U.K. Report Calls into Question Youth Gender-Transition Treatments

‘For most young people, a medical pathway will not be the best way to manage their gender-related distress.’

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Happy Wednesday! As soon as we saw this headline yesterday—“Circus Elephant Gets Loose, Goes for Stroll Through Butte”—we knew we had to let you know about it.

But we’ll let you guess the elementary school-level punchline we came up with.

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

  • White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced new sanctions against Iran on Tuesday in response to Tehran’s multi-wave aerial attack on Israel over the weekend. The sanctions specifically target Iran’s missile and drone program, and are aimed at holding “the Iranian government accountable for its malicious and destabilizing actions,” Sullivan said, adding that the U.S. will also enact sanctions against entities supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iran’s Defense Ministry. Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Israel’s military chief, vowed on Monday the Israel Defense Forces will respond to Iran’s attack, but officials have not yet given an indication of how or when such retaliation will occur. Israel’s war cabinet will reportedly meet today for the third time this week to discuss next steps.
  • The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) released a report Tuesday that suggested China is leveraging the U.S. fentanyl crisis for strategic and economic gain, including by subsidizing the production and export of illegal fentanyl and permitting its open sale online.* The bipartisan committee—led by Republican Chairman Mike Gallagher and Democratic Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi—recommended the creation of a task force to combat the global illicit fentanyl trade, providing enhanced resources for law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and aggressively sanctioning entities involved with the trade, among other measures. Gallagher, however, is resigning from Congress at the end of the week after deciding not to run for reelection. 
  • Record rainfall in the Gulf states of the Arabian Peninsula this week caused flash flooding that killed at least 17 people in Oman and wreaked havoc throughout the region. The intense rainfall—which forced the closure of the Dubai airport—equaled what the United Arab Emirates typically sees in the entire year.
  • The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday in a case concerning the constitutionality of the felony charges against a participant in the January 6 riot. The defendant—a former Pennsylvania police officer who entered the Capitol building on January 6, 2021—faces charges under a federal law that punishes anyone who “obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so.” The justices seemed divided Tuesday over whether the law should cover the behavior exhibited by those who participated in the January 6 riot. The Supreme Court’s ruling in the case—expected later this summer—could affect the prosecutions of more than 300 people charged for their actions that day.
  • GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky on Tuesday joined Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia as a co-sponsor on her motion to vacate the speaker, which could force a vote on House Speaker Mike Johnson’s ouster. Massie—who sits on the powerful House Rules Committee—said the speaker was going for the “Triple Crown” in pushing Ukraine aid, last month’s omnibus spending bill, and the recent reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Massie urged Johnson to resign preemptively, but the speaker said Tuesday he will not step down and seemed to have the support of many of his House Republican colleagues.
  • Republican impeachment managers from the House of Representatives formally delivered two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate on Tuesday, related to Mayorkas’ handling of the southern border. The House approved the articles in a narrow 214-213 vote in February, and senators are expected to be sworn in as jurors in the impeachment trial later today. It’s unlikely, however, that the proceedings will last long in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where a two-thirds majority is needed for a conviction and Democratic senators are angling for an expedited vote to dismiss the charges. 
  • Seven of 12 jurors—plus six alternates—were seated on Tuesday in the second day of jury selection in former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial related to alleged hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. The judge overseeing the trial issued a stern warning to Trump against making intimidating remarks to any of the jurors after observing the former president “gesture” and make “audible” remarks toward a member of the panel. “I won’t tolerate that,” Judge Juan Merchan said. “I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom. I want to make that crystal clear.” 
  • One American News Network (OAN) on Tuesday reached a confidential settlement in a defamation case filed against them by Smartmatic, a company that specializes in electronic voting systems. The case, filed in 2021, stemmed from OAN’s broadcast of false election fraud claims involving Smartmatic that the company argued damaged its reputation. In the lawsuit, Smartmatic notes that it only provided election services to Los Angeles County in the 2020 election. Smartmatic also has pending litigation against Fox News and Newsmax for their related coverage. 
  • Former Florida Gov. Bob Graham died at the age of 87, his family announced Tuesday. The Democrat, who also served as a U.S. senator, was a vocal critic of former President George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq. He suffered a debilitating stroke in 2020. 

