Hospital “gender and sex development” program, run by Dr. Rob Garafolo, a US pioneer in pediatric transition:
“I am pleased to continue the Tawani Foundation’s support of the Gender & Sex Development Program at Lurie Children’s,” says COL (IL) Jennifer N. Pritzker, IL ARNG (Retired), Tawani Foundation President and Founder. “The team at Lurie Children’s has done an excellent job of initiating and developing a program of local and national significance. Yet, there remains a compelling need for expanding access and developing comprehensive services for gender-nonconforming children and transgender youth. It is my hope that the community will join me in investing in the health and well-being of these young people.”
…“This gift is so important for the families we serve,” said Robert Garofalo…
“Col. Pritzker had the incredible foresight to invest seed funding in our program and I’ve been proud to shepherd its growth,” he continued. “We are now a national leader serving a diverse patient population of gender nonconforming and transgender youth from across the Chicago area and an increasingly broader regional reach. “
I’m struck by the now-common lumping of “gender nonconforming” with “transgender” in the Lurie announcement. This is becoming more and more common—broadening the definition of who fits under the trans umbrella. I’ve started to think of this as a sort of mission creep. Even the American Psychological Association has fused the “T” to the GNC, labeling anyone who doesn’t fit stereotypes as TGNC in its guidelines for how therapists should approach and treat kids.
Why do “gender nonconforming” children even need the services of a medical clinic which promotes medical transition? Gender nonconforming/gender defiant children need love and support, but do they need millions of dollars from a late-transitioning male-to-female billionaire to foster medical dependency and (likely) eventual sterilization?
One online Chicago news outlet dispensed entirely with the term “transgender” in announcing Pritzker’s big donation to the Lurie clinic:
CHICAGO — The world’s wealthiest transgender person is backing a big fundraising campaign for nonconforming patients at Lurie Children’s Hospital.
The Streeterville hospital, 225 E. Chicago Ave., said Thursday it was launching a $500,000 campaign for gender nonconforming patients in its Gender & Sex Development Program launched in 2013. It was the first such clinic in the Midwest upon its opening.
“Nonconforming patients.” If they’re “nonconforming,” why are they patients in the first place at a clinic that will help them “conform” to the opposite sex? Nonconformists don’t need hormones and surgeries to help them conform to sex stereotypes—do they?
Col. Pritzker is evidently not averse to continuing with a male identity in some online venues. A bio on the National Guard Educational Foundation website unapologetically refers to Pritzker under his male name.
There is even a photograph of Col. Pritzker still linked on the NGEF website, though it appears to have been removed from the bio page.
Having it both ways seems to be a hallmark of the trans movement: Society at large is supposed to accept that any man—no medical transition necessary–who believes he is a woman, even part-time, needs to be respected as such, yet we should all also be celebrating the idea that children as young as 12 should be put on cross-sex hormones, or have double mastectomies at 14. We’re supposed to accept that “some girls have penises” but at the same time accept that teens absolutely need to permanently alter their bodies with hormones and surgeries as early as possible.
In another trans-typical expression of having-their-cake-and-eating-it too, many proponents of pediatric transition are themselves biological fathers. Pritzker is no exception; as several of the websites referenced in this post note, he has fathered three children. Why do so many of these late-transitioning fathers take such an interest in turning other people’s kids into lifelong, sterilized medical patients? It’s one thing to advocate for the civil rights of adult transgender people (as Pritzker’s foundation does for transgender military personnel and veterans). But this involvement in the ever-burgeoning pediatric transition clinics springing up all over the US? Does Pritzker wish, as so many MtoF trans-activists also claim, that he’d had access to estrogen and sterilizing surgeries as a teen? That would have meant, of course, that he’d never have been a father (nor experienced 63 years of life as a fully intact man).
If questions like these result in any soul-searching or cognitive dissonance for trans activists like Pritzker, we don’t hear about it. Maybe, in the case of a billionaire philanthropist, having your cake and eating it too is just all in a day’s work.
