The whole "people shouldn't transition before age N because their brain isn't fully formed" thing is so catastrophically dumb.

Like, do you really think I wanted to be a fully formed man? Seriously. What's the upside?

For most trans people, the more of the wrong gender we get, the more pain it brings. Waiting until those changes are permanent only makes them worse. It's like if you have a gluten allergy and someone says they won't believe you until you've tried every loaf of bread in the bread aisle. More pain doesn't fix it. We don't get over gender dysphoria by exposure therapy. We just get more trauma that we have to live with the rest of our lives.

Instead, being able to transition BEFORE the brain and body are fully formed is the ideal. The earlier the better. The earlier you're able to get access to medical transition, the closer your fully formed body and mind will be to what they should be. That's a good thing! Waiting only causes harm.

The only reason why people think like this is because they refuse to believe trans people and trans experiences. They think that their default cis assumptions about people should override those people's own experiences. Sure, they'll grant some allowance in theory to adults who want to muck about with gender. But they don't actually believe we are who we say we are. Not if they think we have to have known since we were 4 but shouldn't transition until 25. The only way that makes sense is if they're either trying to be unbelievably cruel or if they simply don't believe we're real.

If you want to know if someone's an ally, look at how they treat trans kids. Because being an ally starts with believing us, that our experiences are real. And if they won't believe the kids, they're not going to believe you when you're 35 or 45 or 70.

As a little follow up...

This wasn't about conservatives. I don't care about them. They're a lost cause and they can take their bigotry to hell with them.

This was about people who call themselves liberals.

Also, there are more groups that get regularly ignored than just kids. If anything, there's starting to be a cadre of good liberals who like supporting trans kids because kids are cute. You can see them in their girl scout uniforms and buy cookies from them. People love to play the hero and protect these cute, helpless kids.

That's infantilization, not dignity.

What about that really clocky trans woman in the grocery store who clearly hasn't had any sort of medical transition. Are you going to believe her? Are you going to treat her as a woman even if your years of gender detection training are screaming at you otherwise?

What about the teenage girl-shaped person who says they really wish they were a guy? Are you going to believe him? Or are you just going to do what every other person in this world already did and write off his desires as just a silly fantasy about how the world would be better "if only" and give him some "the grass isn't always greener" speech?

Being an ally isn't about playing the hero. It's about believing us and going to bat for us just because we deserve dignity, even when you don't understand.

We don't need spiritual leaders to "set us straight". We don't need heroes who fly the rainbow flag but are really in it for their "good liberal" reputation. We need to be believed. We need dignity.

@faithisleaping  , all of  

We don't need fair-weather allies! We need allies who'll defend the trenches with us!

@ics @faithisleaping

"We don't need allies; we need accomplices." -my (amazing) therapist

@faithisleaping

What about the teenage girl-shaped person who says they really wish they were a guy?This was me but I didn't say anything because it was the 90s and I had a sense of self preservation and era-induced internalized phobias

And now it is late enough that if I come out openlt I'll be the clockiest trans woman ever and in most cases I don't feel like I'd have enough support in general (I probably need to move.... But anyhow ....)