Georgia Senator Vows to Protect Girl, But Then Runs Away After Learning She Is Trans
During a visit to lobby legislators on transgender issues, Senator Carden Summers (R) knelt down and told a child he would protect her. When he learned she was trans, he backed away.
On Feb. 6, a group of families met to lobby senators on issues affecting the local transgender community in Georgia. One mother, Lena Kotler, decided to take her two children with her to give the topic a human face. While waiting to meet with Democratic Sen. Kim Jackson, who they had heard was a big supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, another senator passed by — Republican Sen. Carden Summers, the primary sponsor of the state’s bathroom ban bill. Little did he know that one of the children he would be interacting with, Aleix, 8 years old, was a transgender child.
According to Kotler and other families who were present, the senator stopped to say hello. That’s when Kotler spoke to Senator Summers about how she was there with her kids to “talk to legislators about keeping her kids safe.” Although she did not mention that one of her children was trans, they were present with LGBTQ+ signage - something the Senator apparently missed when he knelt down in front of Aleix and said, according to Kotler, “Well you know, we’re working on that and I’m going to protect kids like you.”
Kotler then replied, “Yeah - Alex is trans, and she wants to be safe at school, she wants to go to the bathroom and be safe.”
That is when, according to multiple witnesses, Sen. Summers stood up and fumbled his words, repeating, "I mean, yeah, I'm going to make sure she's safe by going to the right bathroom," continuing to use the correct pronouns for Aleix. When asked if he would make her go to a boy's bathroom, he then allegedly backed away, saying, "You're attacking me," turned around, and walked off quickly.
LMAO
Is he a moron, or is that a strategy? Lol
He's a coward, just like everyone else in his party. Afraid of a fucking child. His ancestors would be ashamed of him, and his descendants will disown him.
This is what facism looks like imo. Through and through.
"Will your bill do what it says?"
"HOW DARE YOU!"
And this is a legislator.
Brave Ser Summers ran away, Bravely ran away, away. When a child with questions to him was led, He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Please no one go to his Facebook page and find his number then leave him a voicemail singing that song
https://m.facebook.com/CardenHSummers4Senate
Run away. I want you to be famous for those exact words. I want people to call you Senator Run Away. I want children laughing outside your door, because they've found the house of Senator Run Away. And, when people come to you, and ask if trying to get to me through the people I love is in any way a good idea, I want you to tell them your name.
I mean, maybe we should just yell that at conservatives?
Maybe it takes something so blunt for them to get it as hearing "you're attacking me".
And if it doesn't, I'm pretty sure that's all you need to say to use stand your ground laws in red states.
"yOu'Re AaTtAcKiNg mEeee!!!!"
What a dipshit.
It's very easy to attack people like that, usually been within about 50 miles of them is enough. Everything you do is offensive to them including breathing. People that sensitive need to be in therapy.
It's never not projection with these doofs.
In response to an 8 year old existing.
Given his fragility, cowardice, lack of self-assurance and failure to defend himself - all feminine traits (to these ghouls anyway) are we sure the good senator isn't trans himself? He's certainly not the picture of brave, confident masculinity.
DeSantis wears high heels - I'm pretty sure Trump does too (though smaller) - projection indeed.
Remember those pics of Goebbels, one before learning the photographer was Jewish, and one after?
Thats exactly what popped into my brain while reading this.
attached for reference.
Here's a before pic
What a fucking snowflake.
Literally a word causes him to throw away his cause. Going to bet this dude would absolutely abandon his own children. Party of family values my ass.
Kid: “I’m trans.”
Senator Carden Summers: “What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I'm the top sniper in the entire US armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You're fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You're fucking dead, kiddo.”
Was definitely not expecting to see this copy pasta here.
You're attacking me, my ass. See how easily they project? It's not even a thought they have, they just exhale bullshit
Imagine having to be that kid, someone saying they'll protect you and then accusing you of attacking them for part of yourself that you have no control over
Christianity really messes people up.
Sounds like two neurons in his brain actually met for once and he felt empathy for someone he knew he was too young to understand why she's getting fucked over by her government.
It doesn't sound like that at all, at any point in the story?
Sounds like he he thought he could score a quick lil' political win with the group of families, before realising she was the target his hate, and expressing his bigotry to the child before fucking off.
"You're attacking me!" complains attacker.
Well I meant to say but forgot. That the empathy he felt turned into confusion and then anger and then he rubber banded back to his bigotry where he feels safe
I disagree. He saw the danger of him standing there when someone could take a pic. That is why he bravely screamed out at the 8 year old girl to stop attacking him.