They also seam to be moving from helping people who have decided they are trans to applying trans and gnc labels to very young children.
expanding market with growth opportunities
Pritzker is also a life long republican who has donated to candidates that are hostile or opposed to gay and lesbian rights.
“Pritzker may have to exert her influence again, via her consistent support to Republican politicians. Over the years, Pritzker has primarily supported conservative causes, like the National Rifle Association, and Republican politicians, including Sen. John McCain, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and Illinois figures like comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, pundit and presidential candidate Alan Keyes, and Rep. Aaron Schock.”
For some reason, this did not bother The Advocate http://www.advocate.com/print-issue/current-issue/2013/11/12/trans-billionaire-reporting-duty
Another excellent job digging deep into what’s going on! Us parents who’ve been left scratching our heads thank you again and again.
Always…always follow the money.
Great post! Follow the money is right. George Soros’s Open Society Foundations and Arcus Foundation (whose motto is “Push Boundaries. Make Change.”) are the top 2 funders to trans issues.
This situation seems to get more bizarre every day. Thanks for the excellent reporting, 4thwave.
Here’s some information on funding of transgender activism in US as of 2013.https://www.lgbtfunders.org/files/TRANSformational_Impact.pdf
If someone wants to donate money to help fund transitions for adults, fine. But why so much emphasis on CHILDREN? Here’s an article about giving cross-sex hormones to a TWELVE-year-old! https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jul/11/transgender-nhs-doctor-prescribing-sex-hormones-children-uk
Why does a twelve-year-old of either sex need testosterone? Most natal boys that age are still scrawny little guys with high-pitched voices and no sign of a mustache. They haven’t even started puberty yet! So it can’t be because this FTM transkid wants to look like the boys at school, unless there’s something in the water in their town and the 12-year-old boys are all huge for their age.
Gender docs in the US, like Johanna Olson in LA, are pushing to lower the age for starting cross-sex hormones. Jazz Jennings is on estrogen already at 14. They talked about it on “I am Jazz” recently. The rationale of these doctors is the trans kids feel left behind when they’re on blockers. So the gender docs create this problem by blocking puberty in the first place, and the only “cure” they offer for this iatrogenic problem they caused is MORE hormones. And thereby sterility.
I was a late bloomer who “grew” into a short adult without much of a shape. I’m in my late forties now and can still fit into children’s clothes. My mom took me to an endocrinologist when I was ten because I hadn’t grown in three years. He sent me away without any treatment. I suppose I should be glad about that now!
Kids come in all shapes and sizes. Sure, it sucks to be the smallest girl in your class and to be mistaken for a little kid when everyone else looks like a teenager. But it isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a kid.
I wonder if these gender docs are actually CREATING more gender dysphoria in at least some of these kids? It seems that it isn’t enough for a transkid to be able to pass himself/herself off as a member of their preferred gender. They have to attain some ideal body type that most of their gendertypical peers couldn’t live up to.
Jens Lyon
I was a similarly small kid – I stopped growing when I was 12 (I did have a growth spurt at 25, 1 1/2 inches/5 cm, but still was very thin for a long time)
I was a girl who loved science, space, rockets & gadgets. But I also liked being a girl, and being a girl who liked boys.
I think a tween girl with interests I had back in the day would be the kind of kid these trans-pushers would be zeroing in on.
It’s fascinating that the War on Drugs led to so many restrictions on activities and so many constrictions of constitutional rights. All in the name of keeping drugs and/or drug users away from kids, even their own – even to the point of the White House leaning on the movie and TV industries to make sure that drugs & their users be portrayed in the most negative possible light for the protection of children.
But if you question the science of how a “woman” could be inside the brain of a small boy, or question what’s the rush of giving hormones known to sterilize someone in puberty to someone in puberty, you’re a “hater” and a “transphobe”.
And “Jazz” runs on cable TV as a show that is “family oriented”.
I noticed that this article from the Guardian gives no place for comments. I’m sure most comments would be against this. Also, the end of the article calls for lowering the surgery age, too.
If you won’t conform, you need to see some professionals who will help you by fixing you so you DO look like someone who is conforming. (Generally, these days, by morphing your GNC label to a T label and getting you some drug therapy, and some surgery asap.)
