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Just for clarity, is it mastectomies that you're concerned about (basically the only surgery ever done to minors other than the scenarios Bill mentioned), or hormone treatment overall? If the former, these are actually far more rare than certain media wants to make out.... last figures I saw had it in the region of a little less than 300 cases annually in the US, so a bit less than one a day nationally, in a population of over a 1/3 of a billion people. Cosmetically at least, these are also reversable - the one permanent change is that the patient would not be able to breast feed later in life if they were to detransition. I will point out though that detransitioning figures are also much, much lower than certain media wants to make out. The most recent studies on the matter found a rate of 1-2% across all youths in the study (including all transitioning, social or physical), and most of those were due to family pressure, not a feeling of having made the wrong decision. For comparison, the regret rate for all kinds of elective surgeries overall is in the region of 7%. Lastly, I do want to point out that getting kids into ballet or gymnastics happens at young ages all over the world, for orders of magnitude more children, and also makes permanent, irreversible changes to those kids bodies. We do not hear the same uproar about these changes, which are ostensibly made for the purposes of a hobby, not someone's being. I get your concerns about potential misdiagnosis, and agree these kids should be getting the best care and the right outcomes. It's just that of the groups shouting the loudest about caring for the kids, some do mean it, but a whole lot really just don't want trans people to exist and see this as the easiest way to "nip things in the bud".

Apologies if you thought I understood it any other way - "I, _____________Being of sound mind . . ." This would be a scary slippery slope to me, but at the same time there is a certain level of pain . . . In my own experience, I watched people burning to death and wanted to take them out to end their suffering sooner. So, I am not 100% opposed to it, but as a societal norm . . . you get the idea. Death is final. There's no coming back. I's dotted, T's crossed. No mistakes. kinda guy

This is what boredom will do to a man...

Apparently we should thank the brave parents who send their small, innocent children to be sacrificed before the god of guns. /s It's maddening that we as a society accept this as opposed to protecting our children. It's a sad statement of a country that chooses to spend more time, money, and effort to kill fellow humans than to care for each other. This speaks to the lack of gun control as well as our military budget. We are a nation of violence. We are failing our future.

It's a little bit deceptive because there aren't any Yelp reviews or positive word of mouth, either.

When reading your post, I was wondering how many bi-sexuals in those surveys from the past would just choose the side they were more comfortable with disclosing, for whatever reason. Maybe some didn't even realize they were bi-sexual. Anyway, it seems that nowadays we might have more accurate surveys, so it will be interesting to see if those percentages change moving forward. It would tell us a lot.

1. I have read to the end of this thread. 2. You are right, thank you. The reality is that our mod's here do a great job. The further reality is that they are handcuffed by the site owners moribund and outdated rules. Hopefully that changes before folks with strong opinions that sometimes cross the site owners fog lines say sayonara.

That could have been a lock on the southern vote

I think it's time to hit Belarus. Russia used bases at Luninets, Narovlya and Khoyniki to attack Ukraine. I say let's whack those bases as a reminder of what will happen if they unwisely believe hosting a future Russian pincer again is a smart move. Gets the job done in several ways, all obvious.

I think that makes up much of the overall motivation. The coatings of "but the poor kids" "shoving it down our throats" etc are just vehicles to support that motivation.

I'm all for Musk going to Mars; Now if he stays there, even better!

These are all gut level emotional objections that have not been thought through completely. Emotions are hard to overcome, and death brings out a lot of intense feelings. Most likely he will come around slowly as he thinks about it more. Maybe not to complete acceptance. There are people who consider their religious views to be completely at odds with assisted dying. If that is the viewpoint I have nothing to say, there is no answer to satisfy those kind of objections. But that is not what I'm hearing from BIGUN.

What the fuck does that mean? Do you think there are "enabling parent" who are influencing or enabling their young children to be gay or transgendered, and when you add gay TV representation there is some sort of critical mass being reached? That makes as much sense as the piece of shit religious types that think they can program children back to being a heterosexual, and leave horribly broken people in their wake. I am way more concerned about people programming hate, repression, bigotry, than I am about gay TV characters swaying my two young boys as they grow up over the next two decades. The boogeyman goes to church on Sunday, it isn't the gay couple down the street.

What do you mean? I figured out that I liked girls in 6th or 7th grade. It wasn't a 'choice' or a 'decision'. It was a realization. For a kid to realize they like the same sex (or the opposite one), or to come to the understanding that they don't 'fit' in the body they were born with isn't all that different. To take permanent, life altering measures in that direction is not appropriate, but it also isn't something that happens often. The key is accurate, professional diagnosis and treatment. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/what-medical-treatments-do-transgender-youth-get Note: I have a small amount of personal experience in this. My former nephew is now my niece. She is in no way, shape or form 'confused'. And her parents (my sister and her husband) are far from 'enabling'. The transition is entirely hormones & hormone blockers, which is not permanent. They have an amazing therapist and an excellent endocrinologist. My (now) niece is far better, far happier and far more stable as a female that ever before. This is NOT any sort of 'fantasy' or 'fashion statement'.

Drive the wheels off whatever car you have and only have the car you need, wear out your clothes, don't live in a house bigger than you need, work, work and work some more, save, save, save. At all times fear being old and poor until you have enough saved that the fear goes away and then burn through the pile having the absolute best time you can.

When you go I'm going to have you bronzed. You are simply too valuable to let go. I'll pay but if anyone here wants to commit to a percent, that's awesome.

When I was in late high school I lived on a Canadian military base (CFB Borden). It was almost impossible to date girls the same age because all the military guys were after them. They seemed a lot older to me, but in reality they were probably in their early to mid 20s so not that much older than 17-18 year old high school girls. Lots of girls got pregnant even at 15 or 16. Lots of shotgun marriages too.