A Reckoning Over Gender Treatment 

A photograph taken on April 10, 2024, in London, shows the entrance of the NHS Tavistock center, where the Tavistock Clinic hosted the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) for children until March 28, 2024. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)
A photograph taken on April 10, 2024, in London, shows the entrance of the NHS Tavistock center, where the Tavistock Clinic hosted the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) for children until March 28, 2024. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)

Perceptive Morning Dispatch readers have probably noticed at some point in the last four-and-a-half years that this newsletter is not interested in fanning the flames of the culture wars and getting readers riled up as they start their days. We made a promise at the outset that we’d do our best to separate the signal from the noise and distill the goings-on in the world into something worth your time every morning. There have been a handful of exceptions—times where we thought we could add clarity—but for many years, the battle over the appropriate treatment of minors seeking to change their gender has been filled with more heat than light. It’s possible that may be beginning to change. 

More than three-and-a-half years ago, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) commissioned the “Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People.” That study—which has come to be known as the Cass Review, named Dr. Hilary Cass, the chair of the project and the former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health—was published last week, and the review provided a welcome and evidence-based respite from an otherwise toxic conversation with its wide-ranging examination of studies and research undergirding gender-transition treatment and the clinical practices for delivering that treatment. 

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  1. BDM

    LUK: Hopefully.

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    Char T

    Very telling findings. Before I commented, I read many of the comments to have a better understanding of how this is impacting people in real life. I don't have kids, but I have family and friends who do. One of my step-siblings has a daughter in her preteen years, who was struggling with her identity and was convinced (in large part, by the influence of teachers, from what I understand) that she was a boy. They've since moved their daughter into a different school, and the difference is already huge. She's no longer questioning her sexual identity; though still struggling with the many things we all do as we're on the cusp of being a teen.

    What I cannot stop thinking about, every time this topic crosses my mind...is how just a few years ago (or maybe it was a bit more than that, everything's blurry) there were ads, promos, and campaigns out there encouraging girls to embrace their dreams of doing things perceived as not typically 'feminine'. Similarly, there was encouragement for boys to not be afraid to show sensitivity, etc. There was no push to actually become the opposite sex, and it was applauded as being more well-rounded etc. if you embraced more feminine and/or masculine tendencies.

    Now, there's so much pressure to take extreme, sometimes medical measures. I don't deny that some of these kids are truly struggling and need help. But they are also still becoming, and will be, well into their 20's; and even beyond. To consider such a drastic change in one's life, when it's so new, fragile and developing...that's a really tough space to be in.

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  3. Morah Nechamah

    LUK: I hope so but it depends on which administrations are in power and the tone that they set, especially regarding the so-called progressives and what I see as their fascist behaviour, insisting that theirs is the only way and everyone else is not only wrong, but an evil to be eliminated.

    If they are still in power or in government or in positions of power, if they are still kowtowed to as they are now, then this will not make a difference. They just plug their ears and then go on condemnation rampages.

    Re Senator Cotton: I appreciate and agree with his sentiment but am worried about how people will take things 'into their own hands.' I am not sure if it would be constitutional, but I think that every one of these f*ers who call for death to America, who identify with 'Hamas', et al, are terrorists or supporting terror, and if they are not citizens should be immediately deported, and if they are naturalized citizens should have their citizenship revoked, and if they were born here should be watched very carefully for where their money goes and where they go, whom they contact, etc.
    If we had a truly decent president who REALLY was upset about trump's noxious obnoxiousness regarding 'very fine people on both sides' remark and so much more, such a president would make it unequivocally clear that these protestors are wrong, that Chamas is a terror organization, that Chamas is responsible for the starvation and deaths of babies in azza/gaza, and that many if not most gazans are part of or support chamas and all that they did and do.

