Just.Equal Australia says a bill flagged by South Australian Senator Alex Antic, banning gender affirming health care for young people will harm young trans people and infringe on parental rights.
Warning: This story has details of comments which might be distressing to some readers. For 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.
Spokesperson, Rodney Croome said the bill should be condemned for what it will propose.
“Study after study shows that gender affirming health care saves lives so a bill banning it will put lives at risk.”
“The bill also takes away the rights of parents to decide what is in the best interest of their child.”
“Australians do not want to co-parent with politicians like Senator Antic.” Croome said.
Senator Antic says the bill will prevent young people regretting gender transition and “de-transitioning”, but Croome said de-transition is often because of social hostility and discrimination fostered by people like Senator Antic, and that the number of people who de-transition is vanishingly small.
“Overwhelmingly, trans and gender people who have gender affirming care when they are young people are happier, more fulfilled and go on to lead better lives.” the respected rights activist said.
The South Australian senator shared his plan in an exclusive interview with The Australian newspaper.
Under Senator Antic’s proposal people under the age of 18 would only be allowed to change their gender in “exceptional circumstances” that involves people who have “long-diagnosed sexual development disorders”.
Senator Antic said he was introducing his bill because of the growing number of young people being treated for gender dysphoria. Senator Antic, who has a legal background, said he believed most people were choosing to transition gender because of pressure from friends or medical professionals, rather than a genuine medical need.
While stories of people who have transitioned gender and later returned to the gender they were assigned at birth have been in the spotlight in the media, research shows that the occurrence is not common.
A recently released study from the University of Michigan, published in the journal JAMA Surgery looked into 235 patients who had undergone a gender affirming mastectomy over the last 30 years.
They found that the median satisfaction rate among those patients was five out of five, and that not a single patient in the study regretted their decision to change gender. The study centred around a single medical provider, and researchers say the next step will be to look at satisfaction rates across multiple providers.
Previous studies have also shown that the level of regret is extremely low. A study of 6793 people who sought gender-affirming services at the multi-disciplinary VU Medical Centre in Amsterdam between 1972 and 2015 found that patients who underwent a gonadectomy had a regret rate of 0.6 % for trans women and 0,3% for transmen. They acknowledge that rate of regret may be higher though as many patients did not continue seeing the clinic for follow ups.
One of the largest studies into transgender levels of regret was the US Transgender Survey that took place in 2015. It included 27,715 adults, and they asked if patients had ever, even if only temporarily detransitioned.
Rates of detransition were higher in transgender women (11%) than transgender men (4%). The most common reasons cited were pressure from a parent (36%), transitioning was too hard (33%), too much harassment or discrimination (31%), and trouble getting a job (29%).
OIP Staff
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