Dr. Michael Laidlaw et al. publish anti-trans letter with more errors than paragraphs (part 3)

Posted on March 31, 2019 by Zinnia Jones

Previously in Part 1: Endocrine aspects, cardiovascular risk, and sexual functioning.

Previously in Part 2: Desistance, persistence, and “objective tests” for gender dysphoria.

 

Is untreated gender dysphoria “healthy”?

GnRH agonists are used in precocious puberty to delay the abnormally early onset of puberty to a physiologically normal age. The goal of PB in the healthy child, however, is to induce hypogonadotropic hypogonadism to “buy time” to confirm gender incongruence. In a study of PB in adolescents aged 11 to 17 years, 100% desired to continue GAT. They simply “bought” themselves lower bone density and the need for lifelong medical therapy (5).

It is a shameless elision for Laidlaw et al. to describe medical interventions for gender dysphoria in youth as being used on “the healthy child” – suffering from untreated gender dysphoria and its many comorbidities is not a state of health. As Radix & Silva (2014) point out: Continue reading →

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Dr. Michael Laidlaw et al. publish anti-trans letter with more errors than paragraphs (part 2)

Posted on March 31, 2019 by Zinnia Jones

Previously in Part 1: Endocrine aspects, cardiovascular risk, and sexual functioning.

No “objective tests”? Affirming treatment and persistent gender dysphoria in youth

There are no laboratory, imaging, or other objective tests to diagnose a “true transgender” child. Children with GD will outgrow this condition in 61% to 98% of cases by adulthood (3). There is currently no way to predict who will desist and who will remain dysphoric. The degree to which GAT has contributed to the rapidly increasing prevalence of GD in children is unknown. The recent phenomenon of teenage girls suddenly developing GD (rapid onset GD) without prior history through social contagion is particularly concerning (4).

Laidlaw et al.’s argument from the lack of “laboratory, imagining, or other objective tests to diagnose” gender dysphoria is far less persuasive than they seem to believe. There may not be one perfectly definitive and binary biomarker for gender dysphoria or transgender identification. There aren’t perfectly definitive biomarkers for a broad array of known and recognized conditions which are not ever invalidated solely on this basis. By the authors’ reasoning, one could likewise note that there is no blood test for major depression, and speculate that perhaps we can’t or shouldn’t diagnose or treat depression at all if we lack the ability to identify a “true depressed” person in this manner. Continue reading →

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Dr. Michael Laidlaw et al. publish anti-trans letter with more errors than paragraphs (part 1)

Posted on March 31, 2019 by Zinnia Jones

Zinnia JonesThis March, the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism published a letter to the editor from an active voice in the anti-trans movement, Dr. Michael K. Laidlaw, and four other medical professionals who oppose the mainstream affirming treatment of gender dysphoria in youth (Laidlaw et al., 2019). This is not a lengthy article, consisting of only eight paragraphs, and it does not present any new findings – as the authors note, the content of this letter is “in our opinion”. Nevertheless, this brief letter is impressive simply due to how many errors, misrepresentations, and falsehoods are packed into just those eight paragraphs. Continue reading →

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James Caspian and “fifty trans people” who regret transitioning

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Zinnia Jones

Zinnia JonesJames Caspian: who is this character? A couple weeks ago, an article came across my feed from the UK’s Sunday Times, headlined: “Fifty trans people tell therapist of regrets”. Caspian is that therapist, a British hypno-psychotherapist with a Hotmail address and a homepage that’s been grabbed by domain squatters. According to the article, Caspian believes “rising numbers presenting with gender dysphoria have been too readily labelled as trans”, and he “has been approached by 50 people who want to reverse their transition”, most of whom are reportedly in their early twenties and typically experienced regret two to five years after medically transitioning. The Times states that he was “refused permission to research detransitioning at Bath Spa University”, while the university says “his research proposal was not refused because of the subject matter, but because of his proposed methodological approach.” Continue reading →

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Did California state prisons perform unethical medical experiments on transgender women in 1987?

Posted on December 31, 2018 by Zinnia Jones

Zinnia JonesOver the past few years, I’ve made a regular habit of seeking out and compiling nearly any published research that’s relevant to trans people and our well-being in society. Often I focus specifically on the medical side of the transgender experience, looking into the past and present of which treatments are available to us and their physiological and psychological effects. Some of it provides useful insights into details of transness that not many people are aware of; much of it is repetitive, redundant, or mundane.

Very rarely, I find something horrifying. Continue reading →

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