Girls as young as 13 years old are having their healthy breasts amputated in one California clinic, despite numerous studies showing that the majority of kids who ID as trans - over 85% - no longer ID that way in adulthood. Most will ID as simply gay.
A 2019 study showed that many 'trans' kids are autistic and extremely vulnerable to suggestion and a need to fit in with others. They have questions about their bodies and 'meet' trans groups online. The number of trans-identifying kids has exploded over 4,000% in less than 10 years. This will haunt us a decade from now when the lawsuits from these kids start.
Children too young to see a PG-13 movie should not be deciding to have unnecessary, hugely life-altering and irreversible, sterilizing medical procedures.
We need to stop telling kids they're born in the 'wrong bodies'. I have yet to see ONE parent of a 'trans' kid who doesn't explain it by saying "She wouldn't play with dolls & liked trucks!" or "He loved the color pink & wanted bows in his hair!" These are stereotypes. Tell kids it's OK to be a boy who wants pink bows or a girl who likes trucks. But stop pushing life-altering medical treatment on them before they're even old enough to take a driving test.
117
@T.M. Yet another letter demonstrating ill-informed outrage.
NO ONE is telling kids they were born in the wrong bodies. It's these kids telling us. DESPITE the judgement and bullying, and riducule, and shaming that ensues.
Educate yourself.
There are untold numbers of non butch boys and non femme girls in the world who do not then think they are trapped in the wrong body.
For pity's sake you people. Open your eyes. Open your ears.
38
@T.M. Your statistics are incredibly misleading and deceitful. Please, take a statistics class so you don't get fooled by this again.
The study you cite had plenty of methodological errors. First off, they selected their pool of "trans kids" based off of gender non-conformance, not the children themselves saying they were the opposite gender. Put simply, most of those kids stopped being trans because the never even started. And the kids who really were trans? If they so much as didn't respond to the survey, the researchers automatically marked them off as no longer trans. It was not in any way a reliable study, so stop using it to justify attacks on transgender children!
Second, of course the number of kids saying they are trans has exploded. The past decade has been safer than ever to tell people you are trans instead of hiding who you are. The number of trans-identifying kids hasn't changed, but now they feel safe enough to come out of the closet. You'd see a similar explosion of left handed kids in a past decade where schools stopped beating children for using their left hand.
And puberty blockers are completely reversible, so stop fear-mongering.
36
@T.M. Please educate yourself before you make these kinds of comments. We all have a lot to learn about this field. The reason the numbers are exploding is because tas a real issue for many people, it is now accepted in the medical/scientific community. Look back in history, there have been people who felt they were born in the wrong body! I am a female born and not a transgender person but I have made a point to learn, not judge. People/children, do not just *snap* get a transition. It is a process involving medical care, therapy and education to the child and the parents to ensure this is the right path.
The explanations you offered about bows or dolls or trucks... I do not think it is a frivolous decision based simply on dolls or trucks. The bottom line: It is not your business, my business, or the government's business. It is between the child and parents ( if a minor) or the adult and their doctors.
I do agree with you - it is OK to be a boy who wants pink bows or a girl who likes trucks. But that is a superficial assessment of what a person goes through in feeling wrong in their gender.
29
Hormones and surgeries to impersonate the sex stereotypes of the opposite sex are not "treatments," and subjecting kids to medical abuse isn't "providing access." Good for South Dakota if it can keep this predatory industry away from kids.
51
These bills are excellent progress. The article misrepresents medical transition as being 'best practice' but there is no best practice. No robust research exists that has medicalisation as a preferred option.
While age 16 is a start, and will protect vulnerable children, vulnerable young adults also need protection from this harmful quack medicine. The brain isn't fully mature until about 25 and given there's plenty of evidence of neurological impairment in patients, that has to be the goal.
Fred Deutsch should be commended for both his insight and his bravery (there are some pretty nasty people pushing this hokum on our kids, and they seem prepared to do anything to stop any rational analysis).
21
Because the medical profession has ignored its oath to do no harm, we have today thousands of teenagers, mostly girls, demanding and receiving gender reassignment, including hormones and surgery, with barely a moment of therapy, and certainly without any research on the effects of hormones on young bodies. It is a lie that a medical protocol has been scientifically established for this population. It has not. It’s unfortunate that laws need to be passed to tie the hands of doctors who have taken the word of trans activists as gospel. But somebody has to stop the wanton mutilation of adolescents swept up in a worldwide social contagion. Over the past 10 years, so many young teens, especially girls, were inappropriately allowed to transition that now that they’ve grown up and have mature brains, they are detransitioning in huge numbers. Imagine having to go through the rest of your life without your sex organs, because a doctor decided that political correctness trumps science.
Is there such a thing as a transgender person? Of course there is. But should a 13 year old girl who begins to experience gender dysphoria when she hits puberty be allowed to take hormones and to transition overnight? Absolutely not. This brand new category of supposedly trans person has not been studied. We’re playing freestyle with the bodies of kids.
Doctors: quit being cowards. Do your job.
23
How ironic is it that the person that drafted the bill is a member of a pseudo-scientific profession (chiropracty) dedicated to treating a condition that does not exist (spinal subluxation). A sanctimonious charlatan telling the rest of us how to live our lives.
11
The measure will forbid doctors to prescribe drugs that block puberty, or cross-sex hormones, or to provide cosmetic surgery to remove healthy breasts or genitals, for children under 16.
“It’s good that legislators are finally standing up to say that it’s cruel to destroy children’s sexual function for not fitting into sex stereotypes and gendered expectations,” Chart said. “The drugs for affirming a child’s self diagnosis that something is wrong with their bodies can age the endocrine system by decades, sometimes throwing them into menopause before puberty, while the harms of botched or regretted surgeries are often irreversible.”
“The worst part of watching the acceleration of child transition has been knowing that many of the kids swept up in it would otherwise have grown up to be happy with their bodies. Yet people in authority have looked the other way as doctors have helped these children harm themselves. Many are same-sex attracted, are suffering from trauma, or have developmental disorders, but the organizations claiming to look out for the interests of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth, or of young people on the autism spectrum, for instance, have all simply cheered as South Dakota doctors have joined the rush to profit from this,” said Dansky.
