Having once ran a site (the 'party), with a large trans minority userbase, and having met some of those users, my opinions on this group of people have changed significantly over the years. Being perhaps the most mocked and hated group of people on the internet, what little information I saw about them was negative. As the discourse on social media and bulletin boards changed, they became a fixture of discussions on my website. At the time, I considered them to be just another boogeyman. Or perhaps just a new form of calling people "gay" or "f**"s. I didn't realise until much later that there were actually many trans users of my website.

I got to know one or two personally. Most I simply heard about, or read about. No one would ever admit to being one, at least not back then. But I learned they existed, I read about these users elsewhere. Despite their one-sided rivalry, there actually exists a big overlap between users of the 'party', and of 4chan's /lgbt/ board.

I came to have a more realistic understanding of these people than I had before. I realized they were not too different from everyone else. I felt sympathetic for the plight of those with a real medical condition that causes them such psychological discomfort.

There are many scientific questions to be raised over the existence of such people. There are some simple facts that can't be changed. However, with all these modern technological advances, if it’s possible to bring someone suffering from gender dysphoria closer to their desired form, it seems the moral thing to do so.

So when does someone gain the right to make such a decision? It's known that the earlier such procedures are undertaken, the more effective their intended results are. Is it cruel to force someone who wishes to change their appearance to wait until they are 18, by which point many largely irreversible effects of puberty have transpired?

I think, perhaps it is. So how should the question of children being able to make such a decision be approached?

There is no golden solution I think. Some children will always be failed by their system, some will make the wrong decision. But I think the current system in place in some western countries, where it simply requires a psychologist or a few doctors' consent is sufficient.

So my feelings are mainly sympathetic. I think people with this unfortunate "mismatch" should be helped with all the tools of modern science. Whether, in the end, science can help them resemble their preferred sex hinges on various factors that will be different for each person. Some will be unsuccessful, some will be successful. But it is better to at least offer them the legal right to try, with as few barriers as possible.