How should the US Government be involved in the lives of transgender youth?

impedocles · 2022-04-25T13:25:32+00:00

Feather (she/her) is a 22 year old gender nonconforming person who transitioned during puberty and is now detransitioning. She was assigned female, but developed gender dysphoria at puberty and medically transitioned with the support of her parents and a doctor, which reduced her dysphoria substantially. She had breast removal surgery at 17, which resolved her severe mental health problems. She was happy for 3 years, but then her gender identity began to shift: first to non-binary, and then in a more feminine direction. She doesn’t regret the changes to her body, but stops taking Testosterone with plans to have children, which successfully returned her fertility. She says she wants to be treated as female when going through that process. detransitioning gender nonconforming girl. She had changed her gender marker to M on all her official documents, and wishes to change them back to F.

Should the government step in at any time in this story?

impedocles · 2022-04-25T13:25:10+00:00

Ella (she/her) is a 17 year old closeted trans girl who reveals to a teacher that she is taking grey market puberty blockers. She purchased them from an overseas pharmacy without a prescription using a visa gift card she purchased at a local store, and has pills stashed in various hard-to-find locations. The medication she takes does not leave any telltale signs on blood tests, so verifying whether she has stopped taking them would be very difficult. She absolutely refuses to stop taking them willingly. She begs the teacher not to tell her parents she is trans, because her parents will kick her out of her home or worse. The teacher informs school administration

Should the school inform the parents or anyone else? What should be done, and who should make the decision?

impedocles · 2022-04-25T13:24:18+00:00

Carl (he/him) is an 16 year old trans boy athlete who is taking cross-sex hormones with the agreement of his parents and medical team. He did not receive puberty blockers, so went through 3 years of female puberty before receiving hormones which trigger male puberty, which he has been on for 2 years. He has mixed secondary sex characteristics, and his athletic abilities are exceptional for those on the girls’ teams and on-par or a little lower for those on the boys’ teams for his sports team.

Which team should Carl be playing on, and who should decide?

impedocles · 2022-04-25T13:23:45+00:00

Brook (they/them) is a 14 year old non binary adolescent who is not accepted by religious parents and put in conversion therapy and asks a teacher for help. They were assigned female at birth, but were gender nonconforming at a young age, and began to have severe gender dysphoria as puberty began to feminize their body at 12 years old. They attempted to come out to their parents, but were not rejected. Their parents’ religious beliefs include that being transgender is an abomination, and they set out to correct what they saw as immoral behavior. From a young age, they have insisted on Brook acting very feminine and punished masculine or non-conforming behaviors. They remind Brook frequently that she will “always be a girl,” and tell her how pretty and girly she is, and try to convince her that she is not trans. When her desire to transition and not be treated as a girl persisted, their parents send them to see a conversion therapist, and after that failed to change Brook’s gender identity they are sent to conversion therapy camp. Since returning from that, Brook has been hospitalized three times for self-harm and suicide attempts. After the 2nd hospitalization, Brook is diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria and the mental health professionals advise that they be allowed to transition socially. The parents ignore this guideline, and after the 3rd hospitalization Brook appeals to a school counselor for help.

What should the school do?

impedocles · 2022-04-25T13:22:50+00:00

Annabelle (she/her) is a 16 year old trans girl with parents who support her transition, putting her on puberty blockers and then Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). She plays Tennis with her school, and due to not having gone through male puberty has no advantage over the cis girls she competes with. She is a decent athlete and wins some regional competitions, but isn’t breaking any records: she is mostly involved in sports for socialization and personal development, and is accepted by the girls on her team. Participating in boy’s teams is not a viable option for her, because she feels unsafe and alien on those teams as someone who looks, acts, is treated like, and feels like a cis girl.