He felt empathy for the first time, and it was an unfamiliar sensation that he recoiled from in his cowardice.
Nah, it wasn't empathy, it was a photo-op. He could be seen "caring" about the plight of kids who feel unsafe in school (his assumption was almost certainly school shooting). So he was there to vaguely promise to make schools safer, presumably by having fewer doors, since that is what causes school shootings evidently.
I think it's the opposite. I think he saw her as a girl whom he was protecting from trans girls using "her" bathroom.
Thats the thing about these people. I have a trans coworker and they wont dare use the wrong pronoun for her while it can reach HR's ears. Go ahead, say what you want to say don't hide it now. They hide behind legislation and screens.
Aleix is trans, but Summers is a pussy...does that mean that he's transitioning, as well?
He is no pussy, they take a pounding while providing pleasure to all involved.
Summers is a scrotum, thin skinned, can't take even a light strike without assuming an attack, and he shriveled away when he realized the temperature was a bit cold to him.
Some people do enjoy some CBT though. He's scum.
I'm going to have to remember this.
Jesus christ that headline is the most satirical sounding headline ive ever seen period. It spunds more satirical than actual TheOnion h eadlines
There's always someone...
If Summers was really serious about "protecting" trans children, he should have said he was going to place the child into state custody. If there was an actual threat against the child, that's what he should do, but there is not and Summers knows it.
How can an 8 year old know if they are trans? That seems awfully young.
It's a gender thing, not a sex thing. You don't have to hit puberty to know.
What about you -- did you know you were cis* by the time you were 8? Are you sure?
If you could be that sure, why would a trans person be any different?
(* making a statistically-likely assumption)
I am not personally on board with the the "pick a gender to define your identity", but there are several traits I embraced that would have been "trans"-y when I came into my own self. When I was 8 I rolled with others perception and assumed everyone around me was right and I should like aspire to be a man and reject anything not manly. This has reinforced cisgender identity in most people, but there's one kid of a couple I knew who, as soon as they wanted to explore the question of gender identity, the parents went into full "I support my trans kid" and pushed their kid hard trans. They meant well, but kids are kids and shouldn't be held too hard to their stated choices. Putting the kid on parade in a very visible political display limits their ability to "back out" if they choose.
In short, I don't think people should be told they "know" their gender status before they grow into themselves a bit more.
This sounds very much like your own perception and has nothing to do with the kid. It's the adults in the room politicizing things that should be complete non-issues: how the kid identifies, how certain they are, and whether either aspect changes over time.
Did you not know your gender in 3rd grade? Some trans kids do too, especially now that there’s more awareness.
8 years old is also an extremely low stakes age to be trans, because it’s literally just clothes, name/pronouns, and haircut differences at that age.
My ex's kid came out as trans to usat 11 or so, and like..... Yeah. This is exactly the time to play with your sense of self when it doesn't fuckin matter. We've been doing for generations, but all of a sudden feeling and wanting to present more masculine just gives everybody a fucking aneurysm.
Never mind the people who have nothing better to do than go to war with children grew up with David Bowie and Eurythmics and shit. 🙄
It's so funny to me this new posturing of denial that kids can know their gender at a young age, when derogatory terms for this exact thing like "tomboy" and "sissy" have been around for generations. We have always known that some kids don't act like their gender assigned at birth.
The only thing that's changed is that we now know that this is actually normal and healthy, not some pathological problem that can be "solved" through abuse and shaming.
I understand, but I also thinnk things swing differently bad. If you imply a "tomboy" must be a man, because they like traditionally manly stuff, and a "sissy" should be a girl because they aren't violent, well, that seems rough too.
Also, people evolve. Fluidity should be the emphasis at that age.
Heck, I'm not particularly on board that you should pick one and align your whole identity with your choice, whether that's being cisgender as aggressively squishing down unfitting choices, or going trans and feeling compelled to leave all the traits of your physiological gender behind.
I don't think it can be rigidly defined for everyone, nor should it be. Some people are fluid in that sense, some people aren't.
Wow, what a concept! People could have a gender identity that doesn't match traditional conceptions of 'man' or 'women'! We could call it something like....'non-binary'.
/s
Your concern trolling completely ignores points the LGBTQ+ community have already thought of and explictly accepted. Nothing you have to say points to any meaningful problem whatsoever. You've been posting this drivel all over the thread. Go elsewhere.
