Quote from: diane 2606 on February 07, 2016, 10:11:40 PM
You can rage against the system, but the only thing that will eliminate the requirement is overwhelming clinical data saying RLE is unnecessary. Good luck with that.

Or the growing visibility and acceptance of non-binary trans people, or younger people having different attitudes to us older lot that seem predominant here, or people outside the USA and/or western culture.

I'd have added the growing acceptance of trans people in general, except a large portion of people here seem to be against it as well. I can't understand why so many trans people want to tell me how to live my life.

Quote from: AnonyMs on February 08, 2016, 03:59:54 AM
Or the growing visibility and acceptance of non-binary trans people, or younger people having different attitudes to us older lot that seem predominant here, or people outside the USA and/or western culture.

I'd have added the growing acceptance of trans people in general, except a large portion of people here seem to be against it as well. I can't understand why so many trans people want to tell me how to live my life.

Yes, this.

I disagree that it's impossible for transgender people to make our voices heard. I disagree strongly with the notion that there is no way for the medical establishment to treat us like competent adults. I'm at least not willing to cede the battle before we've even tried.

I personally think RLE is a good guideline, but since WPATH guidelines already generally require therapists to sign off on the procedure ususally I could see that being an acceptable gatekeeping mechanism in and of itself without the need for strict timelines....

Or perhaps keep the strict timeline and just have documentation of RLE in lieu of the hurdles of therapy, after all if someone has lived an entire year of their life in the target gender then surely they are commited to it I would imagine.

Of course you could just do both so that you require one ir the other.

I don't like anyone trying to dictate to me what is considered "real".

Second-guessing requirements like that reveal the disrespect the medical world has for any patient.
THEY want to be the 'gods' who decide what is "real".

All this having to ask authorities for "permission".
Who made them god?

You have this person asking you "are you sure? We don't think you know who you are, we think you are crazy, here, talk to this licenced professional for a while so we can verify our suspicions, we don't really believe you."

Quote from: suzifrommd on February 08, 2016, 05:00:55 AM
Yes, this.

I disagree that it's impossible for transgender people to make our voices heard. I disagree strongly with the notion that there is no way for the medical establishment to treat us like competent adults. I'm at least not willing to cede the battle before we've even tried.

The medical establishment (the instutions, not the actual doctors) treats ALL patients like children.
It is systemic. Collective arrogance. Since they have the force of government backing them up, they think they are gods.
It's not a battle, it's a war.
There is no surrender, their pyramid of power will crumble eventually.