(Post Millennial)
When a girl feels like she is a boy trapped inside a female body, she deserves our sympathy and compassion. She also deserves the best possible help and support, with the lowest possible risk to her health and happiness.
A new court case in British Columbia raises the question of whether a 14-year-old girl truly understands the nature, consequences and risks of taking puberty blockers and testosterone to address her gender dysphoria.
The girl wants to make her body less feminine and more masculine, and she wants this now, not later. Her father is concerned about the drugs’ negative and irreversible effects, and refuses to consent to drug and hormone therapy. He does not believe his daughter is emotionally and psychologically mature enough to adequately comprehend the long-term and permanent consequences of this treatment.
B.C. Children’s Hospital intends to inject testosterone into the 14-year-old girl, claiming she understands the nature and risks of the proposed treatment, regardless of what her father thinks.The BC Children’s Hospital has a consent form that warns girls who take testosterone of permanent physical changes, including a lower voice and facial hair.
Girls taking testosterone also risk heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, decreased good cholesterol (HDL), increased bad cholesterol (LDL), emotional change (anger and irritability), and vaginal abrasions and tears. Read more