Yeah, again, this is what you'll be led to believe if you only read certain voices on the issue, but it is, at best only party true. Puberty blockers are safe in the short term, as used to delay puberty in kids who start very early. But in the longer term, as with trans kids who are sometimes on them for many years (onset of puberty until hormone therapy begins), the picture is more complicated.

First, there is very little research on the long-term effects of puberty blockers (because they're not designed to be taken long term), but what is known suggests that they have negative effects on future fertility, bone health, and brain development (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/well/family/what-are-puberty-blockers.html). They also affect sexual development in kids (as you'd expect, a penis won't grow normally in a child on puberty blockers) which can actually have a negative effect on future gender reassignment surgery (https://jme.bmj.com/content/46/11/743). Also, some trans children are left without normal sexual function (https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/women-who-stray/202111/does-affirmative-treatment-impair-sexual-response-in-trans-youth) as this is also part of the pubertal process.

The question of whether puberty blockers actually help trans kids or lower suicide risk is also disputed (https://jessesingal.substack.com/p/researchers-found-puberty-blockers?).

Another fact that I don't even think is in dispute, is that somewhere north of 80% (some studies say as high as 95% (http://www.sexologytoday.org/2016/01/do-trans-kids-stay-trans-when-they-grow_99.html)) of trans identifying kids will become cisgendered gay or lesbian adults without gender dysphoria if they are allowed to develop without being put on a medical pathway. And this matters because they get to avoid all the health implications of surgeries and a lifetime on cross-sex hormones.

We're completely in agreement as far as our opposition to attacks on the LGBT community. And none of this is to argue against providing gender-affirming care. The point is, there's very reasonable grounds to want to discuss these issues carefully that have nothing to do with transphobia. But there's enormous pressure to simply not talk about the things I've raised here. And those of us who do are routinely accused of being anti-trans when nothing could be further from the truth.

Thanks for the discussion. I hope some of it has been useful.