Why Are Medical Groups Now Opposing Gender Surgeries for Minors?

My immediate response was "it's the lawyers". To be sure, the Cass Review of Tavistock, as well as several European countries backing off the Dutch affirmation model, probably played a big role as well, but the 700 lb. gorilla in the room (to quote Mike Joyner of the Mayo Clinic on the matter) is that with about 14000 minors having received gender transition treatments from 2019 to 2023--including nearly 6000 surgeries--even a (optimistic IMO) 2% regret rate is going to result in a litigation bloodbath for "doctors" who have done them.

And since the early claims about "you can have a dead son or a live daughter" and the like were pure nonsense, more power to the lawyers here.

To draw a picture, top surgery (mastectomy) costs in the neighborhood of $10,000 or so. So the recent settlement for a lawsuit for rushing a girl into that surgery of $2 million is equivalent to about 200 of those. If half of those regretting sue, we're talking about a situation where gender affirming surgery/hormones/etc. either greatly increases in price (the insurers aren't likely to cover the lawsuits out of the goodness of their hearts), or becomes unavailable altogether. I would also predict that the size of the settlements increases--jurors know that losing one's breasts or genitalia is a huge trauma.

To paraphrase the Bard, first thing we do is to thank the lawyers. Hopefully states follow through by making the statute of limitations very, very long for gender transition procedures, and make it illegal for minors.

I have been heavily researching the topic of trans over the last few months. A few key points:

• Most of the rest of the world, doesn't just jump to affirming, like in the US. Especially in places like the Nordic countries who also are resistant to impacts to minors
• The US has a tendency to be hyper affirming. That means that anything besides full affirmation is considered phobic. This is despite other dysmorphias being viewed as a psychological problem.
• The research in the trans space is very, very weak. It is filled with mostly observational studies, limited scope, or weak results. The science is very, very poor.
• There is no scientific proof that anyone is born trans, despite the language used.
• There is no proof that suicides increase if someone is not able to transition. The studies are flawed for a number of reasons, and some newer studies contradict that ascertion.
• Detransition rates are not clear at all. What is clear is that detransitioning is increasing. The 2% rate is quoted from a study going back to the 1990's when transitioning wasn't really a thing, and that those who did, were pretty fixed, which is very different from newer cases.

There are so many other points I could lay out. It is very clear that individuals have a struggle. I think as time goes on and maybe at some point studies get better, we will find that the approach we have taken in the last 10 years is going to be viewed as wrong in some sense. Something needs to be done for those who struggle with gender dysmorphia, I am just not sure the current practice represents the best science or the best approach.

As detransitions increase and as lawsuits increase, it will be very interesting as to what the impact will be on the overall practice, as well as the industry.

I do not want to suggest that all trans people will end up becoming shooters, but there has been a patten over the past few years that when shootings hit the news we almost expect that the shooter is trans now. It happened again this week (school in Canida). When we consider the number of trans individuals vs the number of gun owners, then we have to conclude that being trans is a much higher risk of becoming a school shooter than being a gun owner. I am not sure if it is the medication they are giving or the indoctrination of that culture, but we cannot just pretend that promoting trans is not a danger to others in society besides the trans individual.

Appreciate what David noted there. If indeed the 2% number is from when we "fenced off" hasty transition--one had to live for a couple of years in the "destination gender" before a scalpel ever touched your body, more or less--we would expect that regret will skyrocket as transitioners realize they've been rushed through.

And along those lines, the mental health issues experienced by those with gender dysphoria will be a huge problem. In some cases, probably including the recent tragedy in British Columbia, transition served as more or less an excuse not to get the perpetrator the mental health care he needed.

In cases with "transition regret", the typical pattern is suicide attempts and suicide, but I have to wonder if a fair number of people who'd like their breasts or testicles back are going to make lawsuits the least of the concerns for transition surgeons and such.

Yeah, the tension of the situation is a bit different from homosexual issues--where we've likely all met a number of relatively stable, highly successful people of that persuasion.

The fact is, every trans person I've met, without exception--and I would expect this is the same for many of you?--is deeply disturbed.

I know that's anecdotal, but it's also true.

Yet another transgender shooter in the headlines today. This is getting very dangerous. This was posted by CBS in reference to the hockey game shooting:

Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves identified the shooter as Robert Dorgan. Goncalves said the shooter, who was born in 1969, also uses the name Roberta and the last name Esposito.

For whoever hit dislike in the above comments about transgenders and shootings, I am tempted to hit dislike too because I do not like it either. It is a sad reality that should break all our hearts. Sometimes the truth is sad and worthy of grief.

With now about nine mass killings known to have been committed by trans identifying people, I think it's long past time for the psychiatry/psychology community to revise that portion of DSM. Gender disphoria may not be mental illness in itself, but as the uncle of a young lady who suffers from it, I can state emphatically that it is strongly linked to mental illness. The ugly reality is that the "affirmative" strategy for transition appears to be resulting in many severely mentally ill people being transitioned instead of getting the mental health treatment they need, and a fair number of innocents are paying the price.

And DSM should reflect this reality, and if not, I'd argue it's cause for civil suits of the APA by victims of trans violence.

(and side note; I gave both a like and a dislike to the previous post just for fun and edification)