How Norman Spack transformed the way we treat transgender childrenThe Metamorphosist
By BETH SCHWARTZAPFEL | August 8, 2012
http://portland.thephoenix.com/life/142583-how-norman-spack-transformed-the-way-we-treat-tran/
Now nearing 70, and at the edge of retirement, [Dr. Norman] Spack has gone on to change how transgender kids are treated. When he founded the Gender Management Service, or GeMS, at Boston Children's Hospital in 2008, it was the only pediatric clinic of its kind in the US.
Today, clinics for transgender kids in British Columbia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, New York, Hartford, Providence, and Washington, DC, have either been created or expanded. And in almost all of these places is a doctor that Spack has trained, mentored, or guided.
Spack, for one, understands transsexualism as a straightforward medical issue. "This is two conditions that pediatric endocrinologists treat all the time," Spack says. "One is precocious puberty. The other is delayed puberty. So for the transgendered, it's the precocity of the puberty they never wanted, and a delay of the puberty they affirm.
"Gender dysphoria is a condition that can be treated rather easily," he says. "You don't need to be a rocket scientist to take care of a transgender patient."
....
"Probably the most attention-getting aspect of Dr. Spack's approach is that it really isn't sensationalistic at all," says Gonzalez.
