Here's what you do

[argentus]

Yay! Another antagonistic thread about trans people. This place is feeling more like ATS every day. Congratulations!

I will ask this; do people "decide" to be gay or straight or are they just that way? Pardon me for making assumptions here about your sexuality but when did you decide to like girls and how old were you when you knew for sure? Did you wait until you were 15 or 18 to make this life changing decision?

Did you have to experiment with both to know which way the wind blew or were you just the way you are because that's how you turned out?

Going back even further before sexuality even entered the picture, when did you decide you were a boy and that living a boy's life and doing boy things was how you fit into the world of other boys? I'm guessing this wasn't a "decision", happened very early in your life and isn't something you ever really questioned or even remember?

Congratulations again! You're a cisgender heteronormative man and don't have gender dysphoria or aren't transgender. Aren't you glad you decided that's what you wanted to be?

My point here being one's internal sense of being a boy/girl/man/woman is established early in life and for the majority of people is usually solidified and unwavering by the ages of 5 to 7 but that doesn't mean some don't fit the pattern or have different experiences or that some don't question these identities and roles that may take some experimenting to sort out.

So to conclude and summarize, some kids know who they are just like you knew who you were with the same degree of certainty that don’t “decide” to be the way they are, they just are. (Most Gender Dysphoria Established by Age 7, Study Finds To them, living a life explicitly tied to their biological sex is as difficult and ridiculous as your life would have been wearing dresses and pigtails and being seen as a girl.

If you had a child that was living a difficult and ridiculous life in such an upside down state and suffering ill effects from it that had been observed insistently, persistently and consistently with this condition over time, I am curious to know what would you do?

I believe people are born the way they are.   I didn't ever choose which way I wanted to be;  I knew at a relatively young age that I liked women, due to a lifeguard at the local pool.   I didn't ever measure the pros and cons, and I don't believe anyone else does either.  

I grew up with and have know more than a few trans folk.   None of them appeared broken to me, and all but one had/have successful careers.  The one was killed in an auto accident.  

I don't think that children should be allowed to make adult decisions.   Gender therapy/surgery/hormones is an adult decision.   I think that when children are adults, they should be allowed to make any decisions about their bodies and their psyche and their spirituality, in the same way that adults are allowed to make life-changing decisions for themselves.   That's what being an adult means.

ETA:   If my child were certain, that would mean I was certain also, and I would encourage them to wait, even though it caused them pain and grief.   I would always be with them and support them.   Hormones change, ideals change.   If it is right, I would go all in with them after making the same decision as an adult.   These are things that can't be taken back.

[Unknownparadox]

Modern youth are questioning these things to rise beyond their programming toward self-actualization without all the BS. That’s why the majority of trans identifying youth fall somewhere in the non-binary category and why they’ve come up with 96 different labels for their gender 

Just 96? Is that enough to cover everything?

So to conclude and summarize, some kids know who they are just like you knew who you were with the same degree of certainty that don’t “decide” to be the way they are, they just are. (Most Gender Dysphoria Established by Age 7, Study Finds

And who is educating kids about sex at 7 or before, besides AI?

“Everyone uses AI for everything now. It’s really taking over,” said Chege, who wonders how AI tools will affect her generation. “I think kids use AI to get out of thinking.”
“AI is always available. It never gets bored with you. It’s never judgmental,” says Ganesh Nair, an 18-year-old in Arkansas. “When you’re talking to AI, you are always right. You’re always interesting. You are always emotionally justified.”

“Parents really have no idea this is happening,” said Eva Telzer, a psychology and neuroscience professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ((“All of us are struck by how quickly this blew up.” ))

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireSt...-123986281

"Telzer’s research has found that children as young as 8 are using generative AI and also found that teens are using AI to explore their sexuality and for companionship. In focus groups, Telzer found that one of the top apps teens frequent is SpicyChat AI, a free role-playing app intended for adults."

Don't bother clicking the ABC news link they have already deleted the article, which they have a bad habit of doing. Once they realize they published something that makes democrats look bad to say the least. I have a number of ABC dead links concerning the trans.
Some only last a day or two, before they get axed.

[andy06shake]

Yay! Another antagonistic thread about trans people. This place is feeling more like ATS every day. Congratulations!

I will ask this; do people "decide" to be gay or straight or are they just that way? Pardon me for making assumptions here about your sexuality but when did you decide to like girls and how old were you when you knew for sure? Did you wait until you were 15 or 18 to make this life changing decision?

Did you have to experiment with both to know which way the wind blew or were you just the way you are because that's how you turned out?

Going back even further before sexuality even entered the picture, when did you decide you were a boy and that living a boy's life and doing boy things was how you fit into the world of other boys? I'm guessing this wasn't a "decision", happened very early in your life and isn't something you ever really questioned or even remember?

Congratulations again! You're a cisgender heteronormative man and don't have gender dysphoria or aren't transgender. Aren't you glad you decided that's what you wanted to be?

My point here being one's internal sense of being a boy/girl/man/woman is established early in life and for the majority of people is usually solidified and unwavering by the ages of 5 to 7 but that doesn't mean some don't fit the pattern or have different experiences or that some don't question these identities and roles that may take some experimenting to sort out.

So often we talk about programming, conditioning, influencing and steering youth in a certain direction but when it is to indoctrination with religious dogma or to reinforce stereotypical gender roles and behavior, it all gets a pass. If one’s internal sense of their own gender is so absolutely fixed and tied to biology, why do we begin this programming before a child is even born with gender reveal parties, blue and trucks for boys and pink and dolls for girls? Are we afraid more people might question these things without all this conditioning?

