Open Letter to the AAP

Evidence is required to make major changes to standards of care, not politics.

As a transboy I watch what is happening to our youth and hate it. We cannot completely accept trans folk or people who want to be trans just because they say they are. I know I am because of the challenges I have been through and even then I still question myself from time to time just in case something changes. I do think we should be supportive of everyone reguardless of their gender status and I think we need to question people so that they question themselves and don’t rush into something they know nothing about. Besides that I will NEVER be taking T as it messes up so many parts of you and does more harm than good. If that’s coming from a transboy then you should know there is a problem and i don’t care what the kids are saying everyone who has enough problems to randomly declare themselves trans is going to say yes to whatever you put in front of them no matter what. I know. I’ve been there. Now that I’ve thought it through hormone therapy is a very bad idea. In conclusion I think there needs to be more extensive questioning and therapy before ANYONE is allowed to transition (still being supportive but questioning. It’s called dialectics and is in every DBT manual) and that hormone therapy needs to be studied and drastically improved before it is safe enough to be used. Please. Save the next generation.

I developed gender dysphoria as a teenager, transitioned and nearly lost 8 years of my life as a result. I have since desisted from transition and found peace with my birth sex.

Lost daughter. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Yet, she obtained a prescription for testosterone. Ordinary girl. Not gender-atypical.

Listen to parents! These are legitimate concerns.

FIRST DO NO HARM. Kids need mental health therapy first and foremost. I fully affirm and support adult transgender people making a fully informed consent hopefully at a mature adult's age with full brain development. With less gatekeeping there will be more regret and detransitioning which will actually backfire on the real transgender folk.

As a teen, my daughter was convinced she was trans. A year later she realized she wasn't. If I had followed AAP's advice and just affirmed her as my son (instead of giving her time and space), she might have been encouraged to start testosterone and have a double mastectomy. My daughter was one of many students in her school who suddenly identified as a variation of trans. To a growing number of parents, teachers, mental health and medical professionals, this appears to be a social contagion. Please reconsider your policy statement with the health and well-being of young people in mind.

Thank you!

Testosterone is not for female bodies! Please stop this off-labeled prescribing

Listen to those who have detransitioned. If being trans is about living an authentic life, why is there any need to medicalise? Doctors, big pharma and cosmetic surgeons gain financially from this, especially the affirmative approach

My 14th year old presented as a happy healthy girl until puberty, when he developed severe depression and anxiety soon after the unexpected death of his father, and suddenly began to present as a boy. I want to affirm and support my child, but am so worried that there are no medical professionals who are able to help in an objective and scientific way. We're working with a gender clinic, who basically told us they will start hormone therapy whenever we give the go-ahead. No mental health assessment, no discussion with other professionals who are working with my child. This is terrifying. Please take an objective and science-based approach to helping transgender youth, and don't buy into the mythology that everyone who identifies as trans should immediately start an irreversible process that results in being a lifelong patient.

As the mother of autistic daughters I am deeply alarmed by this situation. Already one of my daughters has experienced pressure to identify out of her femaleness, despite being nowhere near puberty, when she is simply a unique, creative, eccentric autistic girl.

Let our children live free lives and stop messing with their bodies and heads

If this ideology had been prevalent when I was a teen I think I’d have thought I was ‘in the wrong body’. I’m a happy middle aged mother. Children need to experience puberty to learn who they are.

As a gay man, I am concerned about fast-tracking dysphoric children into “gender affirmation” when many of them desist and grow up to be gay or lesbian. This approach is plainly a form of gay conversion therapy.

Our children are our future. And yet an entire generation of our children and youth is being used and abused by a small minority of our population using them as pawns to further their own political agenda. And why are the medical and mental health institutions failing our children, ignoring and manipulating parents and taking their instructions from that same small group who show no true love or concern for our kids?

The reach of the USA and it's decisions go far. My Australian daughter has experienced a scary and unnecessary journey due to the affirmative medical approach. Dramatically more caution is required here - at nearly 19, she's now grateful her 15-year old self did not medically transition - it was not the answer to her on-going mental health issues.

Allowing children to chemically and surgically alter their bodies before adulthood is abuse. This will end in disaster and lots of lawsuits.

This is not just happening to children. College kids and young adults in their early to mid 20s are also being affected.

My child came out as transgender a year ago. She is not persistent/consistent. It all depends on how included she feels with her peers. Every time she feels excluded and sad she goes in deeper. If she feels included (confidence up) she barely even recognizes either/or gender. Since coming out she has remained with one all female organization PLUS joined another with her pushing it, not me. This is all information schools/doctor would probably never know. In my state she can get counseling w/o my knowledge at age 14 and at age 15 cross-hormones/surgery w/o my consent. In an age where it is considered wrong to 'out a student/child' to parents. In other words, if she puts on a strong enough front at school and with doctors they would not know about her being inconsistent or non-persistent. They would not know how she prides herself on calling herself daughter at home. They would not know her accomplishments with these all female organizations. Teen years are an age where they perform for their peers. It is not a time to make permanent decisions on their health.