OUTLINE OF TOPICS
Terms to know
AFFIRMATIVE MODEL: Gender identity is fully affirmed, often with medical transition offered to minors
GD: Gender Dysphoria
DESISTANCE/PERSISTENCE: Terms used for youths who outgrow wanting to be the opposite sex, versus those who maintain a trans identity
GENDER IDEOLOGY: Term used for trans/genderqueer ideology (a subset of “queer theory”), with roots in postmodernism. It states that literal biological sex is based on gender identity and that gender is a spectrum. It favors subjective experience over other ways of looking at the world.
GNC: Gender Nonconforming
FtM: Female to Male Trans Person
INFORMED CONSENT MODEL: Gatekeeping processes are removed but the patient (even a minor) is informed of medical consequences
MtF: Male to Female Trans Person
SRS: Sex Reassignment Surgery
WPATH: World Professional Association for Transgender Health
”LGBT”: This is in quotes on the GHQ website because despite its widespread use, there is no such thing as an “LGBT person” or united “LGBT agenda” and the constant use of the term creates a false impression that there is. LGB people and trans people have different needs and viewpoints between and within their populations.
Here is a complete list of references.
OUTLINE
1) Do children & teens with serious gender dysphoria ever desist from the dysphoria?
A. Changes to DSM-V childhood & adolescent dysphoria
B. Desistance/persistence statistics & the association with adult LGB identity
-Desistance stats breakdown of DSM positive children (more sever dysphoria beyond gender nonconformity)
-Will living full-time as the opposite sex & early hormone blocker use prevent desistance?
-New information on desistance in tween, teen, & young adult onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) occurring mostly in females
C. Evidence teenage girls are being put at risk for unnecessary medical body modifications by gender affirming doctors & therapists; boys may be impacted in other ways
-Risks to girl
-Risks to boys
D. Hormone blockers may prevent a youth from outgrowing gender dysphoria
-Very few children desist once put on hormone blockers
-Therapists, doctors, & the endocrine society are recommending giving blockers to dysphoric minors before the age when they can start to align with their natural body
E. Three anecdotal examples the affirmative model may increase persistence
F. Conclusion, desistance
Topic 1 (Part 2): 2023 Updates
Topic 1 Blog Posts
2) Consequences & permanent side-effects that result from the use of hormone blockers
A. Hormone blockers to cross-sex hormones stunts genital growth & may permanently damage sexual function
-Need for a more complex surgery
-Affirmative therapists/doctors have made the decision that preventing normal genital development is worth relieving the mental distress of a tween; many adult MTFs choose not to have bottom surgery
-Professionals admit their treatment plans may negatively impact or permanently destroy a youth's sexual functioning
-Transfemme persons without bottom surgery find partners so why is this protocol “medically necessary”?
-Blockers shut down the hormonal process in a developing tween/teen, which may affect sexual psychological maturation.
B. Hormone blockers to cross-sex hormones causes sterilization
-There are many examples of trans people with biological children or who want them
-Summary sterilization issues
C. Other puberty blocker effects that may not be fully reversible
-Puberty blockers & negative effects on mental health, physical health, & IQ
-Effects specific to males
-Is reducing distress & passing better a good argument for disregarding possible hormone blocker risks?
D. Many effects of cross-sex hormones are irreversible & long-term effects on minors & young adults who transition are unknown, as most research is on late transitioning MtFs & FtMs
-Adult studies on hormone safety do not translate to early medical intervention cohorts
-Testosterone side effects
-Estrogen side effects
E. Surgery on minors
F. Conclusion, medical consequences
-Not all trans people agree with medical techniques being performed on minors
-Pros & cons of early medical treatment
Topic 2 (Part 2): 2023
Updates Topic 2 Blog Posts
3) Are children & teens old enough to give consent to medical gender transition?
