No wishing away gender dysphoria
I am a physician who has always had a keen interest in the field of genetics and congenital abnormalities. In medical school, I was awed and humbled by the magnificence that creation of a human being represented. From a single ovum and sperm, a human being with all the potential of the world would come to exist.
I was also awed and humbled by the sheer fortune that most of us as parents and individuals enjoy when all goes correctly with this magnificent development. I saw how devastating and painful it can be when this genetic dice roll that God gives each parent at the moment of conception does not follow the usual embryology.
I met Amber (not her real name) in my fifth year of practice. It was 1996. She was 18 and born with genetic mosaicism. She had two X chromosomes and one Y chromosome, and was born with ambiguous genitalia. This means her external and internal gender parts were not representative of either gender. At age 2, she underwent gender assignment surgery. As was the practice then, she was made a female because it was technically easier, in her specific case, surgically to create the female appearance of the external genitalia and internal organs.
But Amber had been disowned by her family. Since age 7, she had known that she was in the wrong body. She identified with all the activities and interests that boys her age did and did not have any interest in “typical” behaviors of girls her age. This only worsened with puberty. She came to me in tears, simply asking that I listen to her story — because no one would listen. She was told to visit a priest and ask for forgiveness. She was frequently beaten when she went out. There were no resources to help her.
Thus began my career-long study of gender dysphoria. I have studied and attended medical conferences. What I say is not politically motivated but motivated by the desire to communicate the deep pain that these human beings and their families suffer. Her story is not as rare as the “opinion” of Gov. Greg Abbott would indicate.
Each person’s story is unique, nuanced and does not lend itself to a statewide policy that attempts to punish any parent, teacher or caregiver of any sort who may be active in the daily life of a human being with gender dysphoria.
You cannot wish this away. You cannot legislate against it. As we learn more from the human genome
project, and as we discover the devastating impact that even a single molecule on a single strand of DNA being transposed can affect human development, I am absolutely certain that with time, the genetic sources of gender dysphoria will be elucidated. Indeed, there is active research in the field of neurobiology identifying the loci in our brains where gender identification lies.
I am not a lawyer, but it seems that an “opinion” from the attorney general is not the same as “the law,” as indicated by Abbott in his letter.
This move is politically motivated. The intense care and caution that all of us who deal with individuals and their families suffering from gender dysphoria issues strive to perform is not. It is difficult enough on all involved without the onus of government overreach.
When is enough, enough? When does government overreach so widely condemned by political parties become a liability in an election?
Governor, I have always admired your remarkable grace and courage that you never mention your injury or its impact on your life as a burden but as a challenge to be surmounted. By your leadership, you have created an immense advance in the cause of spinal cord injured patients. Please use this grace and leadership to reconsider your position and rescind this missive. Those human beings were given a set of genetic material that impacted the remainder of their lives, much as your accident impacted yours. God bless you for being a role model.