Florida Dept. of Health no longer supports treatment of gender dysphoria for minors

I won't spare you the mental health angle. Your unwillingness to stay in your lane, and the unwillingness of people who think like you, is going to do far more harm to children than evidence-based treatments ever will. You need to reckon with that reality.
‘Terrible Time For Trans Youth:’ New Survey Spotlights Suicide Attempts — And Hope
The numbers are stark, worrisome and should set off alarm bells: 52% of all transgender and nonbinary young people in the U.S. seriously contemplated killing themselves in 2020. More than half thought it would be better to be dead, rather than trying to live with rejection, isolation, loneliness, bullying and being targeted by politicians and activists pushing anti-trans legislation.

Those are among the findings in The Trevor Project’s third annual National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, released Wednesday.

Largest Survey Of Transgender And Nonbinary Youth Says More Than Half Seriously Considered Suicide
In its second annual National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, The Trevor Project uncovered some alarming information about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and other gender nonconforming young Americans: 48% of this group said that in the last 12 months, they engaged in self-harm; that number rose to 60% for trans and nonbinary youth. Even more worrisome, 40% of those surveyed reported having seriously considered attempting suicide during that period; Of the young people who identified as trans or nonbinary, more than half said they strongly considered ending their lives.

Gender-Affirming Care Linked To Less Depression, Lower Suicide Risk For Trans Youth
The first large-scale study of its kind, announced Tuesday by The Trevor Project, provides a strong rebuttal to anti-transgender activists and Republican lawmakers across the country who have tried to ban gender-affirming healthcare for trans and nonbinary youth.

The organization said its peer-reviewed research paper found that gender-affirming hormone therapy, also known as GAHT, is significantly related to lower rates of depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicide attempts by young people who identify as transgender and/or nonbinary.
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Young people receiving GAHT reported a lower likelihood of experiencing recent depression and considering suicide, compared to those who wanted GAHT but did not receive it.

Receiving GAHT was associated with nearly 40% lower odds of recent depression and of a past-year suicide attempt by young people under age 18.
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You're not protecting children by supporting this, dude. You're sentencing them to death.

 

Again, puberty blockers are not irreversible. And since most kids hit puberty long before 18, if they truly want to make the transition permanent, assigning blockers at a younger age gives the kid more of a true sense of what a permanent transition would feel like. Which helps with the kid's mental health, and significantly lowers the odds of suicide attempts.

Block the ability to give these drugs to kids under 18, and you will see suicides in trans youth increase. How is that protecting them?

 

Apparently you support increased suicide and stigma among kids.

 

Oh give me a break with the drama club shit, ok? I'm not sentencing anyone to death.

What percentage of those receiving GAHT are receiving puberty blockers, hormone therapy or sex change surgery? Again, I'm fine with anything and everything short of that.

These kids need therapy if they are suicidal. Potentially SSRIs or other depression medications if necessary. But I'm still adamantly opposed to any chemical therapy or surgery that could have irreversible consequences with regards to sex.

 

Ultimately if you think gender dysphoria is a mental illness not just a whim perfectly healthy people have, then it stands to any kind of reason that treatment > no treatment. Yes, other kids have issues and problems, and they get to be treated for those in consultation with a Dr. and Parents without interference from the state government.

 

What the hell does any person know about being a man or a woman before they go through puberty? That's the whole thing. You never knew a tomboy that grew into a very feminine woman after going through puberty? That little girl should not be deciding to become a man before nature has had a chance to run its course.

 

Again, I have no issues with mental therapy of any kind.

