Transgender Boy Wins Texas Girls State Championship in Wrestling

Just wow... wrote:

There is a medical justification - these individuals are suffering from gender dysphoria. You are not an M.D., nor a psychologist, or you would be educated to understand that, so do yourself a favor and educate yourself a little about it before spouting out your ignorant opinion. Here's a good place to start:

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/gender-dysphoria#1

I read the article since you thought it might cure my ignorance, but I find no reason to change my opinion. I should note that there are definite differences of opinion among professionals on this topic, and when we start talking about mental illness we start moving away from the concrete to the abstract. Even the article you sent to me said that although "gender dysphoria is not a mental illness" (which is certainly up for debate), 71% of those experiencing gender dysphoria have some level of mental illness.

Whether or not we consider this a mental illness, the question remains: does it make sense to subject an otherwise healthy body to potentially harmful synthetic hormones to accommodate a condition which is purely psychological in nature.

Do me a favor and google "testosterone side effects" and think about whether or not it makes sense to pump a child who is already experiencing a "feeling of dissatisfaction, anxiety, and restlessness" full of the stuff.

I also want you to think about whether or not adjusting a female body's testosterone levels to those of a male will turn that female body into a male body. Imagine the disappointment of the one experiencing gender dysphoria when they realize that there is no miracle cure for their condition. They've spent thousands of dollars, possibly undergone painful surgical procedures, and still they do not have what they really want: a body which looks and functions like that of the opposite sex.

Tell me, how does that help their condition?

Dumb response.

The clear, simple answer is that he should have been allowed to compete against other boys.

Testosterone injections taken by a boy whose body doesn't naturally produce testosterone is a little different than a typical high school male taking exogenous testosterone, don't ya think?

But sure, keep making it more complicated than it is.

Most of the expected side effects are exactly what are being desired, and most if not all on the list are "potential" side effects which are possible but not likely to occur. Aspirin can run a good race against testosterone in the potential side effects department.

Gotta look at the risks vs. the benefits. It absolutely makes sense to take testosterone if it is going to improve their emotional state from suicidal to stable.

I don't care what this kid has going on downstairs but he/she/it needs to shave the armpits.

Agreed.

BusterBaxter wrote:

I don't care what this kid has going on downstairs but he/she/it needs to shave the armpits.

Just wow... wrote:

Gotta look at the risks vs. the benefits. It absolutely makes sense to take testosterone if it is going to improve their emotional state from suicidal to stable.

I understand there are no good long-term studies on these treatments, but a study cited by the NIH (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21266549) noted that there was a 51% greater mortality rate among male-to-female transgenders who took hormone replacement therapy in an 18 year study of 966 males and 365 females.

This was not believed to be due to the hormones, but due to suicide, drug use, etc., although the hormones did appear to increase the risk of cardiovascular death three-fold. This leads me to believe that the hormonal therapy did not help the men's mental state.

Oddly enough, the female mortality rate was in line with the general population, but 365 females is not a particularly large sample. Children undergoing long term hormonal therapy are warned that they may be at risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, infertility, and a variety of health issues because the potential outcome of these long term therapies is unknown. It's a science experiment.

Risking the health of a child to obtain dubious results seems like a big gamble to me.

On this, I believe we all can agree.

Just wow... wrote:

Agreed.

BusterBaxter wrote:

I don't care what this kid has going on downstairs but he/she/it needs to shave the armpits.

Tue Easy wrote:

On this, I believe we all can agree.

Just wow... wrote:

Agreed.

LOL. And I apologize for calling you ignorant. You are not.

I think we are missing the point. Why shouldn't he get to wrestle with the boys? Like stated above, he wants to wrestle with the gender he identifies with.

Personally, if I were transgender with a rule like this, I would do the same exact thing: continue to compete, rack up the titles, and shove it in the lawmaker's faces. Why should he not get to compete if the rule is going to stay archaic?

Hopefully these parents that are suing are suing the state. Hopefully this will influence change in transgender law in Texas.

All good points. I think it has to be dealt with on a case by case basis, and it's certainly not an easy thing to judge, thus, we leave it to the experts. The more desperate the situation, other options exhausted, etc., the more taking the gamble probably makes sense. I just wouldn't throw out a blanket statement, regardless of the circumstances, that it is extremely negligent for a physician to prescribe T to a teenage transgender male with normal female physiology. In some cases it certainly may be, but in others it may be the best option.

Don't mess with Texas.

No one that age should be transitioning to another sex. That's a decision that should be made in adulthood.

In this particular situation, a girl transitioning that was denied participation in a boy's tournament should not have been allowed to participate in the girl's tournament.

That's just comment sense. No girl should be able to compete against other girls while taking testosterone.

MacaroniArrigoni071192 wrote:

I think we are missing the point. Why shouldn't he get to wrestle with the boys? Like stated above, he wants to wrestle with the gender he identifies with.

Personally, if I were transgender with a rule like this, I would do the same exact thing: continue to compete, rack up the titles, and shove it in the lawmaker's faces. Why should he not get to compete if the rule is going to stay archaic?

Hopefully these parents that are suing are suing the state. Hopefully this will influence change in transgender law in Texas.

It would be interesting to hear his rationale for going ahead and competing in spite of the obvious unfair advantage. He really ruined it for the other competitors, but he certainly drew national attention to this absurd situation created by the lawmakers in Texas. I personally don't see why transgender males shouldn't be allowed to compete in male sports, as they are not going to have any physical advantages. Transgender females, on the other hand....That's a tough one.

[quote]theohiostate wrote:

No one that age should be transitioning to another sex. That's a decision that should be made in adulthood.

It is being made in adulthood. The parents of these children are making the decision. Would you rather your child remain suicidal for 4-6 years, or commit suicide because they couldn't take it anymore?

Is this persons sport controlled by a governing body that it regulated by WADA?

If these circumstances were in the U.K. then they would be .

Tue Easy wrote:

What........? wrote:

What? Men have high levels of testosterone and women have low levels.

Correct. She's a female, so her testosterone levels are naturally low. There is no medical reason to raise her testosterone levels. It is extremely negligent for a physician to prescribe potentially harmful synthetic hormones to a child who is already at normal levels.

Again you just didn't read my response. You said there's 'no discrimination when it comes to testosterone', except there is.

Men are allowed high levels of testosterone in sport. Women are not.

zzzzzzz wrote:

The clear, simple answer is that he should have been allowed to compete against other boys.

To be fair, do you then change the rules so that a male who identifies as a female can then compete against the girls?

Or should it just go one way?

You'll run into discrimination issues that way.

And I don't feel comfortable allowing testosterone injections by exception because of the doors that it may open.

I don't really object to treating a person with gender dysphoria by giving them testosterone for therapeutic use.

But I don't know if sports should make an exception for it.

We're all looking for fair competition, right?

Fixed