Transgender medical treatment for children and teens is under attack in many states, but it has been available for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations.
www.pbs.org
“Opponents of youth transgender medical treatment say there's no solid proof of purported benefits and cite widely discredited research claiming that most untreated kids outgrow their transgender identities by their teen years or later. One study often mentioned by opponents included many kids who were mistakenly identified as having gender dysphoria and lacked outcome data for many others.”
So, two things here: “opponents of youth transgender medical treatment” (which implies they had a definite bias) “widely discredited studies” (which implies that the studies were faulty and probably also biased)
“Doctors say accurately diagnosed kids whose transgender identity persists into puberty typically don't outgrow it. And guidelines say treatment shouldn't start before puberty begins.”
So, trans youth who are ACCURATELY DIAGNOSED (very key, don’t you think?) will always feel like they are trans. And also, the above implies that children aren’t receiving this treatment; in fact, earlier in the article it states that surgery isn’t recommended until age 18.
This article states that “The truth is that data from
more than a dozen studies of more than 30,000 transgender and gender-diverse young people consistently show that access to gender-affirming care is associated with better mental health outcomes—and that lack of access to such care is associated with higher rates of suicidality, depression and self-harming behavior.”
It also says that “Access to gender-affirming hormones and potential access to gender-affirming surgery is available at age 16—and then, in the case of transmasculine youth, only mastectomy, also known as top surgery. The Endocrine Society does not recommend genital surgery for minors.” So we’re not talking about CHILDREN here.
Additionally, both articles state that the first step in gender reassignment is therapy and psychological analysis. So the humans in question must undergo close scrutiny by a trained professional. If the minor or adult who receives gender affirming care changed their mind or regretted their choice (and, btw, another key word here is CHOICE) then don’t you think that’s also a failure on the part of the professionals who assisted them every step of the way? From the psychiatrists to the doctors?
No one is saying that mistakes don’t happen. Of course they happen. To be human is to err, I believe the phrase is. But minors also make the choice to use drugs, do they not? And a lot of them probably wind up on sites like this one. We’re all here because we made a CHOICE, for good or ill (and it’s very often the latter) that brought us together in this community. But I will still advocate for your right to choose to make that mistake.
I really don’t understand people who say “so and so a thing should be banned” but then go and be like “but not MY thing, the thing that I like.” I think humans should definitely be allowed to make bad choices, as long as they’re only injuring themselves and no one else.
Loads of people love to bring guns into this conversation, so I’ll address that too. I’ll advocate for your right to own a gun any day. Collect all you want! I’ve shot a gun myself and it’s pretty fun. The only thing is, it’s kinda like having a car. You need a license for that, and there are all kinds of laws about it like wearing seatbelts and obeying posted traffic signs, and if you are caught driving under the influence they take away your license, yeah? Yet cars are still dangerous and people die in accidents all the time, but no one is talking about taking cars away! People who advocate for sensible gun control legislation basically want background checks etc. I know some of them want AR-15s banned, but idgaf about that. Own 20 of them if you want. But only if you’re not a raving lunatic who is then gonna shoot up a school (and if you live with a raving lunatic, otherwise known as a moody teenager, you should lock those the fuck up.)
My point with all this is, fuck banning shit. Let people live their fucking lives and end the nanny state. Government fucks up everything it touches. SMALL GOVERNMENT, the Republicans used to stand for that and it’s part of their platform that I actually liked, but these days they have their fingers in every pie.
I really don’t understand why people care what other people are doing as long as it’s not encroaching on anything of yours? Live and let live. Ok /endrant
www.theguardian.com
journals.plos.org
surely you can see that the degree of harm being done is so much less in the former instance? Let’s start from there 
