“I went for two appointments and after the second one I had my letter to go get on cross-sex hormones.”
“[My therapist] didn’t really go into what my gender dysphoria might be stemming from. We only did a few sessions.”
“When everything that I set out to do was done, I still felt incomplete.”
These are the words of the young men and women who recently spoke to 60 Minutes about why they left the transgender movement. In each case, they sought help for gender dysphoria and depression and were very quickly put on a path toward cross-sex hormones and surgery only to experience regret after the fact. Sadly, stories like theirs are becoming all too common. Amid a rise in rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) the transgender movement continues to push for unquestioning affirmation when a young person is struggling with the feeling that they were born in the wrong body and encourage young adults, teenagers, and even young children to undergo puberty-blockers, cross-sex hormones, and irreversible surgeries.
Around the world, people who have been harmed by this movement are speaking out and their courageous stand is effecting change. Kiera Bell won her case against the U.K.’s Tavistock clinic late last year. Sweden recently announced that they would no longer be following the “Dutch Protocol” — using puberty-blockers and cross-sex hormones as “treatment” for gender dysphoria in children, and here in the U.S., states are taking steps to protect children from these so-called “treatments.”
Most recently, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a bill into law banning the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones on children with gender dysphoria who have not yet reached puberty. This bill is a step in the right direction, but it does not go as far as Arkansas’s recent law and does not do enough to protect children and teens who are experiencing gender dysphoria. These “treatments” are harmful, experimental, and dangerous at any age. Tennessee is absolutely right to protect young children from these “treatments,” but by limiting the scope of the bill, they are failing to protect vulnerable children and teens during and after puberty.
The alarming spike in ROGD in the past decade has overwhelmingly affected adolescent girls. In most cases, these sudden feelings of gender dysphoria are arising after puberty, meaning that Tennessee’s new law would offer them no protection. Tennessee’s law would also have failed to help the young men and women whose stories were featured on 60 Minutes. Each of them transitioned after puberty, some of them as young adults.
The medical “treatments” these young people were subjected to are a violation of the “Do No Harm” principle at any age. It is never right to tell someone who is struggling with discomfort with their body that they were born in the wrong body and ought to remove healthy body parts or undergo hormone therapies that cause lasting harm to their physical health and render them sterile.
It is encouraging to see that the voices of the men and women who are speaking out about the harm caused by the transgender movement are being heard and that states are taking action to protect young people. Tennessee’s new law is a step in the right direction — hopefully they, and others, will continue to work toward protecting children and teens from harmful and irreversible “treatments.”
Our culture is lying to young people about “gender identity.” Learn more by watching our video on helping people with gender identity issues. To get confidential help finding a trusted counselor in your area, contact us at family@mfc.org. To download our guide for schools, churches, and families, click here: https://genderresourceguide.com
(Image: Twitter, Jason Rantz)
