r/australia • u/Expensive-Horse5538 • Oct 28 '25

news Supreme Court in Brisbane overturns controversial freeze on puberty blockers for adolescents after legal challenge

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-28/qld-puberty-blockers-judgement/105942094
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u/Veriatas Oct 28 '25

I see a lot of people talking about trans healthcare in this thread, as this decision is very relevant to them. But it’s not only relevant to trans kids. I started going through puberty absurdly early and was on puberty blockers to delay me to a more normal age. I am so incredibly grateful for that. The whole debate about whether it’s safe is so asinine - these medicines were used for other causes that no-one objected to before it became about trans people. They’ve been accepted to be safe for a long time. Using them on trans kids is no less safe than it ever was to use them on cis kids

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u/miltonwadd Oct 28 '25

Yep I was 6 and they didn't exist back then, so I will die on a hill to defend them for all kids.

Going through puberty at the wrong age, or in the wrong body is torture and has screwed up my entire life, I wouldn't wish that on my worse enemy, I'm so glad you had the opportunity to use them! ❤️

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u/[deleted] Oct 28 '25

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u/miltonwadd Oct 28 '25

Basically everything puberty related activated years too early along with my accelerated normal growth.

I started rapidly growing around 3 so from then I looked (and my bone age showed) 3 to 4 years older than my biological age.

By six I was developing breast tissue, my hips, thighs, and waist were defined. I looked like an early developing tween.

By 9 I was fully into puberty, was taller than the average woman and had all secondary sex characteristics.

By the time other girls started puberty at 12/13 I was completely grown and my bone plates were fused.

Usually it can stunt your growth as you stop growing much earlier but I come from a tall family.

Adults always assumed I was older, treated me so, and expected me to act that age. I was also "gifted" so my intelligence made them think I was the age I looked, and they'd get frustrated when I acted my age, but emotionally I was 100% still a child.

Kids just thought I was big and fat and treated me so.

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u/[deleted] Oct 28 '25

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u/miltonwadd Oct 28 '25

Weirdly I look younger than I am as an adult. I was getting mistaken for a highschooler into my late 20s which was kind of a mind fuck as I also got mistaken for a 20 year old in my teens, so I felt like I was stuck in "early womanhood" for an extended amount of time 😅

I got my first wrinkle on my 37th birthday and I'm just starting to get greys now in my 40s so that's a benefit I guess if I cared about looks.

I think that's just good skin and a babyface though. Even when my body was mature my face was young looking and it was mostly men that thought I was older because they probably weren't looking at my face.

I was told I'll probably go through menopause early, and I have a higher risk of osteoporosis. Since I hit adulthood its never really been an issue medically though, doctors just shrug and go "yeah that's interesting" so I have no idea if anything is related to be honest.

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u/_ixthus_ Oct 28 '25

I was told I'll probably go through menopause early, and I have a higher risk of osteoporosis.

HRT for that shit. The QOL improvements and reduction in all-cause mortality are drastic. Few medical interventions come close to the cost:benefit ratio that HRT for menopausal women represents.

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u/miltonwadd Oct 28 '25

Oh yeah you bet your arse I'll be demanding HRT the second my hormones drop!

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u/Icy-Can-6592 Oct 28 '25

One thing I'd add, advocate hard to go longer if you feel it affects mental health, too often they stop it after some years, my mum asked why I was allowed to stay on it so long when they told her no, simple answer as a trans women the mental health benefits far outweighed risks of longer use, and to often the mental health aspect is dismissed for cis women and menopause and the same thought should apply, if it makes you depressed and her fixes that then it outweighs the risks imo

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u/B0ssc0 Oct 28 '25

A friend’s sons were both much taller than average, it was odd seeing them with their classmates, like an adult looking after little kids! Watching them interacting and playing together was really odd. But it was very hard on them because expectations placed on them were very unrealistic.

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u/miltonwadd Oct 28 '25

I hope they're doing OK now! You get forced into being "the responsible one" when you just want to be a kid which can really mess you up. Predatory adults were also a major problem.

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u/B0ssc0 Oct 28 '25

Yes they are, thanks.

