The lesbian parents of an 11-year-old boy who is undergoing the process of becoming a girl last night defended the decision, claiming it was better for a child to have a sex change when young.
Thomas Lobel, who now calls himself Tammy, is undergoing controversial hormone blocking treatment in Berkeley, California to stop him going through puberty as a boy.
But Pauline Moreno and Debra Lobel warn that children with gender identity disorder forced to postpone transitioning could face a higher risk of suicide.
Therapy: Thomas Lobel, who now calls himself Tammy, is undergoing controversial hormone blocking treatment
© CNNNo pressure: The boy's two lesbian adopted mothers, Debra, left, and Pauline, right, say that they have not forced their son to become a girl
The mothers say that one of the first things Thomas told them when he learned sign language aged three - because of a speech impediment - was, 'I am a girl'.
At age seven, after threatening genital mutilation on himself, psychiatrists diagnosed Thomas with gender identity disorder. By the age of eight, he began transitioning.
This summer, he started taking hormone-blocking drugs, which will stop him from experiencing puberty.
The hormone-suppressant, implanted in his upper left arm, will postpone the 11-year-old developing broad shoulders, deep voice and facial hair.
The couple faced intense criticism from friends and family as a result, Ms Moreno told MailOnline.
'Everybody was angry with us. "How could you be doing this? You might be ruining his whole life!"
Citing a statistic from the Youth Suicide Prevention Program, Ms Moreno noted over 50 per cent of transgender youth will have had at least one suicide attempt by their 20th birthday.
© FacebookProud Mom: Two photos of Tammy from one of Pauline's Facebook albums called 'My Sweet Sweet Princess'
Here is Tammy with her mothers and older brother Edgar at his recent bar mitzvah. Mother Pauline said Tammy was shy and unhappy as a boy when compared to her older, outgoing brothers
© FacebookTammy favours headbands to baseball hats and picked out bras and dresses to start wearing when given choice in clothing to wear
And ignoring their son's incessant pleas, she said, simply was not worth the risk.
'What is so frightening to me is that you would be willing to say "no" just because you don't like it - even though your child could lose their life?'
Her son's adolescent transition, she hopes, will help him have a less conflicted adulthood.
'The whole idea now is let's stop creating a third (gender) that is neither one thing or the other, so we transitioned her,' said Ms Moreno.
'The protocol now is to transition these children as soon as you can make a diagnosis, because otherwise they end up being not one thing or the other... because they experienced puberty.'
Ms Moreno recalled the first step of Thomas' transition to becoming female by letting him pick his own clothes.
He favoured headbands to baseball hats and picked out bras and dresses to start wearing when given choice in clothing to wear. And the change in his personality, Ms Moreno says, was instant.
'He was in his own world just completely detached and that was a problem we always had was getting Thomas to participate in life,' she said. 'What we saw emerge when Tammy was allowed to be Tammy is, "Whoa!"... It was an immediate transformation. She was so giggly and she was now interacting she was now making it a point to defend herself.'
The diagnosis has been hard to accept for Tammy's parents.
The couple were married in 1990 by a rabbi and have two older sons and grandchildren. But they insist their sexuality has nothing to do with it.
'It was odd to us,' she said. 'Even though she has lesbians as parents, this is all new to us in every possible way. We know what it's like to feel different - we've got that one. But to feel like you're not in the right body was just something we could not put our heads around.'
Fortunately, the family has a vast support system. The couple credits Tammy's teachers and officials at Children's Learning Center in Alameda, California, and their religious community, for being open-minded about their son's decision.
'We live in the Bay area where lots of alternative lifestyles are in place... and we belong to a religious community that was incredibly supportive. They make it a point when we're in synagogue to come over and tell Tammy, "Oh, you look so pretty today,' Ms Moreno said, adding, 'There's never going to be enough gratitude for them.'
His parents say the hormone treatment will give him time to figure out if he wants to fully transition to being female or go through puberty as a boy.
If he chooses to stop taking the drugs, he will undergo natural male puberty at a later stage and his future fertility would not be impacted.
