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Blue-state hospitals are folding on trans youth care. Parents are wondering why they moved.
(www.lgbtqnation.com)
this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2026
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politics
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By listening to the child....
Meh, I don't believe they fully understand at that age. My daughter thought she was a boy when she was around 10, she is now 18 and turned out she was just gay. Had we gone the route of medical change it would have been the wrong choice for her.
What medical change? Because your options were a lot leas than you think.
The only one available to a 10 year old is puberty blockers. Those are 100% reversible, and are commonly used outside of trams health care. Theyre used to delay the onset of development. The process restart the moment you stop taking them. No long teem effects have been found the several times I've done literature review. If you have one please send me a peer review paper.
This also is not done on a whim. This would be done in coordination with a psycayrist that also would explore those feelings with them. If not a Dr then a therapist for aure. I would want someone trained to explore gender vs sexuality with before asking for puberty blockers.
And on a different note. Let's say you did let your daughter experiment with gender.
Go buy different name and pronouns, feel those don't fit, and go back? Like what's the long term damage. All I see is someone that comes out more confident that they're a woman after that?
I fail to see any long term damage that would have happened, even if you did medical intervention.
This is how MAGA people think it works:
Five-year-old boy: I like pink dresses
Teacher: we must cut off your penis this instant
I don't think the long term effects of puberty blocking are fully understood and in my opinion not worth the risk.
But I'm also adverse to medication in general so I'm biased on that.
I didn't stop her from exploring either as much as other want to believe it. She did do therapy at one point and we fully supported her in all she did. I just stand firm on any life altering decisions until they are older. That's like letting your child get a tattoo or drive a car or smoke or anything you would not let them do.
Also I appreciate the civil response.
Based on what? Thats the problem here. You have this opniom, based on 0 supplied facts. This isnt new medicine. This is decades and decades of medical knowledge here.
https://www.jeremypbushnell.com/unfinished_everything/The%20history%20of%20puberty%20blockers%20-%20affirmative%20care.html
Were walking 45 years here.
Edit:
Was your daughter offered/suggested blockers?
Because it sounds like you did the right thing, listened to medical advice, and got the correct advice. So now other people shouldnt have it?
Blair white, the fucking republican poster child for "one of the good ones," said she knew when she was 5. This is not a controversial point and the fact that you can't be bothered to look into it further than your own intuition is not our fault. Jumping into a debate without at least glancing at the data is moronic, and saying "nah" when actually presented the data is incomprehensibly stupid.
Everyone else covered the "medical change" stuff so I'll let that go.
My comment was removed by a mod for Rule 4. Bullshit. I said nothing trolling or low-effort. I asked why we're even bothering kids and making them forced to choose.
This is a fucking political community. Asking questions in good faith should not be censored because of mod opinions.
Who said they are?
Puberty blockers
A) are prescribed all the time to children youger who start puberty 'too early'
B) are reversed the moment you stop taking them.
Also, it's not a binary choice, or permenant. If a child wants to by jenifer instead of Steven for week, just do it? You'd do the same if they wanted to be called pirate king for a week.
Also,
No one is doing medical intervention without it being persistent. No one is prescribing these on a whim.
Actual question, not getting at anything here: how do puberty blocker effects reverse? Does it essentially make you a late bloomer if you stop taking them, or is some growth missed out on/skipped because you take them?
I'm seeing some people say that it pauses things and doesn't cause any issues if someone goes off them, but I'm seeing other comments that it can negatively impact bone density. How does it not stunt puberty at all if it's paused for a certain period of time?
And not to be rude, please do your own research here.
I'm not saying this to be mean, I'm. saying it because I'm a random asshat on the internet. Find trusted sources, and find people who know more than me, an anon asshat.
Also, Its not always.... Good... To ask the repressed minioroty for education. Its fully well intentioned. But your deferring to my opniom as if I'm a medical expert. When I'm at most an expert in my own health care.
My opinions om care are informed by opinions like paediatricians and other medical professional associations, all of whom say this care is safe.
I linked in another comment these were first used in the early 80s, 45 years ago. There's TONs of info.
Now, like I said, not a medical expert. But I do have an acemic experience (degree in physics). I'll say a good start is google scholor. Or looking for information on trusted places, like the medical associations.
Thats not to say there aren't side effects, there's always risk with medical decisions. On both sides.
There are many trans kids who kill them selves because transitioning isnt an option available to them. So saying 'no' to it, also has real risks.
Edit: I provided a link in another reply
https://www.jeremypbushnell.com/unfinished_everything/The%20history%20of%20puberty%20blockers%20-%20affirmative%20care.html
I did, and then I asked a question on this forum after reading over conflicting answers from what I thought were decent sources and other forums.
This is a politics forum for conversation. It's silly not to ask questions on a forum that any user on the thread can answer. That's one of the prime benefits of the Internet - asking questions and conversing with people around the world while learning things.
Either way, thanks for providing the link.
Delayed edit: here's the last article I pulled up that talked about potential bone density and neuro issues that were not yet studied enough.
https://politifact.com/article/2023/aug/28/puberty-blockers-the-facts-and-the-myths/
My full opnion on what I'm am expert in is already posted in this thread. My own health care and experience.
You asked for a viewpoint on one I can not provide. As I'm not a medical care expert. I defer to those I've already mentioned.
And that doesn't really address the second part. Your asking a trans woman to be an expert in something the vast majority of us are not. Your asking a minority to be an expert and a representivie of the community as a whole. Rather than the individual they are. My background is physics. I can answer quantum questions no problem. I can even talk stattics in a lot of different contexts. But medical care is not one.
Its a common, but overhwleming, ask to be that expert, representative, or (calling it what it is) token.
Thats why I'm rejecting the question. Not because it was asked in bad faith. But That it has no business being asked of a random asshat on the internet. And at no point should you trust the answer anyways.
I'm replying to your comment as an open question for you or anyone else on the forum to respond to. Sorry for the confusion: the question is not only for you.
Delayed edit: I should have prefaced my original response to make this more clear and not make it seem like the pressure was on you. My bad.
Except we do make this choice as children.
The ones who won’t leave the children alone are the freaks who try to enforce cisnormative gender expression onto children.
Please just leave the kids alone and let them continue to exist as the trans kids they are.
Have you ever met an 8 year-old? They barely know what they want to eat for lunch most days. They have neither the life experience or knowledge to have to make a decision.
Society forces gender norms, and thus binary status, on children when we should just let them be kids. Why is this controversial?
Look, I'm a trans woman, and I 'knew' at that age. Did i know what it was? No!
But I clearly wasnt acting like a boy either. They know.
I agree that the constructs are stupid. Thats not the conterveraal thing you said though.
At that age you know what is appropriate gender affirming care? Calling them whatever random bullshit name they want to be called, and however they want to be referred to. For most children, it could just be a phase. But there's no harm in indulging age appropriate care.