From: http://womensliberationfront.org/south-dakotas-vulnerable-child-protection-act-passes-committee/?fbclid=IwAR1_0gsu0av37yvI5zrhJP9ZI7FpHpAkwSHAynoSNtXQR7TCyWZesqMqwDE
15
Ah, republicans, the party of de-regulation. And hypocrisy.
9
Re: "...In South Dakota and other states, lawmakers are considering bills that would restrict access to hormone treatment and surgeries for young transgender people..."
Transgenders, in general, 'N, transgender youth are ALREADY at a higher risk of suicide!!
So...why do the 'pro_life' Republicans want to increase the risk of suicide for these children, 'N, young adults??
5
This isn't about protecting children, the fact that this ban covers hormone blockers tells a lot of the tale. If you wait until 16 with blockers, the prime effects of puberty have already hit (girls start much earlier than boys, roughly 11, boys at 13 or so) and make it much, much harder to transition later. I could argue against hormones being given to kids younger than 16 (bc they are permanent in nature,), but i leave that to health providers and therapists, but without blockers it makes like a lot harder. Trans men end up with bodies that are smaller and more petite (a big deal among men and how you are treated), if started early enough it also could prevent breasts from growing, a major problem later on. Transwomen end up with large bones, hands and feet, larger heads, and not to mention beards which are difficult and time consuming to remove, and often spend a lot of money on things like facial surgery to soften features. By banning blockers and hormones the opponents are basically trying to make it difficult for trans kids to finish transition. The decision should be left to parents and health care providers and experts, not people with an agenda.
With blockers, the results are reversible if the kid later decides they don't want to transition, you get off them and puberty comes in at full rush, if they do, then they are starting from a clean slate.
11
Medical treatments for menopause such as HRT have evolved as more data became available. The same has happened, is happening, with medical treatment of gender dysphoria. The standards of care for transgender individuals is quite high. Anyone who is truly interested - as opposed to furthering an agenda - can consult the Endocrine Society website or other professional medical organization.
Let's not kid ourselves: this is not about when or how to medically treat transgender youth; this is about religion and right-wing politics. And the religious right is not above propagating their views in mainstream publications, nor posing right here in the comments as something other than what they are.
"Right-wing and evangelical media helped land anti-trans parent group the Kelsey Coalition in USA Today"
https://www.mediamatters.org/heritage-foundation/anti-trans-parent-group-kelsey-coalition-usa-today
13
@childofsol I'm not a right winger or a Christian. I oppose giving children medication that devastate their physical & mental health, before their brains are even old enough to genuinely give informed consent. The Endocrine Society is NOT a professional medical association and has NO business pretending they are anything but a lobbyist org.
16
Hypothetical academic question: If my child were harmed by this legislation could we sue the state for damages? When they legislate medical decisions they assume responsibility for the outcomes.
14
@mary bardmess I have a medical condition whose treatment includes drugs on which I cannot risk getting pregnant. I can't get an abortion in Tennessee anymore. If I accidentally fall pregnant (and I'm using birth control, for anyone who wants to whine), I'll have to travel out of state to get an abortion to save my own life.
Tennessee legislators would definitely find themselves getting a court summons to cover my travel expenses. If they want to play games, I've no problem teaching them how they're played.
3
It is time to stop allowing legislators to practice medicine. What they do to education is bad enough but tinkering with peoples lives because of something they read on the Internet is criminal.
17
I don't know if another approach would be an improvement.
It seems to me parents should have a right to refuse medical service that seems not in the interest of the family.
I tend to think such opposition from parents could be reasonable cause for the child to pursue emancipation, possibly in the home state, possibly in friendlier states. I'm not a lawyer.
This has appeal to me in that responsibility rests with members of the family, at the same time allowing each to stand by their convictions.
Some of the old folk use to say, 'Man proposes, God disposes'; probably not the young folk.
2
I am a parent to two transkids. This bill disturbs me significantly. The older of the two is now 25. The middle is 20. Much of these events took place superimposed on my divorce from their father (who is also Transitioning and is a pathological liar and has Alienated the children). Needless to say, it has been a difficult time.
My oldest child is a femme transman. He wanted all sort of really radical things as a teenager. Went through, by his own admission 4 or 5 "different gender identities." As a parent, trying to cope with this roller coaster, I felt completely jerked around and afraid. With trans kids these days, the Internet has more influence than parents.
I think had puberty blockers been available during Oldest's puberty (they weren't), and had Oldest been sane enough to avail himself, they would have been a VERY good thing. Telling children, parents, and doctors they CAN'T have them, is a BAD idea. Puberty blockers, PUT OFF, the "big decisions" until kids are older. Until their brains develop more. They should be mandatory.
To be complete honest, 16 is WAY TOO YOUNG. Lawmaker should be encouraging puberty blockers and looking to age 21. Kids don't develop the Executive Function to make remotely good decisions until then. For lack of a better term, teen angst start to resolve then, too.
Oldest ultimately decided to transition, but remains a very effeminate man. Middlest never transitioned at all. Both made their own decisions without me around age 20.
11
The blockers don’t put off puberty until you’re ready to decide, they simply stop the process.
3
@Dejah Real butch here. "Femme transman" is an appropriative contradiction in terms.
2
@Dejah It sounds like you are a loving and supportive mom. Puberty blockers are cancer drugs, are not irreversible, damage their brains, and almost all kids on puberty blockers go on to have surgery, whereas at least 80% of those who do not go on puberty blockers later desist from identifying as trans. Transition hormones and surgeries are a BIG money maker for Big Pharma AND puberty blockers make later SRS almost impossible because not enough tissue develops (see poor Jazz Jennings).
7
" This bill came out of that feeling of, We need to protect our children," he said , comparing the legislation to a "pause button."
That sentence made me think, when are we going to protect our children from the lies of religion? Religion should be taught as a belief not a fact!
14
@oscar jr How is believing in a transcendent gender any different than believing in a transcendent god? Both concepts can be full of human behavior that could be called religious zealotry. Neither are measurable.
15
We need laws to stop medical professionals dosing kids with drugs that will block their puberty, render them sterile/ infertile? Make it impossible for them to have children or to enjoy a healthy sexual relationship? That will shorted their livespan? Wear away at organ and muscle tissue? We need LAWS to STOP this? We do not need laws to stop this. Those laws are there. There are there in medical practice guidelines, in the care of children, in personal injuries law, in the Constitution. What is wrong with everybody?
