Posted by DRD #37 at adsl-154-12-200.asm.bellsouth.net on February 26, 2004 at 09:39:02:
In Reply to: SeriousPoll based on 60 minutes last night posted by Paul U on February 26, 2004 at 09:27:23:
I have an infant son, so I think I can answer these with some bit of knowledge of what I'd do. (This is also coming from someone with a psychology doctorate, so maybe I'm thinking along those lines, as well.)
: 1. Would you even humor your kid in this idea to change sexes?
I definitely wouldn't belittle my child for his/her desire to be the opposite sex, but I also wouldn't encourage it. I'd sit him/her down and ask him/her why they feel they want to be the opposite sex. I'd ask about his/her thoughts and feelings and try to come up with some idea as to what could have caused him/her to want to change gender. If I found that the child's desire is entirely innate (as in, there's no visible outward cause for it), then I'd humor him/her for a while, though I wouldn't encourage the behavior, as it is probably merely a phase and the encouragement of the desire for a sex change may turn it into more than that.
: 2. If you humored the idea would you go as far as allowing hormone thereapy?
No absolutely not. Until my child is of a proper age (say, 17) to truly thing and come to a decision about how he/she wants to live his/her life and in what sort of body he/she wants to live it in, I wouldn't allow hormone therapy or an operation. If, at a reasonably adult age (again, around 17 or 18), he/she wishes to become a member of the opposite sex, then I would accept it and allow for hormone therapy or an operation. But this is a decision they absolutely HAVE to come to on their own and think about for a LONG time before they come to it. My child will always have my support in whatever he wants to do with his life, but I won't allow for a quick, flightsy decision, especially one that will affect everything he becomes and does. If he wants to make such a drastic change, he has to know the possible effects and consequences of his decision.
: 3. How old do you think a person is capable of making the transgender decision?
If you're talking in a legal fashion, I believe you have to be at least 18 where I live in Georgia, though I wouldn't really know. It probably depends on the state. From a moral and parental standpoint, I answered this above.