Why we do it:

Anti-trans activists push the narrative that the safest thing to do is to take no action until children are adults, but around half of all gender non-conforming kids consider or attempt suicide. Support from even one adult lowers this rate, while discrimination, bullying, or conversion therapy all double the individual risk. Learn more at the Trevor Project.

All children should be free to explore identity. From “jock or nerd” to gender expression, the earlier children can try on identities, the more confident they will be about who they are. It is our adult anxiety and training that has us putting headbands on baby girls and telling four year old boys they can’t be their favorite Disney princess for Halloween. All children are benefited by the freedom to explore who they are.

To keep all children safe, we need to adopt rational, evidence-based guides. Respecting names and pronouns reduces suicide risk among trans youth, and it harms absolutely no one. Normalizing a diversity of gender expression helps cis-gender kids who don’t align with stereotypes, too. Dividing sports by gender makes no sense before puberty and there is no evidence the handful of transgender athletes dominate their divisions afterwards either. The benefits of team participation should be accessible to children of all ages without invasive medical review.

Transgender kids’ medical care should be evidence-based, not mob-sourced. Gender-blockers do exactly what anti-trans alarmists claim to want: they buy time for teens to be sure of their identity without the irrevocable physical changes puberty brings.

Gender affirming surgery is rare in youth. How rare? In 2019 there were 151 cases of breast reduction—all but five were cis-gender boys with gynecomastia. Society accepts permanent gender-affirming surgery in minors when it supports the gender assigned at birth.