Transgender Ethical Issues

830 Words2 Pages

Introduction
Ethical Problem Should transgender children, under 18 years of age, be able to access gender dysphoria treatment, such as psychological evaluations, hormone replacement therapy, and sex reassignment surgery without the consent of their guardians? This ethical problem is complex, because it deals with the oppression of not only the transgender community, but the oppression of children as well. Addressing this problem is difficult because it begs the question: do children have the right to decide their own medical treatment before they are legally adults, or should the responsibility fall solely on the parents? Additionally, this problem poses issues because it asks people to see underage people as rational beings, which is a belief …show more content…

This non-profit organization aims to help provide transgender children with the necessary psychological and hormone therapy so they can get on track to receive sex reassignment surgery, should they decide to have it. CATY would have therapists with a deep knowledge of transgender issues and the proper care that those patients should receive. These therapists would be a free resource for transgender children to go to when they need counseling. CATY would also provide hormone replacements to those who want to receive them, after a psychological evaluation from the on-staff psychologists. Although the organization would not provide the actual surgery, it would make it possible for transgender children to begin their medical transition before 18, even if their parents are not supportive of their decision. Additionally, CATY would lobby politically for transgender rights, aiming to lower the age of consent for children seeking sex reassignment surgery from 18 to 15, like the laws already in place in Oregon and Sweden. This organization would also be an educational resource to the public, seeking to provide accurate information to those confused or uninformed on transgender …show more content…

One could dissent by saying that providing treatment to transgender youth without the express consent of their parents would be going behind the parents back. But if the child has been insistent, consistent, and persistent about their identity as transgender, so much so that they are a danger to themselves like Danni McFayden, a transgender child living in the United Kingdom with a history of self-harm, it would be unethical to force the child to continue to go through that psychological struggle when treatment is right at their fingertips. Furthermore, childism is a persistent problem facing our organization. The idea that parents have dominion over their children until they are 18 exalts the thinking that children are not rational beings, a thought we aim to dispel through the educational resources of CATY. Transgender youth also have the highest rates of homelessness within the LGBT+ community, so working with parents is sometimes completely impossible.
Another view in contrast to ours would be the concern about the permanency of the treatment. However, hormone therapy has no permanent, negative health effects should the child choose to stop treatment. Additionally, psychotherapy does not aim to change the child’s gender identity, or scare them away from receiving treatment, but to make sure that the child really feels that they are transgender, and to

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