Most people have never worried about what their sex is. You are either born a man or a woman, and you will live as a man or a woman for your entire life. But what if your body didn’t feel comfortable, you felt as if you were the other sex but trapped your  body? This is the intense mental challenge that transgender people live in. For years people have moved into the other sex and each year technology is helping the transition not only be easier but also much more realistic. Hormone-altering drugs, body surgeries and mental capacitation have helped people accommodate their bodies to what their mind says. But what happens when children want to be part of this new world of sex-change? There is where the question comes up, which sex-altering drugs should children be allowed to take a part in, or should they be allowed at all? Middle ground has to be found.

Let’s start with the “least-harsh” of all of the sex-altering drugs: puberty-blocking medication.

These drugs have minor, almost non-existent permanent consequences, “These medications temporarily stop puberty from progressing, allowing the adolescent more time to explore and understand their gender identity,” (vox.com). Still, organizations like the Endocrine Society advise not to give this medication to kids before puberty has hit, “We recommend against puberty blocking and gender-affirming hormone treatment in prepubertal children with GD/gender incongruence,” (endocrine.org). Helping children that have gender incongruence is a matter of mental health. If the confusion is left at midst the child will grow up helpless and with a low self-esteem. So the intention of these types of drugs is to give some time for the person that is suffering some extra-time so they can grasp why they feel as they do. Still, medicating a seven or eight year old based on confusion is something that the more “conservative” among us would vouch against, but it is easy to see why.

One of the alternatives which is more radical is gender-affirming medication. “They will cause body changes that are not easily reversed, like body fat redistribution and changes in body hair,” (vox.com). Once a teenager goes into this treatment, his body will have some irreversible physical changes. If one were to back out of the decision, it would take a long time to recover the body completely. Most doctors advise patients to wait until the age of 16 to take either estrogen or testosterone but really little legislation prohibits the use of this drugs in minors. These more permanent changes are something that is difficult to back out from, even though starting the treatment earlier has mental-health advantages it can also have serious repercussions.

The last, and by far more controversial procedure is the use of gender-changing surgery on minors. It is a topic, that even for some liberals haven’t been able to agree with it, thanks to its irreversible nature. “People under that age have only lived so many years and the parents affect their decisions and it is something that is permanent, that can’t be changed,” 10th grade Economics and History teacher, Brian Summers, said. This is something that doctors agree on but still, is has been witnessed that underage people have undergone, in the desperation that a condition like this brings, to undergo the full-gender transitioning surgery before they are of age. As far as a transgender can go, this is the summit.

Transgender cases have happened at TCS. Ten years ago one of our students suffered through his entire high school career. Only when he left high school was he able to really connect with his sexuality. Even with the perception of open-mindedness in the school,  some anonymous sources still noted the difficult experience the student lived in the school. Even if we consider ourselves advanced the school is still missing true acceptance to this type of circumstances.

Transgender people are a part of society and people should have a free choice over their identity. But, still, children are children and decisions of this sort take extreme care and thought. Treatments exist for young people that wish to experience the other sex, but, long-term, permanent decisions should only be taken with the coming of age.