60 minutes overtime
this week on 60 minutes we reported on the health care challenges facing the transgender community
and we introduced some people who are called d transitioners these are people who are choosing
to reverse the process and their point is that they were not getting proper health care
that was their point that's the point we wanted to emphasize that these were young people who
were not getting proper health care advice after everything after all our conversations we still
feel that that's something important to put out there anytime a person makes a decision that has
implications hormones do have implications they have long-term effects and they have
and of course surgery has lifelong effects they're not reversible we spoke to dr marcie
bowers a gynecologist who has performed more than 2 000 transgender surgeries and who transitioned
herself in the 1990s any time a person makes a decision and then regrets that that's a problem
but it doesn't damn the entire process what it should do is cause pause and re-emphasize
the fact that our informed consent model has to be very very good and we also have to be certain
that people who are providing care do so under the standards of care that have been established
what about this proliferation of gender clinics around the country are these uh appropriate places
for people to go for these kinds of decisions so my fear is that these you know people are popping
up to meet the demand but are they following the same standards of care that i'm used to following
with my with my professionals i mean we're having the same problem with surgeons coming on board
surgeons are coming out and saying i do this procedure and you know i don't know where
they've trained and the outcomes are not always good so how do we police that these are all
really contemporary issues that we're struggling with we were concerned that the groups that oppose
transgender people might try to weaponize our story and use it against transgender people
some of the activists who reached out to us told us they were worried about it too our story was
really about health care and we wanted to keep it focused on healthcare and not make it a political
story i know that there's a lot of sensitivity and maybe even fear about the story that we are doing
so perhaps you can explain the worry about our story i have a number of concerns
about a story that talks about detransitioning without really focusing on the larger context
of the trans experience alfonso david an lgbtq civil rights lawyer and the president of the human
rights campaign detailed his concerns we also have to talk about the people who successfully
transition the vast majority of people who do and i'm concerned about that young person who
is facing stigmatization and discrimination at home and at school and they may attempt suicide
because society has told them that they're worthless i'm concerned about a population that
has already been victimized and marginalized and how a story that is taken out of context
could further victimize and marginalize this community so are you saying that if we bring to
light that there are people who detransition that it could lead to further stigmatizing
people in the community bringing a story to light about detransitioning without talking about
the vast majority of people who positively transition would cause concern because it sends
a message we need to also elevate the positive stories of people who successfully transition
dr lee savio beers is a pediatrician professor and the president of the american
academy of pediatrics i think it's incredibly important to one help dispel the myths about
what gender affirming care is and isn't i think that's a really important thing i also
think it's really important no matter how we do it and in them and and in whatever setting
to make sure that we send a message to transgender youth and gender diverse youth and their families
that they matter that their experiences matter that we care about them and we want them to get
the best medical care we want them to get the best education we want them to get the best support
from their families and their communities and i think that has to be our north star