“If You’re a Kid Like Gavin”: How Transgender Kids Lose Their Ills, Their Families and Their Schools

Struggles similar to mine are still being endured by transgender kids in school across this country. In my home state of Virginia, the state Board of Education is considering strict new restrictions on where trans kids can go to school. Last month, the public comment period for proposed changes in Virginia schools’ policy changes saw tens of thousands of people weighing in. The new policy will not happen until the end of this month in order to give officials the chance to review the comments.

I had become the agenda item and the subject of headlines not just in my hometown, but across the country. At a school board meeting when I was younger, the parents of kids I lived with called me a freak and talked about my intimate parts in public. That is how low they would go to hurt a child.

Kyle and I wrote a book together called “If You’re a Kid LikeGavin” detailing my battle for equality and freedom. I am hoping that if the kids do not have a loving parent like me, they will see themselves reflected in its pages.

These dangers are many, and they don’t all come at the hands of a potentially violent aggressor. For example, a report from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law published in March 2022 estimates that 54,000 transgender people between the ages of 13 to 17 were at risk of losing access to gender-affirming medical care amid a flurry of anti-trans bills proposed in statehouses across the US.

As a high school student, I knew that the life of a trans American was in danger. I never wanted to be an activist. I was a kid then. It felt like the task of spreading awareness about the community that had been pushed into the shadows fell to me.

These treatments, that have allowed me and other transgender people to become the people we were intended to, have been studied and peer reviewed and are best practices developed by the American Medical Association, American Association of Pediatrics, American Psychiatric Association, the Endocrine Society and other leading health organizations.

Yet, across the country, they are being banned, challenged or indefinitely delayed, while people hoping to transition are put through a series of hoops and hurdles before getting access to treatment.

My case ended in a victory for trans students. The win at the Fourth Circuit level meant that, within the jurisdiction of Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia, the protections afforded by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 include transgender people. The Supreme Court declined to weigh in, allowing the decision to stand. As a result, all schools in the Fourth Circuit were required to adopt a policy in their schools that provided for the needs and rights of transgender students based on the model policies set by the Department of Education.

The school board was ruled in violation of the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX after four years by the courts.

Or so I had hoped. In the event of social change, other court decisions, the work of trans people, and the result of my case, appropriate policies were adopted across the Fourth Circuit.

A campaign to end the lies against transgender people and children in South Dakota, and a new law banning gender-affirming treatments for trans children

But last year saw the election of Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican who ran on a platform that included blatant misinformation and targeted attacks against marginalized communities.

“This ban won’t stop South Dakotans from being trans, but it will deny them critical support that helps struggling transgender youth grow up to become thriving transgender adults,” the statement said. The people that Governor Noem wants to push to live a lie are strong enough to do so and we will always fight for policies that protect their freedom.

In addition, the model policy of Virginia contains language that lets schools to go beyond the guidelines and institute even more restrictive rules.

While established federal and state law may be ignored, Gov. Youngkin seems willing to ignore guidance and best practices from leading authorities on the physical and mental health of children and young adults. Youngkin and his administration have been making statements about protecting children, religious liberty and the rights of parents, but my belief is he is trying to scapegoat a minority who are already under pressure in order to gain support from his base.

He may succeed in that, but his gains will be temporary. Several weeks ago, thousands of students walked out of school in Virginia to protest the proposed trans student restrictions. Protests are continuing against this unjust proposed policy. The transgender community is not going away.

South Dakota’s Republican governor signed a bill Monday banning the use of gender-affirming treatments for trans children in the state.

Sex hormones and surgery related to gender transition, as well as puberty- blocking medication for patients under the age of 18, are not allowed under the new law. The law takes effect on July 1 and health care providers who violate it will face civil suits and lose their licenses.

Gender-Affirming Care for Toran Youths: A State Legislature’s View and a Democratic Senator’s Dilemma

Gender-affirming care is medically necessary, evidence-based care that uses a multidisciplinary approach to help a person transition from their assigned gender – the one the person was designated at birth – to their affirmed gender – the gender by which one wants to be known.

“We care deeply about children who are struggling with their identities and want to provide them with true meaningful help, not permanent physical damage,” the Republican said.

Some children may use puberty suppression therapy, though it is highly individualized. hormone therapy may lead to gender-affirming physical change during the process. Most health care providers don’t give children to minor and surgical interventions aren’t usually done on them.

In the debate prior to the bill’s passage Democratic state Sen. Liz Larson said that Surgeries-gone-Wrong are not happening in South Dakota. The state legislature doesn’t matter to me when I am in the doctor’s office.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties of South Dakota said in a statement that the signing of the law was a sad day for thousands of South Dakotans.

Florida is one of several states that prohibit gender-affirming care for tranny youths. It is the only state to do so not through legislative action, but through a vote of its medical boards.

The new rules haven’t taken effect yet, but providers and advocates say they’ve already had a chilling impact. There are several gender clinics that have closed in Florida.

Gender-affirming care for transgender girls: The story of a Miami girl in the ’80s and the beginning of her life

Assigned male at birth, she identified as nonbinary by fifth grade and decided to use they/them pronouns. Now a seventh-grader in Gainesville, Fla., with a passion for manga and anime video games, and a bedroom filled with stuffed animals, Liz identifies as female and transgender.

