A well-known transgender activist said that all kids should take puberty blockers until they are old enough to decide which gender they are.
The activist, Lauren McNamara, who goes by “Zinnia Jones,” said that children should legally be allowed to consent to puberty blockers since they already consent to “permanent and irreversible changes” from natural puberty.
McNamara wrote in a tweet, “If children can’t consent to puberty blockers which pause any permanent changes even with the relevant professional evaluation, how can they consent to the permanent and irreversible changes that come with their own puberty with no professional evaluation whatsoever?”
McNamara continued, “an inability to offer informed consent or understand the long-term consequences is actually an argument for putting every single cis and trans person on puberty blockers until they acquire that ability.”
Her tweets came after Keira Bell, a 23-year-old biological woman, sued the British National Health Service’s youth clinic for gender identity for prescribing her puberty blockers when she was 16. Bell regrets transitioning to a male and claims that the clinic did not “challenge” her decision to transition.
According to the judges ruling, “it is highly unlikely that a child aged 13 or under would be competent to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers” and “it is doubtful that a child aged 14 or 15 could understand and weigh the long-term risks and consequences of the administration of puberty blockers.”
The ruling continued, “in respect of young persons aged 16 and over, the legal position is that there is a presumption that they have the ability to consent to medical treatment.”
McNamara also tweeted that puberty is “optional” due to technological advancements that “enable deliberate choice between natal puberty and puberty induced by cross-sex hormones.”
According to her YouTube fan page, McNamara is an atheist American commentator who has “posted numerous videos critical of religion, especially in regards to its attitudes towards LGBT people. Zinnia is openly transgender and has been on hormone replacement therapy since September 2012.”
Her profile continues, “Zinnia was assigned male at birth and given name Zachary Antolak in 1989 in Chicago,” but she “became aware of her sexuality as a gay male at an early age.”
“After years identifying as a gay male, Zinnia finally came to the conclusion that she was actually a trans woman in 2011 and started a romantic relationship with her close friend and lesbian Heather McNamara, becoming an adoptive mother towards Heather’s two children. Zinnia is currently in a polyamorous relationship with Heather and another trans woman named Penny,” it also states.