Modern youth are questioning these things to rise beyond their programming toward self-actualization without all the BS. That’s why the majority of trans identifying youth fall somewhere in the non-binary category and why they’ve come up with 96 different labels for their gender and large numbers of them don’t even have gender dysphoria in the traditional sense and even fewer of them desire to change their primary sex characteristics through surgery.

There are those, however, for whom there are no uncertainties and several studies with one being quite recent (Stability and Change in Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Across Childhood and Adolescence) that indicate that cross-gender identified kids are as secure and unwavering in their identities as non-transgender kids.

So to conclude and summarize, some kids know who they are just like you knew who you were with the same degree of certainty that don’t “decide” to be the way they are, they just are. (Most Gender Dysphoria Established by Age 7, Study Finds To them, living a life explicitly tied to their biological sex is as difficult and ridiculous as your life would have been wearing dresses and pigtails and being seen as a girl.

If you had a child that was living a difficult and ridiculous life in such an upside down state and suffering ill effects from it that had been observed insistently, persistently and consistently with this condition over time, I am curious to know what would you do?

I think im not the morality police, meaning it doesn't really matter what i think about other people, certainly not people i don't understand.

Live and let live is my motto. 

And i probably do tick the cisgender heterosexual man box. 

As to gay/straight/bi, that's up to the person also, and again, not the morality police.

If it's any consolation, i don't really care who goes to what toilet as long as they let me s@ite in peace.

[Encia22]

....
Don't bother clicking the ABC news link they have already deleted the article, which they have a bad habit of doing. Once they realize they published something that makes democrats look bad to say the least. I have a number of ABC dead links concerning the trans.
Some only last a day or two, before they get axed.

Nothing gets truly scrubbed on the internet...

https://web.archive.org/web/202507281350...-123986281

[Tecate]

I feel the whole live and let live thing too.

I also say no elective surgery until you are an adult and can afford to pay for it (if it’s not covered). I couldn’t give 2 shits about being called a cis man. 

The kid wants to be a boy but born a girl? Fine. Born a boy, but wants to be a girl? Ok, you be you. You just have to wait until you are an adult to get get the last of the fine-tuning done. That’s all. 


Tecate

[AnAlternateOpinion]

ETA:   If my child were certain, that would mean I was certain also, and I would encourage them to wait, even though it caused them pain and grief.   I would always be with them and support them.   Hormones change, ideals change.   If it is right, I would go all in with them after making the same decision as an adult.   These are things that can't be taken back.

So your child is certain and you are certain. If you have a transgender daughter, growing facial hair and developing a deep voice as well as potential musculoskeletal development would likely cause more distress than your support could manage and cause lifelong difficulties and cost tens of thousands of dollars to correct the things that could even be corrected not to mention all the pain and time required.

If you are empathetic and supportive enough to allow your child to try socially transitioning without medical intervention other than counseling and indeed this results in improved outcomes and everyone is certain, socially speaking, not developing as your peers can also have devastating emotional consequences.

This is why puberty suppression is vital to these kids who have been properly diagnosed and observed over time. It gives them an additional few years to better understand the ramifications of medical transition such as loss of fertility without undergoing an unwanted and often disastrous puberty. IMO, withholding this treatment and doing nothing is neglect.

If puberty blockers are withdrawn or discontinued, natal puberty will proceed normally with potentially very minimal or no side effects. These drugs have been in use for about 25 years.

If after several years of suppression, nearly all in this cohort proceed to taking cross-sex hormones at 15 or 16ish. Estrogen works slowly and if discontinued after a year, many or most of the changes will revert naturally with perhaps some latent gynecomastia? Testosterone for trans boys on the other hand, is very potent and can cause permanent changes in just a few months.

Genital surgery for under 18s is super extraordinarily rare and is prohibited in several states. In fact, any sort of so called "gender affirming care" is banned in over half the states in the U.S. because politicians in the pockets of their religious extremists base (think Project 2025) seem to think they know more than doctors, families and the kids themselves what is best while ignoring the actual science involved. They champion "parental rights" except for when it comes for parents deciding what is best for their trans children.

It sickens me.

[ANNEE]

. . . a three year old knows whether they want to be a girl or boy at three years of age. 

Go look up the actual facts of when children become aware of their sexuality/gender.

[Unknownparadox]

Go look up the actual facts of when children become aware of their sexuality/gender.

When would that be? I don't recall any of my kids talking about sex at 3-4-5. I remember when I figured it out, I was 10. Of course there wasn't education about it in elementary school. I wonder if that has something to do with sex being on their minds so early.

[ANNEE]

If my child were certain, that would mean I was certain also, and I would encourage them to wait, even though it caused them pain and grief.   I would always be with them and support them.   Hormones change, ideals change.   If it is right, I would go all in with them after making the same decision as an adult.   These are things that can't be taken back.

But the physical body changes in the teen years. 

If you are a girl in your brain — you do not want a masculine body. 

If you are a boy in your brain — why get boobs — then have to spend thousands of dollars to have them surgically removed?

That is not logical. 

What we really need is more trained qualified counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, specialized physicians. 

 Counseling is #1 priority. But, look what’s currently happening.

[ANNEE]

When would that be? I don't recall any of my kids talking about sex at 3-4-5. I remember when I figured it out, I was 10. Of course there wasn't education about it in elementary school. I wonder if that has something to do with sex being on their minds so early.

Did you go research it?