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  4. BadgerBill

    Regarding Presented Without Comment on NPR-I haven’t listened to NPR for years. I have plenty of left leaning news sources (my wife is watching Nicole Wallace on MSNBC right now), but NPR has always been beyond belief, holding itself out as some superior source, while holding discussions with the American Trotskyites expounding for the right and the Spartacus Youth League for the left. Just insufferable and arrogantly lacking self-awareness.

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      Citizen60

      I agree. I couldn’t understand what the roar was about that someone inside NPR was simply talking about what we were hearing.

      I do enjoy Larry Krasner, but don’t seek “reporting “ from him.

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    Matmos

    I have a biologically female child who began identifying as transgender after puberty. I am pretty sure that my kid’s perspective is a result of social contagion, mixed in with the very real challenges of being a female adolescent in a sexist culture. Their teacher has a transgender sibling whose transgender experiences are from before the days when it was cool, and who suffered greatly from dysphoria as a teen. That teacher therefore runs a transgender-positive classroom. We have had many conversations over the course of the year on how to handle my kid’s situation, how to navigate transgender politics, how to do justice to both the similarities and differences between her sibling’s and my kid’s experiences, and how to support healthy exploration of gender identity without sending kids down the medical route. Conversations like that change people’s minds a lot more than the culture war pot-shot-slinging. I hope this report may change the culture in the US too a bit because the rhetoric of fragility about transgender teens has produced a situation in towns like mine that make it very difficult to have thoughtful conversations about the very real ambiguities around sex and gender. I don’t think polarization is doing kids like mine much good.

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    1. Jackrabbit McQuivers

      My child (born female) has also come out as trans. They have asked my wife and I to use they/them, but their friends at school use he/him when referring to my child.

      What is a bit different about my situation from the comments I read below is that I don't think my child is necessarily the victim of ideology. I acknowledge that the trend has spiked so rapidly that there probably is a social contagion. And who knows? When my child is a 20, maybe they'll revert back to their birth gender. But in the meantime: my child is an immensely strong critical thinker. They interrogate both sides of an issue, refuse to succumb to tribalism or identitarianism. They broke from the LGBTQ group at school because some of those kids were anti-straight, anti-cis, anti-Christian. Keep in mind that my child is neither straight nor cis nor Christian, but was offended that anybody could hate. ("We want equal rights," my child would say, "not to tell cis people that we're better than them. Just equality. That means we have to respect them too.") My child refuses to be sucked into such polarization.

      My wife and I have made a couple vows to each other:
      1) We will support our child for who they truly are. That support has been the best decision we've ever made. We've created a comfortable, trusting environment, where our child tells us what they're worried about, what they're feeling. I'm *really* proud of that, and mental health just isn't a significant worry for our child like it is for some of the other trans kids in our community. (I'm not taking full credit for that, but I confess I take some)
      2) We have let our child know that there will be no irreversible or unproven gender-affirming care (hormones, surgery) before they're 18. The first time we said that, they questioned us why. But they never brought it up again. They appreciated and respected the boundary. And, going back to their own critical thinking skills: I think they also came to realize that making irreversible changes based on how you feel as a 16-year old may not be a wise idea.

      I'm not saying my wife and I don't struggle. I always imagined walking my daughter down the aisle one day. But I came to realize that was about me imprinting my expectations on them. This whole situation has forced me to "purify" my love to the unconditional parts, where my expectations of them are less important. We also struggle with the pronouns... but we try.

      My biggest worry for a few months was not that my child might be trans, but that they were overly focused on identity. For a while there (at the beginning), every conversation was about gender identity and pronouns. I came to believe that whether you are straight, gay, cis, trans -- focusing too much on yourself and how you're perceived is not healthy. Focus less on what people call you, and focus less on how people see you. Focus less on the label. And just be you. If "you" means wearing boys clothes and short hair, and otherwise presenting as a boy, then so be it. What harm does that create? If you think of yourself as a boy, then do so. But worry less about the labels, and just be. Once my child is an adult, if they still want to pursue a permanent change, then we'll address that then. But at that point, it will be their decision and I won't have much say.

