The statement followed a report in The Times that a federal health official had urged the removal of age minimums from treatment guidelines for transgender minors.
Puberty blockers are not life altering drugs and have been used on cis children for decades with no issues being raised about it, let alone of this scale. Any stance other than this, one based in actual reality, is caving to right wing framing of the issue.
permanent surgeries
So exceedingly rare among trans children that it's not worth talking about. Trans children rarely get access to puberty blockers, let alone surgeries. Editing to add: Most surgeries are done to reverse the effects of a wrong puberty. If trans kids got the blockers/HRT they needed, they wouldn't have a need to undergo surgery, except for maybe GRS, which is not a universal desire among trans people.
until they are adults that can make those decisions
This is also caving to right wing rhetoric on the issue. Trans children are not walking into gender clinics and saying "One gender-affirming surgery, please :)", this process typically involves multiple doctors, usually a therapist of some kind, and obviously the kid's parent(s)/guardian(s). Just like the abortion issue, it should stay that way and be free of state intervention, because to say otherwise would be to contradict the overwhelming majority of medical evidence from the past several decades that indicate that transition leads to the best outcomes for trans people.
I want to be able to tell them that the trans issue is being used to divide us and get people to vote against their economic interests.
As Outdoor_Catgirl said, this issue is not a fucking distraction. To be free from discrimination and the very real threat of violence that often results murder should ostensibly be an issue liberals would care about. But even with the most selfish framing, trans issues are directly related to the lack of adequate and affordable healthcare that plagues this country even after it socially murdered over a million people with the lack of COVID response. So, trans issues should not be seen as a "distraction" or a "culture war", because increasing discrimination and stochastic violence against a vulnerable minority should be issues that even liberals care about.
Puberty blockers are not life altering drugs and have been used on cis children for decades with no issues being raised about it, let alone of this scale. Any stance other than this, one based in actual reality, is caving to right wing framing of the issue.
So exceedingly rare among trans children that it's not worth talking about. Trans children rarely get access to puberty blockers, let alone surgeries. Editing to add: Most surgeries are done to reverse the effects of a wrong puberty. If trans kids got the blockers/HRT they needed, they wouldn't have a need to undergo surgery, except for maybe GRS, which is not a universal desire among trans people.
This is also caving to right wing rhetoric on the issue. Trans children are not walking into gender clinics and saying "One gender-affirming surgery, please :)", this process typically involves multiple doctors, usually a therapist of some kind, and obviously the kid's parent(s)/guardian(s). Just like the abortion issue, it should stay that way and be free of state intervention, because to say otherwise would be to contradict the overwhelming majority of medical evidence from the past several decades that indicate that transition leads to the best outcomes for trans people.
As Outdoor_Catgirl said, this issue is not a fucking distraction. To be free from discrimination and the very real threat of violence that often results murder should ostensibly be an issue liberals would care about. But even with the most selfish framing, trans issues are directly related to the lack of adequate and affordable healthcare that plagues this country even after it socially murdered over a million people with the lack of COVID response. So, trans issues should not be seen as a "distraction" or a "culture war", because increasing discrimination and stochastic violence against a vulnerable minority should be issues that even liberals care about.