 

GAHT = Gender-Affirming HORMONE Therapy. The article also answers your question about gender-reassignment surgery. I'm not going to give you a break. These policies harm kids. That's not something you should just gloss over when supporting them.
Gender-Affirming Care Linked To Less Depression, Lower Suicide Risk For Trans Youth
Medical-affirming care can include treatments that postpone physical changes associated with puberty, as well as treatments that lead to changes that would affirm one's gender identity. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs, commonly known as “puberty blockers,” are used to delay the onset of puberty, while gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) is used to promote gender-affirming physical changes. GAHT allows transgender and nonbinary youth to develop physical characteristics that align with their gender identity and is appropriate for those who have begun puberty or following the use of puberty blockers. Access to GAHT is especially important during adolescence because some effects of puberty are not easily reversed by GAHT in adulthood (e.g., testosterone's effects on voice)." Typically, gender-affirming care does not involve surgical procedures for youth younger than 18, despite claims by some opponents of gender-affirming care that children as young as five are taking hormones and having surgery. Politifact looked into such claims and rated them “false.”
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Medical professionals are the ones who recommend the gender-affirming hormone treatments because they help to address the issues that are making these children suicidal.
American Academy of Pediatrics Speaks Out Against Bills Harming Transgender Youth
AACAP Statement Responding to Efforts to ban Evidence-Based Care for Transgender and Gender Diverse
March 26, 2021: State Advocacy Update

 

So this is extremely rare, I know, but thought I'd share.

Patient had hormone treatments etc to transition from male to female. Changed his mind before anything permanent because after much counseling he figured out that he was gay & feminine but no longer felt like he was a "woman" per se. So he was being cleared for surgery -- he had breast cancer. With no family history it was felt it was related to the hormone therapies (which were reversed but it was years of regulating his hormones).

Hormones are definitely not harmless, and I have to agree that the hormones/surgeries should wait til they're adults. They bring enough risk in a fully developed adult body. They need counseling & support to make sure they're ready for the challenges, changes, etc. Then when they're 18 if that's what they want, then it's their choice.

 

Respectfully, dude, this completely misunderstands the problem here.

 

Well I hope you can see how that therapy might be less effective if someone who is 12 has been thinking they want to transition to a girl since they were like 6 all of a sudden is denied puberty blockers and starts growing a middle school mustache, bass voice and going to school in girls clothes. As many people have pointed out delaying puberty gives people even more time to think about it while living the way that feels right. Its completely reversible. If its not for them, they can walk away.

 

The puberty blockers allow the kid to explore what it would truly be like to be the other gender without any permanent change that can't be undone. It gives trans people more information so that when they hit 18, they can make better, more informed decisions. And as several studies have shown, without this treatment available, it increases the risk of a suicide attempt by a significant margin. Likely because people who believe themselves to be girls don't want to start growing facial hair, and those who think they are boys don't want breasts. But bottom line, GAHT has shown to save lives, and is nothing that cannot be reversed.

 

I just have some fundamental misgivings about a boy being convinced he doesn’t want to be a man until he’s reached some level of sexual maturity. And it’s impossible to do that without first going through puberty. I think it’s extremely reckless to halt that natural process before realizing what it truly is to be a man/woman first.

And this law doesn’t prevent them from transitioning it just prevents them from doing it until they are 18.

Get a shrink until you’re 18 and then go nuts (or nutless as the case may be).

 

Are those of you insisting parents should have a say in gender reassignment, still against parental notification for a minor getting an abortion?

 

This sort of nonprogressive, anything doesn't go, DINO position will not stand sir!

 

There are trans kids out there who have presented as the other gender since way before the onset of puberty. For these kids, undergoing puberty and showing as the other gender is very difficult. The gender blockers, to them, are more "natural" than actually going through puberty. And again, studies show it decreases suicide by 40%.

Decisions should be made between the kid, the parent(s), and the doctor(s). On a case by case basis. For the state to decide what is best, especially when it goes against medical advice is not only intrusive, but harmful.

 

Being blunt, your misgivings shouldn't matter. You can dictate what treatments your own kids get. The leading medical groups say you're wrong. Studies on these treatments show their effectiveness in saving children's lives. You're acting no different than the crazy Christians who want to use government to impose their beliefs on the rest of us.

 

I don’t see it as a “treatment” because I don’t think there is anything wrong with the kid. I think they need therapy for depression if they experience it until they are adults at which point they can switch sexes.

 

I look at it like a tattoo. I can’t take my 10 year old into a tattoo parlor and get a tattoo on her face can I? Why not? What if she really wants it?

 

Again, you can impose your beliefs on your own children. How are you acting any differently than the crazy Christians right now? The leading medical associations disagree with you.