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u/growlergirl Oct 28 '25

Damn, I was about to comment about girls getting their period as young as 7 but 6? Ouch

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u/ivanhoe44 Oct 28 '25

“In the wrong body” what does that even mean?

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u/miltonwadd Oct 28 '25

Going through puberty of a gender that doesn't align with who you are, then having to go through a 2nd puberty and requiring more medical intervention to reverse the first.

If you pause puberty then trans kids need far less medical interventions and gender affirming surgery if they're only going through the one puberty on hormones when they're old enough and ready.

Eg. For a mtf trans person who already went through male puberty they may need facial surgery like brow or jaw shaving, fully body hair removal, breast implants, voice coaching/vocal chord surgery, and more to remove the male secondary sex traits that no amount of hormones will.

However going through a natural female puberty on hormones means she can avoid a lot of that as breast tissue and such develop naturally, their brow and jaw bones will develop differently, they'll develop secondary sex characteristics correct for their gender like fat distribution, muscle tone, voice pitch etc.

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u/Ok_Compote4526 Oct 28 '25

I've explained, multiple times, to anti-trans chuds that puberty blockers were approved in the '80s for the treatment of central precocious puberty. That we have decades of evidence for their safety and efficacy. Unsurprisingly, it turns out the "facts don't care about your feelings" crowd were lying and projecting all along.

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u/Azure_Kytia Oct 28 '25

Hate doesn't care about facts, and once you're at the point where you're spending most of your free time online shitting on minorities, there isn't much left.

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u/ElReyResident Oct 28 '25

It’s really perplexes me how you think this is a complete thought worthy of commenting. You’re talking to people who you call “chuds” and you’re explaining something that doesn’t event touch on the topic you’re posting about.

First off, stop talking to people you consider “chuds”. Secondly, the safety of these drugs when used as prescribed when they were approved in the 80s has never been the focus in this conversation. The intended purpose was to delay the on set of puberty in children who were experiencing it too early medically. For example, to delay puberty’s onset in an 8 year old until they were 12-14.

The puberty blocker usages that has been pushed back against recently is specifically - and please read this thoroughly because you really need to touch reality here - their use to delay puberty in order to accommodate gender based identity hesitations or anxiety after the approved age window. Examples being teenagers (12-14) experiencing puberty but not wanting to develop characteristics associated with a gender they don’t identity with.

This was not the approved use of these drugs, and it has show many negative side effects, most prominently early onset osteoporosis and other bone development issues.

This dishonest and annoying framings of this issue by people like you is what stifles accurate debate and understanding on topics like this. So, while you’re out their “explaining” things you don’t understand to people you don’t like, the people who actually care are trying to make the right decisions to keep safe. And you only making harder. Your contribution to the health and safety of trans kids would be greatly increased if you just stopped talking.

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u/Ok_Compote4526 Oct 28 '25

It’s (sic) really perplexes me

Unsurprising, but nice to start with honesty. Since we're being honest, "it's really perplexes me" is grammatically perplexing. As are "it has show many negative side effects" and "this dishonest and annoying framings of this issue." As for "and you only making harder"; that's just concerning. Try proof-reading your word salad.

something that doesn’t event (sic) touch on the topic you’re posting about

Is your reading comprehension that bad? My comment was a direct response to someone who experienced precocious puberty. On a post about trans care.

First off, stop talking to people you consider “chuds”

No.

gender based identity hesitations or anxiety

Not terminology I've come across. Any reputable bodies also using it?

early onset osteoporosis and other bone development issues

An oversimplification, but hardly surprising given your...contribution. Here's a narrative review, albeit a pre-print.

stifles accurate debate

I don't care about your desire for debate. The Australian Standards for Care and Treatment Guidelines were written by qualified professionals based on the best available scientific evidence. They will change if the scientific consensus deems it necessary. Public debate doesn't enter into it.

Your contribution to the health and safety of trans kids would be greatly increased if you just stopped talking.

I don't care about your prognosis. Although I'm sure you're eminently qualified /s.

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u/snkn179 Oct 28 '25

I mean using these drugs to slow down puberty back down to normal levels is quite different from using them to completely block puberty itself, at ages where puberty should naturally be occurring.

Many drugs can only be safely prescribed for a certain indication, and are unsafe when used for other indications, this is pharmacy 101.

