Sex changes for young children if legal bid goes through

Oh woah! Why does she even need to go to court? -.- Look at the comments...

There are some positive too but people aren't aware of trans people as much.
Sad to see the negative comments come from Australia.

 

Yeah, the only reason why I don't want to go to Mardi Gras this year cause it seems like it's all about sex.
Which laws? I don't think I'm very aware of them.

 

Oh yeah. I forgot about those. It doesn't really affect me so I wouldn't know. But that's totally off topic. :S

 

Oh gee. I also didn't know about that. I thought it was all good between the Europeans and the Aborigines after Kevin Rudd apologising. What good are they doing by burning the flag?

 

AHAHAH, our country doesn't sound so good now. Too bad I love the weather here.
On a kinda or very unrelated note, Jullia Gillard follows me on twitter. Very unusal.

 

Bad idea. Children can't possibly know for sure whether or not they're prepared to have permanent changes done to themselves like that. Wait until they're 17 or something.

 

I'm completely in favour of hormones, puberty blockers, and other reversible treatments, at as young an age as the child can make an informed descision and such. They help many trans kids. I'm not in favour of genital reassignment surgery until maybe 16 or 18, though. I don't think it's right to make permanent changes to the body until the children/teens are old enough to be certain they're not questioning – some children go on blockers for a while, and then figure out that they're cis. The "permanent changes" thing goes for all things, in my mind, and not just GRS.

 

Negative comments from Australia... doesn't really shock me. No offense to resident Aussies, but I haven't had the best luck with people who are from there. :[ Many have been very intolerant and just... mean, I guess? It's too bad, because I'm sure there are plenty of lovely Australian people. Sigh.

Anyhow...

Bad idea. Children can't possibly know for sure whether or not they're gay like that. Wait until they're 17 or something.

... Point being, yes, yes they can. And as an FTM, I feel fully able to say that I WISH I had gone on hormone blockers at a young age. :/ I knew when I was four years old that I liked boys, and I knew by ten years old that I felt like a man. Had I started hormone blockers at around nine years old, it'd have prevented me from having to go through top surgery now. Which is, of course, painful and expensive. Hormone blockers are neither.

Yes, surgeries and hormones should wait until about 16+. But that's... kind of a "duh", because that's when natural puberty tends to set in anyhow, and if transsexual kids are on hormone blockers early enough, it might prevent the need for some surgeries. MTFs might not need top surgery to have breasts if they start growing them at 15 and don't have testosterone to get in the way, nor will their voices deepen so much; FTMs won't have to go through having a period, their bodies probably won't be wide in the hips and they won't have to worry about getting top surgery if their breasts never develop.

Plus... if you're seen as your correct gender from the time you're little, the teasing in school might be less problematic. Transitioning during High School would be a nightmare, I'm sure. :|

Starting transition as a child is both physically and mentally better than waiting.

 

I knew since I was four that I was a girl. Kids aren't stupid. They aren't innocent. They may be inexperienced, but they know more than adults give them credit. Is it really that easy to forget what it was like to be a kid? If you do remember, you would know that kids are far from stupid or innocent.

Hormone blockers and appropriate hormones should be prescribed to those entering puberty and during it. By 18, biological hormones will have caused extensive damage.

Being told to wait until you're 18 or any other age--some countries make people wait until they're 21 or 24 before they can start HRT--is same as telling that person to put their entire life on hold for years. Those with Gender Identity Disorder often don't mentally mature until they begin HRT. That means, even though I'm 26, I'm closer to the age of a 17 or 18 year old mentally. I still struggle with responsibility and I'm still trying to figure out who I am and what I want to do with my life. I have the problems of someone who's new to college, not someone who is about to graduate. I feel trapped and unready for the real world. Why? Because I waited. I encourage younger transgendered people to come out when they can, to spare them this.

 

I don't get what the big deal is about hormone blockers. They don't do anything permanent... if you stop taking them your hormones revert to how they would have been without them. I wouldn't say permanent changes are necessarily a good idea at a young age, but given that hormone blockers do no harm and could (worst case) prevent a death.... I don't see why they always seem to cause such a fuss.

 

Sex changes should not be performed until sixteen but hormones and blockers should be available at puberty. That is what I think anyway.

The law against gay marriage may change by the end of the year and the carbon tax is not a stupid law, in fact all parties have supported it at one time.

Lets not forget, that the flag is used by certain members of the public to promote racism (eg Cronulla Riots) and flew while White Australia was still a policy, lets also not forget that there is published study linking displaying the flag to racism. Racism links to Aussie car flags | News.com.au

If a guy can wear the flag as a cape then it has lost all meaning anyway.

 

Only 102? Not very reliable.

 

Still quite high considering the fact that no major or semi major party advocates that policy, even ultra-conservative parties such as The Christian Democrats don't support that policy. Either they only interviewed members of nationalist parties (which are very, very small) or that it has a broader support base than it would appear and the fact that there is likely to be more people who were afraid the fact.

I get what you are saying but look at the Cronulla Riots and tell me that the Australian Flag doesn't inspire racism, I refuse to celebrate Australia Day as it has turned into a day where bogans use the Australian Flag to veil racism.

 

With the article titled "Sex Changes for young children" I thought they were talking about SRS (sex reassignment surgery) but it seems like their just talking about HRT. Talk about misleading.

Typical News Ltd

Anyways.

Hormone blockers should be allowed for young children. I cannot imagine anything worse than watching your body change irreversibly change like that, hormone blockers offer the best chance for transgendered children to successfully transition to their desired gender. And if the children change their minds all they need to do is stop taking the blockers to allow biological puberty to resume.

As for HRT personally I would wait for at least 15 - 16 before allowing it but I have no problem with it happening earlier provided that there is plenty of medical supervision and psychological evaluation.

Physical Surgery not until someone's 18 no exception.

Unfortunately there's quite a large number of redneck bogans in this country, but to be fair that paper and most of its readers come from one of the more conservative states (if not the most conservative) so they dont represent most of us.

I agree Kids aren't stupid, but the issue of gender isn't exactly straight forward for a lot of people. I'm 19 and from since I was younger I still haven't been able to make heads-or-tails of it beyond what's between my legs.

 

You also have to consider what it is like from the other side. I was a senior in high school when my sister was born. I helped take care of her when she was young and I would often babysit her for my parents. It is damned hard to let go of the image of the young girl that liked to play dress up and watch Teletubbies. She didn't have a care in the world and life was about having fun.

She's a teenager now and I've heard her complain about how she is not a little girl anymore. It's true. I remember having the same complaint. Then what happens, I do the same thing. Her kids will complain of the same thing one day, as will yours. It is hard to see kids grow up, I think it comes from our desire to recapture our youth. We want to be young again, so we live vicariously through our children.

I have a very hard time forming an objective opinion when I hear about stories like this. I will admit I have an internal prejudice. Hormone therapy, transitioning, surgies, etc, these are adult problems and kids shouldn't have adult problems. I sometimes forget that kids become adults, so it makes since they will have to start dealing with adult problems at some point.

Speaking for the general case I don't know what the right answer is. I do know what the wrong answer is and that the courts deciding what is right for these children. This is a decision for the children and their parents to make, and it is no one else's damn business.