San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Turn against hateful legislation, not kids who need the chance to thrive
Like most moms of teens, I have much to think and worry about, such as making sure that Dante has enough rest, eats well — no, Dr Pepper doesn’t count, much to his chagrin — monitoring how he is doing in online school, as well as helping him navigate just growing up.
Dante, 16, has great friends at school — and gets along well with his older brother, who is in college. Dante is in JROTC at his high school and in the rocketry program, where he is growing and learning so much. He wants to go to college and pursue engineering. He is also enjoying bouldering, which is what the kids are now calling indoor rock climbing. Dante is a transgender male.
As a psychologist in private practice, I have been licensed for 20 years. I work with teens and adults, providing psychotherapy on issues such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and life transitions and changes. Everyone has a story, many stories, and I feel honored to be of assistance to them on their life journey.
I bring my knowledge and experience as a psychologist as I read about the bills in the Texas Legislature session regarding transgender children.
If HB 1399 and HB 4042 (which has been declared dead in committee), are passed into law, I worry Dante will not receive the mental health and medical care that have helped him to blossom and thrive.
You see, Dante came out to us as a transgender male in 2019, and we have since fully supported him and continue to fiercely love him.
Due to Dante’s body dysphoria, which is distress that he experiences because his body does not reflect his true gender, we sought therapy for him, and this has been helpful. He told us his new name, and we have been calling him that ever since.
Last year, after talking with his pediatrician and his therapist, we were referred to a pediatric endocrinologist who assessed that Dante was an appropriate candidate for hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, and we began to administer testosterone treatment on a weekly basis. He attends talk therapy sessions as well.
My husband and I have seen and felt what a difference these therapies have made for Dante. We continue to witness how he has been more free to be himself, and how his friends and their families have embraced him for who is. That teen you read about in the first paragraph is possible because of these medical treatments, his family’s support and a loving community.
That we, as his parents, would be viewed in the eyes of the law as child abusers for giving our son the treatment he needs to be himself is unbelievable.
As a therapist, I have had to make reports of child abuse — emotional, physical and sexual — to Child Protective Services. Part of my professional work is to identify child abuse, as well as support people as they heal from abuse.
Providing the mental health care and medical treatments my child needs is not abuse. But labeling it as such only serves to instill fear in families with transgender
That we, as his parents, would be viewed in the eyes of the law as child abusers for giving our son the treatment he needs to be himself is unbelievable.
children. This is about civil liberties and allowing parents to make the best choices for their kids.
Also, in terms of transgender kids in sports, the University Interscholastic League is the regulatory body that already has oversight on this process, making legislation unnecessary and smacking of governmental overreach. Families, especially families with transgender children, need love and support and understanding. Please turn your back on these bills, not on children like Dante and families like ours.