There is an action someone should take against the phony doctor, but it's still illegal to kill idiots so it's not recommended.

Don't forget, thanks to RomneyCare [read: taxpayer-subsidized healthcare for illegal aliens and multi-generational welfare abusers] being the law of the land, guess who gets to pay for 'em.

Ref: this guy quoted in the Boston Sunday Globe in a story about people moving out of Massachusetts.

"We need to start asking what we can do to make Massachusetts a more desirable place to live, why people don't want to come here to live."

- Andrew Sum, Director
Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies

I've got an idea. Instead of legislation banning pocket knives, trans fats, or metal display hooks in stores, how about legislation banning children's genital mutilation?

I know, I'm just one of those crazy right-wingers...

I hung myself from my bunkbed with a belt over this very issue at the age of 8. Kids this age very much can be suicidal over it, don't try to tell yourself otherwise. I am lucky I survived.

I was forced into therapy to make me find my 'hidden masculinity'. I would again try to kill myself at 10, 13, 15 and 17. Twice would involve hospital visits of more than a day due to the damage, and prolonged lockups in a mental ward.

Ummm. Perhaps when discussing sex change operations, the word "nutjob" might be a poor choice of words. ;-)

Hmmm...Mommy has 6 sons, and at 18 months her youngest son 'decides' that he wants to be a girl?? Sounds to me like Mommy wants a daughter so bad that she is willing to force her son to become a girl.

"I've got an idea. Instead of legislation banning pocket knives, trans fats, or metal display hooks in stores, how about legislation banning children's genital mutilation?"

This doctor is NOT doing surgery. He's just treating them with pausing drugs, ie: they don't 'alter' anything, they just push the pause button on puberty, it doesn't make it not happen. Then the surgery occurs when they are EIGHTEEN or older and only then and only after they've made the choice as a legal adult.

Repeat these kids are NOT getting surgery. Only once they turn 18 are they allowed to get it.

OK, so no surgery's involved. It still doesn't explain the Mass. mentality that says a 42-year-old woman is not responsible enough to protect herself from being raped (lawful carrying of a sidearm), but 7-year-olds can somehow be responsible enough to request body-altering drugs?

Dr Spack doesn't perform surgery. But why let facts get in the way of a good headline?

The treatment is conservative, and completely reversible until the child reaches an age where they'd be able to marry in some states.

He gives them a drug that delays puberty. That's it.

When they reach late teenagerhood, they're given the option of taking hormones. The effect of these is also reversible in the first 6 months, and often 12 months.

But there are some patients that have had surgery. These were Intersexed children - sometimes boys whose only fault was a penis not long enough to meet parental expectations - who were castrated when newborn. And when, surprise surprise, despite their surgically assigned genitalia, they still insisted on acting like little boys, they were labelled "gender confused" girls, "mentally ill".

Rather than being another Mengele, Dr Sacker is actually helping these kids too, along with the other ones whose neurology doesn't match their bodies.

Dr. Spack and Boston Children's Hospital should be commended for their approach. It has the potential to save childrens' lives. I realize the author has no understanding whatsoever of gender dysphoria and the mental and emotional agony it causes.

Did he realize that those who have chosen hormonal and/or surgical treatments are happy with their choice and results more than 99% of the time? I'm pretty certain he doesn't care.

Perhaps the author also believes that left-handed children should be forced to use their right hand? Perhaps he believes those with dyslexia are just stupid? Maybe those with schizophrenia shouldn't be given treatment since their condition isn't visible.

"but 7-year-olds can somehow be responsible enough to request body-altering drugs?"

Seven year olds are not requesting body-altering drugs. The drugs are not put into use until the child is 12-15. We used to marry kids off at that age, don't think they don't know what they are doing. Are they mature? No, but they are ready to start making choices.

What was my choice? I had no choices, so I tried to choose death over and over again. I tried to hang myself twice, and the rest were overdoses on pills.

Would you rather us kill ourselves when we're young, like I tried to?

Cassy, this is a complex issue and submitting an inflammatory and medically inaccurate post does a disservice to the site. And sadly adds to your reputation. Scrappy's post #1 which disingenuously mentions violence against a physician as "not recommended" [I find the fact that this has not been disemvoweled or deleted dangerously offensive] shows that you can easily provoke hate speech with such inaccurate ramblings. Are you proud?

