2016

Trans’

Back me up ! Rights of Trans children under the Convention on the Rights of the Child ( PDF )

Les enfants et les jeunes trans’ sont particulièrement vulnérables à des violations de leurs droits à plusieurs niveaux : discriminations et violences, notamment à l’école, barrières à la reconnaissance juridique de leur identité de genre, obstacles dans l’accès à des soins de santé spécifiques, suicidalité élevée. Deux constats-clés sont soulignés dans le apport : d’une part, “socially transitioned trans children have notably lower rates of internalizing mental health issues in comparison to trans children who do not live in accordance with their gender identity. Therefore, State Parties must make provisions to integrate and recognize trans children in society to prevent potential mental and physical health problems” (p. 17). En d’autres termes, les enfants et les jeunes trans’ vont mieux quand ils peuvent vivre conformément à leur identité de genre. D’autre part, “Arguing that children under a certain age are generally too young to be aware of their gender identity is a position which ignores the ‘best interest principle guaranteed in art. 3 CRC and the children’s ‘right to be heard’, guaranteed in art. 12 para.1 CRC. Moreover, recent studies have shown that trans children are just as aware of their gender identity as cis-children.” (p. 15). Cela signifie que le droit à l’autodétermination des enfants trans’ implique d’être à leur écoute et de les prendre au sérieux même à un très jeune âge. Ces constats invitent à adopter une approche inverse à celle suivie actuellement : au lieu de retarder le plus possible le moment où l’identité de genre de ces enfants est reconnue, il y a lieu de la faciliter au contraire dans tous les aspects de la vie sociale, y compris en ce qui concerne la modification de l’état civil.

Mental Health of Transgender Children Who Are Supported in Their Identities ( PDF )

*OBJECTIVE:* Transgender children who have socially transitioned, that is, who identify as the gender “opposite” their natal sex and are supported to live openly as that gender, are increasingly visible in society, yet we know nothing about their mental health. Previous work with children with gender identity disorder (GID; now termed gender dysphoria) has found remarkably high rates of anxiety and depression in these children. Here we examine, for the first time, mental health in a sample of socially transitioned transgender children. […]

*CONCLUSIONS:* Socially transitioned transgender children who are supported in their gender identity have developmentally normative levels of depression and only minimal elevations in anxiety, suggesting that psychopathology is not inevitable within this group. Especially striking is the comparison with reports of children with GID; socially transitioned transgender children have notably lower rates of internalizing psychopathology than previously reported among children with GID living as their natal sex.