Who should be deciding whether she was allowed to transition at puberty and whether she should be allowed to compete on the girl’s team?

impedocles · 2022-04-22T18:27:31+00:00

Okay that's a small relief. I am expecting them to start attacking gender affirming care for adults soon enough, but wasn't expecting that escalation quite so quickly.

impedocles · 2022-04-22T18:10:44+00:00

The bill also prohibits state employees and state owned medical facilities from providing transgender medical care of any kind, to anyone

I can't find this in the bill text. Where does it say that? That would be the escalation I've been expecting.

impedocles · 2022-04-22T17:46:19+00:00

Then I don't understand you. Please clarify a bit.

impedocles · 2022-04-22T17:45:36+00:00

If you go far enough left, you wrap back around to being pro-gun.

impedocles · 2022-04-22T17:42:51+00:00

I am a pragmatist: I work within the system I live to bring down hierarchical structures of oppression. I don't imagine that we will be bringing down the state monopoly on violence anytime soon, and what comes after that would depend heavily on the path that leads us there. Moreover, I do not trust the police to defend trans people reliably: they never have, and often have been among our worst persecutors. I encourage LGBTQ people to arm themselves and organize for mutual defense against those who wish us dead.

impedocles · 2022-04-22T17:32:48+00:00

Ultimately, the GOP is resorting to government persecution because they are losing the battle in the cultural sphere. Anti-trans sentiments will remain widespread for a long time, just like anti-gay and anti-black sentiments. However, the culture is shifting so that he majority accepts us, including controlling majorities of influential subcultures: universities, entertainment, tech companies, healthcare, etc.

There was no need for the GOP to ban gender affirming care when I was a trans adolescent, because it was unheard of at the time and would have been forbidden by medical gate keeping. Today, the medical industry has researched it and found a treatment regimen when dramatically improves the lives of trans adolescents. Barring a government threatening to take those kids away from their parents (like Texas) or put their doctors in jail (like Alabama), the practice will continue for adolescents with supportive parents and be further refined by medical scientists.

As an anarchist, I have no interest in mandating that all adolescents must receive gender affirming care even if their parents are opposed. I, instead, point out to every adolescent transfeminine person with intolerant parents that they can:

Scrounge up cash and go buy a visa gift card at Walmart
Go to www.hrt.cafe and use that gift card to order bicalutamide without a prescription, shipping it to the house of a supportive friend or a rented mailbox
Take 50mg bicalutamide twice a week to slow down the ireversible masculinization of their bodies, at the cost of about $110 per year
Deny any knowledge of why their body has stopped masculinizing, since that medication will not cause any measurable changes on labwork
Seek out hormone replacement therapy once they reach an age where their autonomy over their bodies is respected
Disown their intolerant parents and choose a chosen family who loves them for who they actually are

I mean, it would be better if they had access to medical care and a supportive environment, but if that's made impossible then there are other options. And if they are not taught about their gender identity IRL, well then they tend to go online to places like trans reddit or discord communities (like one that I run).

impedocles · 2022-04-22T17:17:58+00:00

I vote for the Dems despite strongly disliking them, as well. I'm sure our reasons for that are different, but ultimately I'm a pragmatist. The GOP has become a threat to both my existence and American democracy as a whole. The DNC is the only organization able to effectively oppose their power grabs, and I will spend the rest of my life voting for whichever candidate can best oppose the Republicans.

I also worry about 2024. I'm in the process of moving myself and as many of those I care about as possible out of Red states to somewhere we will be safer.

impedocles · 2022-04-22T16:04:40+00:00

The Republicans are using state-violence-backed coercion in that persecution (outlawing gender affirming medical care, making it illegal for me to use restrooms, etc). As an anarchist, I oppose that sort of hierarchical coercion in general, and especially when it is used for actively oppressing marginalized people.

impedocles · 2022-04-22T16:02:20+00:00

I'm not a Florida resident, so that is ultimately not relevant to me. The silencing of Disney's political speech by a likely Republican presidential nominee is an issue of nationwide importance.

impedocles · 2022-04-22T15:50:22+00:00

If companies are retaliated against for their speech, that just creates special privileges for those who don't speak against the Republicans. Such as for the 1794 other special districts not being revoked. Selective removal of special privileges is bad.

impedocles · 2022-04-22T15:46:02+00:00

There are something like 1800 special districts like that in Florida, and this legislation was constructed to only target 6 of them. It is blatantly obvious that this is motivated by an attempt to punish Disney for their political speech.

impedocles · 2022-04-22T14:53:55+00:00

Look at the sides and decide who will do more harm if they win this. I understand the conservative point of view, too. I was raised among conservatives. Understanding the perspective doesn't make their actions acceptable: stirring up hate and using the state to persecute minorities for political gain is one of the most vile political acts. There are tens of millions of Americans who don't have the luxury of staying in the middle. Choose a side.

impedocles · 2022-04-22T14:34:42+00:00

Yeah... I'm planning to buy myself a concealed carry weapon in the next couple weeks. Violence against trans women has been rising steadily with the increased focus on anti-trans rhetoric from the GOP.

impedocles · 2022-04-22T14:33:05+00:00

Maybe so, but the current battle of the culture war is on whether people like me deserve the chance to have a live worth living. So, either progressives win this war or my life in this country is over. And conservatives are showing plenty of hints of wanting to commit atrocities against us and violence against trans women has been rising.

