So. Kids As Young As 7 Can Get Transgender Therapy.

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by TristramShandy

We have friends who have three boys, ages 8, 5, and 3. The 8 and 3 year olds are very masculine, especially the 8 year old - - little ball of energy into all things traditionally masculine. The youngest one is following right in his steps.

The middle boy has been interested in all things girl for the past two-and-a-half years. He wears Disney princess dresses constantly. If he comes over to our house (I have an 8-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter), he goes right to my daughter's room. His eyes light up with anything that is traditionally feminine.

His parents haven't pushed anything on him. They aren't going to do anything drastic to him. But this isn't a phase, either. He's not doing it to get attention and they aren't giving him extra attention for it. They take no joy in it because they know how hard it will be on him, but they love him and aren't forcing him to act in ways that he isn't comfortable with either.

This becomes a political football for a lot of people, but there are people whose lives are affected by this. I'm not interested in politicizing their situation.

But the child may not be trans. He could just like different things than his brothers. He also could be gay. Being gay and trans are not the same. It's great he has a supportive family and I hope they continue to be. You don't know whether or not it is a phase or not. He is 5. Most of us are not into the same things we were "into" at 5 years old. I do still like transformers but when I was 5 I didn't like anything "girly" (I'm a woman) and I love pretty/girly things today even though I also still like transformers and the Thunder Cats lol.

[Oldhag1]

Originally Posted by suzy_q2010

In the absence of any way to tell who will persist and who will not, what do you propose to do? If social transitioning is not offered, are you not throwing the persisters under the bus?

What my parents did - allow the child to dress and act how they wish at home and have them utilize their birth name and gender in public, promising them that if after puberty they still feel the same way you will support their public transitioning. At 18, if the feeling persistents, then transition because it is not likely to change again AND the person is an adult. There is a reason kids aren’t allowed to enter into a contract of any kind or make their own decisions on most things that have a lasting impact.

Originally Posted by suzy_q2010

I cannot find a source to support this statement.

The last time you and I had this go around on this exact same subject I provided multiple links and offered you suggestions of how to find researchers/titles of research not found on the internet, along with providing you several the names of several academic papers available for purchase. I’m not going through that work again. I have a deep personal interest in this topic, I have read tons of research on the topic, including research not easily accessible on the internet. You too can pay for access to research. Find it or don’t.

Originally Posted by suzy_q2010

Why would your life be "ruined" today?

Because I chose to keep my birth gender and because I was fortunate enough to not socially transition I have not been subjected to decades of “Remember when Little Hag pretended to be a boy and made all of us call her a different name. What a nutcase.” And how pray tell, does the child in the midst of moving from I’m a boy to I’m a girl in high school explain suddenly showing up again in the girls’ bathroom? You think that is going to happen without ugly comments and outright bullying?

Originally Posted by suzy_q2010

Do you realize that what you are saying is that today's transgender children should not be allowed to do what you did?

Reread what I wrote. I was treated like a “tomboy” and it was no big deal. I wore skirts to school everyday, I went to school back in the day when girls weren’t allowed to wear pants to school.

Originally Posted by suzy_q2010

Socially transitioning younger children does not involve anything permanent.

Except set you up for a lifetime of people treating you like you are not stable. People are not going to allow you to go back to your original gender with just a shrug of their shoulders after you caused major drama, including altering the way hundreds of other students function, insisting you were another. So, I suppose if you are planning on moving away and/or cutting yourself off from everyone in your past it’s no big deal - but most people don’t do that.

You have NO idea what it feels like to experience this, unless you went through it yourself. None.

[T-310]

Originally Posted by atltechdude

Anti-gay intolerance is a mental deficiency and kids are too young to have it thrown onto them. I know because I was one and it took me years to get past the emotional abuse my parents inflicted on me.

So at 7 you knew better than your parents? I hardly think so.

[Spottednikes]

No different than doing liposuction on an anorexic child.

Most children go thru a phase where they want to be the opposite sex, or play dress up as the opposite sex. They grow out of it.

[mkpunk]

Originally Posted by T-310

It’s mental illness. Kids are too young to have this mental illness thrown onto them.

Not really. By 7 a child could know they are not normal. A boy can realize that they don't feel like an average boy and might be a girl and vice versa for girls. I think it is better to know it sooner than later.