What Should Parents of Gender-Confused Youth Do?

Parents of gender-questioning adolescents can strengthen their family, community, and nation by being the adult in the room. There is a battle over gender transitions for minors in numerous states in the nation. Some states seek to “ban cross-sex hormones and transgender surgeries,” while Governor Gavin Newsom of California wants to become a magnet to draw minors seeking to change their gender.

As reported by Gillian Richards, there are varying opinions about the best way to care for adolescents who believe that they are transgender. Some people, like psychiatrist Dr. Dan Karasic, who claim that the mental health of a patient worsens if they are stopped from getting sex-reassignment treatments for any reason. The mental problems can include an increase in thoughts of suicide or substance abuse. 

Dr. Michelle Cretella is on the other side of the argument is Dr. Michelle Cretella. She is the former executive director of the American College of Pediatricians.

At least 11 studies demonstrate that prior to society-wide transgender propaganda, the vast majority of children with transgender belief went on to embrace their bodies and genetic sex by young adulthood… This proves that the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and mutilating surgeries are not required for trans-believing youth to live as the transgender activists claim….

Standard of care for suicidal thoughts includes counseling and, where indicated, antidepressant medications – not puberty blockers or hormones….

Youth with transgender belief are at no greater risk of attempting suicide than any other high-risk group of young people. For example, a report out of the U.K. found that transgender belief increases youth suicide risk by a factor of 13, which is on par with other mental illnesses, like depression and anorexia nervosa.

Depression alone increases suicide risk by a factor of 20, and anorexia alone increases youth suicide risk by a factor of 18….

On the topic of puberty blockers, Cretella added that package inserts for Lupron, the leading puberty blocker in America, and for cross-sex hormones “warn that these drugs cause emotional lability, worsening of psychiatric disease, or new-onset mental illness. Puberty is not a disease.” She continued:

The absence of puberty is a recognized disease. (It’s called hypogonadotropic hypogonadism.) By definition, using puberty blockers to disrupt normal puberty causes [that disease] ….

Even temporary use of puberty blockers can cause permanent harm because normal developmental time is forever lost!

Studies show that youth on blockers lose normal bone density (they will have osteoporosis in their [20s rather than well over age 50], do not undergo normal brain development, and miss out on normal psychosocial milestones.

Since the vast majority of “transgender” youth will embrace their biological bodies and genetic sex by the time that they reach adulthood, wise parents of gender-confused youth will insist that they wait until adulthood to do anything permanent to their bodies. There are too many people who transgender and then realize that they made a mistake. A wait of a few years can make a big difference in the rest of their lives. Such counsel can strengthen families and help communities and nations.