4) Affirmative model mental health professionals & doctors & statements suggesting lack of concrete knowledge of long-term safety & effects on desistance
A. Statements admitting trans health care professionals are socially & medically experimenting on their patients
B. Possible adult professional influence on trans-identification in minors
C. Unsubstantiated claims it is known that social transitions are “fully reversible”
-Multiple statements on the “reversibility” of an early gender social transition
-Evidence social transitions may in fact increase persistence
-Not all gender professionals support early social transition
D. Unsubstantiated claims it is known that hormone blockers are “fully reversible” & that they are beneficial to the child’s decision-making process about their gender
-Physical effects of giving children hormone blockers to cross-sex hormones may not be not reversible
-Multiple statements on the “reversibility” of hormone blockers
-Hormone blockers may effect the gender identity of the youth & increases persistence
E. Obscuring desistance
-Multiple statements by affirmative model mental & medical health professionals seeming to downplay desistance
-Methodological flaws arguments don’t prove desistance numbers are statistically irrelevant
-Framing discussions of desistance as transphobic possibly to avoid ethics discussion around risks to desisting children
-Gender dysphoria experts who acknowledge desistance
-“I am a girl” versus “I wish I was a girl” presented as a way to soundly diagnose “true trans” children
F. Obscuring the link between gender dysphoria & adult homosexuality / bisexuality
-Gender dysphoria & its connection to adult homosexuality or bisexuality
-Affirmative model advocates seeming to avoid discussion of the connection between adult homosexuality & childhood gender dysphoria
-Desisters were really closeted trans people
G. Statements demonstrating lack of clear diagnostic criteria
-Apples, oranges, & fruit salad
-Confidence among affirmative model advocates without solid evidentiary backing for the safety of protocols they promote
-Problems with The Trans Youth Project Study & NIH study
-Gender dysphoria as a “normal variation” in human beings
H. Miscellaneous comments
I. Promote the idea that parents only have 2 options, transition their child or teen or they will kill themselves
J. Alleged possible conflicts of interest due do financial gain for pushing off label use of drugs
5) Mental health & medical professionals have moved from a mental health screening model to a gender dysphoria affirmative model
A. Statements by therapists & doctors supporting the gender dysphoria affirmation model in children
-Let the child lead
B. Pro-early transition doctors & therapists do not want psych. assessment letters or age restrictions for cross-sex hormones or genital surgery for minors
-Lowering the age of consent for surgery & hormones
C. Enthusiastic support for medically transitioning minors with unstudied non-binary identities
D. Enthusiastic support for transitioning autistic youth or developmentally disabled youth
-Some mental health experts advocate for more caution with autistic youth
-Autism spectrum individuals who feel transition would have been harmful to them
E. Not all gender professionals agree that the gender dysphoria affirmative model won’t increase persistence & that these concerns should be disregarded
F. There are already historical examples of harm resulting from lax gatekeeping
-Risks of regretters are worth trans affirmative healthcare
-Examples of enthusiastic medical transition environments causing enough harm to require governmental intervention
G. Proper mental health support as a human rights issue
H. Trans people & detransitioners concerned over lack of mental health screening & support
6) Examples of minors being medically transitioned without any meaningful psychological assessments
-Examples of cases of minors & young adults receiving immediate affirmation with zero or near zero mental health exploration
-2 Cases of desistance where the therapist helped by not enthusiastically affirming
7) Conversion therapy laws
A. Conversion therapy laws
B. Inappropriate comparison to anti-conversion therapy laws for homosexuality
C. Concerns over false positives &/or over-medicalization are bigotry against trans people
D. Can childhood gender identity be changed?
E. Some scientists, therapists, & parents think conversion therapy laws are preventing better mental health counseling for young people
8) Regret rates & long term mental health
A. Despite low regret rates, mental health problems remain high indicating transition is not a fix-all for gender dysphoria
B. Are regret rates increasing with more transitions & people transitioning at younger ages?
-Regret rates appear to be increasing
-Prior studies are not a proper comparison to what is happening now with increases in young people large increases of females
-Increases of female teens with serious mental health problems
-Efforts to deny regret & detransition
C. Conclusion, regret rates
9) New World Order: How will the environment Gender activists are creating affect desistance rates & gender nonconforming young people in general?
A. Non-binary birth certificates
B. Parents are raising their children as “theybies”
C. Early assessment
D. Children will participate in extremely politicized pro-transition environments
E. Validate the child’s body dysphoria & disassociation rather than attempt to mediate & reduce it
F. School trainings to reinforce concepts of gender transition & gender spectrum identities in preschool, elementary school, junior high, & high school
G. Early use of hormone blockers & cross-sex hormones
H. Lower or remove age of consent laws for hormones & surgery & define explorative therapy as reparative/conversion therapy to illegalize it
I. Affirmation of all gender dysphoria, including later onset cases in teens & young adults
J. Legal battles to remove children from the home & force hospitals to operate on minors
K. Conclusion, new world order
10) Nature versus nurture: What other factors besides “innate gender identity” contribute to trans identification in young people
-Innate nature: research supporting biological factors in trans & homosexual identities
-A study that may help distinguish trans brains from homosexual brains
-Is autogynephilia an innate gender identity? A controversial diagnosis but clearly observable phenomena
-Are non-binary identities, heterosexual female FtM identities, & autistic trans identities biologically innate?
