Australian judge hits out at ‘inhumane’ court process for trans teens
A judge in Australia has called for the end fo the “inhumane” treatment of trans kids seeking medical transition.
The family court judge criticised the process by which trans teens seek the medical treatment necessary for them to transition.
Judge Peter Tree allowed a 17-year-old boy Lucas last month to access hormone replacement therapy and to start taking testosterone.
But in doing so, he criticised the bureaucracy of the process.
“As if the general turmoil and challenges which being a teenager in our modern world generates are not enough, the additional burden of requiring an already vulnerable and highly marginalised group to individually litigate to vindicate their identity seems inhumane,” Tree wrote.
“No other group of adolescents is required to do so. Having already traversed a far more difficult path than many of their peers, it can only serve to further increase their burden.”
The process has often been criticised as being merely a “rubber stamp” which delays the process of access to treatment for teens.
Tree said the process was “of no benefit to the child” and “anything but in their best interests”, reports the Star Observer.
“The sooner that children such as Lucas and their families do not have to endure the ordeal of litigation in order to get on with their lives, the better,” he added.
Tree’s concerns were echoed by Labor’s shadow minister for equality Terri Butler who said she was “very concerned” about the process.
“People I’ve spoken to in the trans community often nominate this as a key issue,” she said.
“The Turnbull government should make clear what they intend to do about this situation.”
