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Sex-Change Drugs Given to Children as Young as 12
Filed under: In The News, Health
The drugs stop puberty and stunt sex organs. Credit: Getty Images
Bummer. This could be the worst year of elementary school ever.
Some people will tell you, the age of 12 is a tad young to make life-altering decisions, but for those unprepared to wait, lo and behold, there are drugs.
The Daily Mirror in London reports children as young as 12 are being given drugs to prep their barely pubescent bodies for switching genders. The drugs stop puberty and stunt sex organs and prevent the development of facial hair and sperm in boys and breasts in girls.
According to the newspaper, doctors admit most of their young patients don't follow through with sex-change operations. Many of them simply turn out to be gay.
Nonetheless, they tell the Mail, getting injections of the drug makes it easier to operate on them later.
"The majority of our referrals are 15-plus. Of the children aged 12 and 14, there's a number who are keen to take part," Polly Carmichael, a physician who runs Britain's only gender identity clinic in London, tells the Mirror.
Britain just recently began offering the drugs to the late-elementary school crowd, following the United States, Holland and Germany.
However, there are very few places in the United States where children can go for the treatments. One of them is Children's Hospital in Boston.
Norman Spack, an endocrinologist at the hospital, defended the treatments in a 2008 interview with the Boston Globe, telling the newspaper he treated children, many of whom had attempted suicide, who had fled from Britain to receive treatments.
"And I've never seen any patient make (a suicide attempt) after they've started hormonal treatment," he told the Globe.
"All I know is that when I see preadolescents, they have been dressing in the underwear of the other sex for years," he added. "These kids are almost certainly transgendered. They're a unique population of patients. By the time a kid comes in to see me, both parents have agreed that the child is in danger and needs some form of intervention. And that has led to heavy-duty counseling for the child and parents. Therefore I see young people and families who have been evaluated by skilled professionals."
The health risks are minimal, he told the Globe.
"The biggest challenge is the issue of fertility," he said in the 2008 interview. "When young people halt their puberty before their bodies have developed, and then take cross-hormones for a few years, they'll probably be infertile. You have to explain to the patients that if they go ahead, they may not be able to have children.
"When you're talking to a 12-year-old, that's a heavy-duty conversation," he added. "Does a kid that age really think about fertility? But if you don't start treatment, they will always have trouble fitting in. And my patients always remind me that what's most important to them is their identity."
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ReaderComments (Page 2 of 3)
4-11-2011 @ 4:45PM
chelsea.ruede said...First of all, this isn't a disease. Second, the injections are only hormones that can be recanted if the child (or adult) decides that it was not the correct choice to begin the therapy. Third, way more money is spent on viagra everyday than on a study like this in totality.
4-11-2011 @ 5:01PM
Aaron Allen said...When someone is confronted with truth that they do not like, they will find it pointless to try to undermine the truth since the truth speaks for itself. Instead, they typically resort to that age old strategy of attacking the messenger.
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 5:11PM
angel said...I think to prescribe these type of meds for anyone under the age of 21 is medical malpractice. How do doctors say our brains and bodies arent developed until 18-25 and then decide they might need changed before that?
This is totally irresponsible to me.
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 5:14PM
angel said...@ brandy: re: "Please do your research and quit being ignorant. Educate yourselves!" We dont need research. The body the person was given is the body the person is meant to have. I dislike people trying to tell others we need to "educate" ourselves.
tell me: how does a male born a male KNOW he is really a female if he has never BEEN ONE? Why cant he be a male with the feelings that he has? You see, Its all about FEELINGS. Feelings are dangerous and we shouldnt base life decisions on "FEELINGS"
Reply
4-13-2011 @ 12:21AM
Alicia said...If you were born with identity confusion, then you wouldn't be saying that. Hell, if you KNEW the pain people born in the wrong body go through, you wouldn't be saying that. Is 12 young for this sort of treatment? Yes, I'll agree to that. However, once someone is a legal adult they and their decisions should be accepted and respected. People who go through gender reassignment aren't hurting anyone, they are simply trying to be happy. There is nothing wrong with them and they should be allowed to live however they please provided no one else is harmed. They aren't hurting you, they aren't infringing upon your rights and frankly, you have no business insulting them or discussing their problems when you have never lived it or never been close to someone who has.
4-11-2011 @ 5:49PM
nick said...I am going to assume that most of you people do not understand the challenges we face. I am 15 and gay. It is not easy for those who are not LGBT to understand. I was never abused. There have been stuggles in my life, but they did not make me gay. I am gay because I was born this way. If any of you have a problem with this then go shove it!
Reply
4-12-2011 @ 4:14PM
LJ said...YOUR ATTITUDE NEGATES YOUR DISSERTATION ON GAY CHALLENGES. YOU NEED TO GET THE INFORMATION STRAIGHT AND STOP TELLING PEOPLE "TO SHOVE IT" THAT JUST SHOWS LACK OF CHARACTER AND EDUCATION. SO, YOU'RE GAY, SO WHAT, SO ARE HALF THE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. GET YOURSELF TOGTHER AND LEAVE US STRAIGHT PEOPLE ALONE. I HAVE LOTS OF GAY FRIENDS, MALE AND FEMALE WHO AGREE WITH ME.
