One interesting development has been how medical practitioners across the world are taking stock of the trans epidemic and are beginning to pause or reverse the affirmative care model in favor of a wait-and-see model.
Let me be clear, it is not a matter of being pro or anti-trans. What is at stake is pursuing the best care, based on the best evidence, for children and teens who experience gender dysphoria. That treatment should not be based on activist legislation any more than it should be based on reactivist legislation.
As a father of a 20-year-old trans child with diagnosed gender dysphoria and a 14-year-old gender questioning child, these positions would have been welcomed. However, the care given to my oldest, from medical doctors and psychiatrists, has been on the affirning side. She (his preferred pronoun) was diagnosed with GD at fifteen. My youngest has not been diagnosed with GD but is being counseled affirmatively. I am a minister, committed to the traditional view of marriage and gender, so you can imagine that this has been difficult for all involved. As I stated in a comment last week, I would go to my children's weddings, just not officiate or participate in any way. Perhaps these positions will make their way across the Pacific and provide healthier responses in the future. All I want for them is the BEST care possible.
We have a 20-year old trans child who told us when they turned 18 that they were non-binary. That has evolved into now being a transgender man, taking hormones and planning on surgery. I have deeply felt a few things all along - one, that the gender dysphoria is real. Two, that I am to love them where they are right now. And three, that they are also autistic, they need wise counsel on what sex and gender are, etc., and the only counsel being given is either “don’t be trans” on the conservative side or “embrace your true identity!” on the progressive side. We have found a parents’ group with other parents of trans kids and that has been the most helpful in helping us process everything, but we still struggle with knowing the best thing for our kid.
Lori, yes, I've long worried that ASD kids are being wrongly directed towards with space. I find that ASD kids struggle with ambiguity and can be easily cajoled into certain things. But it's hard, because you want the best for them, and don't want to see any harm.
Yeah, I wish there was more understanding around how autism and gender dysphoria are correlated… my husband has read Iain McGilchrist and finds brain hemisphere study relevant, in that at least for our child, their autism seems to present with an overly active left-brain and underdeveloped right brain. So they don’t understand how sex and gender connect. And if it’s all arbitrary, and you didn’t fit the “girl” stereotypes, then maybe you’re a man…
Lori, yes, it's hard when people use not fitting the stereo-types as proof of being trans. Stereo-types are that, "types," patterns we artificially create, and yet people want to amend biology in order to fit them. It's a chaotic world.
I recall that one of the big messages of Women's Lib (back in the day) was that one could be a woman without needing to conform to all the stereotypes. And now, in this supposedly even more liberated age, we're hearing that the stereotypes of the 1950s and 60s are in fact valid. Or so it seems to me, but maybe I'm just confused.
That’s what it seems like to me. We’ve talked to our child about that and they say it’s not, it’s more about feeling like they don’t belong in their body. But I’ve wondered whether the autism affected how they processed puberty - we go through a lot of changes as we move from child to adult, and if you feel like you’re not particularly girly already, then maybe you feel like it’s a “mistake” that you’re in the body that you are. I don’t really understand it all, and in our particular circumstance our child was struggling to even live life with the gender stuff affecting them, so we felt like accepting them where they are was less damaging than trying to keep pushing on changing their thinking. It’s definitely beyond my understanding, so we just try to love as best we can and show God’s unconditional grace the way He’s shown it to me in my life and choices.
I think ultimately for me it comes down to biology - you can’t really separate sex and gender, even though we have as a society. But if gender is just arbitrary, based on whatever “rules” society wants to make up, then it doesn’t ultimately mean anything. I think where I don’t have clarity is that our brains are in our bodies, part of our biology, and what do you do when there is a brain/body disconnect?
Thank you for the clarity of defining the terms at stake in this global debate that from my view has created harm from all sides. And your final statement is the most needed. Let it be about “the best care , based on the best evidence, for children and teens who experience gender dysphoria.”