-Some general quotes supporting the relevance of nurture in trans identity
-Anecdotal examples of the blurry line between gnc gay & trans, Marsha P. Johnson & Sylvia Rivera
A. Anti-gay/lesbian/bisexual, tomboy, & female attitudes can fuel trans identification
-Homophobia & trans identity
-Examples of a female inferiority complex
-Pressure on adult gender nonconforming gays & lesbians to transition, it is reasonable to be concerned about cultural effects on children & teens
-Some trans activists are aware of the homophobia in the general public & intentionally distance themselves from LGB rights activism in order to access schools
-Some cultures are more accepting of transgenderism than homosexuality
B. Evidence of parental influences on a child’s transgender identity
-Some parents may prefer their child medically transition than be a future gay or lesbian adult
-Parental support & even enthusiasm to transition their child
-Adopted children, children in single-parent homes, & from certain socioeconomic backgrounds appear more likely to have gender dysphoria
-Psychological factors in parents may influence gender dysphoria in children
C. Psychological issues & environment influencing a trans identification
-Other mental illnesses may blend with or fuel a trans identification in the current cultural climate
-Autism
-Plural & other disassociated individuals
-Conclusion, psychological issues
D. Social contagion & peer pressure
-Is the explosion in gender dysphoria, whose increase is promulgated by media & social media, following a pattern of other socially contagious mental illnesses?
-Demographics of gay, lesbian, bisexual youth & youth with GD have changed, more homosexuals, & bisexual & heterosexual females, are identifying as trans
-Social status & peer pressure
-Can porn use or anime fuel gender dysphoria?
E. Are there cultures where trans youth do not experience distress or urges to self-harm; are their cultures that increase the likelihood of gender dysphoria?
F. Alternative coping strategies
G. Conclusion, culture
11) Why are so many females coming out as trans/non-binary?
A. Evidence for large increases in females identifying as trans
-Affirmative model advocates’ explanations for increasing numbers of trans identified females
B. Females experience higher rates of body hatred, certain types of self-harming, & anxiety/depression that may influence a trans identification
-Research & historical evidence indicates females do acquire mentally troubled feelings socially & more often than males
C. Mental illness
D. Abuse
E. Anti-homosexual attitudes
F. Female autism
G. Conclusion, why are there so many females?
12) Cultural ripple effects, psychological consequences, & rights conflicts arising from gender ideology & increases of trans-identified young people
A. Gender confusion, sexual confusion, & a neurotic obsession with gender & identity in young people
-Many mental health & medical doctors support gender ideology (queer theory), what are gender affirming professionals teaching young people?
-Affirmative clinicians & public-school systems enthusiastically promote trans/genderqueer ideology, how is this actually affecting young people in the real world?
-Building a culture of validation & normalization for all outlying identities
-Intense fixation on bathroom use as societal identity endorsement
-Pronoun diversity etiquette, respectful acknowledgement of people who are different or a promotion of an unhealthy obsession with identity politics?
-Belief that trans people are literally the opposite sex is causing conflict with those who believe the trans experience differs from that of males & females who are not trans
-An attitude of entitlement to emotional & sexual access to others based on gender identity
***Liberal entities & mental health professionals promote the concept sexual orientation is problematic & bigoted
***Sexual orientation is transphobic if it’s not gender identity orientation
***Lesbians are by far the most common targets of transphobia & bigotry accusations for not changing their sexuality
***Sexual orientation as bigotry is a mainstream liberal media position
***Gender fraud law, fighting for the right to sexual deception
***Trans people who speak out against a culture of shaming people for having sexual orientations
B. A regressive ideology that over-emphasizes gender stereotypes
C. A culture glorifying body dysphoria, plastic surgery, & hormonal body modifications to achieve not only a full gender transition, but to support an androgynous aesthetic for non-binary identities, often for amorphous reasons
-Critics of online trans/genderqueer youth culture believe it is fueling female body dysphoria, making gender dysphoria trendy, drawing in young people with other mental illnesses, & is creating an overly casual attitude towards surgical & hormonal body modifications
-Cultural celebration of breast binding, double mastectomy & non-binary double mastectomies, reinforced by magazines for youth & school endorsement of binding policies dysmorphic disorder, or a combination?
