Here's what you do

[ANNEE]

Apparently you didn't go read up on plastic. 

Because this didn’t exist before plastics?

[quintessentone]

Next I would like to comment on some of the anecdotal stories provided by several members. Even though I may disagree with other’s opinions, having a dialog is still important.

"I knew this gay person…I knew a bi girl…she was a tomboy but is married with 9 kids…I wished I was a boy when I was young…"

Firstly, with no disrespect, some of these stories sound very much like the “I have a black friend so I can’t be a racist” trope. While there may be some intersectionality or shared experiences between the lives of gay, lesbian and bisexual folks with those of the trans persuasion, to assume there is some 1:1 correlation or equivalence would be an inaccurate perception.

With that being said, the intent of these I knew a or I was a… stories has not escaped me but the fact is, one thing is not like the other except perhaps in peripheral ways and while it great to show some degree of open-mindedness and lack of prejudice or bias, for some reason that same courtesy of openness isn’t extended to making any attempts to understand the lives and needs trans people and especially trans youth.

I get it. The fear that kids may grow out of it or it’s just a phase, they’re not emotionally mature enough to make life changing decisions and they may not feel the same way when they are older and have regrets is really of the highest concern and I certainly don’t have a problem with that or disagree but these worries should not prevent or exclude all properly diagnosed children from receiving the care to best address their individual situations.

It seems some people want to deny that kids can even have life crippling gender dysphoria while clinical observations and research indicate that indeed this phenomenon exists and is very real. Even the DSM-V lists an A and B diagnostic criteria for those under 12 as having early onset gender dysphoria (GD) and older adolescents considered to have late onset GD with different guidelines for each. Adults have their own separate criteria.

I will admit it is all pretty complicated and more research is needed but a March 2025 study tends to indicate one of the two youth groups may have more secondary problems or comorbidities and in my opinion, this study also indicates the need for different therapeutic protocols for each group.

That study can be found here, it is not behind a paywall: Onset Age and Internalizing Problems in Adolescents with Gender Dysphoria: Is There an Association?

As to the I knew a or I was a tomboy story, one comment stuck out at me and that was “I wished I was a boy”. Innocent enough but that is one significant phrase in assessing GD in children: there is a key difference between I wish I was and I am.

Let me add a few things just to clarify a few things so some don’t think I’m some radical trans activist or gender ideologue waving a tri-color flag promoting we transition kids.

I do not think it is right or wise to suggest to young children that they can “change sex” or transition. This idea and desire has to 100% come from the kids themselves first and keep ya damn older kids off Tic Tok and social media or it will rot their minds with all this 256 gender and non-binary stuff. (Note: I am a very senior citizen so stay off my lawn)

Although there are always outliers, I also think the idea that parents are pushing this onto their kids is mostly a myth. Most parents are horrified at having a trans kid and struggle to come to terms with it. Those that don't usually lose their children.

Although I have advocated for trans youth for over a decade through my attempts to provide information and education on this topic so that people may have more informed opinions, I recognize my own degree of bias in these matters in spite of striving for objectivity. I understand my efforts are mostly futile and people with strong opinions aren’t likely to change but yet I persist because I think it is important to present both sides of the issue. You know, like Alternate Opinions

I find the dogma and approved narrative of modern trans activism mostly repugnant and counter-productive. Transgender people do not like me at all and I have been banned from every one of their online communities I have tried to investigate. I have been called an anti-trans hater and a TERF and that was when they were being polite.

I also try my best to be courteous and respectful but know I sometimes come across as less than so as I am passionate about this subject. For that I apologize and will continue to try and improve.

You will find here on DI that you need not second-guess yourself as to your behaviour when simply giving an alternate opinion nor will you need to always be on the defensive here because from my experience this site is on a different trajectory for getting at the truth and not getting at the messenger.

From your source, I have referenced other recent sources as well, but here is one that is very interesting.

Psychological assessment and counseling remain important features of quality care: A descriptive study of individuals who did not start gender-affirming medical treatment in a gender identity unit in Spain

It may be that, starting now and maybe increasing into the future, that people with confusion as to their gender will be properly categorized within now known and newly realized subsets of diagnosis and treatment. 

Perhaps another answer to addressing psychological issues with GD and/or seemingly related expressions, lies in societal education and understanding of this topic because as we go along here learning from recent studies, the confusion of patients and their families and medical clinicians who relied on now questionable methodology of previous studies, all around, seems to be what is being highlighted now. And that's a good thing - to keep challenging the status quo so as to keep pushing for more expansive medically- and empirically-based evidence vs. evidence-based and perhaps bias-based studies using such low study groups.

