We know this. Yes. But it's a top notch description of what it means to be transgender. LTE in NC

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Winsston-Salem Journal, Sunday Apr. 17, 2016

DR. LEWIS H. NELSON

Misunderstanding transgender


The specter of a male entering a bathroom designated for female has been used as the basis for part of HB2. Sadly, that argument reflects misunderstanding of what transgendered means.

Gender is self-determined as either female or male. Sex is determined by chromosome makeup, XX female or XY male. When gender identity and sex identity do not match, the diagnosis is gender identity disorder.

Because gender identification usually occurs by age 3, affected individuals often grow up in a world of conflicts, depression, divorce, alcoholism and suicide as they struggle to understand why they are different from peers, and why parents force them into behaviors they do not want. Many are bullied as children.

Those with families that recognize this are able to medically delay puberty and allow time to make a personal decision about their desired gender.

The unfortunate majority struggle to find their place in the world until, with medical care, they transition to the gender with which they identify. They are faced with expensive, painful surgical procedures and possible loss of jobs, families and friends.

For some, although their birth anatomy may have not yet been altered or that, for medical or expense reasons, it never will be changed, they live full time as their chosen gender.

It is these people that HB2 is affecting. People, who through no choice, driven by a biological event occurring in their brains in utero, are told they cannot be who they really are. They have suffered enough.

Nelson is an Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Bowman Gray School of Medicine. — the editor



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