Commentary on: ‘Forever young? The ethics of ongoing puberty suppression for non-binary adults

Notini et al1 offer a timely addition in the wake of a significant increase in young people identifying as transgender and gender diverse (TGD). The authors focus specifically on the case of 18-year-old Phoenix’s request for ongoing puberty suppression (OPS) to affirm a non-binary gender identity. A central issue raised by Phoenix’s predicament, and that I suggest we can extend to ethical consideration of requests for other types of medical intervention by binary and non-binary TGD individuals, is whether we should ‘affirm’ (along with the prevalent trend in ‘gender affirmative’ care) the claims made by TGD young people about what promotes their well-being.

As a clinician working with TGD young people who have undergone a range of medical interventions to align their bodies with their gender identity, my starting presumption is that it is important to respect what people think will help them: there are some TGD young people…

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