I've got mates who will be fucked over by this. My heart aches for them and any other trans kid who is fucked over by this asinine decision. UK Pride events this year need to be a proper protest...
I've got mates who will be fucked over by this. My heart aches for them and any other trans kid who is fucked over by this asinine decision.
UK Pride events this year need to be a proper protest again. Pride as praxis. That's the only way forward.
It's kind of crazy that the argument "we need more research" actually gets traction like this. It's extremely normal and routine, at least in the United States, to use medications in children...
It's kind of crazy that the argument "we need more research" actually gets traction like this. It's extremely normal and routine, at least in the United States, to use medications in children which have not had clinical trials in children or been specifically approved by the FDA for use in children. Companies that have received approvals for use in adults just don't tend to bother, and doctors prescribe the medication off label for kids. This includes a massive number of mental health medications. The only antidepressant approved by the FDA for treating depression in kids (and only kids age 8 and higher) is Prozac, so when Prozac doesn't work what are doctors supposed to do? Nothing? No, they go off label and use the clinical decision making skills they got in medical school to decide what the best treatment here is. There's just no justification for cutting off services while further research is done, when there's yet to be any evidence of harm that's not coming from extremely biased TERF sources or the alt-right. And to say it will take until 2024 before the clinical trials are maybe up and running, disgusting. Just put your lives on hold and go through a horrifying puberty for the wrong gender for a while, kids, we've got paperwork to do.
Puberty blockers have also been used for ages in cis children to prevent precocious puberty, so it's an absolutely absurd thing to claim these are somehow novel, untried medications
Puberty blockers have also been used for ages in cis children to prevent precocious puberty, so it's an absolutely absurd thing to claim these are somehow novel, untried medications
Just a note: puberty blockers have been used, for ages, in actual children to prevent precocious puberty - to delay puberty - for much longer than they are usually used in trans adolescents....
Exemplary
Just a note: puberty blockers have been used, for ages, in actual children to prevent precocious puberty - to delay puberty - for much longer than they are usually used in trans adolescents.
Actual children - not infantilized 16-years old - as young as four have been taking blockers for an average of ~four years, and often much longer (see e.g. the papers cited by Kim, 2015).
The average trans adolescent, despite being eligible for puberty suppression as soon as 12, and in any case after entering Tanner stage 2, is not going to be able to start blockers that soon unless they are extremely lucky by realizing it that early, having supportive parents, a family which can afford their treatment, and a clear-cut diagnosis of dysphoria. Puberty suppression is reversible within a year in said cis children, even after nearly a decade of treatment - trans adolescents are never going to start it as early, nor be on it half as long.
"TERF Island" is a derogatory nickname that the UK has earned by a) being an island and b) doing an awful lot in recent years, culturally and legislatively, to harm trans rights. "Beating the TERF...
"TERF Island" is a derogatory nickname that the UK has earned by a) being an island and b) doing an awful lot in recent years, culturally and legislatively, to harm trans rights. "Beating the TERF Island allegations" would be proving that, despite this perception, the UK isn't an island full of transphobia.
Hard to prove that when they keep doing things like this, though.
Sad to see hatred presented to us in the guise of protecting the children but unfortunately the UK has a history of taking pages from the tried and tested American playbook.
Sad to see hatred presented to us in the guise of protecting the children but unfortunately the UK has a history of taking pages from the tried and tested American playbook.
So immensely saddened and frustrated by this news. Trans rights are human rights. My heart goes out to every trans child that will deal with the repercussions of this.
So immensely saddened and frustrated by this news. Trans rights are human rights. My heart goes out to every trans child that will deal with the repercussions of this.
We know that gonadotropin releasing hormone antagonists, which are the main drugs used here, are basically fine in kids. We know this because we currently use them in kids with precocious puberty,...
We know that gonadotropin releasing hormone antagonists, which are the main drugs used here, are basically fine in kids. We know this because we currently use them in kids with precocious puberty, i.e. who are going into puberty under the age of 8, which is a disease that actively causes damage to children (especially girls) and so we use GRH blockers to stop it. When you stop taking them, you start going through puberty again as normal - sometimes a single low dose of oestrogen or testosterone is needed to tell the body "hey this thing works now, try using it", which is a standard treatment for kids with delayed-onset of puberty and is absolutely 100% safe.
