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Legalities & Realities

Transgender and gender non-conforming children and youth are entitled to express their gender identity as they experience it. Similarly, parents, caregivers and others have the right (and the responsibility) to be supportive of their gender non-conforming or transgender child's self-expression and developmental well-being.

But how do those "rights" become realities, and what can be done in the event others challenge a child's right to be themselves, or a parent's right to support or advocate on behalf of their child?

The answer is, "it depends on where you are, how much information you have, who you have on your side and how committed you are to securing those rights."

United Nations Convention on The Rights of The Child

On November 20, 1989, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a landmark for human rights. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely accepted human rights treaty - of all the United Nations member states, only the United States and the collapsed state of Somalia have not ratified it.

Article 1 - Definition of a Child
A child is recognized as a person under 18, unless national laws recognize the age of majority earlier.

Article 2 - Non-discrimination
All rights apply to all children without exception. It is the State's obligation to protect children from any form of discrimination and to take positive action to promote their rights.

Article 6 - Survival and development
Every child has the inherent right to life, and the State has an obligation to ensure the child's survival and development.

(Statistics confirm that 90% of trangender youth feel unsafe at school, 83% have considered suicide out of desperation related to cultural or familial rejection and 42% have attempted suicide. These statistics reflect a significant threat to transgender (and gender non-conforming) children's right to life, survival and development.)

Article 12 - The child's opinion
The child has the right to express his or her opinion freely and to have that opinion taken into account in any matter or procedure affecting the child.

(Transgender and gender non-conforming children and youth are often very assertive about their gender identity, gender expression and deeply felt need to express their gender identity as they experience it, but too often their opinions and feelings are minimized or disregarded completely.)

Article 23 - Disabled Children
A disabled child has the right to special care, education, and training to help him or her enjoy a full and decent life in dignity and achieve the greatest degree of self-reliance and social integration possible.

(For transgender children, the unwanted physical changes that occur during puberty are both psychologically and physiologically damaging in the long term. Social integration in their true gender is made profoundly more difficult and in many cases, impossible due to the irreversible bodily changes that occur.)

Article 24 - Health and health services
The child has a right to the highest standard of health and medical care attainable. States shall place special emphasis on the provision of primary and preventive health care, public health education, and the reduction of infant morality. They shall encourage international cooperation in this regard and strive to see that no child is deprived of access to effective health services.

(The proven effectiveness of puberty-blocking and subsequent cross-sex hormone therapy on transgender adolescents in reducing or eliminating suicidal ideation, suicide attempts and cultural rejection due to physical appearance should clearly be considered "preventive health care".)

Article 40 - Administration of juvenile justice
A child in conflict with the law has the right to treatment which promotes the child's sense of dignity and worth, takes the child's age into account, and aims at his or her defense. Judicial proceedings and institutional placements shall be avoided wherever possible.

(Too often, transgender and gender non-conforming youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system are treated more harshly than non-transgender or gender conforming youth. If incarcerated, transgender youth frequently are housed based upon their assigned birth sex rather than their gender identity. This is a clear violation of their "sense of dignity and worth".)

Article 41 - Respect for higher standards
Wherever standards set in applicable national and international law relevant to the rights of the child are higher than those in this Convention, the higher standards shall always apply.