Dr. Phil interviewed multiple youths who got in transgender medical procedures from a young age and have come away with completely opposite views on Thursday.
Transgender hormone therapy and sex change surgeries on minors that were once unthinkable have become a key political rift in American politics. As transgender politics have become more mainstream over the past decade, some young people have come away regretting their procedures and questioning why society allowed minors to make such life-altering decisions for themselves.
One of Dr. Phil’s guests not only defended trans medical procedures for minors but claimed that it is absolutely vital for their mental health.
"Being able to start my transition at 11 was just so overwhelming and scary, but exciting, and I feel grateful. Say that a trans person came out at 8, and they had to wait till they were 18 to start hormone replacement therapy and not even able to get puberty blockers so their body has to fully now go through puberty," Reece, a trans man, said. "That now makes transitioning 10 times more hard and traumatizing."
Reece went on to say that legal regulations to prevent these procedures being done to minors is akin to mass-murder.
"It’s extremely important for trans youth to be able to transition at puberty, I think, without that, all of these kids who know who they are deep down inside would never get the opportunity to live their childhood as their truth. And I think that’s just horrendous. And I think it’s just transgender genocide. If I was not able to transition at the age I was, I would not have made it to 18. I do not think the government should be denying trans health care. It’s life-saving healthcare," Reece said.
The guest went on to contradict themselves when describing hesitation to actually go through with a double mastectomy at a young age and deciding to "wait till I’m older."
Reece then said, "I didn’t want to wait. I was eligible at 15. I went to get it at 15 and I just was too young to go through with it at that age for myself personally, but someone who has a bigger chest who is also that age would definitely need it if they felt like they did and I think they should be able to get it."
After reasserting the statement that denial of transgender medical procedures is a death sentence for trans-identifying minors, another guest, Ryan, who regretted her temporary transition, asked about the social pressures disproportionately pushing transgender ideology.
AMERICANS OVERWHELMINGLY OPPOSE TRANSGENDER ATHLETES IN FEMALE SPORTS, POLL SHOWS
"What do you think about this thing that’s going around in society, where a lot of people are being canceled for questioning over-affirmation? For example, if I had a friend who identified as transgender, I would be wanting to question. I’d be like, ‘Why do you think you’re transgender?’ And not because I don’t think they should transition or that I hate trans people. I just want to make sure that they’re making the right decision for them. Because hormones and surgeries are very, very permanent," she said.
Ryan added further that medical doctors themselves face massive pressure to affirm trans identities for the sake of their medical careers.
"I feel like a lot of doctors are put into a corner too, because if they deny trans care for someone because they don’t think they’re trans, or they’re transgender, they can be labeled as transphobic. And I have no idea what kind of consequences that could have on their medical career," she said. "So I feel like a lot of people are put into a corner, and they just give it to everyone out of fear for what might happen to their career if they don’t."
As it stands, doctors in the United States are far more lenient when it comes to allowing children to access medical services for gender transitions than doctors in European countries, who instead maintain a "watchful waiting" phase before a doctor even acknowledges a person’s social identity as another gender apart from that assigned at birth.
A recent study compared American laws with those of Europe and concluded "the United States is the most permissive country when it comes to the legal and medical gender transition of children."
