Do We Have The Right…

…To decide who can transition or not, who is trans and who is not?

This came out of one of the discussions from the True Colors workshop over the weekend. Suppose the person has very masculine features, say they’re 6’6”, 300lbs, large hands, big feet, and a deep voice should a therapist approve them for hormones and transition?

What is the job of therapists?

As members of the trans-community do we accept them or shun them? Do we call them “combat boots” or a “man in a dress”?

These are real ethical questions that arise all the time and making the wrong decision could result in their death.

The job of a therapist is to asses if we can make an informed decision, that we are capable of understanding what we are about to do; it is not to judge if we can integrate into society. Once we make our decision then it is the job of the therapist is to give us the tools to survive, to give us coping skills.

According to WPATH's Standard of Care Abstract,

The SOC articulate standards of care while acknowledging the role of making informed choices and the value of harm reduction approaches. In addition, this version of the SOC recognizes that treatment for gender dysphoria i.e., discomfort or distress that is caused by a discrepancy between persons gender identity and that persons sex assigned at birth (and the associated gender role and/or primary and secondary sex characteristics) has become more individualized. Some individuals who present for care will have made significant self-directed progress towards gender role changes or other resolutions regarding their gender identity or gender dysphoria. Other individuals will require more intensive services. Health professionals can use the SOC to help patients consider the full range of health services open to them, in accordance with their clinical needs and goals for gender expression

As the community should we mock them? Should we judge them? Would you be seen out in public with them? Should we let our own internal bias affect our behavior?

Unfortunately, many times I have seen our community behaving badly. I have seen members of a support group call another member “combat boot” and I have been called “a man in a dress” by members of our community because I haven’t had surgery. When you start drawing a line in the sand we usually draw the line under us. Who gets to decide? Are we going to hold a vote, one blackball and you are out or maybe two blackballs and you are thrown out of the community? Maybe we can have a tribunal pick from member of the trans-community and they vote on your admission into the trans-community?

I thing you would agree that these are all absurd. We do not have a say in who is trans and who is not trans, it is the person who gets to say if they are trans or not.

When I went to therapy to start on hormones, I said to the therapist “I am a transsexual and I want to start on hormones” and that was my admission to the community.

Updated 9:30AM: Added SOC