31
@Anne brennan Unfortunately the trans activists have made it so that doctors are actually stuck between a rock and a hard place. Even the Tavistock (gender identity) Clinic has had huge numbers of resignations over the last 3 years because the doctors feel coerced to over-prescribe https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/12/childrens-transgender-clinic-hit-35-resignations-three-years/
13
Transgender people should be allowed to live in safety, freedom, and peace. Discussions as to when a transition should take place and the appropriateness of the timing of that transition should be between the transgender person’s family, if they are under 18, and a medical professional. It is not anyone else’s business. Seriously, don’t lawmakers in South Dakota have anything better to do than this? Republicans’ continued, front-and-center obsession with bathrooms, LGBTQ people and how they live their lives, and women’s sex and reproductive lives is bizarre and weird.
19
@Lindsay K I'm a cisgender male and I agree. I don't experience what LGBTQ undergo in more ways than one, yet I fully support their quest for their rights; however, when it comes to children, I admit that I am at a loss.
My best advice, under these circumstances, would be to leave it up to the child, parents and a medical professional to work it out. The issues cannot be fully and properly addressed through legislation and there needs to be a whole lot of work toward better understanding the issues.
11
@Glenn Thomas You cannot leave these decisions up to children because, as children, their brains are still developing and it is unethical to ask them to consent to life-altering procedures at an early stage in their development. There is nothing physically wrong with their bodies and doctors vow to do no harm. And parents do not always know what is best for their children--just look to the most fanatical anti-vaxxers for evidence of that. If a child suffers from body dysmorphia and chooses to stop eating, we get the child treatment that would help them to accept and love their bodies rather than validate their current understanding.
Yes, transpeople exist and have always existed and they of course deserve to be treated with dignity, kindness, and care just like everyone. But these are physically healthy bodies that we are experimenting on and there ought to be a better understanding of the effects of various treatments and children ought not to be our guinea pigs.
21
@Lindsay K Trans people should be allowed to live in safety and peace and should have protections from housing and employment discrimination.
Minors are not capable of giving informed consent to cancer drugs that destroy their bodies (Mermaids UK lies constantly about how *reversible* they are), halt their brain maturation, and change their lives forever for something that at least 80% of children grow out of naturally.
I am an atheist feminist, and I care about children. It's not just Republicans being homophobic or whatever. Also tell me how this sort of transition story isn't about homophobic parents being relieved their child is a girl rather than an effeminate boy? https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/a43702/transgender-child-kimberly-shappley/
15
Given that most people have already transitioned into puberty before the age of 16, puberty blockers won't do much good if withheld until then.
12
But, by golly, there are many tasks the gov’t can perform better than an individual, like passing laws to ensure the safety of fracking and oil pipelines, maintaining clean air and water, building safer freeways and limiting auto pollution, food safety, increasing access to health care and the list goes on. Where gov’t can NEVER be more successful is in legislating personal and interpersonal interactions such as those between parents and children and anyone and his or her doctor. So, those of you who claimed to be in alliance defending freedom, by golly, get busy on real work, which is NOT managing your neighbor’s sexuality or gender identity.
I’m a doctor happy to critique too-early medical interventions in trans patients but I know there’s no role for government in these discussions. Ditto for terminating pregnancies.
28
@hey nineteen Amen! I remember my father shaking his head years ago when the government started to legislate abortion. I'll never forget his comment that the decision never belonged in the courts...only between the woman and her doctor. Let's not get on this darn slippery slope again.
5
This legislation is sorely needed to protect children. Gender affirmative care, including puberty blockers and wrong sex hormones, is an unregulated and uncontrolled experiment on children. The protocols for this so-called care were written by a small group of paid activists, a group called WPATH. There is no scientific basis for this care. There are no Cochrane studies, the basis of care for every other field of medicine in this country. Puberty blockers are not approved for stopping normal puberty in healthy children and have many known and serious side effects. There is no rigorous, long term research, no control groups, just poorly written and badly conducted papers written in support of these protocols. Young people are beginning to speak up, making YouTube videos about hour they have been harmed by these treatments and very much regret them. This isn’t life saving health care. This is criminal abuse and violation of children.
46
Most kids (80% +) will grow out of dysphoria if left alone. This is a man made phenomenon and we are creating trans kids. This is the perfect business model for making life long medical patients. It’s sanctioned medical child abuse and the law suits will start before long.
42
@Jill Perhaps you can provide some scientific evidence that "Most kids (80% +) will grow out of dysphoria if left alone," or would that get in the way of your opinion?
12
@Jill
Some do, some don't.
But while they are dysphoric in their teen years, they cut themselves, starve themselves, and try to kill themselves. Such children are not easy to parent.
5
@Maureen Hawkins
I always played with boys as a child. I even led them in make-believe games of pirates, knights, etc. I hated the changes of my body in puberty - my breasts, menstruation. Many times I have stated to my parents - I wish I were a boy! Slowly I accepted my femininity, although I never wore frilly dresses, use much makeup, or spent money for beauty treatments. Presently, in my 70-ies, I am a mother of two and have two grandchildren. I consider them my greatest life achievement, although I am retired scientist with a PhD and many publications. I am quite healthy and so glad that I did not have an option of changing my body into something the nature did not intend.
26
It has to stop .There's no child who should determine whether to have experimental medical procedures involving their sexuality. It's absurd and should be illegal for their parents to decide for them of such medical procedures.Any type of gender medical type experiments should be adults only 21 years of age or above.This is way out of control and dangerous to children and adolescents .
35
I suspect that a lot of us left-wing people, who fully support transgender people's right to live freely and safely, are uncomfortable at the idea of letting 14-year-old girls have mastectomies (yes, it does happen in some states).
39
Let children be children. Life-changing decisions and body alterations are not something young children should be asked to do. They cannot always grasp the consequences.
37
Anti-trans-treatment laws are unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade. The legal principle behind Roe was not an inherent right to abortion, but an inherent right to privacy over medical decisions, which is consistent with old Republican ideas of privacy, liberty, and limited government. I cannot see what new principle can justify these instrusions into the most private of all aspects of a person's life.
