Custody lawyers should push parents of gender-confused children into accepting puberty blockers because their kids are "just going to deteriorate" without them, according to a continuing legal education course presented in California.
Hosted by the Contra Costa County Bar Association, the "Gender and Transgender Issues in Custody Matters," video course was offered as part of a day-long minor's counsel training last October to satisfy California's attorney training requirements. The course was geared toward child custody lawyers handling disputes in which one parents supports a child's gender transition and the other does not.
"There may be a situation where this custody case comes up because the kid needs blockers right now, and so in that situation, I would encourage you as minor's counsel to say, 'Hey, can we get [puberty] blockers started and then we can kind of sort things out?'" Transgender Youth Project leader Asaf Orr said in the video, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
"Because you're not going to get an accurate read of the child's mental health and functioning without that," Orr added. "And your client is just going to deteriorate."
Dan Morenoff, executive director of the American Civil Rights Project, told the Free Beacon that the course looks more like activism than professional development for lawyers.
"When a speaker fails to peg-back their position to actual law and instead tells an audience solely what they would suggest doing as a matter of policy, it raises real questions about how that presentation got bar approval as a qualifying [continuing legal education] activity," Morenoff said. "The California bar has applicable standards and, unless I'm missing something, it's hard to see how straight advocacy for a particular substantive approach to a medical issue meets them."
Although currently employed by the California Civil Rights Department, Orr previously served as legal director at U.C. San Francisco's pediatric gender clinic, which transitions children as young as three years old.
Puberty blockers have not received federal approval for gender transitions and may have irreversible effects on sexual function and bone development. The long-term effects of puberty blockers on the brain are not yet known, but some experts are concerned they may cause permanent changes in neurological development.
According to the Free Beacon, Orr likened puberty blockers to a "pause button" and described them as "fully reversible."
Superior Court Judge Joni Hiramoto, who has handled California custody disputes involving gender-confused children, co-presented the training with Orr. In one case, Hiramoto permanently separated a father from his minor child because he did not support his son's gender transition.
During the presentation, Hiramoto said her personal experience with the topic stems from her own child coming out as transgender at 23.
Orr said that judges should evaluate the parent in opposition's willingness to change when "deciding whether and how much contact to allow between a minor who wishes to transition and a parent in opposition."
"I think it's really critical for the parent to recognize that their actions have been harmful, and if they're willing to change their behavior, I think it's really critical that [the children] have those bonds with their parents," Orr said. "But if a parent is refusing to act consistent with the standards of care and what the providers are recommending, then I think that's really difficult."
Hiramoto said attorneys should push for affirming parents to be granted legal custody of gender-confused children.
"I think as minor's counsel what you have to do is put together a plan that makes sense for the judge, and you may want to say, 'OK, this is a pro-transition approach,'" Hiramoto said. "But I think it's better and a little bit more sophisticated to say, 'This is the parent who should be given the decisions in this area, because this is the parent who supports the approach that I think is in the child's best interest.'"