Surgery for Transgender Youths Becomes a Political Issue

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/opinion/letters/transgender-surgery.html

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To the Editor:

Re “Breast Removal Surgery on Rise for Trans Teens” (front page, Sept. 26):

As three out of five Americans say they don’t know a trans person, your reporting contributes much-needed understanding of trans youth and the barriers they face in receiving gender-affirming medical care. The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association and the Endocrine Society all assert that health care for trans kids, done in the right way at the right time, is safe.

Readers should be aware that efforts by Republican elected officials to ban such health care are not random; they are methodical, intentional and the result of a well-oiled extremist effort to exploit trans lives in the creation of a potent political wedge. TransLash Media’s exposé on the anti-trans hate machine draws back the curtain on the dark money, right-wing organizations and far-right ideology driving the anti-trans backlash in the U.S.

It’s time to stop cynically using trans youth as a divisive issue for political gain and to recognize their right to bodily autonomy. Trans youth can be trusted. Those who would deny them care cannot.

Imara JonesBrooklynThe writer is founder and C.E.O. of TransLash Media.

To the Editor:

The teenage years are a time of exploring different identities, be they political, occupational, religious, ethnic or gender. This is a normal stage in psychological and social development, and teenagers often change their identities many times as they get older.

The problem with allowing teenagers to undergo sex reassignment surgery is that if the individual who underwent the surgery changes their mind, the results of the surgery are permanent. In the past, if a person felt that they were trans, they would have to undergo an extensive psychological evaluation and some therapists would have the person live as the opposite sex for about a year before being allowed to have sex reassignment surgery.

More research should be done on the consequences of adolescent gender reassignment surgery and on people who regret having sex reassignment surgery before health care providers make it readily available to teenagers.

James K. JohnsonBrooklyn

To the Editor:

I wish this article had given more voice to the positive experiences of young people who pursue top surgery rather than leave the impression that many people regret this surgery. As an adult in my 20s who recently had top surgery, I can report that it radically improved my life and ended five years of painful binding that comes with its own set of health risks.

Why should top surgery be worthy of more scrutiny than breast augmentation and reduction for minors, which are more common and are performed on nearly 8,000 young people a year according to this article? All of these surgeries can be important to a young person’s journey of self-actualization and can support bodily autonomy.

The Times’s coverage of transgender medical care should be less concerned with painting “both sides” of this issue, because as the cited studies confirm, the vast majority of trans people young and old do not regret their surgeries.

Sarah CornettOakland, Calif.

To the Editor:

Our 16-year-old son is scheduled for top surgery this December. He has been carefully researching and dreaming about this surgery for the last four years. I am his mother. I grew his body in mine. So I have struggled with the idea of his physical transition.

But as his parent, I also know my child. I know that this is who he was meant to be, who he always was. His joy, his confidence, his ecstatic love of his life since transitioning makes us certain that this is just one more step in his becoming his true self. And that he is ready, now.

We, his parents, and his trusted, dedicated physicians are those who are qualified to make this judgment, not the state.

Sandy Russell JonesHighland Park, N.J.

To the Editor:

The subject of trans people seeking surgical and medication intervention is one that is fraught when we recognize that the subjects signing up are not consenting adults. Surgeons are performing permanent changes to children’s bodies. These treatments are based on decisions made by brains incapable of understanding long-term consequences. That fact is what makes the current stance of the medical community so alarming.

If gender identity is fluid and dynamic, then the rush to make the physical body chase a dynamic position of the mind in any given time period is at best a fool’s errand and at worst an act of genital and corporeal mutilation. I do not use these terms lightly; I use them primarily because we are talking about children, not consenting adults.

Please look to other countries that have researched this subject and have elected to delay such treatments until the patients are more mature and identity is more established.

Kathryn A. GeenMechanicsville, Va.

To the Editor:

It’s striking how closely the arguments to restrict medical or surgical treatment of transgender adolescents resemble the tactics used to suppress abortion. Dispute the need for the medical procedure. Question the ability of the patient to make an informed decision. Stress the “irreversibility” of the procedure. Cloak paternalism in the warm tones of reasonable concern. And if all else fails, tell the story of the “scarred survivor,” the patient who voluntarily chose the procedure, only to experience deep and near-suicidal regret years afterward.

Such tactics work — they sow doubt, fear and uncertainty about a safe and effective procedure for transgender adolescents.

Charlotte Achelois SchererAlexandria, Va.The writer is a transgender woman.

To the Editor:

Thank you for this illuminating and heartbreaking article. My husband and I raised two sons. It was a complicated experience, from the moment a baby cried and we couldn’t figure out why or what to do. And growing from childhood to adulthood is just as complicated.

I can’t imagine dealing with a child’s gender issues. Much help would be needed — not political interference.

Shame on Govs. Greg Abbott of Texas, Ron DeSantis of Florida and any other politicians who want to prevent their constituents from getting help they need. What they should be doing, if they have any sense of human decency, is providing funding for needed programs and professional care.

Lynda GreerAtlanta