One of the books that is part of a recent Supreme Court case is Born Ready, about a five-year-old girl who insists she’s a boy and decides to “share his gender identity with his family and the world.” The target age is 4 – 8.
The legal issue is the subject matter being introduced to elementary children without notice to parents. They would like the right to “opt out” of their children being exposed to inappropriate content that violates their religious rights. The subject matter seems to be pushed upon children, as in grooming, in many public schools.
Enter “Gays Against Groomers” (GaysAG) — “An organization fighting back from inside the community against the sexualization, indoctrination and medicalization of children happening under the guise of LGBTQIA+.”
The group is raising awareness about numerous health risks of puberty blockers including “loss of bone density, slowed or stunted brain and sexual development, and sterility.”
Furthermore, the group feels that gender-affirming surgeries, such as removing body parts of healthy children before they’ve grown into them, is child abuse. “Even chest binding is a destructive behavior that damages breast tissue …,” according to their website.
Chest Binding
Chest binding can be a “do-it-yourself” practice that some girls use to flatten their chests to pass as males. A common material used is elastic sports tape that supports joints and muscles and it is not recommended. Proper binders are available, however, there are significant health risks.
The forced compression may cause chest and back pain, bruising and scarring, nerve compression, circulation compromise, breathing restriction, reduced exercise tolerance, overheating, itching or other skin irritations, altered rib cage, and fluid buildup in the lungs, according to San Diego-based Sharp Health Systems.
Chest binders should not be worn any more than eight hours a day because of all the possible negative risks, and they should not be worn at all by anyone who has asthma, scoliosis, or fibromyalgia, adds Medical News Today, as they can be “dangerous.”
Puberty Blockers
Medicines commonly used for transgender care are gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues, and are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. They are intended for precocious puberty, approved by the FDA in 2011.
In females, GnRH “limits or stops breast development and stops menstruation.” In males, they “slow the growth of facial and body hair, prevent voice deepening, and limit the growth of the penis, scrotum and testicles,” reports the Mayo Clinic.
The dose is usually given by periodic injections or as an implant under the skin, usually replaced yearly.
Side effects may include weight gain, headaches, mood changes, and hot flashes. Long-term complications may affect bone growth and density, fertility (depending on when the medicine started), and growth spurts.
Regular monitoring of height and annual bone density tests may be advised, the Mayo Clinic adds. “To support bone health, youth taking puberty blockers may need to take calcium and vitamin D supplements.”
Interestingly, bone density tests, calcium and Vitamin D supplements usually don’t enter women’s lives until about their 50s – 60s.
In 2022, the FDA implemented a change in the safety label for GnRH because some children experienced elevated spinal fluid pressure in the brain. This can lead to progressive loss of vision, according to Managed Healthcare Executive.
After puberty blockers, the next stage is gender-affirming hormone therapy, which can develop feminine or masculine secondary sex characteristics. “Some of the changes triggered by gender-affirming hormone therapy cannot be reversed. Others may require surgery to reverse,” warns the Mayo Clinic.
Psychological Issues
In 2016, the FDA ordered drug manufacturers to add a warning about psychiatric problems to Lupron’s (a GnRH drug) label after receiving reports of suicidal thoughts in children who were taking them, states Reuters.
Professional counseling is recommended prior to (and throughout) children taking puberty blockers. It is believed that children who have gender dysphoria (distress from feeling a disconnect with the sex assigned at birth), delaying puberty might improve mental well-being by reducing depression and anxiety that could lead to self-harm and improve social interactions.
Gender dysphoria is one more issue that can be added to causes of depression, anxiety and self-harm in adolescents. I only knew one girl in grade school who became naturally more masculine by junior high. There was also a boy who came out as gay in high school. Maybe they struggled with self-image.
Children can be uncomfortable in their own skin for many reasons and proper guidance is needed so they can navigate their way into adulthood.
I’m reminded of the chubby girl at school who became bulimic and anorexic as a teen. Another girl who was treated cruelly by the males at home became an alcoholic trying to escape her pain. A guy who came from a broken home became a drug addict and suicidal. No one even asked the cutter about the obvious scars on her arm.
Would puberty blockers prevent a gender dysphoric youth from becoming like the rest of us who self-destructed because we were uncomfortable in our own skin? My concern is they might be swayed prematurely by an issue that has become like a bandwagon.
Ponderings
The phrase “puberty blocker” should be cause to ponder. Puberty generally begins between ages 8 and 13 for girls and ages 9 and 14 for boys, according to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
How would children this age be emotionally mature to make such a decision when they’re not even developed physically or emotionally? How would a child know for sure if they needed to transition later without going through the natural experience of puberty?
Minors can’t even enter a legal contract because they lack capacity. “The rationale is they lack a full understanding of the consequences of their contracts,” states Study.com. What about lacking an understanding of themselves?
In conclusion, it was a relief to read GaysAG’s stance on this controversy —
“In order to become healthy critically thinking adults, normal puberty is essential. Puberty blockers are a risky and unnatural way of teaching a child to deal with something every human being naturally goes through. Rather than enabling children to wage war on their own bodies, we believe they should be taught how to love themselves as they are until they can make a clear and informed decision as an adult.”