      What is incredible (and gives me optimism) is that my child also -- without me asking -- began to talk less about their identity. They just are. And I appreciate that. (Part of my thought process was: if it *is* a social contagion, then constantly talking about it reinforces it in my child's mind. Talking about it less (while never pretending it doesn't exist) allows my child the freedom to change back, if that's what they want in the future.)

      I realize my post sounds a bit pollyanna. I think I've been ridiculously fortunate to have a kid who interrogates these things, and focuses on self-awareness. I don't know if they will be permanently trans, or if they will evolve back into their birth gender. But it no longer seems to be the most important thing. Regardless of the choice they make, they're our child.

      But I can also tell you, after spending some time on message boards with parents who were not as accepting as me an my wife: I am scared for some of these other teens. They feel rejected in their own homes. They develop a mistrust of their parents. Some of these parents talk about kicking their kid out of the house. Others say "my daughter claims to be a boy, but I will always call them a girl." I just can't imagine living my whole life telling my child I don't trust their own view of themselves, creating a rift between me and my child.

      The flip side is also troubling: My wife spent some time on message boards of pro-trans parents, and some them are WAY over board. Insisting on certain dogma and language that I would consider extreme. One parent, who themselves is trans, spoke up to push back on some of this (supposedly) pro-trans dogma, and got kicked off the message board for not adhering to the "party line" espoused by non-trans people. The tribalism was shocking and hurtful -- *including to the trans person who tried to offer a nuanced point-of-view.*. That's the last time we ever visited that message board.

      Sorry for the long post. In summary: I don't subscribe to the extreme of enforcing "pro-trans" rhetoric, nor gender-affirming care for teenagers. But I also don't subscribe to the (equally) extreme position of denying my child who they truly are, telling them they're wrong, and creating a permanent rift. The happy place I've found, in my family, is to accept my child for who they are, avoid permanent treatment, but also focus less on labels and more on my child as an individual. I've been so lucky that my kid has a good head on their shoulders, subscribes to those same values, and I trust them to make those decisions as they continue growing and maturing. I just focus on what my kid needs, and who they are.

      And my child is pretty awesome.

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        Matmos

        What a lovely comment. Your experience and orientation is actually very much like mine. I wish there were more spaces for those of us following some kind of a middle way to connect and figure out how to move forward.

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        1. Jackrabbit McQuivers

          Thank you, Matmos. I paused before writing it, but decided that more of the "middle way" voices need to be out there. In my opinion, the two extremes aren't demonstrating a lot of compassion for the very real humans that are going through this. And it's important to know that there is a path where you can simultaneously refuse irreversible gender-affirming care, AND show your child that you will accept and love them whomever they are, even if that is someone is not who I thought they'd be.

          Ultimately, being a parent is about coaxing the best, most honest, self-sufficient and healthy adult out of the child. Whether or not that is who I thought they'd be is irrelevant. Neither pro-trans activists nor trans deniers seem to understand that

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      Mchristenson

      I'm in a similar boat. Our daughter announced (via a form letter she found online) that she was a boy and wanted to be addressed by a different name, use different pronouns, and wanted to bind her breasts.

      The bottom line is that she's female, has always been female, and will always been female.

      Well, that's fun. We now have two, mutually exclusive claims to deal with, so how, as parents, do we address them?

      We did not start off by affirming. This was made harder because our daughter simply would not talk to us about any of it. Part of that stems from her being on the spectrum, and part stems from severe social anxiety. It resulted in a lot of frustrating, one-sided conversations where she would just repeat the conclusion without engaging in any sort of soul-searching that should come with a conclusion like this. We took her to four different therapists, and the last one finally threw in the towel and said "she hasn't said a word the last three sessions--it's not ethical for me to take your money."

