In 2016, on his 16th birthday, my brother "came out" as trans, less than a month later our mom was dead from cancer and he went to live with our aunt and uncle who were in their 50s and childless. My aunt and uncle were completely clueless how to deal with a 16 y/o, let alone one claiming they are transgender, they did the best they could by following the lead of professionals.
At 16, with the consent of his new guardians and doctor, my brother was referred to the top pediatric psychologists in Calgary, they AFFIRMED his gender dysphoria and within a short amount of time he was referred to an endocrinologist who prescribed blockers and estrogen. The whole family accepted him in his new identity, he officially changed his name, ID, birth certificate and passport to female.
At 18 he was approved by AHS for bottom surgery - he never went through with that - thank god.
At 20 years old he had a psychotic episode, he destroyed property, the cops were called, he went to the psych ward for a month and was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
At 21 he was homeless.
At 22 I took my mentally ill, psychotic, transgender brother into my home at great risk to me and my young family. I got him a job that he was fired from on his 4th shift, I tried to get him to go to therapy, he refused. Then, one day, still presenting as a woman, my brother retreated to the spare room in my basement and I didn't see him for 3 weeks. He didn't shower, he would only come out when we were all sleeping to raid the fridge and pantry and would communicate with me through texts. Finally, I had enough, I worked up the courage to confront him and when I did, he had a full-on BEARD and was no longer feminizing his voice, he turned back into a man 🤯
At 22 years old, pretty close to the age of 25 when his brain would be fully developed, my brother came to his senses and realized he was not a woman, but a gay man.
Why am I telling you this? To highlight how the new transgender legislation proposed wouldn't have saved my baby brother from his current state. He was 16. He had consent from his (very ignorant) guardians and his family doctor. The psychiatrists affirmed his gender dysphoria, they did not treat it. The endocrinologist assumed the psychiatrist and family doctor were doing their job correctly, warning him ONCE that it could leave him sterile and then prescribed the blockers and cross-sex hormones. What if he had gone one step further and went through with the bottom surgery? I know what would have happened, he told me he would have killed himself if he had done that!
You know what would have saved my brother his current living hell? Treating, not affirming, his gender dysphoria. When our medical professionals decide to do that, all of this madness will end.
15 years between these photos.
I currently have no idea where my brother is 😔.