The New York Analysis of Policy & Government is honored to present this guest commentary by the distinguished retired jurist, John H. Wilson. John H. Wilson is a former Judge of the New York City Criminal Court. He has served as an Assistant District Attorney, and a Public Defender.
Every one of us have made decisions and wish we’d done things differently. However, few have the long lasting repercussion of the surgical removal of a sexual organ. When these decisions have been made by an adult, that adult can only blame themselves for their error. But what if the decision to transition from one sex to another is made by a child?
Increasingly, Transgenderism is being diagnosed in children, some as young as 5 years old. Parents with young children who identify as other than their birth sex are now frequently consenting to a medical provider giving that child hormone-blockers, in anticipation of the future removal of that child’s sexual organs.
This is obviously a controversial choice for a parent to make on behalf of their young child, one that has stirred debate across the country, if not the world. But now, the American College of Pediatricians has stepped into the controversy regarding children with “gender dysphoria” – and stated clearly and unequivocally that “conditioning children into believing that a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse.”
Citing to scientific standards, the Pediatric group states that “human sexuality is an objective biological binary trait: “XY” and “XX” are genetic markers of health,” and as such, “Everyone is born with a biological sex,” that is, either male or female. While this may seem obvious to most people, the conclusion the College draws from this fact is what has stirred controversy: “When an otherwise healthy biological boy believes he is a girl, or an otherwise healthy biological girl believes she is a boy, an objective psychological problem exists that lies in the mind not the body, and it should be treated as such.”
The Pediatric group has no problem with stating that “gender dysphoria.” is, in fact, a recognized mental illness. Quoting from the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition(DSM-V). page 455, the College states that those distressed and impaired by “gender dysphoria” meet the definition of a psychiatric disorder. But here, significantly, the Pediatric group disagrees with the treatment generally prescribed to “cure” the disorder.
“Puberty is not a disease and puberty-blocking hormones can be dangerous.” the doctors write. “Reversible or not, puberty- blocking hormones induce a state of disease – the absence of puberty – and inhibit growth and fertility in a previously biologically healthy child.”
As expected, the backlash against the College has been vicious. The website for Think Progress calls the College a “hate group,” and cites to the Southern Poverty Law Center for support. Further, the Huffington Post turns the College’s position on its head, and accuses the Pediatric Group of being the ones endangering the lives of transgender youth.
Predictably, however, the majority of the mainstream media has largely ignored the statement published by the College.
This silence is not surprising, given that the majority of coverage given to this issue favors gender reassignment. On Slate, we find headlines such as “Raising a Trans Child is not Child Abuse,” and “How to tell Aunt Esther That Her Niece is Now Her Nephew.”
In recent years, those who have undergone sexual reassignment surgery are celebrated. For instance, on Slate appears an article about a 7 year old boy, “My Son Loves My Little Pony,” in which a father discusses how hard it is for “boys who want to embrace their femininity,” since “men and boys are mostly shamed for expressing anything outside of the macho ideal.”
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Stories can be found from those who deeply regret taking a knife to their sexuality. At the website “Sex Change Regret,” http://www.sexchangeregret.com/ Walt Heyer documents his own transition from male, to female, and back to male. He also reports the experience of M, who states “although I thought I was completely sure of what I was doing, I began to regret the decision a mere three weeks after the operation.”
In England, Chelsea Attonley, who transitioned from a male to a female, and lived as a female for 7 years, wishes to return to her original male identity. Chelsea states that “no amount of surgery can give me an actual female body and I feel like I am living a lie.” Yet, the sub headlines to the story in the Daily Mail focus on the cost to the National Health System of both the original and the reversal surgery.
Given the history described here, it is not surprising that the few non-conservative news outlets that have covered the statement made by the American College of Pediatricians have attacked the position, and instead document the strong necessity of supporting your child’s decision to be transgender, no matter what their age.
There are few stories available regarding the regrets felt by children at their transition. Ria Cooper began receiving female hormone treatments at the age of 16. He states that the last time he dressed as a boy was when he was 10 years old. In 2012, at the age of 18, Cooper decided to return to his male identity. In 2010, he stated the obvious truth that his doctors ignored – “People might think I’m too young to make such a huge decision.” (Daily Mail)
At his website Sex Change Regret, Walt Heyer describes “one controversial treatment for children with gender dysphoria is the administration of drugs called hormone blockers to delay puberty…(yet) most will grow out of the dysphoria. Isn’t there some way to work through the distress than experimenting on our children?”
Here, then, is the issue in a nutshell – Celebrating the “lifestyle choices,” of the gender confused ignores the medical and psychological issues involved in gender reassignment surgery, including the deep regret felt by many of those who have undergone these invasive and dangerous surgical procedures.
The American College of Pediatricians does not hesitate to point out the detrimental health effects of gender reassignment surgery. “Children who use puberty blockers to impersonate the opposite sex will require cross-sex hormones in late adolescence. Cross-sex hormones (testosterone and estrogen) are associated with dangerous health risks including but not limited to high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke and cancer.” Further, “rates of suicide are twenty times greater among adults who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex reassignment surgery, even in Sweden which is among the most LGBTQ – affirming countries.”
It is one thing when the choice to transition has been made by an adult, of legal age to make such a significant decision. But when we are discussing a choice made by a child, legally incapable of making a decision without the consent of a parent, the utter irresponsibility of blocking the onset of that child’s puberty is manifest.