Babies with gender dysphoria who regret their shifts are the subject of a row by Pamela Paul.
The New York Times’ Grace Powell and Janick Gilpin
Addressing the Director
Pamela Paul’s “Gender Dysphoric Kids Deserve Better Care” (row, February 4):
I’m an L.G.B.T.Q.+ adolescent. Ms. Paul uses the examples of detransitioners as if they are condemning the process of gender-affirming treatment in general. Not all trans people did transition physically, and not all detransitioners regret it. According to a 2022 review from the Netherlands that was published in The Lancet, 98 percent of people who began their change as children continue into adulthood.
My friends and peers who have gone through health transitions have rarely “regretted” it, and after starting care, their quality of life has significantly improved. Ms. Paul should focus on leg amputation, where one in five people end up displeased, if she wants to vilify a procedure with high rates of regret.
Ms. Paul further denigrates transgender people’s access to healthcare by writing this article. Care during a transition may be beneficial for some people. For some people, it might not be. People must have the freedom to consult their physicians about what is best for them, which is a fundamental tenet of medicine.
What we do know is that trans children are being attacked all over the country. Last month, Texas’ solicitor general, Ken Paxton, demanded information from outsiders to identify Texas hospitals or clinics that have treated transgender children.
I worry about the future. I worry about my friends and their future.
As politicians across the nation clamp down on our rights, Ms. Paul makes it harder and harder for transgender people to receive the attention they so desperately need by continuing to harbor this perilous speech in her articles. Her worry is justified, and I can see why.
John Yale
Omaha
Addressing the Director
I was born transgender. I identified as a man between the ages of 12 and 17, and I became well-established in the dramatic trans activism online community. I am a lesbian who has experienced childhood sexual abuse and is on the autism spectrum, just like many other female detransitioners.
