When in doubt
Is sanity slowly creeping back?
Puberty blockers for under-18s with gender dysphoria will be banned indefinitely in the UK after experts warned of an “unacceptable safety risk”.
The government said that following recommendations from independent medical professionals, existing emergency measures banning the sale and supply of the drugs outside of clinical trials will stay in place.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said there was a need to “act with caution” and “follow the expert advice” in caring for this “vulnerable group of young people”.
Of course both sides of this dispute consider the young people vulnerable, but they seem them as vulnerable to different perils. To the trans ideologues they’re vulnerable to the evil transphobes who want to deprive them of the joy of changing sex. To the trans skeptics they’re vulnerable to trans ideologues who want to convert them.
I see the GOP in congress are proposing a law that would make ‘trans’ medical care illegal (I don’t know the precise details). WPATH leaders have warned of an epidemic of teen suicides, which on its face seems hyperbolic and non-sensical, not to mention hugely irresponsible as for some it might actually prompt a suicide attempt.
I come into the ‘first cause no harm’ camp personally. I don’t think the argument that only a small percentage of trans youth desist, so priority should be given to enabling transition is a strong one. First, those peoples lives are irrepairably harmed, in some cases ruined. I suspect down the track we will see a higher rate of suicide in that cohort. Secondly, the research showing that medical transition per se increases health and happiness is weak at best, so the potential positive does not in fact suggest a counterbalance to the known harm. Third, the evidence of increased suicide (as opposed to suicidal ideation) in the absence of medical transition is quite weak to non-existent. Finally, there is pretty good research suggesting that youth, given counselling and time, frequency end up quite happily function adults, and often gay. In other words, the whole thing for a sizeable number of kids is just a more pronounced speed wobble of teenage hood than the normal.