Originally a comment by Arcadia on Erring on the side of ruining kids’ lives.

I am not sure why this is apparently so difficult to understand. Everybody (I think) can come up with a description of a gender non conforming child in their mind. The likely options are that the kid will grow up to be gay, and keep not conforming; straight and non conforming; straight and more conforming (because for some kids it is a stage they go through); or lately, “trans”. Out of those four likely options, three will want their bodies intact and fully functional, and some of the fourth category will too. But all those kids are likely to be treated as the subset of category four that want blockers, cross sex hormones, and surgeries. All of those things make life harder, period, but especially if you’re trying to get on with life in any of the other categories.

It’s absolutely shocking that the conclusions that child comes to depends on what teaching/media/culture/content the child is exposed to (which these days leans heavily towards trans conclusions), which professionals the child is exposed to (which here, with these laws, are having their hands tied) and their friends and family, which are also struggling in the current culture.

But simply, whether or not your body works as nature intended when you grow up really shouldn’t hinge on what you thought when you were a child. Period.