4-13-2011 @ 12:27AM
Alicia said...Wow, LJ. Telling a 15 year old to grow up and get his life together? How astoundingly mature of you. At least Nick has an excuse.
I see no one bothering you, no one trying to hurt you, so you can stop being so defensive. Nick was just trying to point out that until you've walked a mile in someone's shoes, it's impossible to know what they are going through. For 15, that is an incredibly wise viewpoint. LGBTQ people are allowed to march and campaign until they have equal protection under the law. In fact, that's what they, as citizens of this country and as human beings, deserve. Allowing them the right of marriage and the safety that accompanies it as well as protection from discrimination is not taking rights away from straight people, it is not hurting anyone and only frightened people are too blinded by their own fear of change and difference claim otherwise. Now take a deep breath, calm down and remove the blindfold. I promise, it'll all be all right.
4-11-2011 @ 6:05PM
Liz Church said...Lot of ignorant and opinionated people on here. These drugs are life-savers.
"You suddenly realize you are a woman trapped in a man's body." - no, not if you're still at school. Unless of course, you're destined to be one of those cliché-riddled journalists and "born a man".
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 5:58PM
FlyBC said...Thank you, angel, for using logic.
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 6:00PM
Kev said...Personally, I don't understand sex changes. You are who you are. Straight, Gay, bi-sexual or tranny. God made you perfectly and you should live your life out that way. Naturally, without drugs or surgeries.
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 6:26PM
Greg Brooks said...Only an idiot would think people are perfect.
4-11-2011 @ 6:10PM
FlyBC said...@nick, I'm sorry you have so many challenges you face but yes, I do have a problem with it. I won't give into this "new tolerance". Tolerance and the "new tolerance" idea are completely different. New tolerance is the idea that not only do I have to tolerate you, I have to agree with and celebrate you. Gay rights is something a friend of mine and I "debated". We agreed to disagree and are still friends. True story. You don't have to agree with me and I don't have to not have a problem with it.
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 6:12PM
John F.C. Taylor said...Amazing how many people act as if this is something that threatens them directly. 12 is too young? Read up on transgender case histories. You'll see more than a few who began a lot sooner than 12.
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 6:24PM
robert said...To What?! Where the hell did you learn that most gays and
lesbians were abused when they were children? That is complete
nonsense. The vast majority of gays and lesbians grew up in
stable, typical families just like their straight brothers and sisters.
Stop making something disgusting out of biology.
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 7:08PM
Howard said...Robert, The gays are the ones being disgusting. Gay guys putting their sexual organ in some other guys rectum. The rectum is for getting rid of waste not a place for entry. Lesbians wanting plastic replicas of the male sex organ in their vagina. There is a reason that the male sex organ is the way it is and the female sex organ is the way it is. Males were meant to have sex with females and females were meant to have sex with males. The fact they need to have sex with a foreign object or in someones rectum should give them a clue it is not right. Maybe them gay guys just like that duck butter.
4-13-2011 @ 12:36AM
Alicia said...Since it's none of your business what anyone else chooses to do in their bedroom, Howard, you don't have to worry about it now do you?
Seriously, LGBTQ people aren't trying to convert anyone, there's nothing wrong with them, and they aren't hurting anybody. They just want acceptance so they can live freely and happily with their families without the fear of being beaten to death, corrective rape, or having their children or their spouses taken away from them. Homosexuality and Trandgenderism aren't about sex. They are about love and identity. There are inherently sexual aspects to both of those, but that is not the end all and be all of either. Why can't we just let people be happy if they aren't hurting anyone?
4-13-2011 @ 2:21PM
nick said...Howard, based on your comment, I am going to assume you have never had sex. To begin many straight couples have anal sex. It is a way to express you love to a partner without the worries of getting pregnant. LGBT people want the same thing as a straight couple. We want someone to care for, and love, and be with for our lifetime. Many of us choose to express our love for a partner through anal and oral sex. I would like to say that many LGBT couples do not have sex. We are the way were are. You do not have to understand but you need to accept that we wake and sleep just as you do. We are people with feelings desires and needs. It find it comical, by the way, that I am 15 and explaining this to you. All I ask is that you try to be open minded. It would be very nice.
4-11-2011 @ 6:31PM
Albert said...I can't believe they are even mentioning young kids becoming gay at 12 years old. When I was growing up, a boy looked forward to being a man and a girl enjoyed being a woman. Gays were frowned on and very few ever admitted they were that way and would marry and have a normal family. Nowadays because we have a president like that Obama guy, young people want to experiment.
Reply
4-11-2011 @ 7:00PM
Emily said...HAHA, you're dumb.