I was a clinician in a child and adolescent mental health team for 18 years. I may have seen and learned a thing or two. Those health professionals worth their salt in this field seemed to form a conviction that it was very wise to refrain from diagnosing and labelling in favour of waiting and letting time do its thing- given time, a clearer picture will emerge. An exception to this would be Psychosis - which is a medical and Psychiatric emergency requiring clear identification and urgent intervention.
Whatever views and approach clinicians, the young person and their families and others have-
all should be guided by what is best for the persons longer term wellbeing. Alas, I fear the the longitudinal studies required to really know what is the best treatment approach will need too be too longitudinal for anyone to really know anytime soon.
So, I would argue, when in doubt, refrain from haste and be prepared to treat everyone with maximum dignity and avoid rushing to quick and firm conclusions.
I have a friend who is an active member, and a Warden, in a small struggling Anglican church. She says she cannot sign the ADOM's amended 'Code of Conduct for Child Safety and Wellbeing' because article 6.2 (y) essentially mandates affirmation (or at the least silence) in the face of gender dysphoria, in line with Victoria's Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act and the Victorian Equal Opportunity Human Rights Commission's guidelines 'For people of faith...'. She believes the ADOM is taking its policy from the Victorian government and the shifting sands of culture, rather than from the solid rock - the Word of God.
She notes that if she signs the Code of Conduct, then she is promising "to be bound by" article 6.2 (y): not to "engage in any conduct to change or suppress a child's gender identity or sexual orientation"... something she strongly believes is not in the best interest of children who desperately need our help.
If she stands firm and refuses to sign (as appears will be the case), then she will be banned from ALL ministry in the ADOM, something that would be a crushing blow to the small struggling church where she currently serves.
Let me be clear, it is not a matter of being pro or anti-trans. What is at stake is pursuing the best care, based on the best evidence, for children and teens who experience gender dysphoria. That treatment should not be based on activist legislation any more than it should be based on reactivist legislation.
Primum non nocere.
As a father of a 20-year-old trans child with diagnosed gender dysphoria and a 14-year-old gender questioning child, these positions would have been welcomed. However, the care given to my oldest, from medical doctors and psychiatrists, has been on the affirning side. She (his preferred pronoun) was diagnosed with GD at fifteen. My youngest has not been diagnosed with GD but is being counseled affirmatively. I am a minister, committed to the traditional view of marriage and gender, so you can imagine that this has been difficult for all involved. As I stated in a comment last week, I would go to my children's weddings, just not officiate or participate in any way. Perhaps these positions will make their way across the Pacific and provide healthier responses in the future. All I want for them is the BEST care possible.
James, yes, I can imagine the struggles you've faced and the tears shed, the confusion and heartache. I feel for you brother!
Thank you.
We have a 20-year old trans child who told us when they turned 18 that they were non-binary. That has evolved into now being a transgender man, taking hormones and planning on surgery. I have deeply felt a few things all along - one, that the gender dysphoria is real. Two, that I am to love them where they are right now. And three, that they are also autistic, they need wise counsel on what sex and gender are, etc., and the only counsel being given is either “don’t be trans” on the conservative side or “embrace your true identity!” on the progressive side. We have found a parents’ group with other parents of trans kids and that has been the most helpful in helping us process everything, but we still struggle with knowing the best thing for our kid.
Lori, yes, I've long worried that ASD kids are being wrongly directed towards with space. I find that ASD kids struggle with ambiguity and can be easily cajoled into certain things. But it's hard, because you want the best for them, and don't want to see any harm.
Yeah, I wish there was more understanding around how autism and gender dysphoria are correlated… my husband has read Iain McGilchrist and finds brain hemisphere study relevant, in that at least for our child, their autism seems to present with an overly active left-brain and underdeveloped right brain. So they don’t understand how sex and gender connect. And if it’s all arbitrary, and you didn’t fit the “girl” stereotypes, then maybe you’re a man…
Lori, yes, it's hard when people use not fitting the stereo-types as proof of being trans. Stereo-types are that, "types," patterns we artificially create, and yet people want to amend biology in order to fit them. It's a chaotic world.
