Laws on Transgender Issues for Minors: Puberty Blockers, Cross Sex Hormone Treatments, and Surgical Procedures
There are several bills this year dealing with issues surrounding transgender minors, and I’m getting hundreds of emails on the subject - so many that I can’t respond to all of them.
Let me state my philosophical position on these issues:
EVERY human being deserves love and acceptance.
EVERY child should be taught to love and accept himself/herself (and others!) Self acceptance is the answer in almost all transgender cases involving minors. Gender non-conforming minors should be encouraged to accept themselves exactly as they are right now while deferring transgender intervention until adulthood.
Puberty can be an extremely confusing and frustrating time. Young people (especially in middle school grades) often try on various identities in an effort to discover a personal identity and a group identity they feel comfortable with. THAT IS PERFECTLY NATURAL!
It is UNNATURAL, by definition, to block the perfectly natural process of puberty, which may have long-term effects on cognition, bone density, even longevity.
85% of transgender ideation cases will resolve themselves by the time the minor reaches adulthood, meaning that the child will choose to accept his/her original sex at birth. That’s why it is critically important that permanent solutions to gender dysphoria not be employed until the child reaches adulthood.
Distressed emotional feelings do not determine objective reality.
Young people are also very susceptible to the influences of peers and social media. Social and cultural factors can have a profound influence on whether a young person will identify as transgender. In recent years, media has been focusing on transgenderism, resulting in an exponential rise in occurrences.
Young people are often plagued with anxiety about the future and with self-doubt. Such circumstances make adolescence a bad time to make permanent decisions that may profoundly affect the future in unalterable ways. For this reason, children are not allowed by law to enter into contracts or give informed consent in medical or other matters.
Parents can and do make consent decisions for their children, but there are restrictions against allowing minors to drink alcohol and other unhealthy practices.
There is no medical/scientific evidence that anyone was ever born in the wrong body, or that anyone has ever fully transitioned to another sex. The X or Y chromosome indicative of sex remains constant throughout life, regardless of blockers, hormones, or surgeries. It is deceptive to tell a young person otherwise.
Reliable studies from places where such interventions have a long history (Sweden, the UK, and Finland, for example) question the safety and efficacy of puberty suppression and cross sex hormone therapy.
The “transition or suicide” claim is not supported by evidence. In fact, suicide risk may even increase with cross-sex hormone treatments, according to a Swedish scientific study.
I support any adult’s right to transition.
I support every human being’s right to love and acceptance (regardless of age, gender, race, religion, and ALL other factors.)
This is one of my favorite quotes concerning self-doubt and feelings of personal inadequacy:
Speak gently to yourself.
Speak freely in praise of all you are.
Speak clearly in pride for all you’ve been.
Speak bravely in hope for all you may become. - E. Cunningham
More information about the issue:
Prohibiting Sex Transitioning Procedures On Minors
Unproven surgeries and hormonal treatments that use children and adolescents as Guinea pigs while sterilizing them and mutilating their bodies are more akin to abuse than health care. We need to protect minors who are dealing with Gender Dysphoria. Confused youth need counseling, not chemicals or scalpels.
What experimental treatments are currently legal in Utah that are seriously harming our children?
Puberty blockers: Children, sometimes as young as 9 years old, are taken to adolescent transgender clinics where they are given drugs, such as Lupron to block puberty. There is no proof they’re safe. Lupron can cause harmful (sometimes life-long) side effects. These include prematureosteoporosis, seizures, anxiety disorders in young women, obesity and testicular cancer inyoung men, and memory problems in men and women. All children need to be protected from these dangerous procedures, including those currently receiving puberty blockers.
Dr. Michelle Cretella, M.D., former executive director of the American College of Pediatricians, has said, “Puberty is not a disease. It is a critical window of development that is permanently disrupted by puberty blockers because time machines do not exist. . . . This time period, during which highly significant and irreplaceable advances in bone, brain, sexual and psycho-social development occur, is time that can never be given back.”
Cross-sex hormones: Transgender-identified youth next take cross-sex hormones to try to present as the opposite sex. Young girls are given testosterone and young boys are given estrogen.
Surgery: “Top and bottom” surgeries are being given to adolescents to change their sexual body parts. Girls as young as 12 years old are being subjected to mastectomies. All of the surgeries are irreversible and permanently mutilate these young people.
These misguided and draconian procedures can hardly be called healthcare. Rather, they are dangerous experiments on children and adolescents, without any credible medical or scientific validation. Introducing opposite sex hormones, and surgically removing and crudely reconstructing artificial sexual body parts, cannot change a human male into a female and a human female into a male. It is in effect declaring war on every cell in a young person’s body at a time when they are growing.
MOST KIDS RESOLVE THEIR CONFUSION. Most teens with gender dysphoria are girls and boys who are anxious, depressed, or traumatized, sometimes struggling with ADHD, autism or other mental or emotional challenges, and are uncomfortable with their bodies and struggling with their identity. They need mental health counseling, not surgery and unproven medical treatments.
According to the DSM-5 up to 88% of the females who identify as male, during their childhood, will change their mind and 97.8% of the males who identify as female will change their mind.