Gender Affirming Care for Teens

Clearing the Air - Addressing Common Misinformation

There is a lot of misinformation and other 'fake news' shared by politicians and anti-trans hate groups. Here are some quick facts about transgender teen healthcare to help clear up some common lies spread by people online:

Youths under the age of 18 cannot access any form of gender affirming hormone treatment (in any U.S. state) without parental consent.
Puberty blockers are safe treatments that temporarily prevent a youth who may be transgender, from going through puberty. This delay gives the potential transgender youth time to decide if they really are transgender and allows their family to wait until the child is old enough to undergo hormone replacement therapy or other forms of medical transition.
- In most states, youths have to meet certain criteria to receive puberty blockers. This often includes showing a pattern of gender nonconformity or having a therapist's diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
- Puberty blockers are temporary and do not cause permanent physical changes. It is entirely reversible!
- Source: Mayoclinic.org.
Children in the U.S. are not receiving gender-affirming surgical procedures. There is no 'genital mutilation' or 'chemical sterilization' being performed on children. This is an outright lie spread by conservative politicians.
- A 2019 study of 22,827,194 minors found that 0 children 12 years or younger had received any form of gender-affirming surgery and that only ONE for every 1 million youths aged 13-14 received surgery. The vast majority of gender-affirming surgeries on youths were chest reductions conducted on non-transgender males who had abnormal breast growth.
Gender-affirming treatments (such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy) are demonstrated to reduce the rate of suicide amongst transgender people. As many as 51% of transgender people attempt suicide; largely due to how they're treated in society and a lack of health support.

How Gender Affirming Care for Teens Really Works

Unfortunately, gender-affirming care is often very difficult to receive. People are not just driving to their doctor's office and getting pills. In most cases, gender-questioning teens will focus on two areas of transitioning:

Social Transitioning: Behaving in ways that match their gender identity including using different pronouns and wearing different clothing.
- Many teens will not have been raised as their gender identity or they may be exploring different gender identities. As such, they may need support and patience to help them identify what works best for them.
Puberty Blockers: This is the one medical intervention available for most youths. It does not transition them to a gender different than what they were assigned at birth, instead it stops them from undergoing puberty. Undergoing puberty will force a child to develop sexual characteristics that they may not want. For example:
- Trans boys were assigned 'female' at birth but they likely do not want to develop breasts or miss gaining a more prominent height growth spurt.
- Trans girls were assigned 'male' at birth but they most likely do not want a deeper voice, adam's apple, or pronounced body hair.

Puberty blockers help to make gender transitioning easier once they are older and certain of their gender identity.

What about hormone replacement therapy (HRT)?

WPATH is the national guideline for gender-affirming care and it limits HRT use to no younger than 14 years of age. However, most healthcare providers will not provide HRT to anyone younger than 16, and many others will not prescribe it to anyone under the age of 18. In many cases, transgender patients are required to meet certain criteria to receive HRT including:

Having a gender dysphoria diagnosis
Living full-time as their gender identity for a year or longer
Receiving medical checkups every 3 months