What to do about sex change operations for children

Well there’s a title I never thought I would write.  I was trolling the internet today and saw a headline that stated just that, “Sex change treatment for children: It’s on the rise”.  There must be some mistake, I thought.  So I clicked on the link and found out that indeed, sex change operations for children are increasing. 

It’s not much of a numerical increase to be sure, but it is an increase.  A Gender Management Service clinic in Boston sees about 17 patients a year as opposed to 4 patients a year in the late 1990’s.  They didn’t break down the ages of the patients but said that the youngest was 4.

I’m all for letting people be who they want to be.  Having said that, a 4 year old is a child and can barely dress themselves; much less determine that they were born into a body that is the wrong sex.  What can a parent that lets a child undergo sex changing procedures possibly be thinking?  If the parents of a child that named their kid ‘Adolf Hitler’ could lose custody then wouldn’t the same course of action apply to a parent that wants to change the child’s sex?

The procedure to change sex for children consists of shots and implants.  If puberty has started and sexual anatomy has to be removed then only a handful of surgeons in the U.S. can do that.  The youngest patient they’ve done that to was 16.

The doctors think that some of the surgeries are happening because the children may not agree with certain gender roles or could be gay and their parents are more comfortable with a transgender child than a gay one.  They also said that doing the procedure on any patient under 18 raises ethical questions and should be investigated fully, just to determine that the parents aren’t pushing the surgery on the child.

When I was a teen my mother questioned my sexual orientation once.  It was 1984 and I wanted to get a Swatch.

“If you get that Swatch then the kids will think you’re gay”, she said.

Had I been a quippy young lad I would’ve said “Mom, have you seen the Miami Vice pastel jacket I’m wearing to the prom?  THAT’S gay, the Swatch is just a cheap, trendy timepiece.”

I don’t want to believe that a parent wouldn’t love their child just because they’re gay.

I also don’t want to believe that parents would allow a youth, especially really young ones, to permanently change their body in this manner.

I don’t care about what you prefer as an adult.  You can be transgender, bi, gay, straight-whatever floats your boat as long as you’re over 18.

Some of the stories I read where heartbreaking.  A 2 year old who says he’s a girl, continues the story until he’s 6 and then threatens to commit suicide unless his parents agree to a sex change.  What do you do?

For the overwhelming majority I blame the parents.  Yeah, it’s easy to blame the parents in this situation, especially if it’s not my child going through it.  The doctors think that the rise of information about the surgeries via YouTube is another reason why more youth are coming forward.

Are they coming forward because they really were born into the wrong body?   No, but even if they were, you shouldn’t do anything until they turn 18 and can make that decision for themselves.