9
Because the patients involved are not adults. The exact same reason that gay conversion therapy can be banned for children but not for adults if they wish to have it.
8
Where law and medicine intersects, which degree triumphs?
3
I am ftm transgender myself. I absolutely do not support medical transition in children. Over age 18, fine. We allow permanent tattoos and deadly military service at 18. But children must be protected. I often hear from those opposed to this type of bill that SRS isn't performed on teens, when I know for a fact it is. My own top surgeon performs SRS on minors. His youngest was 14. I have seen transgender boys get top surgery so young that when they grew to adulthood and their bodies finished developing, their nipples were "misplaced" and no where near their pectoral line. They needed revisions. Who are we helping here, other than the far left trans activists and the "woke" liberals who want to score feel good progressive points? I support this bill. Support trans kids in other ways - allow them to dress how they want, allow them to cut their hair, respect their choice of name or pronouns. But we have a duty as adults to protect children. The pre frontal cortex develops until the early twenties. Age 18 will come soon enough.
63
@Jamey
Are you truly against puberty blockers as well as top surgery ?
5
@Jamey
Puberty Blockers are a good idea. Surgery is not.
There are a couple of reasons why Blockers are a good idea:
Blockers are not permanent. If you block puberty for a few years, there doesn't appear to be any great medical problems. It just starts later when you stop the blocking meds.
No one knows you are on blockers. You just don't develop. Since some kids don't develop, no big deal.
Blockers can, indeed, help with dysphoria. Do not discount the very real effects of Dysphoria and the mental health fallout it causes: cutting, scarring, anorexia, suicide attempts and completed suicides are just a small few. Dysphoria is painful.
Blockers give the child time to grow up. Moreover, it gives the brain time to develop.
It is easier to transition if you have never gone through puberty in the "wrong" direction. The hormones taking you in the direction you want to go "take" better, if you haven't had all the pubertal changes going the opposite direction.
Surgery, on the other hand hard to reverse, etc.
(Parent of two transkids in their 20s)
8
Hormone therapy is not benign. There will be unintended consequences to pre-pubertal and long-term term use. I absolutely believe that TG adults should have access to surgery and hormone therapy if they are fully aware of the risks and have the capacity to make that decision. Children lack the capacity to make this decision with enormous consequences. We should be providing these kids with behavioral health resources not surgeons. Gender reassignment will not alleviate gender dysphoria. That issue is too complex to reduce it down to sex organs. This is why Trump will continue to win over non-partisan moderates. The Left thinks he and his followers are crazy, all while these moderates look at liberals resecting breasts and pensises as being equally as nuts.
68
@Manoj Please tell me you're not advocating for conversion therapy.
9
@Manoj
you don't start with hormones first off. you start off with blockers which have been proven to be safe. they block the natural hormones from starting until they are 18. many doctors also make the client dress in the opposite sex clothes for at least one year.
5
@jennifer t. schultz
This.
“Opposite sex clothes” only exist as a cultural creation, not biological.
This is exactly why a young boy or girl thinks that they must be transgender, because they don’t want to “look like” or “act like” culturally created gender stereotypes.
6
So much outrage, and so little compassion. For those not writing in, but who would like to know more about the reality of the lives of transgender children and their families, I recommend :
"About a girl", published by penguin in September 2019.
It's an Australian memoir.
Also have a look on Wikipedia for Rebekah Robertson. (The mother who wrote the book)
Cheers.
7
Decades from now, when many of these children and teens are grown and better understand and regret what happened to them, when they have sued the socks off the medical and other professionals who provided their gender dysphoria procedures (many of which cause permanent physical and other changes), when we'll have read their long and sometime anguished essays, articles and books criticizing the haste of their parents, the self-deceptive single-mindedness of their educators, and the closed-minded hurtle of the establishment into this brave new and exciting world; that's when we'll look back askance at our age's collective delusion and recognize this as one of those fundamental social and ethical errors of which unwitting societies are guilty from time to time. That time will be here soon enough, but not soon enough for those being permanently damaged and hurt by our headlong rush into transforming minors' genders.
71
No, a 16 year-old should not be making choices on whether to have surgery to change their sex. Teenagers are teenagers and, like it or not, they are often moody, change their minds, want one thing today and something else tomorrow.
Even if they feel they are "sure" about this, let them mature "naturally". When they are 18 and have saved up their money, if that's what they want, then more power to them. And if they experience PAIN from this, then at least it's the pain that comes from making a life-altering decision based on a little more maturity, not convenience.
48
@Mark91345 Thank you so much for this comment- the teenage years are such a time of extreme flux and change....get through this life passage and then make your decision
21
Many comments here say we should trust the medical professionals and their research to date. I don't. Docs are subject to fads. When I was entering menopause, my gynecologist insisted that I had to take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to prevent cancer, osteoporosis, and dementia. "For how long?" I asked. "For the rest of your life," she replied.
I did it for a little while and then balked. Of course a few years and a huge study later showed that HRT actually increased the incidence of certain cancers and was no use with the other diseases. Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical companies raked in billions. And look at all the docs who bought the Purdue propaganda and prescribed opioids.
Teenagers are even more vulnerable to fads and peer pressure. I remember being extremely uncomfortable with my body during puberty and am very grateful that it happened decades ago, instead of now when there'd be pressure on me to transition. I turned out to be a lesbian and am very happy with the life I've led.
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@Martha Shelley
entering menopause is exactly the right time to take the hormones , if you experience symptoms that you cant handle. you didn't include heart disease. biggest killer of women is heart disease, not any kinds of cancer. also initially it is good for prevention of osteoporosis.
it doesn't say what yr you went into menopause. at the beginning they didn't know enough about estrogen. also, cancers can increase if you still have your uterus. they didn't know enough about estrogen because they don't study women and womens' health issues. no someone who has already gone through menopause should not suddenly start hormones if they are healthy without health problems.
I worked in the OR exclusively with ob-gyn surgeons. I received a lot of information. actually, hormones associated with infertility txs. are actually more dangerous than estrogen.
also, you taking hormones for menopause is different than those reasons giving them to someone in transition. and hormones for transition are never used first. if the person is 16 o 17 they would give blockers first.
