Excerpt from Trans Life Survivors by Walt Heyer, pgs. 127-129
The tragedy of treating transient feelings with permanent solutions is counted in real people’s lives. No matter how strongly conflicted the child or teenager feels, he or she is still too immature to count the consequences of transition.
This thirty-something man, Derrick [not his real name], transitioned to female in his late teens. Now in his early thirties, he laments the change because he doesn’t feel like a woman anymore. Like so many others, his feelings of being a woman went away after he sought counseling for childhood issues.
We learn from this man what I learned in my own life: the transgender feelings are not permanent, immutable, or deep-seated in the brain. Feelings, no matter how powerful, do not justify taking hormones and undergoing surgery.
I transitioned to female beginning in my late teens and changed my name in my early 20s, over ten years ago. But it wasn’t right for me; I feel only discontent now in the female role. I was told that my transgender feelings were permanent, immutable, physically deep-seated in my brain and could NEVER change, and that the only way I would ever find peace was to become female. The problem is, I don’t have those feelings anymore. When I began seeing a psychologist a few years ago to help overcome some childhood trauma issues, my depression and anxiety began to wane but so did my transgender feelings. So, two years ago I began contemplating going back to my birth gender, and it feels right to do so. I have no doubts–I want to be male!
I did have orchiectomy [the removal of one or both testicles], and that happened before my male puberty had completed, so I have a bit of facial hair which I never bothered to get electrolysis or laser for, and so the one blessing about all this is that with male hormone treatment I can still resume my male puberty where it was interrupted and grow a full beard and deep voice like I would have had if transgender feelings hadn’t intruded upon my childhood. My breasts are difficult to hide though, so I’ll need surgery to get rid of them. And saddest of all, I can never have children, which I pray God will give me the strength to withstand that sadness.
Derrick
Transition has consequences which teenagers aren’t mature enough to understand fully: how can a boy who is in many ways still a child “consent” to surgically eliminate fatherhood from his future?
Sadly, Derrick lost ten years of his life and he pays the penalties for his misdirection. He will require male hormone (testosterone) treatment for life because, without testicles, his body won’t produce it naturally. Artificially administered hormones carry the ongoing risk of adverse side effects. His chest is permanently scarred. And his saddest realization is that the transition procedures rendered him sterile and unable to have children.
How many more teenage boys and girls with gender confusion will see their transgender feelings wane in their twenties and pray to “withstand that sadness” like Derrick did, before sex change for children is discredited?