A knee jerk reaction from a poorly written article. Children who are diagnosed with GID (Gender Identity Disorder) go to this physician for direction and medical help. A few of the things not covered in the story: There is no drug prescribed until the onset of puberty and then only if the child has a solid diagnosis of GID by pyschologists trained specifically in gender disorder. The drugs given are to block hormone production but are 100% reversible when the drug is stopped. Between initial diagnosis and puberty the most that is done for the child, besides psychological screening, is that they are allowed to assume the role of the opposite gender. No "sex change" is prerformed until the child reaches legal age, can make the decision for themselves, has a solid dianosis of GID and then meets all the criteria established by the medical community through the Harry Benjamin Standards.

What would your reaction be if you found out that doctors all over the nation were prescribing "speed, legally, to children? Sorry to say it is done all the time!! It is used to treat ADHD but I bet you wouldn't disagree with a physician for that prescribing, so why are you against appropriately treating another medical condition, GID?

I would say that counseling is strongly needed. Lots and lots and lots of counseling. These children are confused, and need someone to help them work through their confusion.

Cassy, I agree with your post and your outrage. Unfortunately, I would surmise that these parents have already sought counseling in these matters and the counselors convinced them and the child that they suffered from GID and that sex change therapy(?) was the only way to deal with it. It is so much easier to make it a "medical" issue than working through this problem with their children. In a society that has no qualms about killing children this should not be a suprise. In future years I predict this will become a fertile field for the legal proffession as the "GID" children reach adulthood and sue parents and medical practitioners for doing this to them.

"In future years I predict this will become a fertile field for the legal proffession as the "GID" children reach adulthood and sue parents and medical practitioners for doing this to them."

Most of us are quite happy thank you very much :) Though of course, I didn't have this option. I had to run away from home at the age of 17 to get treatment, live on the streets until I had organized myself enough to go to college. There I switched genders, got a Master's degree and I'm doing fairly well. I have no intention to sue anyone involved.

Totally agree with Julie. Would like to know how early mom put George in pink clothing? In a house filled with boys, how did he even find girls clothes to wear? I have three kids. I don't recall any of them 'deciding' something at 18 months. My son didn't even talk until he was 3!

One girl was called Jean Marie
Another little girl was Felicity
Another little girl was Sally Joy
The other was me, and I'm a boy

My name is Bill, and I'm a head case
They practice making up on my face
Yeah, I feel lucky if I get trousers to wear
Spend evenings taking hairpins from my hair

[Chorus:]
I'm a boy, I'm a boy
But my ma won't admit it
I'm a boy, I'm a boy
But if I say I am, I get it

Put your frock on, Jean Marie
Plait your hair, Felicity
Paint your nails, little Sally Joy
Put this wig on, little boy

[Chorus]

Wanna play cricket on the green
Ride my bike across the street
Cut myself and see my blood
Wanna come home all covered in mud

[Chorus]

There is a lot of ignorance on this topic.

Cassy was so very right when she said "I may not understand it" She should have left it at that-- It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to write a blog post like this and prove it.

Luckly for the unfortunate few who are born with this condition there are kind, thoughtful, open-minded, and compassionate doctors like Dr. Spack who are willing to help despite the ignorant bigots who "may not agree with it".

I generally tend to just ignore a lot of Cassy's posts as the useless drivel they are, but this one --comparing Spack to Mengele-- was beyond the pale. Thanks, Cassy, for providing more evidence for the left's distored view of "conservatives".

I am sorry, but I am having a hard time with a child of seven "knowing" they are the wrong gender. Given how much in flux a childs mind is at seven, and all the different things they want to be, and don't want to be changing on a daily basis...it just is hard for me to buy it.

And the problem for me is, they are children. Someone has to make this decision for them, it is not as if, one posted wrote, they were 17 got their act together and made a decision on the topic. It is a young child wanting acceptance from their parents, authority figures and what not, I would be very leery of doing anything that later could not be reversed or could leave to lasting damage, mentally. I think this may be jumping the gun with these kids.

Lawsuits? You bet. Someone somewhere is not going to be happy with their new gender ten years down the road and we will be off to the courthouse.

Actually, the children that go through this will likely have most of their issues with people like you...people who are so biased in their opinion of what they think is best.