4
@jennifer t. schultz Martha's point is about medicalization. She suggests that the medical system tends to medicalize normal processes of the female human body. Your point doesn't really apply, because puberty, like normal-age onset of menopause, is a normal process of the human body. Not an illness.
7
The persecution of transgender people is a rear guard action by right-wing ideologues stung by crushing defeats in the LGBT theater of the culture wars. Acceptance of same-sex relationships is widespread, to the point that even the United States Supreme Court affirmed the access of same-sex couples to the civil marriage contract. Right-wing politicians and activists can’t get votes and fundraise on maligning gays and lesbians anymore, so they have shifted their focus to an even more marginalized group, transgender people. Happily, they are losing that fight too.
Why are these people so doggedly determined to impose their sectarian ideology on others? I think it’s because reactionary belief systems are inherently authoritarian.
If you don’t want to use birth control, have sex before marriage, have an abortion, go to drag queen story hour, marry someone of the same sex, or reassign your gender – don’t. No one wants to force you to. What is so hard about living your life however you like and leaving everyone else to do the same?
20
@Joe Bob the III actually I think we should be much more alarmed by the persecution that the gender lobby is currently pushing on vulnerable kids, most of whom have concurrent mental health issues and many of whom are autistic.
25
Of his constituents who have emailed him, he said, “it’s almost a 50-50 split.”
It seems no one knows just now. Perhaps it would be better to wait, to learn, to better understand what a sane path forward looks like, rather than allowing biased groups of one perspective or another to dictate laws before science is clear and catches up to the cacophony of un-informed opinions.
14
Many states have rightly outlawed so-called “conversion therapy” for gays as being based on faulty science. I don’t see why this is different. There is no peer-review science that the use of hormonal blockers or mastectomies at a young age leads to better outcome for gender dysphoria. The idea that you’d have an invasive surgical and hormonal procedure to cure a psychological disorder is strange, to say the least. If adults want to have a cosmetic surgery to modify their gender expression, more power to them. But to impose it upon children is unconscionable. To say that parents have the right to decide on medical procedures for their kids is not true. People are not allowed to try to cure their children’s pneumonia by prayer or epilepsy by snakebite. Some states have passed the laws to limit the parents’ right not to vaccinate their children. I’m sorry to say but despite my opposition to the religious underpinnings of this law, I agree with it.
49
@Mor Problem is, these children don't want their bodies warped beyond repair by puberty. Once they've gone through male puberty, trans girls have to pretty much give up on ever passing for female. The use of puberty blockers is completely reversible, so if they decide they don't want to transition after all, it's no big deal. But if you force them to go through the wrong puberty and they really are trans? You just ruined their life. No amount of surgery will ever fix the damage you did to them.
4
@Obazerbazi "beyond repair" and "wrong puberty" are very odd, even disturbing statements. Puberty doesn't damage a body, and one's puberty isn't wrong, it's the genetic cards one is dealt.
Just as someone with xenomelia - body identity integrity disorder -isn't born with the wrong limbs, and a doctor would be subject to punishment should she cut off a limb to align one's body with one's identity.
31
@Obazerbazi Which is precisely what they want.
2
I could just scream, How those Republicans cried out that the Affordable Care Act would have government dictating health care decisions and " death panels", and this is what THEY are doing! Wanting government to dictate private health care decisions be it abortion/birth control , transgender medical care, etc. I am really at a loss what is happening and why why why do these close minded non-doctors non-RNs dictate care?
15
Tell the South Dakota State Legislature, in no uncertain terms, we're not going to to business with your state. Hit 'em where they understand it the most: Their wallets.
8
@jmilovich
I promise I will not do business in South Dakota or travel there if it fails to protect its children by passing the law.
8
Common sense finally triumphs. Just think for a moment - Teenagers are not allowed to drink alcohol, but they can decide to change their gender?
51
@RMM But they can drink alcohol. At home. With their parents. But nice try.
1
Suicide rates on the rise among LGB and especially trans youth, and now SD wants to legislate these children and adolescents into a corner. By denying trans youth their gender-affirming hormones, you're not only invalidating their identity, but you are increasing the likelihood that they'll be bullied, assaulted, outed, runaway/throwaway, suffer from depression and/or anxiety, and more. Any potential side effects of pausing puberty with hormones and validating their experiences is worth avoiding the effects of not allowing even one child to express themself.
11
@Stephanie Can you cite that survey?
5
@Stephanie
Puberty blockers in girls are 100% reversible, do not affect later reproductive success, and have been used for decades in girls who start puberty too early (7 or 8 years of age). Facts matter.
That 80% figure is not supported by the bulk of the scientific literature.
6
@R Taggart
Suicides are increasing because of trans lobby, not despite it.
8
Where is the humanity ?
What has happened to our ability to truly see and hear the fellow human being in front of us asking for help ?
Over and over again, ideology trumps care.
9
The Gender Identity industry (Pharma) is creating legal medical identities instead of just sick ppl, normalizing changes to human bio w/o having to go through the ethical quagmire of each & every change as it occurs. This creates new ways to be human & opens markets for profit.
31
Each and every Republican politician knows better than her/his constituents-- especially the doctors, scientists, engineers, economists, social work professionals, climatologists . . .
20
Another republican-led assault on the private relation between a patient and his/her physician.
24
This seems to be a “cause” for legislation that rather than being based on science is the result of warped, wishful thinking.
¿Why do republicans detest science? It destroys a narrow/fixed world view. And from a chiropractor no less. ¿A medical doctor’s view? No a chiropractor. The right to choose– only for religion and schools. The body – no.
6
It's urgent that we investigate the private lives of others.
Otherwise, we might have to focus on our own.
34
Where is the double-blind research that indicates that the various "transitioning" procedures are safe and effective and don't lead to high incidences of regret -- for adults let alone minors?
Were we even talking about this subject five years ago? Did medical science suddenly pull off miracles that permit true sex change?
Another question: do my taxes or insurance premiums pay for these procedures? If yes, then why?
This subject feels more and more to be a form of mass hysteria. I don't think teens should be permitted to harm themselves.
76
1) yes. the relatively new practice of starting puberty blockers early before voice changes, bone structure alterations, and hair growth, then segueing into estrogen replacement therapy has made "passing" more achievable for young male to female trans young adults. so in a sense, yes. it is now possible for trans youth to more effectively transition and change their gender without the need to undo male differentiation.
