Recent events in the English courts are looking like the little cloud on the water, like a man's hand. If I may mix biblical metaphors. Puberty blockers have been banned for younger teenagers, and a recently-retired psychiatrist is currently singing like a canary about the harm that's being done to children by gender ideology.
FWIW I personally (as I've written before in these threads) have significant reservations about the approach to under-18s who have professed gender dysphoria and transidentity issues. And that especially applies to medical or surgical interventions - not only because in some cases they may be difficult to reverse, but also because they impart an additional psychological burden onto the young person, if they feel they want to "detransition" at a later date.
I also think that psychiatrists and physicians assessing/treating this age group ought to be exercising extreme care, to try to establish whether any given patient can unequivocally be shown to be exhibiting gender dysphoria and an associated desire to transition - given that many 12-18-year-olds can undergo severe identity & self-esteem issues, and that some such people may view transitioning as a means to address those issues, rather than the other way round.
Having said that, I believe that places such as the Tavistock Clinic
are providing exemplary help to many (even most) of the young people who request their services. However, at the same time, I don't doubt that a small number of their clients have probably been taken down a clinical pathway that - in the longer term - did not best serve their needs, and might in fact have been detrimental to them.
It's all about balance and safeguards, in my opinion. And it's a very long way from the cut-and-dry matter that many seem to believe. Hypothetically (and probably not hypothetically, actually), what should a clinic such as the Tavistock tell the parents of a 15-year-old who was told that he/she would not be allowed to start any transition-related medication or therapy, who then killed himself/herself. Conversely, what should the clinic tell a 22-year-old who comes back to them accusing them of having "mis-sold" him/her transitioning medication and therapy when he/she was 15?
Tulip bulbs?
