I also believe it does possibly can add a lot of harm to children. I can only explain my own anecdotal example. When I was young, I was abused and therefore developed sexuality early on. There was a time of a few years when I couldn’t feel anything because of the constant punishment and where I was sexually exploring my body. Even back then there was a lot of media and the thought of being a women was exciting (my abuse person was a women). If back then there had been the option to go to a doctor and transition, I had probably done it as to escape the abuse. There wasn’t, but if you then add media, people and encouraging parents who tell you “you must be trans”, this can very easily manipulate a kid, even young adult to do the step. Therefore I personally believe this whole topic isn’t researched enough and there are issues a lot of people fear to talk about.

Concluding I’m happy that I didn’t have the option to transition as I’m 100% a man, but sexual thoughts, better medical options and a supportive environment, would’ve easily pushed me to change my body. With the growing depression I developed since 5 years old (thankfully largely recovered sind 3 years), this might have pushed me over the edge, on days where I was suicidal and already had the bag of belongings in my hands, to jump of the next bridge.

Edit: I want to add that I’m no expert and therefore don’t see myself as the culprit of knowledge. If doctors decide otherwise that’s the opinion I go by. I’m also not American, so I can freely talk about this, without being caught up in the heated debate of your politics. I’m not advocating to be against transsexual or transgender. I’m pro LGBTQ but wanted to add my thoughts, despite people willing to silence me.

I changed the the text a bit up to make it sound less aggressive, as I totally understand that for some children the transition is necessary as to help them develop a healthy relationship with themselves and their body.

I don’t think I’m a rare case. Children get abused every day. We know by now that abuse leads to early sexualization and that children are easily manipulated by their parents and environment. To ignore that is stupid. People are too quickly in their judgment, to protect themselves from possible harm, this collides with the willingly bias of the every day person and is unscientific.

Serious question because I’ve never heard the term: what is a family medicine doctor?

Queer person here. I have a number of friends who are trans, some that are gender neutral, and a number of different sexual orientations.

The vibe I’m getting is not necessarily that it’s trendy to be trans, but a lot of people realizing that they don’t have to all be all in one camp or the other (more gender neutral). Eg, some people realizing that they can wear whatever they like without judgment. A lot of people just being more relaxed and not necessarily all blue or all pink, haha. And sure, I’m sure things will settle over the decades, but in a similar vein to the civil rights movement, women’s suffrage, the gay rights movement, etc. It’ll fall out of favor with the internet’s eye of Sauron, and something else will be the new baby.

In other words, we aren’t seeing an uptick in more queer people. What we are seeing is people who have been guarded for awhile now feeling okay to be a bit more relaxed.

And for what it’s worth, a lot of people- many of my friends- aren’t interested in surgical transitions. Most just wanna live their lives with a couple of social changes and are happier than they’ve ever been. It’s kinda sweet to see someone who has always spoken in a monotone suddenly become cheerful and way brighter :)