L: I wish that the Zucker part [of the article] had been a lot less positive than it was. The guy’s advocating emotionally abusing children to make them not want to transition, but it’s really repression therapy, not “reparative.”

Abby: Yes, I agree. The only way Zucker’s approach can be justified is if you assume that being transgender is the most horrible thing that could ever befall a person, so that anything that can be done to prevent that “fate” is justified. I have a different perspective.

Being transgender is challenging, no doubt about it. But it is also a source of many gifts, primarily spiritual and emotional. Given the alternative of living the rest of my life in misery, accepting who I am and transitioning was probably the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. And, no, I wouldn’t take that pill that would remove my “gender dysphoria” and make me content to live as a man my entire life. I am a woman and I like being a woman. Plus, given the use of hormone blockers and greater recognition and acceptance of transgender children, growing up trans doesn’t have to be the painful journey that many of us experienced.