Seriously, I am medically AGAINST underage people changing their bodies for gender reasons (unless born with both external genitalia of course). But in 1 year this child will be an adult. I’d not waste lawyer fees on this. Love the child, understand their pain, tell them how you feel, and support them at this point. There is no sense in fighting.
I agree on not bothering to fight it, the child is already dead and the culture will support its new ways.
I am not sure support is a great way of looking at it.
Your post makes a lot of sense. But I’d like to mention another point of view.
If she wanted to smoke pot, would you say not to fight it? How about full body tattoos or extensive piercing? Anything?
There are some times when fighting a losing battle is the point. There are times when kids, even 17 year old kids, want their parents to say “no”. They want their parents to save them from themselves. They want their parents to make an effort to show that they care enough to fight for them. Even if it’s a losing battle.
The world is a scary place for a defiant toddler. The toddler would be terrified to find out he was running the show. Similarly, a 17 year old, on the brink of adulthood, can behave like a toddler, desperate for an adult to care enough to protect him. Or in this case, her.
Who knows what this kid’s history is with her parents? Maybe she needs to be left alone and allowed to make her own mistakes. Or maybe she needs her parents to get involved. I think a sex change is a pretty drastic mistake for “learning from your mistakes.”
Also, on the parents’ mental health side, if I didn’t fight to protect my child from a drastic mistake, I would have a hard time forgiving myself for it down the road. I could imagine a parent saying “if only I had fought to prevent this for one more year ...” A lot of what kids do at that age is because of the influence of peers or another highly influential person, maybe a teacher egging her on. Remove her from that influence and she might have different ideas.