But of course this stakes-raising cuts both ways, because for the first camp, convinced that these interventions are essential to transgender mental health, the stakes of the debate are literally life and death, and to defer too much to parental objections is to make trans suicide more likely. Which helps explain why, in spaces where the progressive view is dominant, there are frequent attempts to remove trans issues from debate entirely, lest the mere existence of a controversy spur trans youth to despair.

hmm, i wonder why adults seeking to debate and criminalize trans people's identities has a negative effect on the mental health of trans youth? hmmmm, that sure is a tough one, we should continue to debate their right to exist while we figure it out