I understand the parents letting their child live as their preferred gender and fully support that. Do you mean that the child is starting hormone therapy at the age of 10? If so I'd personally be a little worried about how it would affect their growth and development. If the doctors were confident that there wouldn't be any ill effects, I see nothing wrong with it.

Also, it was so nice of you to let that little boy spend time at your house and really be himself. I'm sure he won't ever forget the support you gave him.

First of all, I have a big problem with it. A child at that age has no hormones, or not many, and also does not have the intellect to decide such an issue. I am for it when the child has gone through puberty, has a mind capable of weighing the life long changes and it was their decision to continue. To the child that spent time with you, do you know if it was just a phase or did the boy decide to change later in life?

There is a reason they are called children. It means they are not developed enough in life to make life choices. I can understand when they are born with the problem of being both sexes, but that is a 50/50 decision the parents have to make and may later on regret it. I cocider such an act on a child a crime-worse than rape.

The whole Idea is to start hormone therapy to interupt puberty. I'm not familiar with this particular story, but many trans people find puberty to be disturbing as their bodies start to really do things that don't fit their identity. I've read that for MTF The hormones basically put off puberty and that if later you go off the homrones puberty can happen. that way if your mind changes, you can still develop with masculine secondary sexual traits.

@markeagleone, how many 10 year olds do you know? I know a few, and they are not simpletons. Children are people who should have rights. You also seem to be confusing gender reassignment of a trans gender child with parents choosing a gender for an intersex child. I also completely disagree with your analogy. How can you think it is worse than rape to allow a ten year old to present the gender zie wishes, but that surgically altering a babies genitals is ok?

I support the families and children who have to make these decisions, and I realize those decisions are very personal for them. It's not my place to say whether a child is too young for hormone treatment if it is what the child and their family have decided. I have not personally known trans children, but I think the children would know if their bodies do not reflect how they think about themselves.

I saw some television show (maybe 20/20? I can't remember now) that interviewed parents and children in families where a child was trans, and the show was heartbreaking and educational for me. These children (some younger than 10) were quite capable of talking about their gender and the dissonance they felt, and thankfully many of the parents were supportive of their children (in how they presented themselves, and with hormone treatments).

When I think about the scenario presented in the original post, I know that when I was ten years old, I could have told you about who I was (and who I wasn't), and definitely could have talked about gender, in terms that I understood at the time. I wish the 10-year-old Australian child and their family the best.

i knew a young boy who said he wanted to be a girl from when he was a toddler. his parents told him that once he's 18 he can make a decision to be whatever he feels is right, and they'd love him no matter what. i agree with that.

I am against it due to cases from the 60s and 70s at Dr. Money's clinic who really did not turn out well. It is common for children to identify with a gender that does not "match" their bodies; some of those children grow up to be transgendered, while others are perfectly happy with their sex as they get older. I know that puberty is an agonizing experience for transgendered people and it creates painful memories, but I think reassignment should wait, just to be "sure," and because it is medically easier (yes, male puberty is difficult to reverse, but in both original sexes, you will always have to take hormones to stave off puberty). My heart goes out to transgendered teens experiencing adolescence in an uncomfortable body, but I still think it's better to wait.

i really dont think the child can make a rational decision about that. dont get me wrong, i support his right to chose, but thats really early. it would be like allowing children to get tatoos- of course theyll regret them later as they turn into different people

The only choice for a trans person is whether to transition, in part or wholly, or to endure life in the 'wrong' gender. They know that their gender does not match their body's physical characteristics, and they know this from a very young age - as early as it makes a difference to their expected social role. There's a significant difference between being a tomboy and knowing that your parents are wrong when they tell you you're a girl.

I don't think a child that young should do anything permanent. However, I do know that in certain clinics there are some transplantable hormone blockers in use designed for children/pre-teens. The method is reversible and designed to hold off hormone induced changes while decisions about permanent therapies are made. These seem to be at least a decent middle ground.

Well, for starters, to everyone commenting on the "legal age", we are talking about Australia, not the United States, for gender therapy laws are different there.

Second, the 10 year old is beginning his life to go through a gender change, which means he has quite a ways before he would be able to begin hormone therapy. First, he has to go through evaluation, then steps "living in the life of the opposite gender" such as wearing female clothes, preparing identity, etc.

Third, knowing that you are in the wrong body is no different than knowing your sexual orientation. How many of you have not had crushes as a child, if you are straight my guess is your childhood crushes were on the opposite gender, correct? I am bisexual and when I was 7 years old my first crush was on a girl, second was on a boy at age 9, so how can you say that a 10 year old does not understand their body or at least some intentions of what they want out of it?

I fully agree with Ilkrissha, and all I have to say is that unless you have experienced the feeling of being in the wrong body with parts that you just feel shouldn't be there and are alien to you, you wouldn't fully understand what goes through someone's mind when they look at their body and know something is wrong.

I, myself, am not transgendered nor do I plan to go through the change but have MANY friends who are in that community, and I understand the thought process. Most of them knew at an extremely young age.

I think it's extremely important for trans* children to be able to live how they know is right. And believe me. Kids know who they are by the age of ten. Doctors and psychiatrists have evidenced that a child's inner sense of gender often begins to emerge by the age of three.

I think the problem is some people freak when they hear 'hormone therapy' and 'children' in the same sentence. But that doesn't JUST mean estrogen or testosterone. Gender-variant kids who haven't hit puberty yet and aren't yet at the age of their post-transition gender's pubertal group often go on hormone blockers until the doctors can confirm that the kid really knows what zie wants. It holds puberty off for as long as they need.

But the people who say that the child should be forced to endure the absolute horror of going through puberty in the wrong body? Why? Why would you put a child through that? Would you want to go through the puberty of the opposite gender to what you know you are? I don't think so. Would you want to feel your body rebelling against you at every step? I doubt it. So why would you force that on another person?

Especially because some of the secondary sex characteristics (facial hair, breasts, etc) are very hard to remove and set right! Not to mention traumatizing, expensive, and grueling!

If an FtM child goes on blockers and then starts hormones for the gender they will be transitioning to BEFORE puberty, they avoid having to have top surgery to have their chest tissue removed. They avoid having female-width hips for the rest of their lives. They avoid having to deal with the trauma of bleeding from anatomy they know they shouldn't even have!

If an MtF child goes on blockers and then starts hormones for the gender they will be transitioning to BEFORE puberty, they avoid having to have facial hair removed via laser. They avoid having to develop a height above that of the standard female range. They avoid having to have their genitalia rebelling against them in terms of development!

And most importantly, this: If a trans* child transitions at a young age, they get to have the childhood they deserve. As their correct gender. Personally? I'd kill to have had a boy's childhood. But I'm past that phase and I will never get that back.

Would you really force a child to suffer through all of that rather than being happy as their right gender?