How can anyone see this idea as remotely ‘progressive?’ At least when they started out (not very long ago) these clinics were more focused on kids in extreme distress due to actual body dysphoria. Now it’s morphing into the notion that anyone who does not fit into some 1950s version of sex-role conformity has a serious condition worthy of some sort of clinical fix. (Or at least, a strong consideration of said fix.)
I’m seeing the mission creep too, out there. Some days it looks as though the goal is simply … prompt and universal coverage for drugs and surgery for anyone of any age, based on their say-so that they don’t feel like they fit in the box.
I don’t think there’s enough cash in the world to fix us all so we all look like we fit in the box.
hi its jenbob, hear is my view on this child trans thing…. i fear for the future of these children.
Thanks for being a gender critical trans-woman.
Great video, more lucid trans-people like you should speak up: the world really needs to hear this.
We cannot keep pushing the madness of transition on young children.
Good to see you here, Bitternurse (Jen Bob). I agree with you. Keep speaking out. It’s good for all of us to talk about this. I question any diagnosis for these kids if it is done by a psychologist only interested in money or is obsessed with their science.
I don’t want to see any kids, teens, or adults messed up. I want them able to be the person they wished to be and allowed to live their life.
Even the Twin souls couple on Youtube, I believe their name is Bennet, they also said that hormones don’t need to be given to any kids. Peachy Yogurt said it too.
Thanks for being a voice of reason with the rest of us.
You rock, have a great day.
Just watched your vid, Bitter Nurse. Great stuff. Thank you. Please keep it up–you’re a rare voice of reason in the trans universe (but you knew that).
For a moment there, I thought someone had finally come out as trans billionaire and demanded to be given the money he was born without, but totally feels he should have.
That would have been hugely more amusing that what this actually is about. The guy has billions of money and chooses to give those loads of money to, among other things, a clinic that transes children and the NRA?
Aren’t there any poor people who would really need this money? Disgusting.
4thwavenow, is there any way to find out if Pritzker had any money invested in pharmaceutical companies that sell Lupron and other “puberty blockers” or transition related drugs?. Lupron is expensive and Pritzker Tawani foundation covers the cost of it.
Will look into it.
“Mission creep” started a long long time ago by the originator of the term “Transgender,” Arnold Loman, aka, Virginia Prince. The entire point being, a deliberate obfuscation of Transsexual so hetro male wankers who got wood from frilly clothing could hide behind “a reason!” They long since blurred the line between sex dysphoria, an actual thing btw, and gender-feels/fetish, but there’s always going to be the risk that the general public might wake up one day and ask the glaringly obvious questions like you have about Pritzker.
So, they’ve settled upon the young as their next colonization effort, because, well, “they would have transitioned in utero too, cept you know hate?” So they had to go on and do male privilege sucessfully… for… I dunno? 60 years? Because transition WASN’T avaliable to them till now! Cough-Christine-Jorgenson-cough-1952-cough!
So having convinced the world that transgender = transsexual, (along with up now being the same as down) they now hide behind the young, who lack the faculties to speak for themselves and putting their patriarchal shame language literally into the mouths of babes! Where it confuses the hell out of the actual transsexual kids, telling them its all about feels, not sex, and at the same tine convincing legions upon legions of kids, rightly unhappy with confining sex roles that they are “trans?!”
4th wave now and I may disagree on a few points about children transitioning, but not on this!
There really is an epidemic of inappropriate transition going on. It’s a nightmare, and it is being promulgated by money and social media!
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What a mind-staggeringly colossal waste of money! I know exactly one person my age who recently began living as a man and got the surgeries. Other than that, no one I grew up with was convinced of being the opposite sex. Some of my classmates who were GNC turned out to be gay or lesbian, became less dysphoric, or remained GNC but heterosexual. I still can’t figure out how this went from being a beyond-arcane issue to something otherwise intelligent people think is a huge population, backed by science, and a very real possibility for their own kids. If anything, that money should’ve been spent on researching this disproportionately exploding trend and helping to undo the damage already done to these kids.
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