TN DAD TO TN GOP: “I WAS WRONG NOT TO ACCEPT MY TRANS SON.”

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I am the dad of a transgender 23 year old son.  I am here to tell you I did not accept my child being transgender.  We fought, my wife and I came close to divorcing over it.

But in hindsight I WAS WRONG.  And you passing this law without making exception for hormone blocker and hormone therapy is wrong too.  Parents and medical teams, along with their children, must make these decisions.  This is a medical condition, not a fad, or trend, as I once believed.

My son’s brain, chromosomes or hormones do not match his reproductive system.  His life has been extremely difficult with Trauma, bullying, physical and sexual abuse and constant depression, anxiety and self harm and suicide attempts.

Once he got on hormone treatment, that all went away.

It wasn’t until then that I realized this was a necessity for my child to survive.  We have worked through our differences and he gave me the honor of giving him his new first name.  I struggled with pronouns and just never saw him as a boy until others started recognizing him in public as a boy.  People that didn’t know him.

When I realized the rest of the world saw our son as he felt inside, I was thankful that he had the ability to live his authentic life.

PLEASE DON’T DO WHAT I DID.  FOLLOW THE SCIENCE, DON’T TAKE AWAY PARENTAL RIGHTS.

All of the medical associations including World, American medical, American Pediatric, American Psychological, American Therapy and American Endocrinology all find these treatments are ABSOLUTELY appropriate, reversible and life saving in some cases.

Therapy doesn’t always work, nor do antidepressants.  Approving this bill in its current form will cost lives.

Sincerely,

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Retired US Navy, US Army