If a kid had cancer, would you actually make them wait until they were 18 to treat it? I think not. Puberty was probably the hardest thing I had to deal with in life...transitioning to my current gender was a piece of cake. Of course, dealing with people that have issues with my course of action is always a pain.

I think everyone who falls for the sensationalism of this article needs to first understand that the whole process is quite detailed, and some child cannot simply walk in and have a sex change. The doctor is simply providing hormone blockers or hormone replacement in order for that transgender child to have better potential in their future than having to go through a devastating puberty. Most US surgeons will not provide sex reassignment surgery to anyone under 18, anyway.

Finally, I knew at 7 that I was transgender, but I didn't have the words to express what I was going through...nor did I have the courage to tell my parents back in the 70's. When puberty did hit, I was devastated. I'm amazed I made it through that period in my life, but in actuality, I lost a bit of myself by trying to shut all of it away in the back of my mind....only to make things worse.

Cassy: Do you distinguish between conditions such as this and intersexed children?

--|PW|--

Kara-
First, cancer and GID, apples and motorcycles. But I do understand what you are saying. However, you did say yourself you did not have the ability to vocalize what you wanted at that age, or what you believed in or understood. Maybe seven is too young to make this decision, maybe 17 can be too late, so there must be some point in the middle. (Prob around the age courts accept testimony and apply intent and culpability.) I just think it is a very fluid situation that could lead to bad results.

And sorry to disappoint you, but I have no issue with your choice.

From a medical point what are the risks of taking those drugs for a long term? We know the dangers of menopausal women taking hormone replacement. Are there are studies that have shown the long terms affects of these drugs on children? Muscle damage? Liver problems? I am simply asking here, if there is such a study. And if there is not, how long do you think it will be before some plaintiffs attorney sues the good doctor?

Counseling does not work. Gender identity is dictated by society not by nature. Other cultures have not separated the sex identities as far apart as the West has and certainly not as far apart as in the U.S. Think WWF guys and playboy bunnies. It's not like that, say in Japan. If things were not so separated would children want to have their sex changed in the first place?

Yes, what kind of parents are we when a boy cries and he is called a wimp or a sissy. When he likes to play with dolls and somehow the nurturing side of him is considered wrong.

No my boy, you must learn to be macho, join a gang, learn to kill, this is what a man should be! We are wonderful parents.

We've had women's liberation, it's time for men's liberation.

I just think it is a very fluid situation that could lead to bad results. ... From a medical point what are the risks of taking those drugs for a long term? We know the dangers of menopausal women taking hormone replacement. Are there are studies that have shown the long terms affects of these drugs on children? Muscle damage? Liver problems? I am simply asking here, if there is such a study.

We don't know the risks of Hormones in menopausal women. We know the risks of one specific chemical, Ethyl Estradiol. This is an estrogen-like compound, not 17B estrodiol, estradiol valerate, or estradiol cypronate, all of which either are "bio-identical" to the 17B estradiol found in all humans, or immediately metabolise to a bio-identical form. EE when it gets metabolised becomes all sorts of chemicals not found naturally.

HRT (hormone replacement therapy) is risky though, and various anti-androgens in particular can cause both muscle damage, liver damage, and can induce diabetes too. Regular checks at 3 month intervals are essential at the beginning. The signs of damage in the blood tests appear long before the damage becomes too great for the body's healing mechanisms to cope with. In those cases, you discontinue immediately, and try another, similar chemical.

We also have a good idea of the cost of not providing treatment. Most of the studies are flawed, with large uncertainties. One that isn't was conducted by the Scottish Office in the UK. It showed that 50% of TS children had self-harmed by age 20. That doesn't include "successful" suicides, which other studies showed were between 5% and 30%.

The rates of clinically depressive psychosis, alcohol and other substance abuse, were also high.

This condition kills or maims most of those kids who have it, if they don't get treatment. Historically, success rates of treatment vary from 80% to 98%, depending on the quality of treatment. With Dr Spack's regime, it's close to 100%. I say "close to" because it hasn't been tried long enough to find any failures.

If things were not so separated would children want to have their sex changed in the first place?

