@Justbrowsing No need to apologize for sharing - that's what we're here for!
In my ideal world there would be no gender norms to feel dysphoric about or transition between. Kids would be allowed to be themselves and join in whatever groups and activities felt right.
But until that utopia, a few of us will know, as soon as we know anything, that we can't fit into the current gender binary. We should be allowed "social transition" - long before we need #blockers or #hormones. If it is "just a phase", we have time to choose a conventional orientation before puberty.
If those kids are still cross-sex insistent when #puberty begins, we have a choice. Allow them blockers until they can get cross-sex hormones, or (since they probably won't desist) sentence them to a lifetime of fighting the dysphoric effects of a puberty they hated. Blockers are scary, but full-body electrolysis and facial feminization surgery, or mastectomy with a lifetime of scarring, make the drugs seem innocuous.
The huge current problem is not with #early-onset kids, it is with ROGD - kids who react to puberty by suddenly hating their gendered body. I hesitate to say none of them are truly transsexual, but unless they can show a convincing history of cross-sex identification, I think we have to conclude their problems are not primarily hormonal.
So the first big problem with research into puberty blockers is that nobody is controlling for early-onset vs. ROGD. We don't even have clear definitions of those terms. Nor do we have clear definitions of puberty - maybe Tanner for girls, but most of the studies and treatments just go by age, a very poor indicator.
I have zero personal experience with GnRH agonist drugs. Clearly there are women listing horrible side effects. But I'm reminded of something I did investigate deeply - HRT. All of the research showing serious side-effects was done using horse-piss estrogen given orally. I've been unable to find a single study showing problems with bio-identical estradiol given transdermally. Are there similar issues with blockers? Nobody knows. Are the doses given to block puberty comparable to those that cause problems in older women? I've never seen it mentioned.
To quote just one bit of apparently real research (without seeing the original paper), "There was no statistically significant difference in psychosocial functioning between the group given blockers and the group given only psychological support." But to me that is not the purpose of blockers. The real purpose of blockers is to avoid a future of facial feminization surgery or mastectomy - things far more dangerous than GnRH suppression.
I totally agree with you that delaying puberty is harmful for physical development. But the big question is "Which puberty?" For someone who is genuinely transsexual, beginning cross-sex puberty as young as a natal member of that sex would is by far the best option.
