they are and it should be illegal for giving a child a new gender.....my sister is transgendered and one of the things my family wonder about is whether the fact that from age three till about age thirteen she was on growth hormone to alleviate her not producing it herself. we wonder if it caused the gender confusion later in life. putting children on hormone replacement therapy actually might harm the child because mentally there brain is still forming. it is interesting that the gay community is scared of counselling but is perfectly willing to do hormone replacement on children as young as three.