D. An unhealthy peer pressure environment
E. Rights conflicts & safety concerns
-Dysphoric biological males in bathrooms & locker rooms
-There have already been incidences with trans students involving mixing genders in school bathrooms: it is not a total “non-issue” as it is often portrayed as by activists
-MtFs on female sports teams
-Parental rights concerns regarding gender & name changes at school
-Changing the meaning of sexual orientation
-Violation of rights to free thought & speech of others
-Trans identification wielded to seek special attention/power at school & elsewhere
-Any conflicts in school environments must be handled with calm & respect a culture of shunning trans youth or demonizing others with concerns is not productive or good role modeling
13) Why is gender ideology being prioritized in educational settings when scientific validity claims are questionable & it is controversial, even within & between people in LGB & T populations?
A. The bigger picture: introduction of postmodern style gender ideology in schools is not just about inclusion, it is about training young students to accept gender ideology as fact & the moral high ground
B. Gender ideology viewpoints & goals of contemporary trans activism are not shared by others within the LGB and T populations, despite being portrayed as having consensus support
-Trans people who are critical of the gender & sexual confusion they see happening
-Bisexuals, Gays, & Lesbians who are critical
-Liberals & moderates who are critical of gender ideology
C. Scientists who see harm in current gender ideology
D. Why gender ideology beyond anti-bullying policy in its current form should not be taught in schools
14) Problems with a politicized climate of harassment & censorship
A. Past extremist behavior of activists: the beginning of a pattern
B. Hostility, threats, & attempts to censor balanced discussions of youth medical transitions- mental & medical health professionals
C. Hostility, threats, & attempts to censor balanced discussions of youth medical transitions- journalists & media
D. Hostility, threats, & attempts to censor balanced discussions of youth medical transitions- educational professionals
E. Hostility, threats, & attempts to censor balanced discussions of youth medical transitions- trans people who do not agree with the affirmative model for children & are critical of medical treatments on minors
F. Hostility, threats, & attempts to censor balanced discussions of youth medical transitions- cautious parents & parents of desisters
G. Trans support groups that enforce gender ideology, attempt to censor alternative narratives, & ostracize parents with any view point other than 100% affirmation of a child’s trans identity & medical transition
H. Detransitioners: Threats, harassment, & denialism from trans activists / exploitation by the right wing & some feminists
I. Conclusion, political climate
15) “Transition your child without question or they will kill themselves”; A COMMON MANTRA; SUICIDE STATS REVIEWED
A. Suicide is socially contagious
B. Adult suicide stats: does medical transition reduce suicide risk?
-What studies indicate medical transition in adults reduces suicide risk?
-Below studies indicate transition may not reduce suicide risk in adults
-Studies below do not address suicidality but show poor outcomes related to medical transition
C. Youth suicide stats
-Below studies indicate social & medical transition of minors alleviates suicide risk
-Information indicating that the threat of a child/teen committing suicide is exaggerated & that parental support & access to medical support doesn’t prevent suicides in some cases
D. Use of suicide threat to promote social & medical transition of young people
-Media promoting the “transition or suicide” narrative
-Affirmative model professionals who promote the “transition or suicide” narrative
-Support Groups, LGBT organizations, & trans activists who promote the “transition or suicide” narrative
-The suicide narrative is highly effective in pushing parents & professionals into rapid gender affirmation & medical transitions
-Youths online are actually encouraged to threaten suicide
-Is it possible social contagion, media exposure, & online culture (negatively impacting all youth) are increasing suicide ideation in gnc youth?
-Professionals, journalists, & parents concerned about members of the therapy & medical community pushing the “transition or suicide” narrative
E. Suicide ideation in LGB youth is similarly high indicating access to medical technology is not the only important issue
F. Conclusion, suicide risk: is it ethical & justifiable for LGBT orgs, the media, mental & medical health professionals to use suicide to promote the affirmation model?
-Discourse is violating reporting standards recommend for discussing suicide in LGBT youth
16) Trans rights, affirmative model advocates, acceptability of false positives
A. Fear of a gay eugenics planet
-What is the evidence that a clean screening process between trans & gnc LGB oriented children, teens, & young adults is not possible?
B. Trans people have said gatekeeping has harmed them
C. Trans youth matter: borderline youth?
-Some individuals & entities are motivated to suppress information highlighting risks to GNC youth in order to facilitate trans positive healthcare
-Censoring risks in academia
-Mental health & medical providers lack of expressed concern for risks
-Media hiding risk & harm
-LGBT organizations hiding risks
-Governments hiding risk & harm
D. Even if some minors are medically transitioned inappropriately it’s worth trans positive healthcare
E. Only a control study could determine the effects of early social transitions, early Lupron use, & possible benefits of therapy for children & rapid onset female teens