You can also be cisgender and like things the other gender likes, you know. It’s not like every man who does ballet is trans or nonbinary.
Unfortunately, America runs on abuse and shaming - not Dunkin, as previously theorized.
I often think how wild it is that there was not a single (out) gay or trans kid in all my years in primary and secondary school (graduated in '94). I wonder now how many were and either didn't understand it enough to know it or were (justifiably) afraid to be who they were.
You've got a few years on me but this is very close to my thoughts whenever I hear someone decry the increase in youth who identify as LGBT+. Could it simply be more teens are more comfortable identifying because there is more acceptance?
There is still a long way to go, but it is better than it was.
I still know people my age who are hiding who they are sexually, in unhealthy or unsatisfying relationships, and that's just those I know about.
First thing I think of is the sharp increase in left-handedness that happened once it was no longer stigmatized by society.
My youngest knew they weren't a girl at age seven. They are 15 now and been very happy for the last four years using they/them pronouns and a chosen name.
It was always possible that one day they'd have changed their mind...hell, their cousin is non-binary as well and used he/they pronouns and a male name for six years before reverting back to the name and gender she was assigned at birth (she's 16 now).
The important thing is to listen to your kids (and anyone who is trans, really) and trust that they know themselves infinitely better than you ever could. Let people tell you who they are, and believe them. They may refine their understanding of who they are at a later time, and you should believe them then, too. When someone decides to change their major, you don't tell them "C'mon now...you're a psychology major...you've always been a psychology major." It's not entirely dissimilar.
I knew I was a boy and that I liked girls when I was 8 years old. I just project that same sense of identity I felt onto others and it becomes very easy to understand why others just know who and what they are and who and what they like. The world really needs a touch more empathy.
I'm a trans woman and I started to express my self femininely when I was just a toddler. I grew up in a rural area where I was always told that I am a boy and that I will grow up into a man who will have a wife and many children. I genuinely had never heard of queer people until I was tween, when my peers started using gay as an insult. If I had been taught about queer people when I was a kid, I definitely would have realized that I am trans then, and I wish I had been because being raised as a boy when you are a girl is extremely traumatic.
People can be born with all sorts of strange and terrible conditions, but somehow there are people who think babies can't be born with a brain that is a different sex than their body. Either that or they think the body should take precedence over the brain which is insane considering only one of those is sapient.
Just out of curiosity, how does a toddler express either femininely or masculinely?
Toddlers model behavior of the adults in their life. It can be as simple as whether they echo the behavioral quirks of the women more than the men, or vise versa.
Please be careful with this line of thinking, and don't push children into one direction or the other.
I spent more time in my early years with my mother due to my father traveling for work, so I naturally echoed her behavioral quirks more than his. I also showed a ton of interest in traditionally feminine toys and playsets. I had a baby doll and I'd play pretend parenting. I outright demanded a little play kitchen, back when all of them were clearly decorated/colored/coded "for girls". I wanted and they got me a barbie doll, and I played a shit ton of dress up. Never was one for rough and tumble play, sports, climbing trees, etc. More in touch with my emotions than my peers and not afraid to show them.
All that said, I've never had any issues with my own gender identity as a cis male. One of my earliest "writings" was "I'm going to be a dad" with a very scribbly drawing of a family.
There's another comment on this post about a mtf telling their parents that they were a butterfly and going to be a girl, at an early enough age that the commenter didn't remember saying it.
So kids can absolutely know, but we should be careful to never assume. If gender is a social construct, then we should also be working ourselves away from the idea that certain behaviors are masc or fem, not doubling down by saying they have any indication of a person's gender/potential to be trans.
Masculine and feminine are useful concepts with long roots in every culture on earth. The problem is when people impose a positive or negative connotation to them. It should be considered normal and healthy for someone who identifies on the male side of the spectrum to exhibit feminine traits, and so on.
It's just a conceptual framework that simplifies understanding. Our problems arise when we oversimplify, and forget that it is just an artificial construct we made up to explain our world.
I have a few memories from when I was somewhere between 2 and 4. One is of my sister getting some makeup (I think it was eyeshadow) for Christmas and I remember being very interested in it and trying to put it on.
Another is that I always loved hanging out in my sister's room and I remember liking to watch her put on nail polish and I would always ask her a million questions about it while she was doing it. I also liked playing with my sisters old toys more than some of my own. My parents got me toy cars, dinosaurs, and that type of stuff, which I did play with occasionally, but my most played with toys were my sister's old dolls.