      As she's gotten older (this has been going on for four years, and she's 18 now) what we have done is help her with her severe social anxiety. She's been taking a gap year and working a full-time office job, and that has also allowed her and I to work on our relationship, which has been really positive. I've stopped making every question about the ideology, and instead we learn to enjoy each other's company for a few minutes during a daily coffee, or when we go over our results from the NYT Games.

      In addition, though it's not my favorite :-) we don't say anything about her non-feminine appearance (short hair, no makeup, hairy legs, baggy clothes). Because I don't actually care. I remember wearing ridiculous clothes because it was part of my identity, and don't want to make that into an issue like my dad did with me. And our hope is that she sees she can be "herself" without medicalization.

      So, with a very personal connection to this topic, I'll reiterate what I've mentioned elsewhere in the comments today: these kids are suffering real psychic pain. They want relief. In addition, they (like every kid ever) want to find an identity that is valued and that they're affirmed in. But they also suffer from confusion. And often hurt, combined with trauma. (As an aside, I hate that word a little bit, because in 2024 trauma can mean that they didn't make the basketball team.) So there's a lot of complexity.

      One thing we don't do as well as previous generations is teach people that negative emotional feelings are part of life, and people need to learn to be resilient in spite of them (rather than eliminating the causes or using them to deflect from the real issue).

      But there's also an impact from the heavy, heavy engagement with social media, including exposure to things (sexual and otherwise) that Gen X didn't see until college.

      And there is a high level of activism from teachers, the media, and organizations that have captured the narrative to mostly say a person is bad if they don't just accept but proactively affirm any idea that somebody else has around sexual identity.

      What a mess. Especially given the underlying biological fact that there are two sexes. (As an aside, I give the activists credit--they've used DSDs to create the appearance that sex might be on a spectrum. But I'm sad that the media has not corrected this error and often contributes to this impression. I've had highly educated friends communicate to me that "sex is on a spectrum," but they're just parroting the first results from Google, and they're wrong.

      Even the traditional transsexual (a natal male who claimed to be a girl from a very young age--the whole persistent, consistent, insistent thing) is arguably a result of John Money and his depraved experiments rather than being something "real" in the sense of a cancerous tumor or a leaky heart valve. If you've seen Buck Angel (Tranpa on X) he talks about his experience and that medical intervention to try to live as a man was the conclusion he came to after something like 15 years, not after a visit to a "therapist" who offered "informed consent" and then prescribed blockers or HRT. And even he (and other transsexuals) are quick to say we should not be medicalizing young people (those <25-years old).

      So all this to say, I agree that the "culture war pot-shot-slinging" is not helpful, but it's also not helpful when well-meaning people affirm things that are fantasy instead of insisting on the truth, and therefore I am hopeful that the Cass Review is the tipping point.

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        Trm

        Thank you for sharing. My experience with my son is startlingly similar, down to specific details. His issues started after a true trauma in ninth grade (what amounted to a nervous breakdown, with a self-diagnosis of trans a year later, after the same unwillingness to engage with therapy that you described). He eventually did graduate from high school. Our strategy was and is time, infinite patience, and the hope that no longer being immersed in a gender affirming model at school would make a difference. And so he will be entering his second gap year, after which there will be further gap years as needed, until I am sure he won't destroy himself. I am hopeful. I see real, albeit modest, signs of desisting now emerging. We laugh together again occasionally (and, yes, discuss the NYT puzzles...). Navigating this minefield is a lonely, debilitating sojourn, one that I never imagined I would be undertaking in my early 60's, particularly after raising four other healthy and happy kids. But this is what Steve Jobs' vision has wrought. And I and millions of other parents were either too dumb or too lazy to see where it would lead. Well, this is where it led. I wish you all the best, and will remember your daughter and your family in my prayers.

