I’ve read a few articles and one book (Becoming Nicole) about transgender issues. It wasn’t really an exhaustive study, but I’ve come to some conclusions. One is for trans kids, it is important to start hormone therapy early. Another is that actual surgery, if that is the ultimate desire, in most cases should occur later. Finally, I learned that I really don’t know all that much about it, and the decisions in trans cases should be left up to the kid, the parents, and medical professionals.
Pretty much the same conclusion was reached by the Republican Governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, when he vetoed a bill that barred transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or gender transition surgery. DeWine said that if that bill became law, “Ohio would be saying that the state, that the government, knows better what is medically best for a child than the two people who love that child the most, the parents.” Before his veto, the governor visited with families of trans kids and spoke to medical experts.
Trump weighed in and said the governor had “fallen to the radical left” and said the legislature should override the veto. On Wednesday the legislature overrode Governor DeWine’s veto.
Information for this article came in part from Anna Betts and Amy Harmon, “Ohio Leaders Override Governor’s Veto, Clearing Way for Ban on Transition Care,” New York Times, (Jan. 25, 2024).
I studied Physiological Psychology when I was at Penn, and the academic study of the physiology of sex was big part of that. By the time I graduated I had concluded that sex was a continuum rather than a binary thing. One of the worst things about the current attitude toward transexuals is the limbo into which it puts children born with amorphous primary sexual organs. These children need surgery early. There is a very good episode of "Call the Midwife" which explores the case of a young with that issue, who didn't find out about the sexual assignment surgery performed on her until she was about to be married.
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