The national discussion over sex and gender continues to carve out a larger place on the agenda.  While it's fair to say one of the bigger gender discussions took place around the world of women's tennis in the mid 1970's, it has been at least on the periphery for decades before that.

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The most recent example when decorated Olympic Decathlete Bruce Jenner went public with his inner struggle and wanted to be known as Caitlyn.  Speculation ran rampant as Jenner's public transformation took place before the public declaration.  Not long after, many states began passing laws to address the transgender discussion.

The two examples I gave above were of adults.  Anyone over the age of 18 can make whatever decision they want for themselves and their life as long as it is legal and doesn't infringe on anyone else's quality of life.  It doesn't matter if other people agree with the choice or not, adults get to run their own lives.  Kids however...are a completely different story.

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We're Not Talking About Adults Though

The most controversial part of the transgender discussion is where kids are involved.  States like Washington have been at the forefront of legally creating situations that gives minors the ability to make such determinations about their gender while excluding the parents.  The worst example of this was SB 5599 which would allow state agencies like DCYF to shelter runaways from their parents if the child claimed the parents wouldn't consent to gender affirming care.

Gender affirming care includes puberty and hormone blockers as well and irreversible surgery.  About those surgeries...a non profit called Do No Harm, who states they :

represents physicians, nurses, medical students, patients, and policymakers focused on keeping identity politics out of medical education, research, and clinical practice

came out with a database tracking gender reassignment surgeries of minors around the country and within each of the 50 States.  Washington State is a leader in this field and not a follower.

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The number above place Washington State third in the nation for total gender reassignment procedures.  There was a sharp uptick in a number of other categories tracked by the Stop The Harm Database in 2022 in Washington.  Of the 13,000 procedure performed in the United States on minors, 40% occurred in four States.  California and New York, the two most populated states in the U.S. were the only ones ahead of us.

They also looked at hospitals they stated were promoting the procedures.  Seattle Children's took the 4th spot in their "dirty dozen" of facilities.  They also looked at the monetary aspect of these procedures.  Combining the surgeries, prescriptions for blockers, and sex change related treatments the total bill came to a minimum  $119,791,202 made by the facilities nationwide.

There Are Lifelong Impacts For The Patients as Well

The group said that of the 13,000 plus procedures done there were breast removal,  phalloplasty, and vaginoplasty procedures.  A phalloplasty is when a a penis is created out of other skin parts.  A vaginoplasty is when a vagina is created out of genital tissue in the region.  All of these procedures are irreversible.  They revealed there were 4,160 breast removal procedures on minors and 660 phalloplasty procedures nationwide.  Phalloplasties specifically carry a number of uncertain long term health risks that these medical professional have cited.  You can see the methodolgy of the study here, and all of the Washington State metrics within the same study by clicking here.

If you, or someone you know, is dealing with this dynamic within their family, the more information that can be gathered will lead to making an informed decision regardless of what that decision ultimately is.

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Gallery Credit: Reesha Cosby

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