Sigh . . . It troubles me when I see anti-transgender statements made by laymen who may not have any real medical knowledge of what they speak.
Think Progress is reporting that a member of the Illinois Family Institute (IFI) has spoken out against a school board’s (East Aurora School District) new efforts to establish a transgender-inclusive policy for its students. You may recall that this same board developed a trans-inclusive policy, but was forced to withdraw it when the IFI opposed it. So, the board has now gone back to the drawing board.
Think Progress is reporting comments allegedly made by a member of IFI, Laurie Higgins, which I am not going to post here. You can read them for yourself at the link provided.
The point of my post is: the medical community has developed a way to diagnose gender identity issues and treat people , and I can’t believe that some laymen (and laywomen) feel they can second-guess the professionals. It’s just stupid! Do they second-guess other medical conditions and treatments, too?
Think Progress has this to say:
“Let it be noted here that mental health professionals agree that the best therapy for young people questioning their gender identity is to affirm them, including with social recognition (pronouns, name choice, etc.) and a non-discrimination environment. Gender identity is a separate experience from biological sex, and like sexual orientation, it is not chosen, however biologically invisible it may (yet) be. To not respect an individual’s identity is to reject it, and to encourage such rejection is to promote bullying and discrimination.”
I’ve said it before and I say it again: if you think you know more about transgenderism and transsexualism than the medical community, contact them and give them your research and data. Otherwise, let the professionals do their job.
Thanks.
Jillian
