A response to “How you can stand up to the transgender agenda”

Senator Amanda Stoker is a Liberal-National Party member of the Australian Senate representing Queensland. I like Amanda. I would describe her as a conservative libertarian, which is how I would also describe myself (conservatarian). She’s attended and spoken at previous Friedman Conferences run by the Australian Libertarian Society, and other like-minded conferences. I find her to be one of the more likeable politicians out there. However, I recently came across a petition she’s running that piqued my interest: https://www.amandastoker.com.au/stand_up_to_the_transgender_agenda.

When you visit her website, a sign-up form pops up with the following words: “See the bigger picture — Go beyond the 3-second soundbites and delve into the big issues facing our economy, society and values”. However, I read the petition, and unfortunately its quality came across as that of a 3-second soundbite. As such, I’ve emailed her my response to her petition:

Senator Stoker,

My name is Dana. You may recall that we’ve met a few times at libertarian/conservative events in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. I hope you’ve been travelling well! I am emailing in response to your “How you can stand up to the transgender agenda” petition. Despite my views on your petition, I still like you as a politician, and very much appreciate your support for various libertarian and conservative causes.

I find some trans activists to be very unhelpful. They poorly represent the trans community, and they certainly do not represent me as a transwoman, and others in the same community. They expected everyone to completely abandon objective truth. Rest assured that a few bad apples doesn’t mean that the other apples are as crazy. I too detest their disrespect for freedom of speech, cloaked as psychological harm prevention and diversity and inclusion. You only need to see the way they treated the late Gavin Wilson in the (social) media. While many trans people prefer that people voluntarily respected their gender identities, some trans activists prefer an Orwellian approach.

Some trans activists don’t care about the damage they do to the community. Specifically, their actions incentivises non-trans people to see trans activists and non-activist trans people as the same. I find it so frustrating that trans discourse today is so polarising that no one is really listening to each other — it’s so easy to stereotype each side as a way to justify why the echo chambers should remain. All this does is give more power to the dangerous trans activists and disempowers ordinary trans folk. I hope you will see that in raising the concerns I have about your petition, I’m trying to reach out to build a bridge.

I don’t understand what the point is behind the statement: “If a grown man chooses to wear women’s clothing and change their name, we are generally content to live and let live”. That’s a crossdressing man, not a transgender woman. Transwomen don’t transition merely by wearing women’s clothes and changing their name. Hormone replacement therapy plays a huge and far-reaching role in transition, and its power shouldn’t be underestimated. Change of clothes and name are child’s play compared to HRT and transition-related surgeries. The statement is not really a reflection of reality.

It’s also unclear what is meant by “It doesn’t mean we abandon common sense or our understanding of basic biology”. If you’re referring to what I think you’re referring to, I’d like to put it to you that biological sex is actually made up of chromosomes, gonads, genitalia, hormones, and secondary sex characteristics. Only chromosomal sex is immutable; the other four aspect of biological sex are not immutable, rather they can be changed through HRT and surgery. On chromosomal sex, according to the World Health Organisation:

“Humans are born with 46 chromosomes in 23 pairs. The X and Y chromosomes determine a person’s sex. Most women are 46XX and most men are 46XY. Research suggests, however, that in a few births per thousand some individuals will be born with a single sex chromosome (45X or 45Y) (sex monosomies) and some with three or more sex chromosomes (47XXX, 47XYY or 47XXY, etc.) (sex polysomies). In addition, some males are born 46XX due to the translocation of a tiny section of the sex determining region of the Y chromosome. Similarly some females are also born 46XY due to mutations in the Y chromosome. Clearly, there are not only females who are XX and males who are XY, but rather, there is a range of chromosome complements, hormone balances, and phenotypic variations that determine sex.”

Biology is not basic, and I find the absolutist nature of your petition to be unhelpful. I do agree that a parent has the right to know what their child is being taught at school, but I’d like to address your concerns about transwomen’s participation in women’s sport, and children transitioning genders. As previously stated, one shouldn’t underestimate the power of HRT, and there’s more to the debate surrounding trans sportswomen than meets the eyeball test. We’ve yet to see a scientific consensus paper come out to ‘settle’ the debate. It’s worth mentioning however that ‘male’ skeletal structure is pointless unless supported by 'male’ muscle mass. Transwomen who’ve experienced male puberty have ‘female’ muscle mass that has to work harder thanks to ‘male’ skeletal structure.

