The mother of a transgender girl sobbed in federal court Wednesday as she contemplated having to move away from her Navy officer husband to get health care for her 12-year-old if Florida’s ban on gender dysphoria treatments for minors is allowed to take affect.
The woman, who testified as Jane Doe to protect the identity of her child, said her daughter went from being anxious and upset to a thriving, happy straight-A student after being allowed to live as a girl about eight years ago, a decision she made with her husband after multiple visits to their family’s doctor.
But as the girl approaches puberty, she fears she will start turning into a boy. Without treatment, she and her family will be devasted, the mother said.
Yes, you could barely read at 4-5, but you already had a sense of identity. The fact that this kid has consistently identified as a girl from literally the moment gender identity develops is pretty strong evidence that she’s not just pretending to make the adults happy.
My wife first told her mother she was a girl at age 5. Her mother freaked out, told her she was going to hell, took her to church groups, and made her pray it out until she lied and said she was a boy now. She transitioned anyway in her 20s, and her mother and her no longer talk.
Trans kids are not pretending to be trans. Kids know their own gender, and it is both consistent and persistent. They only ever pretend to be cis.