And for some, there's also an element of body dysmorphia. Boys waking up screaming because they wonder where their, er wedding-tackle has gone. Then they realise they didn't get issued with any. In their dreams, they're normal, whole, complete, body matching brain and mind. Then they wake up to nightmare.

And girls wake up wondering where their boobs have gone, and what's that thing between their legs. I know that feeling myself.

Although technically I'm Intersexed rather than Transsexual - and like those with the 5ARD or 17BHDD got a natural apparent sex change. It doesn't change the chromosomes, just the appearance.

People who are TS or IS tend to know as much about Hormones as Diebetics know about sugar metabolism and insulin. Rather more than most doctors not specialising in the area.

Zoe Brain:

Thank you! Thats the type of information that I find useful in these types of questions. Removing actual physical harm from the drugs prescribed as a "con" helps in looking at the issues.

I know personally a transgendered teen who would not be alive today, but for Dr. Spack's intervention. This is not a place parents go to happily or without years of trying to implement the advice of specialists who counsel parents in ways to help the child to accept his or her birth gender. For minors with exceptionally severe cases of gender dysphoria, the treatment involves the suspension of puberty, which is entirely reversible. There is no mutilation taking place and no permanent, irreversible treatments given to young children. If I had not witnessed first hand the incredibly positive outcome of this treatment (academically, personally, emotionally) for this child, I would also have been very skeptical. When we saw the well-adjusted, confident child who emerged after years of profound unhappiness (and who, years later, continues to do well on all fronts), we came to believe that for a small number of children, this may be their single best and, possibly, only option. Those who have not experienced this personally should avoid making judgments.

To the uninformed such a radical approach seems like lunacy, of course. And although kids are much too young to make adult decisions in a world that they are not yet aware of, self identity is not something you learn, it is who you are, and most kids know who they are by age 2.

While I am not advocating that every kid who likes pink should be thrown onto a path of transition, if a kid from the time they can walk and speak identifies as the opposite sex, and this continues for several more years, then you have to consider the fact that the kid is most likely transgender.

If the brain of a biological boy is wired as female in the womb, no amount of therapy is going to change that. Imagine for a minute you wake up one morning and go to the bathroom mirror. You feel the same as any other day, but when you look in the mirror someone swapped your body. You now have to go about your day as the opposite sex. How uncomfortable would that be for you? This is how a transsexual feels everyday until they treat the condition.

I doubt that any parents say "when my kid grows up I want him/her to be transgender." Parents, at least most of them, who have transgender kids have done far more research than anyone here who so freeing provides their insight, and as such those parents are far better prepared to know what is best for their kid.

Being trans is an anomaly, not a disease, and you all should just recognize that and stop turning it into a media sensation. Get a life of your own and stop worrying about everyone else's.

This commentary (a term I use loosely given the poor grammar, improper punctuation and fragmented argument) is saddening at best and infuriating at worst. The author's (whoops, another loose term) argument has so many holes it is obvious it is based more on ignorance and prejudice as opposed to facts and proven scientific inquiry.

John Dewey, an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer indicated that, "Genuine ignorance is... profitable because it is likely to be accompanied by humility, curiosity, and open mindedness; whereas ability to repeat catch-phrases, cant terms, familiar propositions, gives the conceit of learning and coats the mind with varnish waterproof to new ideas.

To that I say, "well said."

How stupid and ignorant are you??

Paula, I think you misunderstood the direction of my post. My point is that the treatise of Cassy Fiano's argument is based on ignorance, intolerance and kneejerk reaction rather than fact and a sound scientific foundation. Arguments like this are counterproductive because they argue against "the pursuit of happiness" which is guaranteed to us all even those that are younger than 18 years.

I have a transgenered child (7 years old) who is this way, not of choice, but because of the way God made her. It breaks my heart to think that she will have to spend the rest of her life defending herself against people like Cassy Fiano.

Our child transitioned less than a year ago. This was not done without a great deal of research, soul searching, and second guessing. The experiences of families with GID kids are so similar (depression, social anxiety, poor academic achievement) that it is only a matter of time that more empirical evidence is available to support activities like that sponsored by Dr. Spack.

In closing, my child knew from the age of two that she was born in the wrong body. We, like other parents, thought is was a phase and even encouraged her to "act her gender". For anyone to assert that children of this age are oblivious to their physical environment don't understand anything about early child development.