Liz was given puberty blockers after receiving counseling for gender dysphoria. She gets a shot of Lupron, a gonadotropin-releasing hormone, or GnRH,every three months in order to promote male puberty.

“It’s been amazing,” says her mother, Virginia Hamner, who says she’s seen her daughter “light up” with gender-affirming care. It’s exciting for her to be who she wants to be and that’s fun.

As for existing patients such as Liz, who may want to proceed on to cross-sex hormones (estrogen in her case; testosterone for transgender males), the language of the new rules is vague.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s done anymore, which makes Florida really challenging, because you are being told your child shouldn’t be able to be who they are, and that it would be better if they did not exist,” she says.

“If it gets too bad, I’m also already thinking about for high school going to a boarding school that isn’t in Florida,” she says, “which would honestly make things a lot easier.”

With a possible White House bid on the horizon, Gov. DeSantis made “parental rights” a theme as he targeted the lesbian, gay, and bisexual community.

She says it’s a gut punch. It is frustrating to hear the rhetoric of parental rights be used to argue that children shouldn’t have access to treatment. You are right when it’s like that. And guess what? That’s all I want for my kid.”

But Gov. DeSantis has called the treatment “an example of woke ideology infecting medical practice.” The treatments were referred to as highly experimental and risky by the state’s surgeon general. The Board of Medicine was acting to protect children from “irreversible harm” by banning gender-affirming care.

The Board of Medicine appointees have contributed to his campaigns or political committees according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/20/1157493433/florida-bans-gender-affirming-care-trans-kids

Florida Bans Genderaffirming Care Trans Kids: A Conversation Starter for Mental Health in a Tallahassee Mommy

Dr. Dayton runs the Youth Gender program at the University of Florida and she doesn’t agree with the idea that care is risky or experimental.

She says that there’s tons of evidence to show that this is safe for kids. It’s offensive to me since I pride myself in doing the right thing for my patients and being someone who always follows the evidence.

Dayton worries about her patients, many of whom haven’t yet started on puberty blockers or hormones, and now won’t be able to. People are coming to our office with questions about what to do when this passes, they are panicked and sad. And frankly, we don’t have the answers.”

Her colleague, clinical psychologist Jen Evans, is worried about what the ban will mean for her patients mental health. She cites research showing that medical transition has clear benefits. “Depression rates go down. She says that suicidal feelings and attempts go down. “Anxiety goes down.” Eating disorders rates start to go down. Substance abuse rates start to go down.”

Here’s what a Tallahassee mom named Sandi heard from her transgender son’s doctor, who explained that he will not prescribe anything beyond the son’s current puberty blockers. She says he has stated he wants to not go to jail.

She was wearing a tee-shirt that says “Believe Trans Kids” when she was with NPR. “I probably have a shirt for every day of the week!” she says with a laugh. “It’s a great conversation-starter.”

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/20/1157493433/florida-bans-gender-affirming-care-trans-kids

On trans kids, and how they’re getting help in the U.S.: A tribute to Nikole and Marina Sandi, whose father was a boy who lived in Florida

When River was just 3 years old, he began to tell everyone that he was a boy and presented himself as a boy.

The boy started on puberty blockers and his mother says he’s flourished in the past year. “I have this glorious picture right after he got his first puberty blocker shot where he is literally, like, ear to ear smiling,” she says. “He’s glowing. I thought he was ready to put his shoulders down.

River has always been the solid force within himself. Whenever there’s more anti- trans rhetoric, it’s just chipping away at a solid block of who he is.

She is demoralizing as a result of the focus on trans kids. “There are some days that you look at everything going on and you are just paralyzed by fear of what’s coming at your kid next,” she says. You can’t show that to your trans kid. And it’s exhausting. It’s so exhausting.

Sandi is on regular calls with other families who have trans kids, many of whom are planning what she calls “escape routes.” They’re considering moving out of Florida to more trans-friendly states.

The couple are thinking about moving to Oregon to be closer to their family. But it’s hard to imagine uprooting their entire support system.

She says that the re-homing of a family to be able to get health care in the US in 2023 is ridiculous. My child should be happy and healthy. And I just don’t think that’s a lot to ask.”

Nikole Parker, director of transgender equality for the LGBTQ civil rights group Equality Florida, has talked with a number of families who are actively planning to leave the state.

“They’re telling you to listen.” The health care for my kid is the most important thing. There are states that will allow that to happen. And I’m not going to sit here and just wait in limbo to see what happens.’ “

“As a born and raised Floridaan, I feel like the state is a place for everyone, and we need to make sure that’s not negotiable,” she says. This isn’t the Florida that I was born in and it makes me sad to see where we are.

Trans advocates will fight Florida’s new rules in court. Simone Chriss, director of the transgender rights initiative with the nonprofit public interest law firm Southern Legal Counsel in Gainesville, is among the lawyers who will lead that fight.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/20/1157493433/florida-bans-gender-affirming-care-trans-kids

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you how hard it is to be,” says Sherihuddin-Vafa

It’s hard not to be demoralized and feel like we are losing on a daily basis. It really does take a toll,” she says. “All we can do is keep fighting.”