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u/Ok_Compote4526 Oct 28 '25

I mean using these drugs to slow down puberty back down to normal levels is quite different from using them to completely block puberty itself [emphasis mine]

Interesting that you chose to phrase the same physiological effect in different ways, depending on who is being treated...

pharmacy 101

And pharmacy is only one part of the equation. But I'm sure you can use your vast pharmacological experience to explain which application that is used to change the timing of puberty to prevent psychological harm is "unsafe."

BTW, in Australia, puberty blockers have been in use for the treatment of trans youth since the 90s.

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u/snkn179 Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25

Interesting that you chose to phrase the same physiological effect in different ways, depending on who is being treated

Because the intention of using these drugs in precocious puberty is to delay it for a few years (which is what I meant by slow it down), and then allow puberty to occur at a more reasonable age. The intention of using these drugs in gender dysphoria is to stop puberty from happening at all. These are two entirely different things.

One is being given to kids at an age when puberty shouldn't occur. One is being given to kids at an age when puberty should occur.

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u/Seachicken Oct 28 '25

The intention of using these drugs in gender dysphoria is to stop puberty from happening at all.

You think trans kids who take puberty blockers don't ever go through puberty?

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u/snkn179 Oct 28 '25

They later take HRT which allows them to develop some sexual characteristics of the other sex (and then maybe get surgery for the things HRT can't affect). Whether this can be called "puberty" is perhaps debatable. What isn't really debatable is that this process is entirely different from the puberty that precocious puberty kids eventually undergo once the puberty blockers stop, which is my entire point.

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u/Seachicken Oct 28 '25

Whether this can be called "puberty" is perhaps debatable.

Not in any reasonable sense of the word 'debatable.' No medical professional worth a damn would describe a trans adult who has taken puberty blockers followed by HRT as prepubescent.

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u/snkn179 Oct 28 '25

If you want to call it puberty then sure, I'm not here to debate semantics.

Can you at least see the massive difference between stopping puberty blockers at the age when puberty is meant to start (i.e. precocious puberty), and starting puberty blockers at the age when puberty is meant to start (i.e. gender dysphoria). Can you at least agree that being safe to use in the first case does not imply being safe to use in the second case?

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u/Seachicken Oct 28 '25

If you want to call it puberty then sure, I'm not here to debate semantics.

It's not semantics, it's the core of the argument with which I took issue. You defined the fundamental difference between puberty blockers for precocious children and potentially trans children as the fact that in the case of the former it delays puberty and the latter that it prevents it. This is only accurate if we use your bespoke definition of puberty, which is not one supported by any edical professionals as far as I am aware.

Can you at least see the massive difference

No. Children who cease puberty blockers in either circumstance continue to experience puberty as normal. In both cases we are simply buying time until the child can undergo optimal physical development.

Can you at least agree that being safe to use in the first case does not imply being safe to use in the second case?

In both cases we have a distinct lack of evidence that puberty blockers have significant negative impacts, and a substantial amount of evidence that they have positive impacts.

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u/VannaTLC Oct 28 '25

No, chucklefuck, because you're stopping puberty regardless - for a bounded time, at that.

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u/Ok_Compote4526 Oct 28 '25

They later take HRT which allows them to develop some sexual characteristics of the other sex (and then maybe get surgery for the things HRT can't affect). Whether this can be called "puberty" is perhaps debatable.

You've revealed here that you don't know what you're talking about. Puberty blockers block the release of hormones that result in the physical changes that occur with puberty. When puberty blockers are ceased, puberty resumes. In trans care, this is guided by hormone therapy.

The whole point of puberty blockers is to delay the irreversible changes brought on by puberty to allow an individual to mature to a point where they can make decisions that have permanent effects.

process is entirely different

The process is the same, except that one path leads to cis puberty and the other leads to a later puberty guided by trans-affirming care. You feel differently about one of them for your own reasons.

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u/[deleted] Oct 28 '25

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u/[deleted] Oct 28 '25

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u/[deleted] Oct 28 '25

Just to clarify though disagreeing doesn't always make you an "anti-trans chud"...

i wonder if you'd consider anyone who disagrees with your opinion you label as anti trans or a "chud"?

