Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day to honor the lives of trans people who were murdered due to transphobia. On Thursday, the Advocates for Trans Equality released its annual Remembrance Report, honoring 58 known victims, 27 of whom were lost to violence and 21 to suicide.

In a time where we desperately need more research and aid for trans people, we seem to be going backward. Detransitioning — the process of discontinuing or reversing gender transition — is increasingly being leveraged to justify limiting healthcare for transgender youth.

Within the last year, the White House ordered the National Institutes of Health to study the impact of transitioning and “surgical mutilation” on children. Similarly, the Federal Trade Commission framed the trans-medical-research industry as an exploitative corporation by specifically featuring detransitioners who regretted their transition in an event, ignoring the 91% who do not, as found by the 2022 United States Trans Survey.

Moreover, on Aug. 7, the Trump administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposed a new rule prohibiting Medicare and Medicaid funding for hospitals performing “Sex Trait Modification Procedures on Children.” These policies will further restrict gender-affirming care for transgender youth, who already face limited access in 27 states. 

Some policymakers, such as Sen. John Kennedy, claim these restrictions would protect “confused youth,” arguing that “the majority of children who present with gender dysphoria at a young age outgrow it.”

However, gender-affirming care for youth is crucial for the survival of gender-diverse adolescents who are statistically at increased risk for mental health issues, most notably mood and anxiety disorders, substance abuse and suicide. 

According to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, 9% of transgender people who needed gender-affirming care but did not receive it attempted suicide in 2021, compared to the 5% of those who had access to gender-affirming care. 

By delaying puberty and providing gender-affirming hormone therapy, the medical industry can promote physical development consistent with a child’s gender identity. Research indicates that gender-affirming care improves mental health, overall well-being and life satisfaction while decreasing gender dysphoria. 

Recent arguments distort detransitioning, falsely using it as evidence that trans people can easily change their minds. Beyond ignoring the right to change one’s opinions, this rhetoric negates the legitimacy of gender-affirming care by assuming everyone who de-transitions has changed their mind. 

A study set to be published in the coming months, conducted by Dr. Kinnon MacKinnon, an assistant professor at York University in Toronto, identified several reasons for detransitioning that can be reduced to two main categories in an op-ed for The New York Times: identity-related changes or external factors such as familial pressure, societal stigma and discrimination. 

Of those who participated in the study, about half did not report any regret in having transitioned in the first place. In fact, only a third expressed “strong regret.” The latter is the only part of the detransitioners community that has become a centerpiece of policy debates around pediatric gender-affirming care in the U.S. 

Admittedly, participants within the third who had expressed “strong regret” about transitioning report feeling dissatisfied with the information they received about the risks of medical treatments. This point should incentivize medical professionals to improve treatment, not prompting conservatives to withhold it. 

The reason many trans-identifying individuals choose to transition young is to avoid gender dysphoria and harassment for being visibly identifiable as transgender. Therefore, decreased defamation of the trans community can lower detransitioning rates. 

Detransitioning itself is not the horrific process it is made out to be. In reality, puberty blockers are fully reversible; normal puberty will resume with no or minimal long-term effects upon discontinuation. Data proves that cisgender youth who take puberty blockers for precocious puberty have normal fertility and reproductive function. 

USC students have access to the Student Health Center that, for the most part, provides comprehensive care for all students, including transgender and gender-nonconforming students. However, the rest of the U.S. needs more research and accessible care, and would benefit from a broader range of mental health services tailored to LGBTQIA+ youth.

Everyone should be allowed to change their opinions without having to worry about it being exploited to vilify an entire community. We must do our part in decreasing the stigma around the trans community. Support differing identities; others’ autonomy is not ours to govern.