2) your private insurance premiums and publicly funded tax dollars already go to pay for both rare and expensive as well as mundane services used by others that you may or definably will not use. pre-natal care. prosthetics. erectile dysfunction meds. psychiatric drugs. ECT. dialysis. organ transplants. pacemaker implants. acne meds. braces. some cosmetic surgeries. Your premiums already fund a lot of services you will never use. consider yourself lucky in that respect!
9
@znlgznlg
Educate yourself. Watch a non partisan, non faith based documentary following the lives of young people who experience gender dysphoria.
Better still, if you can find one, listen to any long interview of a parent of such a child.
It beggars belief that you would think it is OK to subject transgender teens to this double blind experiment.
3
@znlgznlg: Yes, your taxes and insurance premiums pay for gender reassignment treatments and procedures.
Why wouldn’t they? Gender dysphoria is a medically recognized condition and medical interventions to conform a person’s body to their gender identity are an accepted treatment.
6
“When you turn 16 you can do whatever you want. But by golly, can’t you just wait before you take these drugs?”
NO. The onset of puberty is a HUGE stressor for children with gender dysphoria. South Dakota would be contributing to the suicide deaths of hundreds of children. Puberty blockers and/or hormones are required for these children to live.
18
It may be stressful but most if not all will outgrow it in a few years. We don’t know the long term effects of these drugs yet.
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@PB
You can't do whatever you want when you turn 16. You can't drink, smoke, vote, sign contracts, or getting married, among many other things.
Giving children drugs to delay or prevent puberty is not good medical practice.
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@Rob
Yeah, that's what my folks thought when I came out as gay 24 years ago...that's a looooong "phase".
12
Where is all the research and evidence proving that these hormone treatments are safe for children? Longitudinal studies with large sample sizes? If anything, the research I have seen seems to strongly suggest that these children desist on their own and aren't "trans" at all.
I think there is reason to worry that the medical establishment is being politicized and is rushing ahead in a desire to affirm transgenderism. Especially when it comes to the "rapid onset" version of gender dysphoria, I think it is way too early to say there is some fixed and certain medical best practice. If the "standard of care" is to put minor children on puberty blockers, that ought to be up for debate given the lack of solid evidence on the long-term effects of these interventions. What about therapy to encourage these children to accept their bodies? We should be able to have a calm debate about legislation like this, rather than jump to the conclusion that it's only motivated by bigotry.
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@Noelle
Not sure what research you are evaluating. Here is information from the Mayo Clinic:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gender-dysphoria/in-depth/pubertal-blockers/art-20459075
7
@Noelle
As I'm sure you know, large scale research studies are complicated with children. And studies are even more complicated still when some parents have doubts and shame about whether to pursue treatment. Lastly, until recently, medical folks did not have the training in endocrinology or dysphoria to be helpful.
That didn't keep me from getting my child the care he needed. Fortunately, I live in an area with an abundance of highly trained and specialized providers for trans youth. I never had doubts.
I agree that more study is needed - let's see where we are in 20 years. I strongly encourage my son and his peers to participate in studies so we can learn more. All I have is experience with people who had no opportunity to transition as a teenager, and had to live with terrible dysphoria for much longer than is reasonable.
7
This has nothing to do with protecting children. It has everything to do with discrimination against being transgender. Let the parents, the child and their doctor decide what is best for their child (at any age), not legislators. When I hear that doctors can face criminal charges for treating transgender children that is a red flag of sexual orientation discrimination (Don't Republicans just love to be punitive?). But go ahead and have a doctor prescribe children as many opiods for pain, or meds like adderall for attention deficit, or valium for anti-anxiety. Once addicted to these drugs, don't you think these children will also have "regrets" about their treatment? Those kinds of drugs I mentioned will kill children from overdoses and or harm them mentally. But God forbid a drug is used with permission from the parents, under a doctor's supervision, to change a child's sexual orientation.
33
@Gaston Cocteau Your sweeping false equivalencies miss the point. Yes, as a gay man, I recognize that this law is driven by those, largely, who are not friends of LGBT folk (although the issues facing LGB and T often are different and diverge, despite the media and activists lumping all four groups together). And perhaps medical intervention should probably be decided by a family, but is a teenager equipped to make such medical decisions that can wait until he/she is 18 or 21? Seems to me like a supportive family and community are more important at that age. Medical intervention is not going to change that, although it could have long-term physical implications. If trans teens can make such a life-altering decision, perhaps these Trans teens--and all teens--should also be able to make decisions about their sexual partners, no matter the age, getting married, or use of any legal drugs, or even serving in the military. Such "rights" always seem culturally determined. But the liberal bias regarding trans "rights" is blatant and un-reflective, and rejects any discussion on the subject that does not get on board with its positions.
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@Gaston Corteau
I agree, but we are talking about gender dysphoria, not sexual orientation.
3
Disgraceful and unAmerican that they are even considering a bill/law like this in the Land of the Free. They have become a cult of mental midgets who rely on superstition instead of facts and sound science. Listen to the medical professionals, science and facts!
20
To the people arguing that children at or under the age of 16 aren't mature enough to make their own medical decisions, you're right. They ARE NOT making the decision on their own but WITH THE HELP of their parents, family, and medical providers.
This bill is nuts because even if a teenager, their parents, and the healthcare professionals agree it is the best course of action for the teenager, the government gets to step in and say NO. Will the government be held for liability should the teen end up harming themselves or commit suicide if they are denied these treatments? Has anyone talked about those consequences?
The article is correct that surgery is rare in teens and that medications which temporarily block progression of puberty will be more affected. Note the word temporary -- when the medicines are stopped, puberty continues as before so it's a way to allow teens a bit of time to decide.
BTW, I am not a pediatrician -- I'm actually a geriatrician but I have volunteered in homeless shelters and witnessed personally as a teen children being thrown out of their homes because they dared question their gender. Please educate yourself with objective materials: it seems like discrimination against trangender people runs surprisingly rampant among commenters.
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@ms
Well said.
11
@ms Thank you for such a common sense response. The law would criminalize doctors who are working with the parents. There is no turning back from laws that would charge doctors with crimes for providing otherwise safe, reversible, and FDA-approved treatment.