Banning the use of blockers is categorically not due to a risk of damage to children. It just isn't. We use these drugs in children quite routinely. These are known to be safe in paediatric patients. We just don't use them often in trans kids, who would ideally take them to block the worst effects of an unwanted puberty until they reach an age where they can maturely make a call on whether to try allowing puberty to proceed normally or whether they want to take low doses of transitional HRT.
Spoiler: we do not allow most kids to take blockers. The ones who are given permission to do so have already gone through extensive psychotherapy to assess whether this is a good step for them, and are kids we are reasonably confident might identify as trans when they are older. We want to give them the time to make that choice without being forced - and yes, kids do decide they don't want to transition! That's fine! They stop taking the blockers and go through a normal puberty and everything is fine. Worst case scenario, they're a tad (like a few centimetres) shorter than average. Really negligible impact. We KNOW these are safe medications. The only reason people can even slightly claim they're "unproven" is because it's unethical to actively conduct experiments on children, so MOST medications are "unproven".
You know what else is "unproven" by that same metric? Virtually all of the psychiatric medication that TERFs want kids displaying signs of gender dysphoria to take instead of taking puberty blockers. They don't care. They just hate trans people and don't like the idea that some kids might be born knowing they're not built quite right. Nobody is giving children HRT. We give them blockers so they CAN make a call when they're mature enough.
Honestly, I don't know what to say to this. It's a moronic decision by senior NHS management to do this. The centralised system was not fit for purpose, and was overwhelmed but it should not be...
Honestly, I don't know what to say to this. It's a moronic decision by senior NHS management to do this. The centralised system was not fit for purpose, and was overwhelmed but it should not be shut down until new local centers are developed as it will leave people with nowhere to turn at a critical point in their care, they could have used it to start opening new specialised centers as well. And now they've just decided to block the use of puberty blockers which are already used to treat other conditions (such as precocious puberty) in children.
They haven't thought through the effects this will have on trans people's mental health at all, puberty as I understand it is a very distressing time for many trans people as their bodies develop in ways different to how they identify/feel and all this is going to do is cause more suicides. I also don't see why the study couldn't be done while continuing treatment for new cases especially as there is previous work done in this field (albeit for precocious puberty) which doesn't find any particular long term side effects https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4342775/
This news is frustrating. I have friends that live there and the last thing I want is for their existence to be erased. I can't wait until we somehow find the bridge to the other side.
This news is frustrating. I have friends that live there and the last thing I want is for their existence to be erased. I can't wait until we somehow find the bridge to the other side.
TERFs are out celebrating more dead kids. Just another few days on normal island.
I've got mates who will be fucked over by this. My heart aches for them and any other trans kid who is fucked over by this asinine decision.
UK Pride events this year need to be a proper protest again. Pride as praxis. That's the only way forward.
It's kind of crazy that the argument "we need more research" actually gets traction like this. It's extremely normal and routine, at least in the United States, to use medications in children which have not had clinical trials in children or been specifically approved by the FDA for use in children. Companies that have received approvals for use in adults just don't tend to bother, and doctors prescribe the medication off label for kids. This includes a massive number of mental health medications. The only antidepressant approved by the FDA for treating depression in kids (and only kids age 8 and higher) is Prozac, so when Prozac doesn't work what are doctors supposed to do? Nothing? No, they go off label and use the clinical decision making skills they got in medical school to decide what the best treatment here is. There's just no justification for cutting off services while further research is done, when there's yet to be any evidence of harm that's not coming from extremely biased TERF sources or the alt-right. And to say it will take until 2024 before the clinical trials are maybe up and running, disgusting. Just put your lives on hold and go through a horrifying puberty for the wrong gender for a while, kids, we've got paperwork to do.
Puberty blockers have also been used for ages in cis children to prevent precocious puberty, so it's an absolutely absurd thing to claim these are somehow novel, untried medications
Just a note: puberty blockers have been used, for ages, in actual children to prevent precocious puberty - to delay puberty - for much longer than they are usually used in trans adolescents.
