Sacrificial Lambs: A Liberal Reporter Exposes How the Progressive Left Harms Children in the Name of Gender Ideology

by Anita Bartholomew

Today, more than 1 in 20 teens say they are transgender or gender questioning— an order of magnitude higher than just a decade ago. How is it possible that so many youngsters— within just a matter of years— became persuaded that they' d been born in the wrong body? As liberal journalist Anita Bartholomew reveals in Sacrificial Lambs, the answer lies not with gender-confused children but rather with our most trusted institutions and the adults who run the medical professionals who " transition" children to facsimiles of the opposite sex before they are old enough to know what sex is; the teachers who tell kindergarteners that doctors only " guessed" their sex at birth; and the mainstream media outlets that label chemical and surgical experiments on children as " life-saving" care. Exposing the many lies and mistruths of gender ideology, Bartholomew shows that every " progressive" argument you' ve heard in favor of it is wrong. Even if you consider yourself a supporter of the trans movement, once you' ve seen the breadth and depth of how gender ideology has harmed young people emotionally, psychologically, and physically, you might reassess what it means to be an ally.

360 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 4, 2025

About the author

I specialize in narrative—which is just another way of saying storytelling. I've written well over 100 narratives in my career, two of which were adapted into TV movies.

A longtime contributor to both the US and international editions of Reader's Digest (and former contributing editor to the US edition), I've also contributed to a number of other major magazines.

I’m the co-author of the award-winning Something to Prove: A Daughter’s Journey to Fulfill a Father’s Legacy, the author of The Midget's House, a historical novel inspired by my former home in Sarasota, Florida, and the author of Siege: An American Tragedy, about the US Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021.

Reviews

[Lisa Shultz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title, Sacrificial Lambs, is compelling, but the subtitle, A Liberal Reporter Exposes How the Progressive Left Harms Children in the Name of Gender Ideology, really grabbed my attention. Generally, the media sways its coverage to frame the topic "Gender Ideology" as: left in favor, and right not in favor. This book counters the notion that liberals are all pro-gender affirming care, which medicalizes children before they have a chance to fully and naturally develop.

Bartholomew lays out her book with research combined with alarming and heartbreaking stories. Her final two chapters, Why Have We All Gone Mad? and It's Time to Reclaim Reality and Sanity, closed out the book well. She also provides advice to parents and a resource list at the back of the book. No matter which US political party you are affiliated with, this book might be worth reading to get a deeper understanding on the issues of gender ideology, queer theory and what to do about it. She suggests at the end of the last chapter, "Unqueer the queering. Disrupt the disruption. And let's get back to reality." Great idea!