LGBT News Parents choose sex change therapy for their 7 year old

They aren't doing anything but providing a supportive environment at the moment.

They haven't undergone any therapy as of yet and it seems like they aren't going to for at least 3-5 years when they will introduce puberty blockers. By then he would've had ample opportunity to decide for himself whether this is what he wants to do or not, and he'll be at an age where he'll have a pretty good idea about it too. If they were undergoing treatment at 7 then yes I would say that is probably too young - but they aren't.

Also as the piece states they have only planned to use puberty blockers - this isn't the same as transition.

 

Yeah. I think the parents have absolutely made the right decision.

Nothing is going to happen to him whilst he's seven. He simply identifies as transgender at the moment, and has done for a year, but it will be at least two more years before any medical treatment is considered. I expect that during this time he will be kept in touch with child gender therapists. If he goes on puberty blockers when he's nine -- and it's perfectly possible that it'd be another year or two instead -- then he will have identified as a boy for three years. That's quite a long time when you're a child. (By the way, legal gender changes in England require the person to live as their target gender for only two years.)

Secondly, puberty blockers are not sex changes. They are a temporary measure to delay the onset of puberty, and they are fully reversible. Should the child decide that she's not transgender after all, that's fine and nothing but good has come of it, since when she felt she was a boy she was able to get the accommodation she needed and then upon realising her girlhood she was also able to get the accommodation she needed. Of course, if he continues to identify as a boy then upon reaching 18 (or in very rare cases 16, at which point he'd've identified as trans for ten years -- well over half his life even counting infancy) then he can go for nonreversible treatments, of which sex reassignment surgery is just one option that not everyone chooses to have.

Also, would you rather this boy have a sex change he regrets later or just kill himself now?

 

I think puberty blockers ore okay, but that won't happen for a while, and while parent can and should be supportive, making a statement like this makes me wonder if the parents are pushing transgenderism on the kid. I don't think that is a decision that can be made yet, so instead of supporting their child as a transgender specifically, at this age they should just support him, no matter how he might identify in the future. They should let him be who he is, but I don't think a decision or a statement is needed right now to say that they are putting him on hormone blockers. It is possible, if not likely, that he will change his mind as he gets older, but because of this he might feel obligated to go though with it.

I guess in summary, I really like the support this family is giving their child, but I feel that there is no need to make decisions about surgeries/hormones/etc. yet.

 

It's not just you. A lot of people mix up things and end up thinking that little kids are having sex changes, which they're not.

Basically, at this age all the parents can do is support the kid and let it do what it wants while seeing how the kid develops.

If later in life, it still shows signs of being transgender, the kid will start beta blockers to stop his body developing into the sex the kid was born with.

After that, there's still a lot of psychological work to be done to see if the teenager/young adult wants to change sex or not.

 

It seems like they're offering a supportive environment for now, and then allowing him some more time to make a major decision by using the puberty blockers. I think it sounds like they're handling something that would be tough for a lot of parents to handle in the best way they can.

 

I really don't know about this one. I remember people were outraged about a girl in kindergarten in Colorado who was born a boy and the other parents were outraged that this girl who still had male parts was using the girls' bathroom.

I think that as long as there's no surgery involved yet, that what the parents are doing is fine. I'm still hoping that the girl I once knew who had a vagina, but had the head of a full-grown penis instead of a clitoris, and only one orifice. I grew up together with her and her sister, and when we were younger we played doctor and she showed me her private parts, and it wasn't until health class several years later that I learned that's not what a natural-born female's vagina looks like. I wonder now if the parents had gotten a boy when they wanted a girl and just had it changed.

 

She might have been intersex, with male and female genitalia.

 

There has been quite a lot of misreporting and sensationalising of the story ( sadly, not too surprising). His parents have NOT 'decided on blockers' ( nor have they 'chosen sex change therapy' ) . They are open to the idea of blockers and are researching it, weighing up the evidence both in favour of it and against it. He is a very determined boy and they are making every effort to be open and supportive, but at the same time stepping carefully, and at all times they are placing his interests first. While I am cisgender myself, so can never fully identify with his life, I do find some interesting parallels between the assumptions the 'mainstream' make about gender identity and the assumptions they make about sexuality. A medical ethics 'expert' has waded in saying that at 7 he is too young to 'decide'. Does that mean that 7 year old cisgender kids are also 'too young to decide' that their gender identity is congruent with the gender they were assigned at birth ? The kneejerk response to that is 'well, they didn't have to decide, they just 'are' ' and my response to that would be 'He didn't 'decide' either, he is who he is'. I see strong parallels to the 'when did you decide to be gay?' question. I have had the good fortune to have a number of online conversations with his mother, and I can say with hand on heart that she only wants what is best for her child. This is not a whim on his parent's part. It has been a gradual process of realisation and an understanding that their daughter was miserable but their son is happy and confident.

 

I agree with Gaysibling. I think that he should be allowed to start puberty blockers, but it is ultimately his parents decision. I read somewhere that most kids who start identifying as a gender not typically congruent with the genitals they were born by age 5 with maintain that identity throughout their life. And he is seven, so that's not too far off ( I think the age was five- I might be wrong).

 

Lucky kid. I wish I have a parents like that because I've been like this since I was a child..very supportive huh..

 

i wish we didnt have lables i iwh we could all just be people and not have to say your a boy and your a girl, i grew up liking both and playing with things that boys play with and girls play with.

 

Good for them.

 

Interesting. Does a child really know their mind well enough to make this kind of decision, whether at 7 or 9 or 11? And how do you decipher between them claiming what they really want and succumbing to outside pressures, whether it's from peers or parents? The article below provides an interestingly shared, but also counter-point to the story in the subject of this thread.

A Former-Tomboy Mom on Her Stylish Son

 

I wish someone had done this for me.

Firstly, puberty blockers aren't doing any harm, and they're saving him from lots of harm. And secondly, all of this talk about waiting to be sure, taking time etc when the kid already knows is not helpful. People seem to think that inaction causes no harm, and that simply isn't true. I'm not advocating surgery at seven, of course. That is best to wait until a reasonable age of consent can be reached, perhaps 16. And of course (as mentioned in the article), I would never support the reassignment of IS babies. But this is just blockers. And considering how many trans people attempt suicide, they could be saving his life.

 

It bothers me that she uses "he" as a reference.

Other than that, kudos to her. Parenting done right.

 

Um...well. I dont know. While I am glad they are being supportive, there is no telling what will happen as he gets oldr.
My sister was tomboy up till 15, and then suddenly wanted to wear girls clothes. Puberty hit and it was like she was a different person.

This was the girl who fought for her hair to be short, played sports, dressed as boy and REFUSED girls toys all her life. She already had a unisex name, so that wasnt an issue.
She is now an adult female with a husband and two kids.

I don't like to think what would have happened if my parents gave her blockers.
I think they need to wait till about 12. His feelings may change.

 

DrkRayne: Thing is, if they let puberty take its course and he maintains that he is transgender, irreversible damage has been done to his body and his mental anguish will increase. If they use blockers and it turns out that he isn't transgender, no harm has been caused and he can go through puberty fairly normally. The blockers give extra time for him to be sure of his gender, as you want; they aren't final or irreversible.

 

Ahh ok. I wasnt sure if he could hit puberty if they were given.