12
@ms Except that, in many cases, the parents are opposed to treatment - and it is being pursued in defiance of their opposition.
16
I have no problem with people who identify as transgender. But I question whether a teenager is capable of making critical health care decisions that will last a lifetime.
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@Peter That is for the teen, parents and physician to decide--not the legislature.
11
teenagers as young as 12-14 can get pregnant and have children, at which time they become emancipated minors in the eyes of the law - whether or not are not victims of pedophilia or statutory rape by a similar-aged peer. carrying a pregnancy to term in the young second decade is a pretty irreversible health care/lifestyle decision for the family, teen, and doctor's to take, and it's a lot less rare than trans kids talking puberty blockers.
4
@Laura
In 2017, 2 females per thousand in the US between the ages of 10-14 gave birth. That is exceedingly rare.
I could not find the number of kids taking puberty blockers, but if the waiting rooms of pediatric gender clinics are any clue, then it is higher than that.
5
Good. If one is too immature to marry, drink, vote or serve in the armed forces how can they be responsible or mature enough to understand the medical, psychological or other consequences of a choice that is so drastic and when completed, so irreversible.
I feel quite badly for CHILDREN who struggle with any identity issue but this is not the answer for them. At least not as children.
81
@Someone Somewhere Great. Now go to medical school, graduate and start telling that to your patients, not anyone else's.
14
@Andre Dev Doctors that advocate for "watch and wait" are being pushed out of the trans treatment community. https://www.thecut.com/2016/02/fight-over-trans-kids-got-a-researcher-fired.html
10
Except in cases where personal decisions impact the greater population, such as vaccination, the government should not impose itself into personal medical decisions which should be left to the individual and medical community.
26
It is unfortunate that even those who have had such surgeries and changed their minds, are not allowed to express their concerns, and are branded extremists. Medical treatment can’t drown out science.
28
@Raindrop The scientists in this case are all against the bill. It was scientists who researched the effect of these treatments on gender dysphoria in the first place. Please don't conflate your opinion with science.
9
@Raindrop Disturbing anecdote. Do you have any evidence of statistics to back it up ? Or is it a case of "everyone knows"?
2
The Right is now taking direction from a chiropractor (not a real doctor regardless of the number of years in school) surfing the internet where, as we know, all things we think are true are true. The Right is no longer trustful of genuine expertise because what do 'they know?' Perhaps this (doctor) can later sponsor a law prohibiting blood trans-fusions from different races,'because, well, ya' know.'
13
Nothing reveals how intellectually deficient and woefully unprepared most of our politicians are than when they blithely and ceremoniously splash around in the shallow end of medicine, technology, and science.
Let’s leave medical issues to doctors, you know, those elitist experts who actually know something about medicine. Focus on naming streets and elementary schools and other matters of great import.
25
@T. Rivers Except there is no science supporting these "treatments" which can sterilize children.
23
@Reader-There is a plethora of peer-reviewed literature on these "treatments"... All you have to do to find it is search on PubMed or Google Scholar.
8
@Reader Give me a break with your profit motivated conspiracy theories. Some hormone blood tests and prescription hrt is among the lowest profit margins within the healthcare industry. much less the crazy gop attention with it. You posting this disingenuously all over this thread is gross.
10
"The bill would affect far more teenagers who are prescribed puberty blockers, injections or implants that are frequently administered to children who are experiencing gender dysphoria as a way to pause the process of puberty."
What teenager DOESN'T want to "pause the process of puberty" at one time or another? If I could have kept myself from getting my period at 12 and "paused" it until I was 14 (when my sisters got theirs), I would have been all about it - and I've never wanted to be anything but a girl.
Bottom line: puberty is confusing and horrible even for the most level-headed kids - and we just don't know the long-term affects of these drugs. Letting a child determine their own course of medical treatment is ridiculous.
68
@Susan but it's not like the child is doing all of this on their own. Parents are still responsible for their children's healthcare. The decision is ultimately up to the child, parents, and physician together. This legislation would remove parental rights surrounding healthcare.
7
@Susan False equivalence. Without puberty blockers transgender teens' bodies will continue to develop according to their biological gender.
Anyone with any real understanding knows that this contributes to their distress and social difficulties fo life.
8
I don’t hate transgender individuals but I am suspicious on initiating such treatments on children who cannot get a drivers license, a tattoo, or cigarettes because they are deemed too immature to make the decisions required. I also tend to agree with parents being the ones who make the decisions but some decisions would seem to approach child abuse.
54
@T Smith Please read about puberty blockers before you make claims like this: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gender-dysphoria/in-depth/pubertal-blockers/art-20459075
15
Didn't we literally just make it so that you have to be 21 years old to legally smoke a cigarette?
40
Yes, and it should follow that if a young person cannot fully appreciate the dangers of smoking at age 18, how can they possibly fully understand or appreciate the dangers of signing up for the military at age 18? Or signing contracts at age 18? Obviously, they cannot.
3
Finally some common sense
19
So thoughtful of law-makers to interfere with the decisions of doctors and their patients. Who knew that a requirement to be a law-maker is to have a knowledge of medicine far exceeding those of an MD? Only in America.....
11
What's the tip-off that this legislation is a a culture war tactic?
The reality is that very few insurers pay for top surgery for people under the age of 16. Of the young people that I know who have had gender-affirming care, most of them have paid for it out of pocket. Insurers in progressive states are starting to pay, but for the most part it is families willing and able to pay the $9,800 bill themselves.
Not sure that there are many families in SD who can do that, even if there were doctors willing to perform top surgery there. This is one of the many reasons that young people (trans or not) want to escape places like South Dakota.
13
@Reader
My 16 year old son did. He is a happy, healthy, confident kid who is an A student. He is beloved and supported at home, school and church.
His surgeon has performed hundreds of these surgeries. He is a thoughtful, skilled, caring guy. As his my son's endocrinologist. As is the psychologist who evaluated my son for over a year and declared that it was crystal clear that the surgery was appropriate.
You are entitled to consider my son's actions to be wrong (though it is not clear why). but I urge you to get the facts and not get stuck in your own impressions.
14
@Cousy You will only know whether this was the right choice in a few years.
