Guests Dr. John Steever, physician; Dr. Matthew Oransky, psychologist

Part 1 (November 1, 2022)

Part 2 (December 1, 2022)

LGBTQ youth have come under fresh attacks in recent years, very particularly by right-wing politicians.  Trans youth are particularly targeted.  Several years ago, there were uproars about bathrooms and locker rooms, but more recently, states have begun launching criminal investigations of parents who provide appropriate medical care to their trans kids, and in at least one state, efforts are underway to ban medical transition for trans youth.

There’s a lot of misinformation out there about exactly what that means, so on this edition of OutCasting, originally presented in 2018, we consider transgender youth who want to start medical transition at a relatively early age.
 
Of course, parents often worry that their children may be too young to know what they really want and that medical transition may include surgery and other medical treatments that can be difficult or impossible to undo.
 
So what's the best answer?  What options are available to transgender youth?  Are there benefits to starting transition early?  Are there disadvantages?  And what kinds of considerations go into making these decisions?

To answer some of these questions, OutCaster Lauren talks with Dr. John Steever, a physician, and Dr. Matthew Oransky, a psychologist.  Both doctors work at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and help young transgender people with transitioning.

• • • Previous series:  Healthcare issues faced by trans people