A Toronto doctor has raised eyebrows and criticism for writing most transgender-identifying children grow out of those feelings.
And he says the strongest opposition is from adult transgenders intervening in the lives of children of to further their own agenda.
Dr. James Cantor — director of the Toronto Sexuality Centre and author of the blog Sexology Today — compiled results from a dozen medical studies that say the majority of kids stop feeling transgendered past puberty.
“There are groups — and I hate to say activists because they are extremists — are upset because they don’t like the results. Activists are not a meaningful representation of a community,” Cantor said.
“These are people who argue that everyone should be treated the way they wanted to be treated as kids. They want sexual diversity, but they want everyone to be treated the same.”
One study from Netherlands that Cantor looked at followed 127 transgendered children into adulthood.
Of those, 47 said they were still transgeendered, 56 said they no longer were and the remaining 24 didn’t participate in the study.
Cantor says as a gay man he has heard dissent directed towards him from left- and right-wing groups.
“I looked at the scientific long-term outcomes and compiled them for everyone to see. The claims are thoroughly checkable, but people who have a point to make select studies that were on their side,” Cantor said.
Pride Toronto, which trolled Cantor and posted his findings on line, didn’t respond when asked for comment. Several registered Toronto psychotherapists who work with transgendered people declined or didn’t respond for request for interviews.
“The great majority (of the kids studied) were gay or lesbian and didn’t have a sex drive yet. They had crushes on the same sex and (being transgendered) was the only way to explain it at the time. By the time they hit puberty, they didn’t feel that way,” Cantor said.
Jacq Hixon Vulpe, and education specialist at The 519 Community Centre, which works with and has programs with the transgendered community, says non-binary people need to speak for themselves.
“These (Cantor) opinions create incredibly harmful narratives that will only perpetuate the idea that trans, two-spirit and non-binary people don’t exists and that it isn’t important for parents and society to care for children,” Lacq Hixon Vulpe said.
“If we encourage the idea that gender diversity is just a phase, too many will hold onto this idea and irreparable damage will continue to persist.”
