Who cares what consenting adults want to do? "It's for the freakin' children" doesn't mean much when it's adults wanting to stunt the growth of and inflict permanent wounds on children.
If they want to still do it when they become of age, who gives a shit, have fun. You can't do it to kids on the whim of adults though. The "actual underlying issue" is a fundamental disagreement as to whether or not it helps the children to do any of this to them when they're still young.
For the record further, social transitioning is not made illegal by the bill, only medical barbarism.
You're right, but as its adults who are doing the lobbying and making the laws, and the arguments on both sides of the issues are being made by adults, often pursuing their own agendas as to what they think is right or wrong, I think being clear about definitions and what is being discussed is a necessary first step to at least bring some objectivity to the debate.
The fact that the debate
is so politicised that there is a chilling effect on research being done does not help things either.
Age of consent in general is a clumsy barometer of individual readiness as it is; people develop at different rates, physically and psychologically. Its a highly nuanced topic, and while I can believe there are teenagers who are fully aware of their own identity and do in fact suffer some harm by legislation being made that arbitrarily makes them wait to become what they already are, there are also teenagers who just do not know and are generally confused and can be pushed into ultimately harmful and if not
completely irreversible more difficult to reverse medical procedures as a result of various pressures, which is why I personally feel erring on the side of caution is probably the route of least harm.