© CNNUnhappy: Tammy was adopted aged two by Debra Lobel and Pauline Moreno
Pauline and Debra have been married since 1990, when they were joined in a commitment ceremony by their rabbi
Should their son decide to transition to an adult female, he can take female hormones as well, which would raise his voice, allow him to grow breasts and develop other feminine physical characteristics.
San Francisco, right by Berkeley, is one of four cities in the United States with a hospital that has a program for transgender children.
The University of California San Francisco is home to the Center of Excellence for Transgender Health.
Children are seen at length by mental health professionals and then treated by pediatric endocrinologists.
Others cities with youth programs are Boston, Seattle and Los Angeles.
Watch Video Report:
. . . this is absolutely the right thing to do and I hope she has a wonderful life . . .
That said, there are quite a few truly idiotic reparative "therapists," who by means no more sophisticated than brute psychological force with the child and the installation of fear of societal repercussion in the parents seek to "cure" those who from their Soul know who they are.
"Dr." Ken Zucker is one such and you can read a bit about him at this [Link].
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health, WPATH, has now taken the position that, " . . . . Reparative therapy on transgender youth “is no longer considered ethical." More about which can be seen at this [Link]where you can read:
In a significant development for the rights of transgender and gender non-conforming youth, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health has taken a clear stance against “treatment” aimed at trying to change a young person’s gender identity and expression to become more congruent with sex assigned at birth. According to Version 7, released today, such action by psychologists “is no longer considered ethical.”
[See the above link for a PDF of the revised "Standadrds of Care.
This type of “therapy,” developed and promoted primarily by Kenneth Zucker at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), has been under fire for years as unethical.
The full WPATH press release reads.
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (September 25, 2011)-The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) will release a newly-revised edition of the Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People, on September 25, 2011 at the WPATH conference in Atlanta.
The SOC is considered the standard document of reference on caring for the transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming population. The newly-revised SOC will help health professionals better understand how they can offer the most effective care to these individuals. The SOC focuses on primary care, gynecologic and urologic care, reproductive options, voice and communication therapy, mental health services and hormonal and surgical treatment.
“The latest 2011 revisions to the SOC realize that transgender, transsexual, and gender nonconforming people have unique health care needs to promote their overall health and well-being, and that those needs extend beyond hormonal treatment and surgical intervention,” said SOC Committee Chair, Eli Coleman, PhD, Professor and Director at Program in Human Sexuality, University of Minnesota.
This is the seventh version of the Standards of Care. The original SOC were published in 1979. Previous revisions occurred in 1980, 1981, 1990, 1998 and 2001.
“The previous versions of the SOC were always perceived to be about the things that a trans person must do to satisfy clinicians, this version is much more clearly about every aspect of what clinicians ought to do in order to properly serve their clients. That is a truly radical reversal . . . one that serves both parties very well,” said Christine Burns, SOC International Advisory Committee Member.
More than any other version, 2011 revisions also recognize that gender nonconformity in and of itself is not a disorder and that many people live comfortable lives without having to seek therapy or medical interventions for gender confusion or unhappiness.
This version provides more detailed clinical guidelines to address the health care needs of children, adolescents, and adults with gender dysphoria who need assistance with psychological, hormonal, or surgical care.
In addition to clearly articulating the collaborative relationship needed between transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming individuals and health care providers, the new, 2011 revisions provide for new ways of thinking about how cultural relativity and culture competence.
The document includes a call to advocacy for professionals to promote public policies and legal reforms that promote tolerance and equity for gender and sexual diversity. This document recognizes that well-being is not obtained through quality health care alone but a social climate that eliminates of prejudice, discrimination, and stigma and promotes a positive and tolerant society that embraces sexual and gender diversity.
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), formerly known as the (Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, HBIGDA), is a professional organization devoted to the understanding and treatment of gender identity disorders. As an international multidisciplinary professional Association the mission of WPATH is to promote evidence based care, education, research, advocacy, public policy and respect in transgender health.