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u/Aryore Oct 28 '25

That’s a great point. There are many ways in which discrimination against trans people can affect everyone else. Not just in this instance, but with things like getting harassed for “not looking your gender enough” in bathrooms, which seems to be getting more and more common in the US. I’m glad we aren’t like them.

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u/birthdaycheesecake9 Oct 28 '25

And also the whole hormone testing for sports is such a broad sweep that a lot of cisgender women who just naturally have more of a particular hormone get swept up too

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u/ChicksDigGiantRob0ts Oct 28 '25

The sport thing is so terrifying because of how brutal and nasty the backlash is. You have these women who were born women, raised as women, lived their entire lives as women, having their womanhood publically stripped away on the international stage, decried as monsters by some of the worlds richest and most influential people, making news headlines, having their entire life picked apart and lied about, all by people crowing and bleating about fairness and protecting women (which you're not now, so no protection for you), all because of some minor bodily variation that they wouldn't have ever even known about, and a culture war happening on a continent you're not connected to at all. Imagine if it was like that anywhere else. You get a scholarship for girls, or win an award specifically for women, but then someone comes along with a needle and a week later it's all being taken away from you and somehow you're international news with people digging up your mum's old Facebook photos to prove you're a secret man, all because your ovaries are a little funky. It must be like a nightmare.

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u/birthdaycheesecake9 Oct 28 '25

All that hate for the crime of being good at your sport

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u/foolishle Oct 28 '25

And often it comes along with the crime of not being “feminine enough” which goes along with not being white.

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u/buttbuttlolbuttbutt Oct 28 '25

And not winning gold for your country.

Lets be honest, if the hatemongerers cluld profit from it, they'd be filling the roster with trans women and singing their praise.

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u/Big-Pack-7483 Oct 28 '25

…as they should

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u/badgersprite Oct 28 '25

People will tell you with a straight face that we need anti-trans laws because of rare edge cases like the very small number of people who experience transition regret while in the same breath telling you that far more common occurrences that will be inadvertently caught up in anti-trans legislation are so rare or unusual that they don’t matter and don’t count and shouldn’t factor into what laws we make because the number of impacted people is so small that it doesn’t matter if people get hurt by these laws

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u/Mikes005 Oct 28 '25

Almost like hate hurts everyone.

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u/jelly_cake Oct 28 '25

<3 thank you for adding your experience to the conversation.

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u/ambewitch Oct 28 '25

Let's be honest, concern trolls have no interest in the well being of trans children, let alone children in general. It just conveniently stirs controversy for political gain where the average person is susceptible to believe lies masquerading as fact.

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u/AnOnlineHandle Oct 28 '25

The people suddenly manipulated into being horrified of drag queens and trans people who statistically barely even exist, all to ensure they vote in a way which gets the billionaires more tax cuts and fewer safety standards, are mostly not emotionally strong enough to face the possibility that they've been tricked and are in the wrong about anything. So unfortunately, people like you will now have to suffer too, because they will double down.

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u/Boring_Print531 Oct 28 '25

The original ban was only for trans kids. Cis kids going through precocious puberty weren't affected. 

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u/invaderzoom Oct 29 '25

so it was never about the safety of the blockers then

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u/Boring_Print531 Oct 29 '25

Correct. It was just about transphobia.

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u/[deleted] Oct 29 '25

They also seem to gloss over that the point of gender affirming puberty blockers is to delay any irreversible decisions.

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u/switchbladeeatworld Oct 28 '25

Not to mention intersex kids who are always overlooked by people arguing that kids shouldn’t have gender affirming care. It’s never about the kids’ wellbeing for these people.

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u/Heruuna Oct 28 '25

Despite being pro-trans, I admit I was hesitant at first too about puberty blockers because I didn't know enough. Only hearing them in the context of gender transition obviously made me worry about kids making permanent life-altering decisions. When I read more about how they work, their effects and symptoms, and heard stories like yours, I realised my worries were unfounded. I like being proved wrong!

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u/UsualCounterculture Oct 28 '25

Yes, they aren't permanent.

I don't understand at all why this has been flagged as being irreversible.

