Trans teens applying for hormone treatment up 360 per cent
Image: (Photo credit: Margot Fink; Minus18)
THE聽rate of trans teenagers applying to the Family Court for permission to start hormone treatment in Australia has increased by 360 per cent since 2013.
Under current Australian requirements, young trans and gender diverse people seeking stage-two hormone treatment for transition must apply to the court, a lengthy and costly process.
Last year 23 teens appeared in court to plead their cases for transition, up from just five in 2013.
The increase has been attributed to wider awareness of trans issues, and more trans people coming out at a younger age.
Principal at the聽聽Hilary Kincaid said she consults with a further two families each week about seeking approval for medical transition.
鈥淚 think it’s because there is so much more awareness of transgender issues in the media,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e have kids and their parents identifying exactly with that.鈥�
Kincaid said some trans children are so uncomfortable that they hate seeing their bodies while showering.
One parent said nobody would ever choose the huge suffering that young trans people suffer for their child.
鈥淲e go through immense changes in ourselves to learn to accept utterly what they are telling us, and learn that they actually do know themselves in such a matter as gender,鈥� they said.
Young trans activist Georgie Stone was the youngest person in Australia to receive court permission to take hormone blockers, the first step in medical transition for young people, at age 10. Last year she was named Victoria’s LGBTI Person of the Year.
Stone鈥檚 landmark case has meant that聽children no longer need to go through the court to take stage-one hormone blockers if they have parental and medical consent. Later approval for cross-sex hormones is still required from the Family Court for trans teenagers.
