Let’s Burn All the Gender Heretics
Some people miss the good old days
I ran across an article the other day in the NY Times Op Ed Section called: Transgender Childhood Is Not a ‘Trend’* that offered an interesting perspective on being transgender. Until now I have read numerous stories about the adults in history who were transgender. The stories were a way to point out that being transgender is not new and has been with humanity all along.
In Histories of the Transgender Child, University of Pittsburgh professor Jules Gill-Peterson writes about transgender children as they appeared in history. She demonstrates her premise that throughout history transgender children have transitioned. The only thing new today is the attention they have drawn and the ensuing publicity and political whiplash they have attracted. They are only children with medical needs and should not be used as political pawns.
I keep hoping writers like this author continue to assault the current political and public ignorance with the facts. I like the directness of Ms. Gill-Peterson’s reporting.
I found this very powerful as well:
“As Dr. Michele Hutchison, a pediatric endocrinologist, explained in testimony to Arkansas lawmakers, “I guarantee you if this bill passes, children will die,” vowing to the state senators that “I will call you guys every single time one does.””
How incredibly directl!
Yet in spite of that statement, the Wall Street Journal posted this newline:
“Transgender Treatments: Arkansas’ legislature outlawed surgery and other gender-confirming treatments for transgender youth, overriding the governor’s veto of a bill earlier this week.” **
The quote that stood out the most in its ignorance is by Arkansas State Senator Alan Clark, the Republican sponsor of the bill when he said his heart went out to children who are “confused about what gender they may be,” but that gender-transition treatment isn’t appropriate for minors. Saying further:
“I don’t believe you can explain to an adolescent the long-term implications of this treatment.”
What an incredibly ignorant statement! Where is the scientific and medical authority to back that up? Those adolescents are protected by their legal guardians and clear medical guidelines and standards of care.
The article says further: “The law joins other measures aimed at restricting gender-based healthcare to transgender individuals. Several states, including Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee, have recently passed laws banning transgender girls and women from school sports teams. In Alabama, lawmakers have introduced a bill that would make it a felony, punishable by as many as 10 years in prison, to prescribe hormones or perform surgery for the gender transition of people 18 or younger.”
Reading all this has left me speechless. These states are using legislation to take away the rights of parents and certified medical professional from meeting the medical needs of children.
The US Supreme Court needs to reverse this perverse use of “law” by these state legislatures to prevent the proper medical care of our children.
Unquestionably, extraordinary care needs to be applied in the care of children. The question is whether there is clear and convincing evidence over time to establish that a child needs to transition. That should be left up to the parents, the medical authorities and the child only.
It is an amazingly difficult problem. Is she a tomboy but feels totally female and shouldn’t transition or is she a boy acting like a tomboy desperately trapped in the wrong body and therefore needs to transition? The protocols are in place to prevent error but like everything else, is subject to error. There is no perfect answer but, hopefully, the protocols will continue to be perfected over time to reduce and eliminate the probability of those errors.
There is no easy answer. I truly wish there was.
Emma Holiday
*https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/05/opinion/transgender-children.html?searchResultPosition=1
Writers note: If you have read any of my writings on Medium you will have noticed a definite theme: the incredible pain of gender dysphoria and all the difficult aspects of just being transgender.
My writing has three specific goals:
1. Writing is my therapy. I have a very limited outlet for my thoughts so I write to find a way to process the most profound experience in my life. I need to understand and I need to accept myself to move forward.
2. Being transgender, for me, is a very lonely existence and if I can share some of the things that I feel and think as I go through the process of transitioning with others who are transgender and, in some way, lessen their pain and sense of loneliness, then all of this public exposure of my personal thoughts is not a waste.
3. I write to help cisgender people understand that all trans people want is to be simply understood, accepted and treated as a normal person. We are.
Thank you for reading my work.
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