Perhaps, in the future, everyone can feel comfortable in the skin they were born in.

So, thank you AAO, for your efforts in trying to get the facts out there.

[Unknownparadox]

Because this didn’t exist before plastics?

You simply aren't going to answer the question. No democrat I have asked has, the reason being, they like it, they want it. Never mind the pain and suffering it is causing. 

This is going to come as a shock to you. Many things have been around long before plastic. Like cancer.. You're not going to believe this. Oil causes cancer. Who would have thunk it?

Birth defects have been around since humans have. You're not going to believe this either. Oil/plastic causes birth defects. It's amazing I can't believe it myself.

So this deflection doesn't stand up any better than the last two or three.

[argentus]

You will find here on DI that you need not second-guess yourself as to your behaviour when simply giving an alternate opinion nor will you need to always be on the defensive here because from my experience this site is on a different trajectory for getting at the truth and not getting at the messenger.

Very well said.   Everything you wrote has genuine merit;  particularly I liked this part.   We cannot judge others by their previous selves, because (some) people evolve and change.   Likewise we should not judge DI by ATS behaviors, even though many of those folk are here also.  Every event can be looked at as fresh without the baggage of the past.  

Myself, I try for no judgement at all, ever, even as much as I'm human and completely and explicitly fallible.

[ANNEE]

You simply aren't going to answer the question. No democrat I have asked has, the reason being, they like it, they want it. Never mind the pain and suffering it is causing. 

Is this a Republican vs Democrat question?  I’m neither. 

I’ve been around “here and previous” for 18 years. 

I am very familiar of those who reject an answer because they don’t like it.

[Unknownparadox]

Is this a Republican vs Democrat question?  I’m neither. 

I’ve been around “here and previous” for 18 years. 

I am very familiar of those who reject an answer because they don’t like it.

LMAO. It's a simple yes or no question that you refuse to answer. I can only guess why you have offered so many deflections. It doesn't have anything to do with republicans or democrats.

Although you are acting like a democrat. Deflection has become standard policy for democrats. And that is all you are doing, is deflecting. It's a simple question, if you could stop the trans dilemma of being born in the wrong body. Which by the way is a very big problem. Since you have the wrong brain in the wrong body, supposedly.

So....... for the fourth or fifth time.

If you could stop a person from being born in the wrong body with no harm to the yet to be a person, no harm to the yet to be a trans? No abortion, that I am surer you support. You simply remove the thing that is causing them to be born in the wrong supposedly body.  Would you do it? 

And how long you been here or any where else is not relevant. It's just another deflection. 

And you haven't given a answer. All you have given is deflections.

I suspect you never will answer. And it is obvious why.

[SomeStupidName]

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?

And when they turn 18 they can decide on whatever  medical procedures they want for their bodies it's okay for them to wait. Being gay didn't require any medical assistance  and no one is saying they can't dress how they want minus it being appropriate attire for school. jeez put away your butcher knifes and just let them be kids.

[ANNEE]

I personally do not understand how anyone can not comprehend -- that the physical body changes during teen years.

If you are m/f -- you do not want male physical changes to your body.

If you are f/m -- you do not want female physical changes to your body.

Hormone blockers prevent the physical changes.

It stops the physical changes -- giving teens the few years they need to become legal adults.

[Unknownparadox]

I personally do not understand how anyone can not comprehend -- that the physical body changes during teen years.

If you are m/f -- you do not want male physical changes to your body.

If you are f/m -- you do not want female physical changes to your body.

Hormone blockers prevent the physical changes.

It stops the physical changes -- giving teens the few years they need to become legal adults.

Everyone comprehends it, lol. The problem is trans kids are being fed this stuff from the crib to 18. There is no reason to discus gender and sex with a 3-4-5 year old. they have no use for it.

And the pro trans groups position is. Children should learn about gender and sex. Teens who aren't legally able to make decisions because the grown up line is 17 or 18, should be able to. So sticking them on mind altering drugs at 10 is suspect.

We all understand why you want to put them on mind altering drugs before they hit puberty. Technically the law doesn't allow it. And the pro trans figure they can ignore it.

Get the law changed and you won't have any issues. I don't understand why anyone doesn't understand that.

[ANNEE]

Everyone comprehends it, lol. The problem is trans kids are being fed this stuff from the crib to 18.

There is no reason to discus gender and sex with a 3-4-5 year old. they have no use for it.

Where do you get your information that trans kids are being fed this stuff from crib to 18 (besides on discussion forums). 

As far as 3/5 year olds — why jump straight to physical sex?  Or pedophiles. 

It’s really bizarre.