Children Choosing their Gender Identities

The LGBTQ movement is gaining a lot of traction and popularity, especially in progressive societies and first-world countries. Members of this movement and their supporters hold pride parades in celebration of self and social acceptance, legal rights, achievements, and pride. This movement already causes a rift between those in support of and opposition to LGBTQ ideals – religious and conservative societies are against same-sex marriages, and either side of the argument has strong reasons and opinions for what they believe in. However, most of these arguments revolve around consenting adults who are legally allowed to marry or adults who can do with their bodies whatever they please as long as it hurts no one. On this note, one huge controversial subject is about children being able and allowed to choose their own genders. The transgender part of the LGBTQ is quite controversial as compared with the other elements because it involves children. On one side, we have people arguing that children have the right to identify with something, a gender that is not necessarily to be determined by their sex. On the other side, people are arguing that children are too young to make such decisions at such an early age.

A dive into trans history

Before we jump deeper into the issue, it is important to get the historical context of the LGBTQ and specifically of transgenderism. The term transvestite was used starting from 1910 to refer to people who wore clothes meant for the opposite gender. It was developed by Magnus Hirschfeld, a German sexologist who created the Berlin Institute, an institution that conducted the first sex change operation. The term transsexual was then coined in 1949, and transgender was later coined in 1971.

Transvestite behavior was a criminal offense, and the first public trials in the UK were that of Ernest Boulton and Fred Park in 1870. A conviction could not be obtained on the grounds of sodomy, and the pair was acquitted. The Criminal Law Act of 1885 pushed trans people to seek doctors to cure them. Despite this stigma, the first sex change, a mastectomy, was performed in 1926 on a trans man, a penectomy on a domestic servant in 1930, and a vaginoplasty on a trans woman the next year (Prof Stephen Whittle, 2010). From 1953, Dr. Hamburger, a psychiatrist, began receiving letters that totaled 465 from both men and women who expressed their unhappiness concerning their gender roles not matching their bodies. In 1966, Harry Benjamin, an endocrinologist, made the first major publication on the trans issue called The Transsexual Phenomenon. However, the subject of gender reassignment received a lot of social stigmas. Homosexuality was decriminalized in the UK in 1967, and in 1999, an appeal court decision confirmed that transsexual people could undergo hormone therapy and surgical reassignment.

Opposing arguments

Those who are completely against children being allowed to choose their own gender argue that they are not old enough to make such decisions for themselves. Children do not always get to decide to be eating popsicles and Cheetos for dinner when the parent thinks they should be having meat pie and vegetables. They do not have the wisdom to know what is and what is not right for them. Children just want to have fun and not think about the consequences of their actions because they are children. Others are specific to say that there should be a certain age limit for children, for example, 12, when they can be allowed to choose their own genders (OZY, 2018).

On the other end, there is a group of people who completely disregard this argument. It seems that the prevailing argument here is whether a child can fully understand their gender identity at such a ripe age. There are no better people to ask this question more than transgender adults themselves. Most of them speak of being aware of their true gender identity from an early age. Oger, one of the transgender people interviewed by OZY says that a significant number of children who come out as transgender stay that way the rest of their lives. If they fail to, it is not that important. Pro trans-children argue that children are humans too. They have feelings, and they know their emotional needs as well. Denying them a chance to identify with a different gender than that assigned to them is imprisoning them in their own bodies (OZY, 2018).

A former employee at Britain’s greatest gender identity clinic, Susan Evans, says that children are being put at risk. Evans implies that gender identity is such a great responsibility that, when entrusted to children, acts as a potential weapon. She further adds that puberty blockers, hormonal therapy medications used to delay the onset of puberty are used at the first step in transitioning. She claims that these can be compared to experimental drugs (Greenhalgh, 2020).

Generally, those who speak against childhood transitioning call themselves pro-family, but the other side of the argument calls them anti-LGBT. LGBT supporters say that this global debate is pitting religious groups and families against the trans campaigners. They feel like the opposing groups choose to focus on trans minors because they are an easy target for people who are against LGBTQ as a whole (Greenhalgh, 2020).

Possible resolutions to the issue

There should be a consensus as to the appropriate age when a child can be allowed to decide their gender identities. Although this sounds like a fair middle ground, it may not be received well by either group. Those in support of trans children will argue that no law should be used to govern an individual’s conviction on what to do with their selves (bodies, emotions, and feelings). On the other hand, the anti-trans children will argue that children are still children and say that no law says that when a child reaches 16 they are legally allowed to drink, and so there are no exceptions.

The other resolution is to let people chose their genders once they reach adulthood. This resolution is lopsided and is more likely to be accepted by anti-trans children than the other group since this completely rules out the possibility of having trans children.

OUTLINE

CHILDREN CHOOSING THEIR GENDER IDENTITIES

Thesis Statement: On one side, people argue that children have the right to identify with something, a gender that is not necessarily determined by their sex. On the other side, people are arguing that children are too young to make such decisions at such an early age.

1. Synopsis
2. A dive into trans history
3. Opposing arguments
4. Possible resolutions to the issue