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Eleven months ago, I published Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth Is Neither New nor Experimental: A Timeline and Compilation of Studies. The essay documents the long history of gender-affirming care (over 100 years!) and compiles three decades worth of research studies and reviews (over 100 articles!) which together show that gender affirmative approaches to trans and gender-diverse youth are beneficial whereas gender-disaffirming approaches are harmful. I have just updated that reference list to include even more papers (most published in the last year) that further contribute to this large body of evidence.

But of course, no matter how much evidenced is amassed, there will always be some people who will continue to oppose gender-affirming care for one reason or other. A sizeable chunk of the population wants to eradicate or morally mandate trans people out of existence more generally. Others fancy themselves as skeptics who presume that trans people must be “deluded,” “brainwashed,” or following a new “trend,” despite the fact that we have always existed and are a part of natural variation. Some are parents who insist that their own child cannot possibly be trans and thus embrace any alternatives (junk science, conspiracy theories) that help them rationalize that belief.