‘Transition or Die’ Is a Flawed Premise Pushing Transgender Hormones, Surgeries for Youths, New Guide Says
Longterm counseling, ‘informed-consent’ processes advocated instead of rapid ‘affirming’ care.
Some parents have been told that if they fail to support a gender-questioning child’s desire to “transition” to the opposite gender, their child may commit suicide.
But this “transition-or-die” scenario, often used to justify transgender medical treatments for minors, is factually inaccurate and “ethically questionable,” according to a new treatment guide released by the Gender Exploratory Therapy Association (GETA), an organization of professionals from the United States and several other countries.
The UK, home of the world’s largest pediatric gender clinic, recorded a suicide rate of transgender teens at 0.03 percent over a 10-year period. That number is higher than the overall adolescent population but “far from the epidemic of trans suicides described in headlines and public discourse,” GETA stated in its Clinical Guide for Therapists Working with Gender Questioning Youth.
Fears about suicide have helped drive the trend toward gender-transition procedures. Under that model, the therapist readily accepts the patient’s self-diagnosis and then assists with transitioning. This process may put a patient on the fast track to a revamped social identity, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and body-altering surgeries.
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