In the meantime, and in light of the Hannah Mouncey controversy in 2018, AFLW now require transwomen players to provide readings for their testosterone levels, as well as their height and weight measurements. Fair enough, because in boxing for example, boxers are divided into weight classes, so a transwoman boxer is not going to be bigger than her peers. Specifically, AFLW competitors must maintain testosterone levels below 5nmol/L for 24 months, and the International Olympic Committee is considering to take a similar approach. Fair enough, because the usual testosterone level range for women is 0.06–1.68nmols/L, and for men it’s 7.7–29.4nmols/L.

This still doesn’t change the fact that whilst people can transition genders, their genetics can’t be changed. Sports is already made up of athletes, including Usain Bolt, who have advantages for all kinds of genetic reasons different to each other. If everyone was genetically the same for each gender, people would find sports to be boring I’d imagine. In professional level sports, transwomen continue to be underrepresented, so sports isn’t going to get any more exciting soon due to more trans people coming out. There is never a truly level playing field in sports, and no athlete is expected to compete against others who are identically matched in size, strength, ability or intelligence.

So the argument to create a separate category for trans athletes effectively bans them from actual competition, because in most sports, there are too few trans athletes around. As a transwoman badminton player, I don’t know of any other transwoman badminton player in Australia. Who would I play against? Even if I could find a transwoman to play against in singles (my strength lies in doubles), what’s the point of that? She and I would earn either first or second place in every competition, and those medals would carry no significance, because our victories would not matter.

Imagine a young girl who is incredibly tall and will someday stand well above six feet. Should she pursue gymnastics or diving, her height may be a hindrance, and she will likely never score top results. Should she pursue volleyball, however, her height will be an incredible competitive advantage. After thousands of hours of hard work and training, she may even reach the Olympics.

Now, imagine a young girl who was born into a male’s body. At some point in her life, she transitions to become female, yet elements of her male anatomy remain. Should this young girl pursue a sport like gymnastics or the pole vault, her physiology may hold her back. Nobody will raise concerns over unfair advantages, should she pursue these sports. But, what if this girl chooses cycling or weightlifting or some other sport where here unique physiology gives her a competitive advantage? Is her anatomy something to be looked at the same way society views the tall girl’s height? Or, is it something to be punished?

If one opposes transitioned transwomen, who’ve been through male puberty, participating in women’s sports, why would one also oppose transgirl from transitioning to prevent themselves from going through the same male puberty? One can’t have cake and eat it too. No one wants, let alone decides, to have gender dysphoria, and no one is medically changing their sex at seven or eight years of age. Transition treatment for trans children is not as radical as it seems. The first step for a child, if they want to, is to let them wear whatever clothes fit their gender, and pick a name that feels right for them. It doesn’t sound like much, but it can go a long way for these children.

Studies focused on just socially transitioned children have found that their mental health was almost as good as the other children. Trans children cannot go on hormone medication when they hit puberty, they can only go on puberty blockers, which is different — it only suppresses the hormone that triggers puberty. This is not conditioning “children to accept a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex as normal and healthful”, as conjectured by the discredited American College of Pediatricians.

Blockers give trans adolescents more time to be sure about their gender identity before puberty cannot be healthily delayed any further. Puberty blockers, which are reversible, have been used for decades for children with precocious puberty, with little negative side effects. Having gone through a second (female) puberty on hormone replacement therapy, I can attest that hormone medication is more or less safe. Like other medication, I’m at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, but what medication doesn’t have side effects and risks that don’t outweigh the health benefits. One of those health benefits is that the gender transition regret rate is consistently less than 1%, irrespective of when the transition started. That failure rate is lower than many medical treatments available out there. Note that gender transition in any form is not cure, that’s why it’s called treatment, not cure.

It’s worth mentioning, whilst we’re at it, the alleged phenomenon of Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD). The ROGD premise is that there are cases of surprised parents who don’t notice anything odd about their child growing up, then surprisingly their child comes out as trans during adolescence apparently due to external influences such as social media. ROGD has been used in public discourse to argue that trans children and adolescents shouldn’t be allowed to transition. However, the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, has seen more than 700 children diagnosed with gender dysphoria, and only 4% of those children ‘grow out of it’. 96% of those diagnosed as trans as children remained so at late adolescence.

