One of the outlandish claims about gays and lesbians in the past was the notion that they were intent on turning other people gay.  To modern sensibilities that sounds ridiculous, quaint even, in its self-centered naivete. Based in ignorance and moral panic, it was eventually supplanted by common sense and experiential evidence.  Wente is showing her aging roots in this piece. There is no secret cabal or misguided TG activist plot to create an army of transgender kids.  This is a complex issue that Wente dumbs down into sound bites from former academics and clinicians whose ideas are past their best before date.  Had Wente drilled down into some of Ray Blanchard's outdated theories, she likely would not have quoted him here today.  Her perspective relies on old tropes to fuel fear and regressive ideas and will join the sad canon of painfully limited thinking. For today though, she is simply woefully out of step.