So, here’s a question for people like you, Anon. Do you actually consider it a defeat, or a bad outcome, if a person comes to terms with themselves and decides they DON’T need lifelong drugs and plastic surgery treatment? Is it a bad outcome if a person with cancer ends up not needing chemo and surgery?

Because that’s what these kinds of comments sound like: that there is something wrong with a young person taking the time to consider whether making permanent changes to their bodies (and yes, vocal cord changes are permanent, as is male-pattern hair loss, increased body hair, and potentially changes to the reproductive organs, among other things) is actually the best choice. Extreme medical intervention should be considered the last resort, not the first. And you know? If my adult child makes the decision to move ahead with extreme medical intervention, then that’s what will happen.

And I just have to add: I know most Anons like you only find my blog via drive-by reblogs, so you really don’t know anything about what I and others have been writing on this subject. But there have been some eloquent women who’ve written about how very glad they are that they didn’t transition, despite the pressure they felt to do so. That they’re glad they had the chance to grow up and realize it wasn’t right for them. Why do people like you want to deny my child that opportunity, based on some assumptions you’ve made about her, her thinking process, mine, and the rest of our family? You should celebrate the possibility that she won’t have to haunt doctors’ and surgeons’ offices for the rest of her life.