Growing up with an older sister, I did much of the same stuff. I don't think those activities are limited to those that grow up to identify as "female". I think it's perfectly fine if an adult carries that over without having to declare themselves trans. Why shouldn't a "guy" get to like makeup and a bit more interesting clothes and like tallking to girls about stuff that "guys" don't talk about? If they think life is easier to go wholly into transgender once they tally up the totality of their existence, cool. But early life should be about flexibility and choices being open and not having to "pick a side".
I mean, be who you want. You can totally be AMAB and feminine and not be trans. I'm not telling people to "pick a side" or anything, just because we share similar experiences and I'm trans and you're not (I assume), that doesn't invalidate your existence or anyone else's.
Idk I think if someone kept telling me one thing and my experience was different I think I could tell something is up.
Some people just know at a young age. It's a spectrum, so some people don't experience dysphoria until puberty, some know when they're very young, some don't experience dysphoria and instead solely experience gender euphoria (in this context, euphoria from presenting as a gender other than their assigned gender at birth (AGAB)). It's complicated and not well understood.
The puberty situation was my general experience... But I also didn't really know trans people existed when I was young and my parents really didn't enforce any kind of gender stereotype upon me at all. I also just didn't care about clothes because my options were just hand me downs from my cousins. Aside from just feeling like my friends were somehow operating from a different playbook I had no clue.
Then puberty hit. It registered as a mild body horror because I basically still passed but I couldn't do the hand me downs anymore and I did some pretty unhealthy things like develop something of an eating disorder to avoid developing... I also started getting anxiety symptoms including heartburn so bad I thought I was literally dying. Life was generally so shit I didn't where to try improving so I just clung on with my fingernails because I knew my death would destroy my family.
I am glad that being trans is on the parental radar these days. It took me til I was 21 to figure out what was happening basically in a near complete vacuum of information pmuch less to figure out what to do. I often wonder where my experiences would have differed if I actually knew transness was a thing and at what age that realization would have happened.
8 is old enough to know a lot of things about yourself. Personally I knew I hated the idea of "being a man" at that age, i just wish i had realized sooner that growing into something else was a option. My mental health would certainly be about 1000x better if I had been able to transition then instead of as a overwhelmed, forsaken and misunderstood 19 year old...
Most people know their gender about 2.5 years old. It is pretty impressive when you are parent and see that lightbulb click. One day they have no opinions at all about clothing or toys and the next day they do.
Well, in some sense they know what they are supposed to be correlated with their physiology, but "gender identity" is a bit much, and it would be a mistake for someone to close the door on that question so early in life. Now I understand "but we use gendeered pronouns on 5 year olds, so obviously it's not open ended", and it's not ideal that there is a default, but ultimately, that kid is way too young to commit to that position. There's a whole lot of mental and physical development coming their way and they should be encouraged to keep an open mind, either way.
Once again, I will point out that people only have these concerns when somebody is trans, not when they're cis.
Also, do you think that a parent who is accepting of their kid being trans is going to be intolerant if the kid changes their mind? Of course not. No one is locking this kid into their gender identity; that's the entire frickin' point of the trans movement.
Your 'concerns' are either extremely misguided or a shield for transphobia, so you should probably knock it off.
But aren't some people concerned about folks oppressively pushing cisgender on their kids? Rightfully so, too.
I don't think the parents would be intolerant, I'm saying an eight year old may not have the maturity to recoginze, particularly if the parents made a huge production it of backing their coming out. For the same reason an 8 year old might be uncomfortable admitting they are trans, they may be uncomfortable after declaring trans to walk that back. Hell, I knew people who only felt comfortable admitting that wasn't their life after all choice until college, because they were afraid of losing the social dynamic they constructed by walking back such a huge thing. I also knew people who clinged hard to "normal" until later, so it cuts both ways. My goal as a parent has been to make it clear that I will be supportive, but either choice should be "boring" and subject to change. Saying that to a currently cisgender child can change their mind and declare trans is likely considered progressive, but to make it clear that a trans person can change their mind would be transphobic.
There's no easy answer, I think so much of the world is pointlessly gendered (interests and activities that are arbitrarily divided by apparent happenstance of genitals). I wish it wasn't the core of identity, that something as stupidly fundamental as pronouns didn't have to be decided based on acceptance or rejection of your default physiology.
Now... I am trans so this is my supposition and based on my discussions to cis people about the cis experience but I think there's somethings that we actually assume about cis people.
