Allowing Children to Choose Gender Is Slippery Slope

For parents raising boys who profess to be girls and vice versa, puberty blockers may seem a godsend, writes Hanna Rosin in a look at gender—and transgender children—in the Atlantic. Boys will emerge from their teens with no Adam's apple, girls will bypass menstruation, allowing them to live inconspicuously as transgender adults. But has the growing acceptance of nature versus nurture gone too far?

Some worry about forcing parents to make such a weighty decision when kids are so young; one study found that only 20-25% of youngsters with gender-identity disorder still wanted to switch gender as teens. One gay-rights advocate thinks parents embrace the transgender label as a more palatable alternative to admitting their child might be gay: “When people think about being gay, they think about sex—and thinking about sex and kids is taboo.” (More transgender stories.)