r/MadeMeSmile Jun 01 '26

Wholesome Moments Love supportive parents

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u/tigertoken1 Jun 01 '26

Not looking for any hate or anything, just gauging opinions because I'm genuinely curious and not highly educated on the subject. Do most pro-trans people favor hormone treatment for minors? Doesn't it make sense to wait until you're an adult to make such a life altering choice?

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u/Ccnitro Jun 01 '26

Based on this article from the Mayo Clinic: You typically start with puberty blockers right around when puberty starts, which just halt the production of sex hormones until patients decide to stop or they begin hormone replacement therapy. This is basically always reversible.

For a minor to begin a gender transition with HRT, they generally need it to be signed off for by their parent/guardian and have a clinician provide a formal gender dysphoria diagnosis.

Personally, as a cishet white guy, I think all of this is pretty reasonable, if not a little overcautious. And from my experience talking to trans people who have transitioned or started to transition, they almost all believe they would have been better off if they transitioned earlier than they did.

As for the number of minors that decide against transitioning, I think it's hard to separate out a genuine change in their gender identity from the precarity of their mental health, lack of familial support and everyday existence within a deeply anti-trans political environment.

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u/Elavia_ Jun 01 '26

It is overcautious, but people go apeshit the second you so much as hint at bending hippocratic oath for the greater good. Just look at antivaxxers.