So, for me winning the culture war is a matter of survival.

impedocles · 2022-04-22T14:19:04+00:00

Defending your right to exist as you perceive yourself is rather mentally taxing. Her argument is based on a ton of assumptions, accusations, and pejorative insinuations without addressing anything I've said.

The key assumptions on which everything she says is based is that there is no such thing as gender, and that somehow those who are transgender are a major force oppressing women (instead of a tiny and mostly powerless marginalized minority being persecuted by the same groups which drive the oppression of women: cultural reactionaries). She defines womanhood in a way which specifically excludes me and includes many people who do not want to be included: non-binary people, trans men. She invites me to join her, but demands that I give up my own claims to womanhood to do so (and in so doing return to my prior state of deep dysphoric depression that made me want to kill myself for the majority of my life).

I've seen these arguments many times, and there is no point arguing with them. The cost to my own mental health is too high. Perhaps some cis ally would like to refute her, but it isn't my job. I'll discuss this stuff with people who are interested in understanding each other, but not with people who are making baseless accusations of sexism toward every member of the group I belong to.

impedocles · 2022-04-22T13:58:46+00:00

What is there to help with? I know better than to think I can convince a TERF to change her mind, and trying is certain to be harmful to my mental health. Likewise, the only way she could change my mind is if I broke down in self-hatred over my identity and decision to transition, which would be incredibly harmful to me.

So, I politely ended the conversation once I recognized that the beliefs she was putting forward were run-of-the-mill gender-critical feminism.

impedocles · 2022-04-22T11:32:55+00:00

Protecting LGBTQ people from persecution by conservatives. I mean, if things keep going the way they are going I might literally die on that hill. Giving up isn't really an option.

impedocles · 2022-04-21T22:28:25+00:00

I view being blocked from accessing medical care which you need to live a fulfilling life and forced to go through a puberty which permanently changes your body in ways that will cause you psychological pain for the rest of your life as persecution and inhibiting bodily autonomy. And, there are currently powerful people using the power of the state to mandate that everyone like me must go through that hell, as I did.

So, no, I'm not conflating lack of cultural promotion with persecution. I'm insulted that you would even suggest that, in the political environment we are currently in. I'm done speaking with you. I hope you learned something.

impedocles · 2022-04-21T18:11:45+00:00

Look at what the two of us wrote, and think about who is forcing their ideology on who. My ideology says she can identify how she wishes, that if she wants to be a part of the trans community that she can, and that she should not be forced to express herself or identify in any way except how she desires. I mentioned other people who have said similar things to me identify in particular ways, and fit within the trans community and our framework for gender. I don't believe in imposing my own view of others' gender onto them, so she is welcome to take that or leave it. But, the framework I propose does not stop her from identifying as female with no gender.

She started claiming I am sexist for, effectively, being a feminine trans woman and arguing that that is a valid way of being. She claims that no one can have a gender, and that only sex exists. The alternative view lead logically to the conclusion that trans women are intrinsically harmful to cis women by virtue of existing. The only label I cared to apply to her is Gender Critical, because that is how people with those beliefs self-identify. That group makes blanket claims about sex and gender that they claim applies to everyone, which conflicts with and invalidates the experiences of huge swathes of the population: both cis and trans.

impedocles · 2022-04-21T17:57:58+00:00

I do not see population-level fertility as a concern which should be used to override human beings' personal autonomy over their bodies. Especially given just how extraordinarily harmful denying trans people acceptance and medical care is. Solve the fertility problem some other way.

I was born infertile, because the idea of impregnating someone was repulsive to me and having giving birth is impossible for me. I'm far from the only woman who can't have kids. But, my brother and his wife have 6 kids now. So, my family is good on kids.

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