Not One More

December 31, 2014 — Suzan

From Huffington Post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brynn-tannehill/not-one-more_b_6400854.html


12/31/2014

When Leelah Alcorn died between Dayton and Cincinnati, she left behind a note on Tumblr that was a wake-up call to the world regarding what it means to be a transgender youth in a conservative Christian family.

That reality is every bit as ugly as you would imagine. When I first saw this incident and the message she left behind, I desperately hoped it was a hoax. It was all too perfectly awful to be true. This happened only a few miles from where I live, and via my work with PFLAG Dayton, I know just how bad things are for transgender youth in the Dayton area.

Tragically, it was true. It is also the reality for most transgender youth in homes where their identities are denied.

Her family rejected her gender identity and made it clear that being loved and accepted was conditional. They put her in Christian “reparative therapy.” They systematically cut her off from her social-support networks. They denied her the medical care she begged for. In fact, they did everything their Christian leaders command parents of transgender children to do.

Statistically, though, her parents did just about everything possible to maximize the risk of self-harm.

When other fundamentalist Christians deny medically necessary care to their children and they die as a result, they go to prison. Missouri law defines child neglect as “the failure to provide, by those responsible for the care, custody, and control of a child under the age of eighteen years, the care reasonable and necessary to maintain the physical and mental health of the child” and is also punishable with years in prison, even if the child doesn’t perish. But somehow, despite everything, the state will not recognize what happened to Leelah as neglect.

When the child is transgender, the parents are Christian, and the dangers of their rejection and medical neglect are well known, that medical neglect is still 100-percent legal, because we don’t want to “interfere with their religion.” Because “common sense” says medical care for transgender people isn’t necessary. Because growing up to be transgender is a “bad outcome.” Because transgender people who transition go to hell for defying the will of God. Because parents of transgender children are told over and over again by religious authorities that they risk going to hell too if they recognize their child’s gender identity.

And here’s where I get really angry. Here’s where I speak truth to power, because I no longer care if I’m seen as an angry transgender woman. We have three beautiful children, and the thought of one of them dying the way Leelah did in so much pain and despair makes me want to vomit and cry all at once.

Continue reading at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brynn-tannehill/not-one-more_b_6400854.html

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Myths About Transition Regrets

December 3, 2014 — Suzan

From Huffington Post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brynn-tannehill/myths-about-transition-regrets_b_6160626.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices


11/18/2014

Every few months I find myself reading something written by a person with no actual psychological, psychiatric, or medical training expounding on why they believe transgender people aren’t real, shouldn’t be allowed to transition, or just need some old-school “reparative therapy” complete with screaming, pillow whacking and cuddling with a “therapist.”

Recently there has been a spate of blog posts raising the specter of transgender people regretting transitioning. They cite their two favorite studies, without actually looking at what the actual studies said, and drag out some old anecdotes. In short, they try to muddy the waters the way climate-change deniers or creationists do by throwing up a cloud of chaff and hoping no one will look any closer. And then there’s the fact that the authors of these blog posts also think that same-sex marriage will abolish all marriage.

Let’s deconstruct the arguments being trotted out one by one.

1. A Swedish study shows post-operative people are more much more likely to commit suicide.

This statement grossly misrepresents the findings of the study and suggests that the study argues against transition-related care. Quite the opposite. The study outright states that medical transition is supported by the other research, and the study is not intended as an argument against the availability of such treatment:

For the purpose of evaluating whether sex reassignment is an effective treatment for gender dysphoria, it is reasonable to compare reported gender dysphoria pre and post treatment. Such studies have been conducted either prospectively or retrospectively, and suggest that sex reassignment of transsexual persons improves quality of life and gender dysphoria.

Indeed, another Swedish study in 2009 found that 95 percent of individuals who transitioned report positive life outcomes as a result.

Additionally, the higher mortality rates are in comparison with the general populace (and not other transgender people who have not received treatment) and only apply to people who transitioned before 1989:

In accordance, the overall mortality rate was only significantly increased for the group operated on before 1989. However, the latter might also be explained by improved health care for transsexual persons during 1990s, along with altered societal attitudes towards persons with different gender expressions.

It should come as no shock that as society accepts transgender people, they suffer fewer side effects of minority stress. This conclusion is supported by other recent studies (Murad 2010 and Ainsworth 2011) that found that individuals who receive treatment not only are better-off than those who didn’t but are not significantly different in daily functioning than the general population:

Male-to-female and FM individuals had the same psychological functioning level as measured by the Symptom Checklist inventory (SCL-90), which was also similar to the psychological functioning level of the normal population and better than that of untreated individuals with GID….

Continue reading at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brynn-tannehill/myths-about-transition-regrets_b_6160626.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices

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