Transidentity: what are “puberty blockers” and why are LR concerned about them ?

French parliamentarians are considering a text aimed at supervise the gender transitions of minors. This includes strict control of puberty blockers.

This Tuesday, the Senate is examining a text carried by Senator LR Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio. It focuses in particular on the ban on minors' access to hormonal treatments as well as on hormonal treatment. gender reassignment surgery. Doctors who prescribe cross hormones or perform such surgeries would be at risk. a sentence of up to 'à two years' imprisonment, a 30,000-euro fine and a ten-year ban on practicing. ;

Strict control of prescriptions for "puberty blockersé" is also considered. These are synthetic hormones, making it possible to suspend the development of secondary sexual characteristics such as breasts, voice, hair. .. If the adolescent stops the treatment, pubertal development resumes its natural course. The effects are therefore not irreversible. This allows young people to 'explore their identity'. degender without experiencing the changes linked to gender puberty that they could live badly, explains Annelou de Vries, Dutch psychiatrist, as reported by France 3. Today, puberty blockers are common. are accessible for patients who are in stage 2 of pubertyé of Tanner, often around the age of 12. 

In the proposed law, the prescriptions for puberty blockers would only become permitted within a specific framework in "multidisciplinary reference centers" and after medical follow-up of at least two years. Initially, the proposed law aimed to ban them but it was quickly  é relaxed. "A growing number of children and adolescents are questioning their identity as a child. sexual. We need to ask ourselves the right questions, so as not to lead certain children too early into things that are often irreversible,” was justified. the author of the proposed law to the AFP.

A risky proposition ?

This text is not unanimous; and is judged "transphobic" &agrav; LEFT. "This text is based on the principle that transition is a problem, a danger, and that to dissuade people from transitioning, it is enough to prohibit everything", warnedé the socialist Laurence Rossignol, as reported by Le Monde. Claire Hédon, rights defender, estimated that that this proposal could "infringe the rights and à “the best interests of children”, even mentioning the risk of suicide. For Maryse Rizza, president of the Grandir Trans association, puberty blockersé have, in fact, "savedé the life of his son". The latter had multipliedé suicide attempts à the arrival of her period.

One of the problems raised is also that if the situation has been identified shortly before puberty and that we have to wait two years to possibly access the blockers, it will already be over. too late. For associations defending LGBT rights, it's a real "step back”.< /p>