Perhaps the parents of alleged ROGD children didn’t notice anything due to unintentional childhood emotional neglect. Perhaps awareness-raising by social media and the public lives of trans people themselves is just bringing the transgender self of an adolescent out of the woodworks sooner rather than later. It’s likely that ROGD adolescents fall into the 4%, but they should not be left behind. If ROGD is a real phenomenon that can stand on its two feet, then descriptive and diagnostic data must be developed so that it can be accepted by the healthcare profession. At present, there is no consistently reliable data available on ROGD to develop effective treatment and support services for it. So the only way to draw clear conclusions about the identity persistence of trans children is to conduct prospective studies of children with gender dysphoria diagnosis. No muddying the waters. Said prospective studies are ongoing, and they indicate that the Royal Children’s Hospital Gender Service (RCHGS) is on the right track.

RCHGS developed the first national guidelines for managing the healthcare of trans children and adolescents in Australia, including recommended timing of medical transition and surgical intervention dependent on the adolescent’s capacity and competence to make informed decisions, duration of time on puberty suppression, coexisting mental health and medical issues, and existing family support. In other words, a multidisciplinary harm minimisation approach. My childhood and adolescent story serves as a cautionary tale for why blanket opposition to trans children transitioning genders is harm maximisation, not harm minimisation. And what does a harm minimisation approach look like? A few things come to mind:

1. It is the role of the psychologist/psychiatrist to figure out if a trans patient has comorbidity, and if the patient does, ensure the patient’s condition/s are well managed, and not driving apparent gender dysphoria, especially if the dysphoria is not insistent, persistent and consistent. The problem only arises when the psych isn’t doing their job properly.

2. What’s the ‘right age’ for a trans child to start puberty blockers? What’s the ‘right age’ for that child to start hormone replacement therapy post-puberty blocking? It depends on how bad the dysphoria is for the child, and for which part of their developing biological sex. No two cases of gender dysphoria are the same, and rigidly standardising trans healthcare is harmful. If in doubt, ask yourself, what course of action will cause the least amount of mental health harm?

3. Despite the hysteria you see in the media, puberty blockers are not administered before puberty hits. And if puberty blockers are that bad, why is nobody complaining about children experiencing precocious puberty receiving the same blockers? All medical treatments have their benefits and risks, even Panadol, which is so easily available and accessible. Perhaps we should get hysterical about Panadol?

4. Secondary sex characteristics are a manifestation of hormones, especially during puberty. I’m very blessed that my East Asian genetics didn’t masculinise me badly during my male puberty, but other transgirls haven’t been so lucky. Surgeries to manipulate secondary sex characteristics like facial feminisation surgery are painful and expensive. Again, I’ve been very fortunate to be able to pass in society as a woman without needing such surgeries, despite lack of access to puberty blockers growing up. Why should trans adults experience the psychological pain of natal puberty?

5. Passing isn’t about superficial looks. Passing, for transwomen, is about getting on with life in society as women without getting read as men. Passing is about long-term safety and well-being. Whilst the behaviour of the over-memed “It’s Ma’am!” transwoman is not acceptable, perhaps she wouldn’t have rose to infamy on the Internet if she was administered puberty blockers growing up in order to pass well as an adult woman. Being trans isn’t fantasy play, it’s a very serious matter.

6. Another hysterical narrative you may have seen in the media: the scary rise of trans children and adults, and the even hairier rise in detransitioners. As time goes by, more and more people in our society figure out that they’re genuinely gay, yet no one complains about that? The same principle should apply to gender transitions, unless of course if one has a problem with adults and children figuring out who they really are, and being true to themselves?

7. Unfortunately detransitions and regrets do rarely happen, and I want the very best healthcare for detransitioners, but their detransitions should not be used maximise harm against people whose gender transitions are right for them. It’s also worth mentioning that whilst some people detransition because transitioning genders wasn’t right for them, others detransitioned not because it wasn’t right for them, but because they were pressured by others to detransition. Desistance can be a form of survival mode, rather than being genuine desistance.

Rest assured that your response (if any) to my email will be kept strictly private. Alternatively, if you prefer a phone call, my mobile phone number is as per the signature block of this email. I’m an open book, and happy to take any questions you may have. I would rather we have a conversation to better understand where each other are coming from, without necessarily changing our views, rather than default to the comfortable but unhelpful echo chambers.

I look forward to hearing from you.