[bassandtea]

I think it's fantastic. For the transexual people I have met having something like this available could have changed their lives so much. For them it was never a matter of wanting to be the opposite gender, but that they were the opposite gender living in the wrong body and something they had felt their entire lives.

I also see it as offering some enormous hope to children that are born with genetic disorders causing ambiguous gender. I have met one person like this as an adult and it makes me wonder how different their life could have been if something like this had been available during their childhood.

[pagandeva2000]

I always wanted to work with patients with this disorder, as well as AIDS patients. They feel displaced, suicidal and are not accepted by the general public. I am glad to see that someone wishes to assist them.

[traumaRUs]

Okay, my opinion certainly is going to go against the grain of the majority on this thread but here goes: CHILDHOOD is a time of fast growth and changes. Many children want to be the other sex. Sorry, but to do something so irreversible as prescribing hormones and delaying puberty is tantamount to assault. What are these parents thinking???? And...since this is something very new, how do we know the delaying of puberty is without consequences???

I tried in vain to find ethics reviews and/or any studies on consequences at this time but would guess in 5-10 years we will find out!

[tencat]

I have known a few transgendered kids when I was a teacher, and while I understand that they felt trapped in a body that was not right, I tend to agree that such a huge decision to start hormone therapy to change is not one that a kid is equipped to make emotionally. We don't know what the long term physical/health consequences are, for one. I am leaning toward the stance that one should wait until one is an adult to make that kind of a decision.

[StrwbryblndRN]

I would want more detailed info regarding the program but otherwise I think it is a positive change. Family is obviously involved and it does not seem to be taken lightly.
I believe that if it can help then where is the problem.

I have to admit, the first thing that came to mind was one of those 70's movies about a medical instituion that went wrong.
I want more details to dispell that first instinct.

[jlsRN]

Originally Posted by traumaRUs

Okay, my opinion certainly is going to go against the grain of the majority on this thread but here goes: CHILDHOOD is a time of fast growth and changes. Many children want to be the other sex. Sorry, but to do something so irreversible as prescribing hormones and delaying puberty is tantamount to assault. What are these parents thinking???? And...since this is something very new, how do we know the delaying of puberty is without consequences???

I tried in vain to find ethics reviews and/or any studies on consequences at this time but would guess in 5-10 years we will find out!

Thank you, the voice of reason.

I spent my entire childhood wanting to be a boy. I even had an elborate fantasy that I actually believed that I was really a Martian boy named Jupiter who had come to Earth in this body (a female) in order to study the human race. I believed this for a year, I had an invisible penis. Since I was adopted, it all fit together nicely.

Once I hit puberty I started coming to terms with my gender and have had a normal (average, ordinary, not unusual) sexual life as a heterosexual woman, borne several children, enjoyed breastfeeding, etc.

When I was a girl, the thought of getting breasts appalled me! They sounded like totally inconvenient appendeges.

[txpixiedust]

I'm sure I'll get flamed....but everyone has a right to their own opinion.....

I think it's wrong. God knit each of us together in the womb of our mothers and that is exactly how he meant us to be - either male or female.

[kxvc]

This, in my opinion, should not be allowed. It makes me sick to think it is happening. Children are children, not little adults. They should not be allowed to make decisions of this magnitude on their own, nor should their parents make them for them.

I have nothing against people who change/alter their genders; however, these kinds of life changing decisions should be made in adulthood. There is no way these children are giving informed consent because their minds do not see beyond the here and now. I believe this to be completely unethical. They have no right.

[jlsRN]

Exactly, this would be no different than sending a child to a monestary or convent to be groomed for religious life because of an inclination they show in childhood.

Sometimes parents have ideological agendas or are easily influenced by those with them, such as people who are overly enthusiastic over gender reassignment. This isn't a decision that a parent should be making for children based on a possibly ideologically driven assessment by a psychiatrist trying to further his career by making a name for himself as a pioneer.

Life changing decisions should be made by the person in question while they are an adult. If they need help in coping until then, and sorting out their emotions, send them to a counselor, enroll them in an alternative school, homeschool, find support with others. But don't start making irreversable decisions for them like this!

[earle58]

we're not talking about kids w/secret agendas.
we are talking about the most extreme cases...
those who cut themselves or have suicidal ideations.
we are talking about parents and children, both desperate enough to seek this intervention as a last resort...
NOT a first one.
these kids have been demonstrating their gender adversity for yrs, before seeking help.
the decision to delay puberty and/or administer hormones, is thoroughly and carefully deliberated.

but you're right.
it must be child abuse.
heck, we'll just let these kids cut and kill themselves.

leslie