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This is not some novel observation. Anti-trans activists pretending to be experts in fields they know very little about have been suggesting that trans people (typically, they mean children) are being fast tracked to hormone therapy instead of simply undergoing therapy. Besides ignoring the historical reality that gender-affirming care was long gatekept from trans people by hostile medical professionals, or the modern reality that many trans people still see therapists both before and after beginning medical transition to treat the "comorbidities" Bauwens laments, her claim fails to account for the inalienable truth that GAC directly addresses mental health on its face.

A systematic review in 2021 found that hormone therapy "was associated with increased QOL, decreased depression, and decreased anxiety," and that results "were similar across gender identity and age." Further studies in this area would be wonderful, but the evidence is already quite clear that undergoing hormone therapy is incredibly likely to treat those "comorbidities" without further intervention.

To say nothing of the fact that many trans people do not medically transition, and do not experience the same kind of mental stress or bodily discomfort that a highly dysphoric trans person might. Ours is a community with a very broad range of experiences; there is no singular way that trans people feel, think or act.