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A continued summary of stories by 58 transgender adults on how critically life-saving access to gender-affirming care is, as documented in an amicus brief in response to an Arkansas law that would ban this healthcare for trans youth:
Naomi Clark, an artist with a focus on game design, and professor at New York University, refers to the time without gender-affirming care as the “lost years” of her life. She might have been able to “go through the motions” of life but was “dead to the world, and unable to mature or make life plans.”
Certified Master Auto Repair Technician, Jennifer Michelle Chavez, expresses that “had I been allowed to transition from an early age, I believe there would have been so much less turmoil and I would have a greater sense of fulfillment as a woman.”
Finance and Administration Director at Gender Justice, Adrian Elaine Doerr, said: “I used to feel like the future was irrelevant to me—that it didn’t matter. Given how much better my life got after transitioning, I can’t help but wonder how my life could have felt more meaningful and rewarding at a much earlier age.”
Clinical Instructor at LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic in Harvard Law School, Marino reflects: “My childhood and adolescence were quite painful. If I had obtained access to gender-affirming care at an early age, I believe it would have significantly improved my experience during those years.”
Communications Director at non-profit Groundswell Fund, Wen Brovold said: “Having access to puberty blockers would have been life changing. My mental health would have been incredibly different.”
Developmental Psychologist Rev. Corbitt-Hall expresses: “There are things that I hate about my body that I can never change because I didn’t have the opportunity to have gender-affirming care like puberty blockers. The times I feel dysphoric, though few and far between, normally stem from these things that I can never change about myself.”
Assistant Professor Dr. Elena Long writes: “To only have to go through puberty once and to have it be the correct one—that would have been life-changing for all of us who had to go through it twice.”