While some cis people seem to have a very solid gender identity that is in line with the tran experience of gender euphoria that seems actually kind of rare. I think a majority of cisness is actually defined by a lack of strong feelings about their body and their experience of gender. Their assumption of gender is simply the path of least resistance. Their experimentation when they have it is out of curiosity but it doesn't really resonate.
Do you think you would be upset at a foundational level if you woke up tomorrow in the body of the opposite sex and everyone had always known you as that way? Aside from maybe an uncomfortable adjustment of role and some interest in experiencing something different would you think that you would be terribly bothered? These sentiments can sometimes be construed as being a non-binary sort of thing - but the more I discuss the topic intimately with cis people to try and understand their experience the more that feels like the difference and particular advantage being cis represents. If you do not experience the pull and certainty of euphoria or dysphoria informing your cultural and biological needs that could be because what defines the majority of cis people is a fluidity and adaptability because of a near complete lack of preference rather than a preference that specifically matches a sex phenotype. Meanwhile transness can almost be defined as a surplus and rigidity of preference so we find ourselves trying to explain something like why we can't easily force ourselves to choke down food we detest to someone who maybe doesn't even experience taste.
A trans gender identity isn't exactly always subtly experienced. A correct gendering when you don't expect it might literally make your week. Disgust at your own body can make you run past the bathroom mirror so you don't have to look. It's not so much an "keep an open mind" kind of deal. You get a pack of stimuli like something entirely independent has a shock and reward system hardwired into your brain and you don't really control how you feel about it. When you talk about worrying about fluidity I think you are kind of concerned from the cis standpoint where being nebulous in gender is quite natural. From a trans community perspective we know we are on a journey where we are essentially learning the nature of the internal reward system. Our genders are reflections of that and we generally want to ditch whatever isn't working and update our coping mechanisms to account for changes or if we realize we didn't actually fully understand the exact nature of the trigger that was setting us off and can change our tactics accordingly to maximize functionality and happiness.
To further the parable a kid might after years of hating olives so much they spit them out whenever they eat them decide to try them again to see if their tastes have changed.. but it's not on parents to keep putting olives on the kids plate for them to "keep options open" when the kid can basically decide at any point to just reach across a the table and get their own olives if they want them. Maybe the kid knows they don't like olives because whenever they accidentally eat one it still tastes bad.
If someone keeps trying to hand you something you know you don't like and you keep having to passively or actively reject it... it can be really annoying and you generally stop wanting to be around that person.
I mean, when I was a kid some girls toys looked fun. Like easy bake ovens, who wouldn't want to eat food‽
Sure. Turns out not all humans fall into neat little boxes perfectly all the time.
Society drills gender roles into your head from birth. The more yours don't match, the easier it is to tell at an early age.
Gender identity is very dependent on external influence, such as society and language, but is usually well established by age five. I wish I had sources for you, but there was a study done on how gender use in native language influences awareness of gender. The more gendered words are present, such as in romance languages, the earlier gender identity is established.
Eight year olds don't need to know the definition of trans to know if they're a girl or a boy (gender).
I understand that it is difficult to grasp when you have been indoctrinated to believe one thing that has turned out to not be true. Most people go through life never truly knowing the interior life of another person. But parents know their children.
Good question, I'll link my comment to someone else asking the same thing: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/comment/6550308
idk i didn't find out until i was a grown ass adult who was sexually mature so i don't understand how a kid could possibly know these things for sure
I imagine it is a contrast issue is why you don't understand. Which is fine.
No one ever told me I am a fire squid wearing a human suit. Not once. If someone had decided to tell me at say 8 years old I am pretty confident I wouldn't have been convinced. If you also asked 8 year old me if I was human I am pretty confident he would have said yes. If the world is telling you what agrees with your understanding of the world then you don't even note it. It is a grass is green type statement. If however the world is telling you what you know to be false you will remember how strange this experience was.
Makes sense now?
Gotta love that he doesn't even realize he's saying Aleix is a girl and girls should be using the girls' bathroom.
Edit: I really want to know if the people downvoting me are anti-trans bigots or don't understand that an anti-trans bigot accidentally took her side even after realizing she's trans?
Worth noting he's a senator in the state legislature, not one of Georgia's federal senators who are both broadly pro LGBT+
So brave
At 8 years old... Does she actually know if she's trans or did the mother tell her she was?
full disclosure: I'm trans - my story at the end.