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          Mchristenson

          I am on X as markchristenson if you want to DM me there. If not, that's totally fine, and, regardless, I will return the prayers :-)

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        Will Bates

        Very thoughtful comment. Thank you for the contribution.

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      3. Mary Stine

        Your daughter is lucky to have such a caring and patient parent. May you continue to grow in your relationship and enjoy many things.

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      4. Morah Nechamah

        I wish you and yours well.

        One of my main fields is neuropsychology, and I've seen this situation on a sudden rapid and extreme increase the past few years. Most of the time it is a result of social influence, not a case of a child really expressing from early on some very different identity.

        Most that I know were perfectly happy with their sexual identity but were not secure socially, had great desire to belong, and were thought to be more in danger of doing alcohol and drugs than anything else when they went to college. But it seems like transsexualism became the 'cool' thing, the way to be included and be considered 'cool'.

        I've spoken to a few young women who were sure this was what they wanted and were upset their parents wouldn't pay for surgery, only to realize a few years later that they outgrew it and were really grateful that they didn't have their breasts cut off, et al, when they were in that phase.

        I know SO many girls who at one point or another said that they were really boys, or wanted to be boys, but it was definitely a social construct--they saw boys as having more fun and freedom. Every single one of them is happy to be female, heterosexual, able to have children and nurse them, etc.

        I have met and worked with a few children who are very sure that they (not just wish to be) are a different sex and insist this at such an early age that one could not blame it on media. This was when I first started learning about VTS- vanishing twin syndrome, where a fraternal twin of the opposite twin died in utero and the surviving twin absorbed the other twin's genetic material. If I were well and younger, I would definitely like to study this more.

        I, too, hope that the Cass Review will be a tipping point, but I fear that it will not as long as the fascism in the left continues to be catered to and/or feared.

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        1. Jason Thomas

          It's so difficult, because teenagers are looking, and "trying on" different identities. It's part of being a teen. But, by and large, they are transitory identities.

          Imagine, if you had adults telling you that any one of the many identities you tried on during your teen years was your authentic identity, and then pushing drugs and surgery to make that identity permanent.

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          1. Morah Nechamah

            Exactly

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      Rebecca

      Wishing all the very best for you and your child. FWIW, it sounds like you’re navigating this beautifully!

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  6. Payette

    Trans activists were vicious in how they treated dissenters, including dissenters in health care . We have witnessed fads in medicine and psychology before, but never something so damaging to patients, families, and society.

    Legacy media and academia drank the cool-aid. That was typical. What upset people the most was health care providers who joined the fad and hurt patients and their families. I anticipate that more lawsuits will finally alert health care providers to their errors.

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    1. Jason Thomas

      I'll back up something mentioned in the Cass report...if you work in mental health you are pressured to "affirm" Trans identification in a way that you don't with any other issue. One training I took said that we had to not just treat, but be advocates for, Trans patients.

      This flied in the face of every other training I've ever received, (formal or informal), where therapeutic detachment is key. That's a big red flag for me.

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      1. Payette

        In medicine, there are very few cases where a doctor removes a totally normal and healthy body part: tubal ligation, vasectomy, mastectomy for women with brca gene, and plastic surgery. Certainly the surgeon at least assesses the patient's understanding of short and long-term results/complications of such surgeries. Not so with gender identity disorder. Providers are to do the surgery lest the patient commit suicide (which the patient would know to say, as coached).

