Which Parents Should Be in Trouble?

[Spock]

Kids just told me about an 8th Grader who will be turning into a girl this summer.

We have all read in various places about a parent who gets in trouble with the law for letting their kids go to a park(or whatever).

Wow, what a society we live in- parents get in trouble with TPTB for letting their kids play outside by themselves, but the same TPTB think it is hunky-dory for parents to chop the dick off their confused14YO.

Yeah, a 14YO is perfectly capable of making that decision calmly and rationally.

[silverscreenselect]

Spock, it's not surprising that you get your world view from middle school gossip, but you'll be happy to know that no doctor in the United States is going to "chop the dick off" of a confused 14 year old who doesn't have serious pre-existing physical damage to that part of his anatomy. What they do is give the child drugs to slow the onset of puberty and then, for older teens, begin hormone therapy. Some doctors will provide the surgery at age 18, but only after the patient has been through therapy to determine if he or she is really transgendered or merely "confused."

The children who have loving, supportive parents are the lucky ones that have a decent chance to become well adjusted adults. Others have parents who physically or mentally abuse them or simply throw them out. I don't have time to verify this but Wikipedia claims that "There is evidence that indicates around 75% of transgender youth were verbally abused by their parents or caregivers, and around 35% had faced physical abuse by the hand of their caregiver."

Here's what Snopes had to say about a Fox News article on the subject:

http://www.snopes.com/oregon-teen-sex-change-law/

[Ritterskoop]

Just under 1% of babies arrive in the world with some of both sets of plumbing. Parents are often required to choose which way to go RIGHT THEN. I sympathize with teens or adults who realize years later that they got sent on the path other than the one that feels right, because everyone was just guessing.

[BackInTex]

Wikipedia claims that "There is evidence that indicates around 75% of transgender youth were verbally abused by their parents or caregivers, and around 35% had faced physical abuse by the hand of their caregiver."

This would support the premise that they "aren't born that way" and it is a mental disorder caused by abuse or trauma, similar to PTSD.

[ghostjmf]

The trauma is generally reported to be at the hands of their supposed-to-be caregivers, responding to the kid's reporting they *were* born that way,