I recall that one of the big messages of Women's Lib (back in the day) was that one could be a woman without needing to conform to all the stereotypes. And now, in this supposedly even more liberated age, we're hearing that the stereotypes of the 1950s and 60s are in fact valid. Or so it seems to me, but maybe I'm just confused.
That’s what it seems like to me. We’ve talked to our child about that and they say it’s not, it’s more about feeling like they don’t belong in their body. But I’ve wondered whether the autism affected how they processed puberty - we go through a lot of changes as we move from child to adult, and if you feel like you’re not particularly girly already, then maybe you feel like it’s a “mistake” that you’re in the body that you are. I don’t really understand it all, and in our particular circumstance our child was struggling to even live life with the gender stuff affecting them, so we felt like accepting them where they are was less damaging than trying to keep pushing on changing their thinking. It’s definitely beyond my understanding, so we just try to love as best we can and show God’s unconditional grace the way He’s shown it to me in my life and choices.
I think ultimately for me it comes down to biology - you can’t really separate sex and gender, even though we have as a society. But if gender is just arbitrary, based on whatever “rules” society wants to make up, then it doesn’t ultimately mean anything. I think where I don’t have clarity is that our brains are in our bodies, part of our biology, and what do you do when there is a brain/body disconnect?
The New York Times just had a good article (I believe it was an opinion piece) on this issue late last week. I highly recommend it.
Thank you for the clarity of defining the terms at stake in this global debate that from my view has created harm from all sides. And your final statement is the most needed. Let it be about “the best care , based on the best evidence, for children and teens who experience gender dysphoria.”
Yep, that's what we need.
I was a clinician in a child and adolescent mental health team for 18 years. I may have seen and learned a thing or two. Those health professionals worth their salt in this field seemed to form a conviction that it was very wise to refrain from diagnosing and labelling in favour of waiting and letting time do its thing- given time, a clearer picture will emerge. An exception to this would be Psychosis - which is a medical and Psychiatric emergency requiring clear identification and urgent intervention.
Whatever views and approach clinicians, the young person and their families and others have-
all should be guided by what is best for the persons longer term wellbeing. Alas, I fear the the longitudinal studies required to really know what is the best treatment approach will need too be too longitudinal for anyone to really know anytime soon.
So, I would argue, when in doubt, refrain from haste and be prepared to treat everyone with maximum dignity and avoid rushing to quick and firm conclusions.
Hi Chris, thanks for chiming in!
I have a friend who is an active member, and a Warden, in a small struggling Anglican church. She says she cannot sign the ADOM's amended 'Code of Conduct for Child Safety and Wellbeing' because article 6.2 (y) essentially mandates affirmation (or at the least silence) in the face of gender dysphoria, in line with Victoria's Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act and the Victorian Equal Opportunity Human Rights Commission's guidelines 'For people of faith...'. She believes the ADOM is taking its policy from the Victorian government and the shifting sands of culture, rather than from the solid rock - the Word of God.
She notes that if she signs the Code of Conduct, then she is promising "to be bound by" article 6.2 (y): not to "engage in any conduct to change or suppress a child's gender identity or sexual orientation"... something she strongly believes is not in the best interest of children who desperately need our help.
If she stands firm and refuses to sign (as appears will be the case), then she will be banned from ALL ministry in the ADOM, something that would be a crushing blow to the small struggling church where she currently serves.
Phil, I think the VEOHR guidance on this can be challenged by appealing to the advice given by psychiatrists as I've set out above.
Informative!! What we all need to hear on the subject!! We must ever be informed on every side of the various social issues. Thank you!!
Thank you for sharing! I hope the United States wakes up and moves this direction.