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  7. Debra D

    I do believe the Cass Report is a tipping point and, if nothing else, a glimmer of hope to those of us who are the parents of young girls and teens (the most affected group) who have watched the transgender activists become all-powerful in the name of a very small minority of individuals. I will always believe that this transgender craze/phase was sparked by the intense media hype over Caitlyn Jenner - a very, very different story than we see today with (mostly) young girls wanting to become boys and boys wanting to compete in sports as girls. Over this time period since 2015, the number of people seeking hormonal and surgical transitioning has imploded. The money being made is astronomical. Schools no longer have to inform parents how their child is identifying. Parents are told children will kill themselves if they are not allowed to transition. Long-term counseling is no longer required before hormonal and surgical transition is approved and surgical alterations are done within a year or less. It is insanity in the name of "treatment." Not to mention, in many states and in the US military this "treatment" including surgery is done at the cost of taxpayers. So, a poor kid can't get braces because that is considered cosmetic but she can get her breasts cut off because that is gender affirming treatment. Again, insanity. I believe it is important to treat all people with dignity. But treating them with dignity includes not allowing them to make permanent decisions without safeguards. Not treating them like cash cows. Ultimately, I don't think the Cass Report will be what changes practice in the US as much as lawsuits brought by individuals who were minors when they were given "treatment" and insurance companies that decide to limit coverage for these procedures. It's always about the money.

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    1. TresLeches

      What state covers the costs of top surgery for a minor?

      One of the transgender individuals know lives in California. Not even California, one of the most progressive states in the union, covers the cost of top surgery as a general rule. She's been working for years to save up for the option, given how expensive the procedures are.

      I would be shocked if many states even had state or federally subsidized healthcare that covered such procedures for minors. I have yet to even see a private insurer cover it, though I know they exist.

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      1. Debra D

        But, as a side note, it does not pay for reversing the treatment. It is a one way ticket.

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        1. TresLeches

          That's a rough, especially given it's the parents consenting for the initial surgery not the minor.

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      2. Debra D

        If you qualify for AppleCare in Washington state (the state’s version of Medicaid) it is covered. So I don’t know about CA because I don’t love there - the legislature there may have excluded “top surgery” but ours didn’t.

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        1. TresLeches

          Thx for the reply. If I remember correctly Washington State has some of the more controversial laws, correct? Were they the state to initially legislate a school's choice to not inform parents about transgender identity on campus? Do schools have the ability to administer hormone therapy without parental involvement? I've lost track but vaguely remember some rather aggressive protections and powers given to school administrators.

          I'll double check on CA's coverage through it's state insurance.

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          1. Debra D

            Yes, exactly. WA is super progressive on this. Counselors cannot advise kids not to transition. They can lose their license for that. I’m not sure about administration of hormone therapy at school but it wouldn’t surprise me. I know parents have been threatened with CPS involvement for refusing to recognize a child’s desire to transition and that’s super frightening. Judges do make the decision for kids in state custody - not parents. I wonder how they feel now reading the Cass report. I mean, I wouldn’t want to be in that position myself - trying to decide what is in the best interest of a kid in foster care who says they now identify as a different sex and want gender affirming treatment. That would be rough. I’d lean toward making them wait until they were 18 but the advocates would excoriate the judge.

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    A.Paolano

    I've been a high school teacher for 12 years and I know that my experiences are not proof positive of anything, but for the first 5-6 years of my career I had never encountered a trans-student, now I have a minimum of one a semester. The social contagion of this is so evident, and the fact that many teachers see their role as nurturing this psychosis and delusion (because of DEI training) is a huge danger.

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  9. John.ryan

    Hopefully yes.

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  10. Jrtownson

    I don’t know… I think Dispatch is late to the game regarding transgender activism. Did it really take the Cass study to condemn a movement that insists that we must affirm the emotional desires of prepubescent children? When these desires result in permanent life altering changes? When we won’t let these same kids drive, smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, or get a friggin’ tattoo? This movement came unhinged very quickly. Hopefully Dispatch won’t take so long to point this out next time.

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    1. Payette

      Actually I recall quite a few podcast episodes where panel, host, and guests discussed this subject in great detail with appropriate focus on the fallacies of diagnosis and treatment and social/political response to activists. The topic wasn't covered as much in the last 1-1.5 years. However, the Dispatch did not ignore this topic.

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      1. Jrtownson

        Was it covered in their reporting? I know it was discussed in podcasts but by their own admission they deferred reporting on this.

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