Calls to help sex-change kids as demand for gender reassignment soar

[Ms Grace]

Calls to help sex-change kids as demand for gender reassignment soars
Sydney Morning Herald
by Jill Stark

The number of children accessing medical treatment to help them change gender has increased 60-fold, leaving Australia's only clinic for transgender young people struggling to cope with the rise in demand.

Exclusive figures obtained by The Sunday Age show the Royal Children's Hospital gender dysphoria service is seeing 150 patients a year, with new referrals rising from one per year in 2003 to 60 in 2014.

[Jessica Merriman]

What is going on down under? Grace, Cindy are you girls contagious? 

[luna nyan]

Nup.

It's just another  symptom of the torrid state of affairs we have in health services in this country.  Health care costs keep rising, yet the system doesn't get sufficient funding.

At the same time, I perceive that the level of health education and personal responsibility for ones health lamentably low - I keep feeling there is an attitude of "if I get sick the government will fix me" out there.

I have no answers as to how it can be fixed, but we Aussies can't continue the way we've been going.

[Ms Grace]

Being trans gender in Australia, while not easy by any stretch of the imagination, seems to be generally open to greater acceptance by more people, especially in the large cities. I'm glad for this but not sure why considering how hateful and "anti everything they don't understand" some Aussies can be.

[luna nyan]

Grace,

I think you live in a more progressive area of Sydney.  Where I live, it's dyed on ultra conservative and the concept of homosexuality, let alone transgender issues is "ew" or Jerry Springer material.  It's hard for me to deal with sometimes.

[Cindy]

There is a massive rise in referrals to all of the gender therapists, we are seeing three new referrals each week.
It is an issue being raised at the ANZPATH conference trying to get access to the public health system for gender issues is a priority.

Oh and someone you all know is shortly going to be in the news and TV media

[alabamagirl]

I'm thinking Sydney must be the trans* capital of the world. Sometimes it seems like about a third of all the trans* people I meet online are from there.

[luna nyan]

There is a massive rise in referrals to all of the gender therapists, we are seeing three new referrals each week.
It is an issue being raised at the ANZPATH conference trying to get access to the public health system for gender issues is a priority.

Oh and someone you all know is shortly going to be in the news and TV media

I hope you guys can manage to get some sort of action going.  Unfortunately government can be very deaf when they want to be.

Hope your media blitz works out well!  I'm sure you insisted on having only your good side shown, and you left the branding irons at home,!

[Cindy]

I hope you guys can manage to get some sort of action going.  Unfortunately government can be very deaf when they want to be.

Hope your media blitz works out well!  I'm sure you insisted on having only your good side shown, and you left the branding irons at home,!

The government is going to be deafened!!

I only have good sides

[luna nyan]

Health and politics. Nuff said, as they say.