I made the conscious decision when I was around 14 to not transition, because I knew that it would lead to a more difficult life.
I could not make it. I would be dead if not for transition in my early 20’s.
My life is still more difficult, and I struggle with suicidal ideation, but that is entirely related to the way society treats me. I have been chased out of my career field, I have been told I am disgusting, I have been threatened, I have been sexually assault. Those things have happened because I am trans, and they have made me suicidal. But denying me treatment would take away the one aspect - the comfort in my own body - that helps protect me from the decision to commit suicide.
and transitioning at 14 might on average result in a person integrating into cis-normative society more easily than transitioning after puberty in their 20s, this means less dysphoria, less job discrimination, less chance of being a hate crime statistic, etc. - we need to make it much easier for trans kids to get the help they need so they live healthier and happier lives.
We just don’t have any evidence or reason to think trans kids are very likely to be wrong about transitioning, and we meanwhile have a mountain of evidence telling us treatment is very effective and has unusually low regret rates … this is just so obvious from a medical and scientific viewpoint, the only hangup seems to be cultural lag.
I made the conscious decision when I was around 14 to not transition, because I knew that it would lead to a more difficult life.
I could not make it. I would be dead if not for transition in my early 20’s.
My life is still more difficult, and I struggle with suicidal ideation, but that is entirely related to the way society treats me. I have been chased out of my career field, I have been told I am disgusting, I have been threatened, I have been sexually assault. Those things have happened because I am trans, and they have made me suicidal. But denying me treatment would take away the one aspect - the comfort in my own body - that helps protect me from the decision to commit suicide.
and transitioning at 14 might on average result in a person integrating into cis-normative society more easily than transitioning after puberty in their 20s, this means less dysphoria, less job discrimination, less chance of being a hate crime statistic, etc. - we need to make it much easier for trans kids to get the help they need so they live healthier and happier lives.
We just don’t have any evidence or reason to think trans kids are very likely to be wrong about transitioning, and we meanwhile have a mountain of evidence telling us treatment is very effective and has unusually low regret rates … this is just so obvious from a medical and scientific viewpoint, the only hangup seems to be cultural lag.