Actual children - not infantilized 16-years old - as young as four have been taking blockers for an average of ~four years, and often much longer (see e.g. the papers cited by Kim, 2015).
The average trans adolescent, despite being eligible for puberty suppression as soon as 12, and in any case after entering Tanner stage 2, is not going to be able to start blockers that soon unless they are extremely lucky by realizing it that early, having supportive parents, a family which can afford their treatment, and a clear-cut diagnosis of dysphoria. Puberty suppression is reversible within a year in said cis children, even after nearly a decade of treatment - trans adolescents are never going to start it as early, nor be on it half as long.
Thank you so much for this, I'm glad there was someone here who had more knowledge on this than me.
We’re never going to beat the TERF Island allegations.
I feel so awful for all the children this will affect.
What does this mean?
"TERF Island" is a derogatory nickname that the UK has earned by a) being an island and b) doing an awful lot in recent years, culturally and legislatively, to harm trans rights. "Beating the TERF Island allegations" would be proving that, despite this perception, the UK isn't an island full of transphobia.
Hard to prove that when they keep doing things like this, though.
I don't know about the allegations part but it's pretty much a fact that the UK is inherently systematically transphobic.
UK named one of world’s least friendly countries for trans people
Sad to see hatred presented to us in the guise of protecting the children but unfortunately the UK has a history of taking pages from the tried and tested American playbook.
So immensely saddened and frustrated by this news. Trans rights are human rights. My heart goes out to every trans child that will deal with the repercussions of this.
We know that gonadotropin releasing hormone antagonists, which are the main drugs used here, are basically fine in kids. We know this because we currently use them in kids with precocious puberty, i.e. who are going into puberty under the age of 8, which is a disease that actively causes damage to children (especially girls) and so we use GRH blockers to stop it. When you stop taking them, you start going through puberty again as normal - sometimes a single low dose of oestrogen or testosterone is needed to tell the body "hey this thing works now, try using it", which is a standard treatment for kids with delayed-onset of puberty and is absolutely 100% safe.
Banning the use of blockers is categorically not due to a risk of damage to children. It just isn't. We use these drugs in children quite routinely. These are known to be safe in paediatric patients. We just don't use them often in trans kids, who would ideally take them to block the worst effects of an unwanted puberty until they reach an age where they can maturely make a call on whether to try allowing puberty to proceed normally or whether they want to take low doses of transitional HRT.
Spoiler: we do not allow most kids to take blockers. The ones who are given permission to do so have already gone through extensive psychotherapy to assess whether this is a good step for them, and are kids we are reasonably confident might identify as trans when they are older. We want to give them the time to make that choice without being forced - and yes, kids do decide they don't want to transition! That's fine! They stop taking the blockers and go through a normal puberty and everything is fine. Worst case scenario, they're a tad (like a few centimetres) shorter than average. Really negligible impact. We KNOW these are safe medications. The only reason people can even slightly claim they're "unproven" is because it's unethical to actively conduct experiments on children, so MOST medications are "unproven".
You know what else is "unproven" by that same metric? Virtually all of the psychiatric medication that TERFs want kids displaying signs of gender dysphoria to take instead of taking puberty blockers. They don't care. They just hate trans people and don't like the idea that some kids might be born knowing they're not built quite right. Nobody is giving children HRT. We give them blockers so they CAN make a call when they're mature enough.
Honestly, I don't know what to say to this. It's a moronic decision by senior NHS management to do this. The centralised system was not fit for purpose, and was overwhelmed but it should not be shut down until new local centers are developed as it will leave people with nowhere to turn at a critical point in their care, they could have used it to start opening new specialised centers as well. And now they've just decided to block the use of puberty blockers which are already used to treat other conditions (such as precocious puberty) in children.
They haven't thought through the effects this will have on trans people's mental health at all, puberty as I understand it is a very distressing time for many trans people as their bodies develop in ways different to how they identify/feel and all this is going to do is cause more suicides. I also don't see why the study couldn't be done while continuing treatment for new cases especially as there is previous work done in this field (albeit for precocious puberty) which doesn't find any particular long term side effects https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4342775/
This news is frustrating. I have friends that live there and the last thing I want is for their existence to be erased. I can't wait until we somehow find the bridge to the other side.