Of Course They Will Say She Is Biased

The conservatives will try to discredit her, but she knows.

What Decades of Providing Trans Health Care Have Taught Me
New York Tines
By By Marci L. Bowers
April 1, 2023

This year more than 350 anti-transgender bills have been introduced in state legislatures, pushing discussion about treatment for trans and gender-diverse patients further into the national spotlight. It isn’t hard to surmise that politically convenient doubts about the validity of trans identities have come to take the form of prohibitions against trans health care.

Did you remember Lili Elbe, the trans women who had surgery back in 1930, she was featured in the movie “The Danish Girl” and then there was Christine Jorgensen back in 1950… being trans is nothing new!

Although gender diversity has existed for centuries, medical treatment of gender dysphoria — the diagnosis for those who experience discomfort when their gender identities do not match their sex assigned at birth — developed as transgender people became increasingly visible in the late 20th century. In 1979, a group of trans-knowledgeable professionals, surgeons and mental health experts met to establish standards for the health care needs of transgender patients. The standards provided order, objectivity and science to a process that was then poorly understood by the medical community. The authors of these guidelines founded an organization that would later become known as WPATH, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, which I now lead.

But you know the Republicans will say she is biased.

Although gender diversity has existed for centuries, medical treatment of gender dysphoria — the diagnosis for those who experience discomfort when their gender identities do not match their sex assigned at birth — developed as transgender people became increasingly visible in the late 20th century. In 1979, a group of trans-knowledgeable professionals, surgeons and mental health experts met to establish standards for the health care needs of transgender patients. The standards provided order, objectivity and science to a process that was then poorly understood by the medical community. The authors of these guidelines founded an organization that would later become known as WPATH, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, which I now lead.

Dr. Bowers goes on to write about regret, saying that,

...But a study published in 2021 found that fewer than 1 percent of those who have received gender-affirming surgery say they regret their decision to do so, a much lower rate than has been reported for more common medical interventions like plastic surgery and orthopedic care. A separate analysis of a survey of more than 27,000 transgender and gender-diverse adults found that the vast majority of those who detransition from medical affirming treatment said they did so because of external factors (such as family pressure, financial reasons or a loss of access to care), not because they had been misdiagnosed or their gender identities had changed.

How can that be the Republicans and conservatives says it is something like 80%… they would never lie!

Dr. Bowers then discusses treatment for children,

...Puberty blockers had been used with minimal concern about side effects since the 1980s. They have been approved by the F.D.A. to treat endometriosis, prostate cancer and precocious puberty…

...Offered shortly after puberty begins, blockers are typically used to delay puberty for as long as two years. Decreasing bone density — a side effect of puberty blockers — can return to normal once puberty resumes, either by withdrawing the blockers or administering cross-sex hormones.

She points out that, “In nature, for every rule, there is an exception.”