5
@Cousy Your language uses misleading euphemisms. Let’s get real: “top surgery” is double mastectomy of healthy breast tissue on a child; while “gender affirming care” is drugs that halt physical development, cross-sex hormones, and surgical removal of heathy tissue. Sterility and permanent inhibition of sexual desire and function are likely results, especially when started before puberty.
Have you watched any detransitioners on YouTube? Heartbreaking stories. They can never be whole.
31
The question never even raised, let alone answered, in pieces like this is: "Are there potential significant health problems that could result from these drugs?" Every doctor I have asked says "Yes," but while carefully making sure no on else can hear them, because this question seems to be a forbidden one.
52
“They’re not using the research. They’re not listening to any health care providers."
As a healthcare provider, I find it appalling that those supporting this bill haven't taken the time to hear from all sides of the issue. I have no desire for the government to dictate how I take care of my patients, especially when the government doesn't seem interested in actually examining the science and available evidence.
22
@Reader The Mayo Clinic doesn't mention permanent sterilization as a side effect of pubertal blockers. Could you post your sources, please?
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gender-dysphoria/in-depth/pubertal-blockers/art-20459075
5
@Mally What science? The science that shows that this "treatment" strategy permanently sterilizes children? That's the problem. The few doctors doing this (and they are few) are making money off a trend among children and they are using NO quality research to support this change.
12
"...It is relatively uncommon for teenagers in South Dakota to undergo gender-affirming surgery, such as mastectomies for transgender boys, because most medical professionals advise waiting until adulthood for permanent procedures...."
That is not true for trained medical professionals. The experts in this field, who increasingly are focused on the needs of adolescents, advise their patients to get treatment whenever it is warranted. High quality doctors do not have age cut-offs for treatment of any kind.
I know six high schoolers who have had top surgery. It was appropriate, thoughtfully planned, and done in accordance with the highest standards of care. It would have been pointless and cruel to wait.
17
@Cousy Thank you for correcting the lie that this is uncommon. But the fact that you know so many children who have done this should tell you something.
17
@Reader
Agreed! I live in a tolerant, welcoming community where children thrive. I'm an Episcopalian, an accepting denomination. I live in an area with exceptional health care.
Feel free to ask me anything about parenting a transgender child.
7
@Cousy I'd be more interested in hearing what your child has to say in five years time.
7
Why doesn't the headline read, "Doctors Could Face Criminal Charges for Subjecting Teens who Identify as Transgender to Irreversible Chemical or Surgical Sterilization"?
It's not like SD is criminalizing standard of care, well-researched, evidence based medical care. We are talking about treatment of a condition defined only by the patient's subjective experience, and the treatment is permanent, and in this case the patient's frontal cortexes aren't developed enough to allow them to have a tattoo or a tubal ligation.
Before we engage in pediatric cosmetic endocrinology, maybe we should ask about the possibility of regret, or at least know what the desistance rate is for these teens (a test characteristic better known as the Sensitivity of using subjective experience to make a diagnosis).
154
@D.M. Well, because that headline would be inaccurate. As noted in the article, the law is mostly to block the use of puberty-delaying drugs, which isn't irreversible, and isn't sterilization.
22
@D.M. - please educate yourself on the topic before spouting nonsense. GnRH agonists, or puberty blockers, are completely reversible interventions that pause the body's production of either testosterone/estrogen. Stopping the medication leads to normal resumption of puberty. The changes of puberty, however, are permanent and irreversible. Body and Facial Hair, the Adam's Apple, hip width, breast development, etc. are all permanent effects of puberty that make it difficult for transgender folks to safely transition.
These interventions are life-saving for kids with Gender Dysphoria, and are only prescribed after a number of conversations/assessments that review the concerns you have (possibility of regret, desistance, side effects, etc.).
30
@D.M.
This comment is so far away from the medical truth it's belittling to transgender individuals and their families.
21
Funny (not funny) how with "Obamacare," Republicans were up in arms about government bureaucrats getting between the patient and doctor and imposing decisions on them.
With things like healthcare for women or for transgender folks, however, Republicans are all about government bureaucrats getting between the patient and doctor and imposing decisions on them.
Republicans are lying when they tell you they're all about smaller government.
83
@Michael Twice a day the stopped watch is right. And stopping unscientific snake oil peddlers from destroying lives is right.
14
Good for South Dakota. Parents, not government, should be in charge of their children's health.
27
@Mark91345 - unfortunately, this bill does the opposite. For many parents, making the decision about medical transition is an agonizing decision made over the course of months to years. This bill would take their ability to make a decision away. This bill puts the government - as opposed to parents and physicians - in charge of their children's health.
33
@Mark91345 This bill doesn't put the decision for teens' health in the parents hands. It just allows government to punish doctors who treat these teens, despite their or their parent's wishes or input.
13
@Mark91345 I think you missed something in the article. The legislation will obviate the parent-physician partnership and stick the government's nose into their decision making process.
14
I thought that a guiding principle of the Republican Party was that government should stay out of the lives and decisions of the people. This legislation is a "big Daddy government knows best" law.
Does the government need to be sticking its nose into the intimate decisions of parents, their child and a physician? The legislation does not derive from "evidence-based medicine", but from hatred against a group of people. I don't know why, but members of the GOP cannot rest unless they have some group to heap their hatreds onto.
54
@Profbam Unless said legislation is red meat to their ignorant, bigoted base.
6
@Profbam
Actually, old style “Barry Goldwater Republicans” agree, government has no business in anyone’s bedrooms, etc. These people are religious conservatives, mostly evangelicals, and we all know how dangerous extremists are.
13
@Profbam There is no quality evidence supporting this activity. It's purely money-driven.
5
As they should. Those under 18 are not capable of making decisions on their own. When they are 18 they can do as they please.
84
@JimH - there are already broad legal protections for children to make their own medical decisions under certain circumstances, but this bill has nothing to do with that. Puberty blockers are ONLY prescribed with the consent of the parents. This bill takes away a parents' rights to make medical decisions on behalf of their children.
29
@JimH With the exception of controlling a 4000 lb hunk of steel and plastic on a 12 foot wide strip of tar and rocks. A wrong decision there means life or death. Less freedom every year. Stay out of this families decision making process.
6
@JimH I agree, and what may seem like a good idea at the time may be thought of differently down the road, but the damage done is irreversible. There are plenty of stories of trans people who wish they hadn't done it.
10