Treatment of transgender boy 'child abuse'

The lesbian parents of an 11-year-old US boy have taken the controversial step of giving their son hormone blockers to delay puberty after he expressed a desire to become a girl.

California couple Pauline Moreno and Debra Lobel decided to start the hormone blocking therapy after son Tommy decided he wanted to be a girl, according to Fox News.

The treatment will delay the onset of puberty until Tommy — who now goes by the name Tammy — is 14 or 15, giving him more time to explore the female identity he has assumed.

Moreno and Lobel said their son started to identify as a female from the time he was three, insisting to his parents that he was a girl.

After threatening genital mutilation at the age of seven, Tommy was diagnosed with gender identity disorder by psychiatrists, which ultimately led to the decision to try the hormone therapy.

"He was in his own world just completely detached and that was a problem we always had — getting Thomas to participate in life,' Moreno told the Mail.

"What we saw emerge when Tammy was allowed to be Tammy is, 'Whoa!' It was an immediate transformation. She was so giggly and she was now interacting she was now making it a point to defend herself."

But critics have blasted the move as "child abuse" and say this type of therapy at such a young age could have severe consequences.

"I think that it's highly inappropriate to be interfering with natural hormonal growth patterns,” senior managing health editor Alvarez said on foxnews.com.

"There are significant potential problems necessary for growth and development.

"Potential long-term effects can include other abnormalities of hormones, vascular complications and even potential cancer."

Dr Paul McHugh, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, agreed with Alvarez.

"This is child abuse. It's like performing liposuction on an anorexic child," he said.

"It is a disorder of the mind. Not a disorder of the body. Dealing with it in this way is not dealing with the problem that truly exists.

"We shouldn't be mucking around with nature. We can't assume what the outcome will be," McHugh told foxnews.com.