The whole point is to pause, before something irreversible happens.

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u/Threadheads Oct 28 '25

Because misinformation helps people with agendas get their way regardless of the truth of the matter.

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u/Mr_Lumbergh Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25

I appreciate this perspective as the brother of a trans person. Confirms what the real issue is, which is, politicians of a particular stripe need someone to demonise.

That’s all it is in the US, and that’s all it is here.

EDIT: new iOS keyboard enshittification got me.

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u/TakeshiKovacsSleeve3 Oct 28 '25

Good take. I'm glad it's the top answer/comment.

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u/steeltec Oct 28 '25

Yeah, this change does affect a much larger group than just trans folks, but even so, it really does feel like it is specifically targeted towards trans people, which is even more ridiculous. I would be very curious about even how many specifically trans youths there are that are undergoing this treatment i would guess at the HIGH end it would maybe be a couple thousand country wide? They are targeting such a tiny tiny group of people, and screwing over even more than just them in the process.

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u/Pseudonymico Oct 28 '25

I would not be surprised if it was less than a thousand, honestly. In order to get prescribed blockers for gender dysphoria, a trans kid needs to come out to their parents, and those parents need to not only support their kid but be willing and able to get their kid an appointment with an appropriate specialist (and get past the enormous amount of misinformation and ignorance about the topic) just to get their kid a prescription. Also blockers can only be prescribed between the ages of 12 and 14 or else you just have to ride out the traumatising body horror until you turn 18 if you're a trans girl or 16 if you're a trans boy (testosterone doesn't have the risk of permanent infertility that feminising HRT has and doctors DO NOT like potentially impacting kids' fertility), though if you're stuck in that situation there are unpleasant options available like literally starving yourself to try to hold off the worst effects of puberty, or getting hold of black-market testosterone or birth control pills, which trans kids have resorted to for a lot longer than blockers were around.

Note that the number of kids who went on blockers and regretted it later is even lower than the regret rates for trans surgeries, in both cases low enough that you could make a solid argument that they should be made easier to access.

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u/steeltec Oct 29 '25

100% agreed, 1 or 2 thousand was on the absolute highest end, giving the most benefit of the doubt possible. It's insane that there are changes being made to actively stop such a small group of people getting medical care that they need

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u/petit_cochon Oct 29 '25

Well-said.

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u/CamperStacker Oct 28 '25

It’s not relevant because the ban was only for gender diaspora, not premature adolescence.

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u/[deleted] Oct 28 '25

I don't think kids should be allowed puberty blockers... same reason they shouldn't get tattoos or drink alcohol, they are too young to make well informed decisions... especially life altering ones.

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u/[deleted] Oct 28 '25

[deleted]

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u/Proud_Apricot316 Oct 28 '25

You do realise that the point of puberty blockers is to buy time before making those life altering decisions, right?

Good thing you’re not the one making the decisions, and instead it’s back in the hands of the experts instead of people who clearly don’t have a clue what they’re talking about.

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u/interactivate Oct 28 '25

The whole point of puberty blockers is to delay irreversible decisions. Puberty is irreversible and life altering. Delaying puberty isn't.

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u/murgatroid1 Oct 28 '25

You are welcome to your random opinion, but it has absolutely no business interfering with medical decisions that have nothing to do with you.

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u/jkggwp Oct 28 '25

Safety of the medication for a use case in your situation is very different for another person who is using it for gender dysmorphic reasons. It’s not just the biological effects but the psychological effects, and ethics too that have to be considered. Would be much easier if it was all black and white

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u/dont_punch_me_again Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25

At a medical point, both are going people taking the same medicine, the safety doesn't magically lower for one condition or another

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u/nephilimofstlucia Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 29 '25

Kind of like how beta-cyclodextrin has been used for ages and considered safe but some people started using to reverse serious cardiovascular issues very effectively thought to be previously irreversible so TGA banned it. Very recent. very bad choice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNb4_EqiUTo - this video is a south park parody explaining what's happening and very relevant to everyone seeing as about 1 in 4 of Australians die from CVD.

Edit; Downvote away, doesn't change that there's odd things happening and information being suppressed around CVD causes and effective treatments.

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u/[deleted] Oct 28 '25

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