As usual, we all need a reminder that the world is not black and white. There are shades of grey.
1) As far as I know, in most places there needs to be an extensive psychological run-up, years of hormone therapy, and consent of a doctor in order to qualify for GRS. You can't just walk into a surgical center on a whim and ask a surgeon to perform these procedures. So let's disburse with the idea that this is ever a thing done on a whim.
2) Literally anyone who suffers from GD could regret an assignment procedure, however minor. From what I've been told by actual trans friends/acquaintances usually the regret is because of outside reaction or it not turning out to look like what they had in their head--NOT because they "changed their mind" about their gender dysphoria.
3) When a person is a minor, there should be a three pronged decision tree, weighted. The trans person themselves, their parents, and their doctor should all be involved. I don't think there's a doctor in the western world that would perfrom a GRS procedure on a 12 year old, so by the time we are at this point, we are talking about a 16/17 year old. At this point, the parent's ideological/relgious/moral reservations should take a distant distant distant back seat. If they are concerned about their child's wellbeing, concerned about the procedure risks, fine. Ultimately, by the time a person is at the point where GRS is even an option to undergo, they are way past the point where these things are relevant.
I also think it is important to distance this conversation from elective plastic surgeries. This is not the same conversation for many reasons.
1) As far as I know, in most places there needs to be an extensive psychological run-up, years of hormone therapy, and consent of a doctor in order to qualify for GRS. You can't just walk into a surgical center on a whim and ask a surgeon to perform these procedures. So let's disburse with the idea that this is ever a thing done on a whim.
2) Literally anyone who suffers from GD could regret an assignment procedure, however minor. From what I've been told by actual trans friends/acquaintances usually the regret is because of outside reaction or it not turning out to look like what they had in their head--NOT because they "changed their mind" about their gender dysphoria.
3) When a person is a minor, there should be a three pronged decision tree, weighted. The trans person themselves, their parents, and their doctor should all be involved. I don't think there's a doctor in the western world that would perfrom a GRS procedure on a 12 year old, so by the time we are at this point, we are talking about a 16/17 year old. At this point, the parent's ideological/relgious/moral reservations should take a distant distant distant back seat. If they are concerned about their child's wellbeing, concerned about the procedure risks, fine. Ultimately, by the time a person is at the point where GRS is even an option to undergo, they are way past the point where these things are relevant.
I also think it is important to distance this conversation from elective plastic surgeries. This is not the same conversation for many reasons.
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
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