It doesn't really work that way... if she was told "you're trans" and wasn't, she would experience the opposite type of gender dysphoria over time and would want to express masculine/boy identity in line with her birth gender and physical traits.
She's young enough that it's not infeasible she might change her mind. Ideally she has been to a licensed therapist and/or psychologist who verified she met the latest DSM diagnostic criteria for gender dysphoria (the only successful treatment for which involves transition), and they are helping the parent manage this process. They'll be in no hurry for medical intervention since puberty would be 4-5 years away most likely.
That being said, if you meet enough trans people, it's not uncommon to hear stories about "knowing since I was 4". Oftentimes it's accompanied by a regret that their feelings were suppressed and they had to go through the torments of puberty "in the wrong body" as it were.
My own story is different. I didn't "know" until my thirties, even if I can see signs going back to childhood in retrospect. Apparently at three years old I told my mom "I'm a butterfly and I'm going to be a girl". She never told me that, I found out after she died last year, looking through her old notes. She assumed I meant reincarnation. Ironic considering I have adopted a butterfly metaphor to express my transition to a woman.
Anyway, yes, an eight year old can absolutely tell adults they are a different gender than they were assigned at birth. Whether they literally say "I'm trans" is kinda beside the point.
Thank you for explaining things without jumping down my neck right off the bat; it's very appreciated (and hard to come by nowadays).
I guess because I personally never thought of those things as a kid that I can't picture an 8, (or 4) year old, that would worry (or even think) about that issue at such a young age.
It's why people argue too much over religion, and personal experiences; just because it didn't happen to you, doesn't mean it didn't happen.
Oh hey, I have also met many cisgender folks like yourself. And yes, you have literally no reason to think about gender, because it aligns with your body, your hormones, and your life experience. It "just fits". If you can imagine, that sensation is exactly how it feels for me to be transitioning now -- a welcome change from despair :)
That's great to hear; I'm glad you finally feel like you belong in your own body and can live a happier life :)
Thanks for the candid response. I appreciate the honest discussion.
This reads as transphobic, but I'm going to leave it up for two reasons:
I'm not trans myself, but my son is, and he explains how he felt something like this...
Imagine you're a pretty average boy, and interested in stereotypical boy things. You like boy clothes, you want to hang out with your friends who are boys, you look forward to growing muscles and a mustache when you're old enough, etc.
Now imagine that at the same time, all your clothes are girl clothes, your name is girly, and everyone around you thinks you're a girl.
That wouldn't match up, would it. It would feel incongruous and wrong.
If you're cisgender, you can absolutely prove you're a boy to everyone's satisfaction, and you're unlikely to get dressed in the wrong clothes or given a mismatched name in the first place. So you probably don't ever have to think about your gender and whether it's being expressed by your body incorrectly.
But for trans people, it's not uncommon for them to become acutely aware of gender when they're young in ways that their cisgender counterparts don't, precisely because of the mismatch.
That's how it was for my son. He didn't figure out he was trans until he was around thirteen, but he knew something wasn't right long before then.
How are children mature enough to realize they are trans?
Seems like children are too impressionable to be able to make decisions like that.
That's why children have parents and medical professionals to ultimately investigate and make important decisions for them
Yeah, because neither group has ever been manipulated into making the wrong decisions for other people.
You're right, we should instead trust the well-known-as-100%-infallible politicians to unilaterally make those decisions for us instead
Those are your words, not mine.
Well what are you proposing? In my mind we either trust parents to be able to ultimately make decisions like this for their children, or we don't and we make it illegal?
Every time I see someone bring up "why are we trusting kids to decide that they're trans", I remind them that they're not making decisions by themselves, they have parents and counselors/doctors/professionals making decisions for them, which either is not engaged with (most common response) or is met with "We can't trust parents and doctors either".
Frankly, if we can't broadly trust parents and childcare professionals to have their children's best interests in mind, we're already fucked, so we might as well do nothing and hopefully at least let the actual trans kids live their life in peace anyway.
8 year olds have an IQ around 20. There's zero chance an 8 year old comprehends being trans. The mother is a narcissist.
That's not how IQ works
Have you actually met trans people? Have you talked to them about their childhoods?
Yes and yes.
You do not need a high IQ to experience gender dysphoria. There are huge piles of evidence showing that children that young can, in fact, have a gender identity. Actually, significantly younger than 8. You are woefully ignorant of the fundamentals of the topic being discussed.
Someone here has an IQ of 20, but it’s not that kid.