No One Needs ‘Evidence’ That Transition Improves Trans People’s Humanity
Let’s distinguish scientific uncertainty from value judgment
Published in
6 min readAug 17, 2024
On August 13, Lydia Polgreen wrote an instantly beloved opinion piece in the New York Times. It’s 5,000 words in defense of trans kids getting to live trans lives.
People who are curious or anxious about the idea of trans kids should read her essay because it gives a helpful reframe.
Here are my 10 takeaways from her column. All are ways you, too, can respond to politicized claims, such as those found in the Cass Review, that trans kids shouldn’t be affirmed in their gender and that physical changes should accordingly be discouraged too.
10 Takeaways from Polgreen’s Essay ‘The Strange Report Fueling the War on Trans Kids’
1. Trans kids’ autonomy is an issue of bodily autonomy
People take hormones for various reasons. It’s allowed.
Why would gender transition be an invalid reason?
Isn’t it sex discrimination to forbid people to take the hormones of “the other sex”?
