#Transgender issues

[onlytiktoks]

[gingersnapwolves]

So today I want to talk about puberty blockers for transgender kids, because despite being cisgender, this is a subject I’m actually well-versed in. Specifically, I want to talk about how far backwards things have gone.

This story starts almost 20 years ago, and it’s kind of long, but I think it’s important to give you the full history. At the time, I was working as an administrative assistant for a pediatric endocrinologist in a red state. Not a deep deep red state like Alabama, we had a little bit of a purple trend, but still very much red. (I don’t want to say the state at the risk of doxxing myself.) And I took a phone call from a woman who said, “My son is transgender. Does your doctor do hormone therapy?”

I said, “Good question! Let me find out.”

I went into the back and found the doctor playing Solitaire on his computer and said, “Do you do hormone therapy for transgender kids?” It had literally never come up before. He had opened his practice there in the early 2000s. This was roughly 2006, and the first time someone asked. Without looking up from his game of Solitaire, the doctor said, “I’ve never done it before, but I know how it works, so sure.”

I got back on the phone and told the mom, who was overjoyed, and scheduled an appointment for her son. He was the first transgender child we treated with puberty blockers. But not, by far, the first child we treated with puberty blockers, period. Because puberty blockers are used very commonly for children with precocious puberty (early-onset puberty). I would say about twenty percent of the kids our doctor treated were for precocious puberty and were on puberty blockers. They have been well studied and are widely used, safe, and effective.

Well. It turned out, the doctor I worked for was the only doctor in the state who was willing to do this. And word spread pretty fast in the tight-knit community of ‘parents of transgender children in a red state’. We started seeing more kids. A better drug came out. We saw some kids who were at the age where they were past puberty, and prescribed them estrogen or testosterone. Our doctor became, I’m fairly sure, a small folk hero to this community. 

Insurance coverage was a struggle. I remember copying articles and pages out of the Endocrine Society Manual to submit with prior authorization requests for the medications. Insurance coverage was a struggle for a lot of what we did, though. Growth hormone for kids with severe idiopathic short stature. Insulin pumps, which weren’t as common at the time, and then continuous glucose monitoring, when that came out. Insurance struggles were just part and parcel of the job.

I remember vividly when CVS Caremark, a pharmaceutical management company, changed their criteria and included gender dysphoria as a covered diagnosis for puberty blockers. I thought they had put the option on the questionnaire to trigger an automatic denial. But no - it triggered an approval. Medicaid started to cover it. I got so good at getting approvals with my by then tidy packet of articles and documentation that I actually had people in other states calling me to see what I was submitting (the pharmaceutical rep gave them my number because they wanted more people on their drug, which, shady, but sure. He did ask me if it was okay first).

And here’s the key point of this story:

At no point, during any of this, did it ever even occur to any of us that we might have to worry about whether or not what we were doing was legal.

It just never even came up. It was the medically recommended treatment so we did it. And seeing what’s happening in the UK and certain states in America is both terrifying and genuinely shocking to me, as someone who did this for almost fifteen years, without ever even wondering about the legality of it.

The doctor retired some years ago, at which point there were two other doctors in the state who were willing to prescribe the medications for transgender kids. I truly think that he would still be working if nobody else had been willing to take those kids on as patients. He was, by the way, a white cisgender heterosexual Boomer. I remember when he was introduced to the concept of ‘genderfluid’ because one of our patients on HRT wanted to go off. He said ‘that’s so interesting!’ and immediately went to Google to learn more about it. 

I watched these kids transform. I saw them come into the office the first time, sometimes anxious and uncertain, sometimes sullen and angry. I saw them come in the subsequent times, once they were on hormone therapy, how they gradually became happy and confident in themselves. I saw the smiles on their faces when I gave them a gender marker letter for the DMV. I heard them cheer when I called to tell them I’d gotten HRT approved by insurance and we were calling in a prescription. It was honestly amazing and I will always consider the work I did in that red state with those kids to be something I am incredibly proud of. I was honored to be a part of it.

When I see all this transgender backlash, it’s horrifying, because it was well on the way to become standard and accepted treatment. Insurances started to cover it. Other doctors were learning to prescribe it. And now … it’s fucking illegal? Like what the actual fuck. We have gone so far backwards that it makes me want to cry. I don’t know how to stop this slide. But I wrote this so people would understand exactly how steep the slide is.

[genderqueerdykes]

you're not getting revenge on or rebelling against the patriarchy by holding trans men down, belittling us, treating us like we're demons, and not letting us speak. you're being transphobic and harming queer people. youre targeting the wrong kind of men. trans men are not the men who are oppressing you. trans men are also affected negatively by the cisgender patriarchy we live under. remember this.

[plutomaris]

DO YOU WANT TO HELP HOMELESS TRANS YOUTHS IN TEXAS RIGHT NOW?

The Thrive Youth Center in San Antonio, the city where I live, needs you! They house homeless LGBTQ youth and help them find jobs and housing. I’ve been speaking with someone currently housed in there who has told me 80% of its population is trans, specifically trans women.

They’re really underfunded, as you can imagine. They don’t even have curtains. The person I’m talking to has pinned her bedsheets to the window for privacy.

