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.
Were you old enough to be bothered if someone pretended your gender was the opposite of what felt it was? What about if everyone did that? That’s what trans people have to deal with. You don’t have to have an academic understanding of a problem to be hurt by it, or to be treated for it.
You’re also implicitly buying into the narrative that parents, doctors, and therapists are conspiring to trick kids into believing they’re trans when they’re not. What kind of monsters do you think those people are, and what do you think they’d be getting out of it?