I am linking both their donations page and their wishlists page.

https://thriveyouthcenter.networkforgood.com/projects/185536-general-giving

[petewentzwombtattoo]

terfs and radfems love to say they advocate for trans men/mascs and then continuously misgender us, objectify us, send us death and rape threats, harrass us, call us delusional women (and when they want to sprinkle in a little homophobia, "confused lesbians"), tell us we're mutilating ourselves, spread fearmongering misinformation about bottom surgery (especially phalloplasty), make fun of trans men/mascs looks, make fun of feminine trans men/mascs, make fun of masculine trans men/mascs, make fun of androgynous trans men/mascs, call us gay men fetishizers, tell us to stay away from gay men, call us predatory in general, make us feel like we're not allowed to date anyone, if we're gay and t4t call us lesbians, and countless other horrific behaviours like who the hell do you think you're fooling?

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Saskatchewan’s provincial election is on Monday. Here’s a look at some of the campaign promises made by the two major parties:

Saskatchewan Party

Direct all school divisions to ban “biological boys” from girls’ change rooms in schools.

Hire 100 new municipal officers and 70 more officers with the Saskatchewan Marshals Service.

NDP

Repeal the law that requires parental consent when children under 16 want to change their names or pronouns at school.

Launch a provincewide school nutrition program.

Continue Reading to see the full list

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[zebulontheadult]

Some people on this godforsaken hell site: “Yes. Gender is a social construct!!”

Anyone who identifies with xenogenders that are considered “odd” just existing:

Them: “NO!! You can’t do that!! You’re not transgender!! You’re hurting REAL trans people!!! How dare you identify like that!!”

I promise you someone identifying as a puppyboy or as an angelgirl or as whatever else is not harming you and is completely valid. And for ANYONE saying that “this is all just kid stuff, you shouldn’t care” it just isn’t minors who identify with xenogenders, and downplaying it to something that minors do is telling me that you really don’t think of transgender minors as having real opinions over their gender as valid and that’s really worrying me about your views on transgender youth.

[classycharlotte00]

Love 💕 😘🥰❤️

[viktheviking1]

Meme (very loosely based off of real events and) made by @viktheviking1

Let me know if you want a part 2

Original video below:

[aroacesafeplaceforall]

Fighting the voice in my head that says I’m faking being gender queer every time I wear a dress/skirt as an afab… bitch this is an original 1950s velvet red skirt, and this is a 1930s Australian made hand stitched flower pattern dress owned by my grandmother, I’m fighting you so bad

[roxyandtheroxies]

It sucks so much that the LGBT community is so persecuted, it sucks for many reasons, and one of them is that it limits the capacity for LGBT people to safely talk about many topics...

To make an example, i cannot imagine how it must feel like to be a non-binary person who, just for a matter of preference, doesn't like people with dyed hair or piercings, and can't stand rock or punk music or drugs or sex-openess or is even like religious or something! Like i get the LGBT community generally wouldn't connect with a person like that, but that's the point i'm making, anyone can be LGBT, and anyone means anyone, even some hardcore conservative transmasc who wants his wife (married by church) to have dinner ready when he comes back from work and to have three children and stuff, as well as bald transfems and many other people who are far removed from their stereotypes.

It sucks that people like that would struggle, even more than usual, to find like, partners or long-lasting friends even in LGBT-centric spaces. My heart goes out for them.

[milocelium]

moment of vulnerability: as a transmasc nonbinary person I have very low self esteem and struggle to love myself and my body. I am scared that I come off as annoying, rude, socially awkward, and have a very hard time accepting that someone could be attracted to not just my body but my personality as well.

If you've struggled or are struggling with this can you please share anything that has helped you?

If you are a transmasc person in a relationship (sexual or romantic) can you please share because I feel like i rarely see transmasc rep in romance and it doesn't help discourage the idea that im unlovable.

[genderqueerdykes]

transphobes who are obsessed and fixated on gender who project their obsessions and fixations on to the trans community are hilarious- they say that we can't go without thinking about or mentioning our genders but then bring up theirs unprovoked. "I'm a man i can't do that," "of course i like that I'm a woman," "you can't do that to me I'm a man," "women can't wear that," "men aren't weak like that," "women can't participate in that," etc. etc. etc. etc.

these people are literally so obsessed with gender they can't separate themselves from it and yet they project. even if a trans person is obsessed with gender it's better than obsessing over other's genders to oppress them and prevent them from living freely any day. a trans person who can't shut up about how they love being trans is infinitely better than someone who can't shut up about how other people shouldn't be able to do things for arbitrary reasons

[pendantaudio]

Tilly's Trans Tuesdays episode 82: "I Saw the TV Glow" in Tillyvision continues! This week we get our first true exploration of our own transness, and with it comes learning about transphobia in all its forms. Comic writer Lilah Sturges returns to discuss viscous liquids! Everybody do a little dance.

Hosted by Tilly Bridges and Susan Bridges. Sound mixing by Jillian Morgan. Available on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Samsung Podcasts, and more!

[petewentzwombtattoo]

"i bet [transmasc person] will end up as a terf anyway lmao" you know thats a fucked up thing to say right? you know it's fucked up to say that when terfs actively try to groom transmasc people, especially young transmasc people, into becoming terfs right? Right?