From puberty blockers to the courts: while the United States and Europe slow down on the gender transition of adolescents, Italy remains without clear guidelines and with controversial judicial cases.
Last month, the US Department of Health banned pharmacological and surgical interventions for the sex change of minors. For years, in half of Europe, the governments that had shown themselves most open-handed on the gender transition of adolescents have abruptly slowed down, in particular on the administration of puberty blockers. In Italy, however, a 13-year-old, in the last days of last year, changed her sex at the registry office: the court of the city of La Spezia gave the green light to the rectification of her birth certificate and the reassignment of a new name. Male, obviously. The ruling, historic in its own way, arises from the absence of clear data, certain guidelines and scientific consensus on the topic. In our country, in fact, the gender dysphoria it is a terrain where chaos still reigns. And on which the government, for now, has not yet managed to intervene decisively.
From triptorelin to ministry controls
Look at the Ligurian case: the little girl, the parents say, shows a “strong desire” to belong to the male gender from early childhood. In 2021, at just nine years old, the process begins, with specialist courses that bring out “gender identity disorders”, followed by the administration of the triptorelinthe puberty blocker, at the Andrology and Endocrinology Center of the Careggi hospital in Florence. The same Careggi where, in January 2024, inspectors from the Ministry of Health were sent after the failure to comply with the procedures established by AIFA was reported. In particular, the inspection revealed the lack, in some cases, of a complete psychotherapeutic and psychiatric path before the prescription of drugs, as well as the absence of a full-time child neuropsychiatrist. To top it off, the clinic was not, as it should have, providing updated reports to the Drug Agency on treatments for gender dysphoria.
Irreversible decisions and absence of rules
Triptorelin, it is worth remembering, is a medicine that prevents the sexual organs from developing and is also administered to 9-10 year old children, not without possible side effects, even serious ones. After the ministry’s visit, Careggi no longer prescribed the drug. But the measure only affected new patients, not the little ones who had already started the process. And so we return to the case of La Spezia: the court accepted the parents’ appeal, recalling the “full awareness of the inconsistency between the body and the experience of identity”, such as to justify a decision defined as “irreversible”. Puberty, in fact, does not turn on and off like a lampshade. Once you’ve taken that road, there’s no turning back. And in Italy it is possible to start this path even while attending primary school.
The bill 2575 and the scientific clash
The Spezia affair hit the newspapers just as Parliament is discussing the bill 2575presented by ministers Eugenia Roccella and Orazio Schillaci, which introduces “provisions for the prescriptive appropriateness and correct use of drugs for gender dysphoria” for minors. This would be a significant turn of the screw, because the bill would establish a register of therapies and an ethics committee would validate each new administration.
Parents, social media and the imitation effect
The bill is currently being discussed in Montecitorio’s Social Affairs commission, where various hearings have taken place in recent months. For the first time, some mothers of minors with dysphoria spoke out. The testimonies are particularly eloquent and tell of frightened families, often faced with extreme scenarios. In the background, a cultural phenomenon amplified by social networkswhere teenagers and very young people document every phase of the transition, from the voice to the documents, up to the surgical interventions.
Europe slows down, the US prohibits
While the Italian debate proceeds slowly, other countries have already changed course. In Great Britain the Tavistock clinic was closed and the use of blockers limited; Finland, Norway, Sweden, France and the Netherlands have imposed strong restrictions. In the United States, the Department of Health has announced a federal ban on transitional pharmacological and surgical interventions on minors, defined «unsafe and irreversible practices».
A choice that takes time
These weeks could also be decisive for the arrival in the Chamber of the Italian bill, which does not provide for absolute prohibitions, but imposes prudence towards children and adolescents still in education. «Our identities are formed in a more stable way towards the end of adolescence. The choice to change sex must be made when the subject is sufficiently mature to decide”, reiterate the most critical experts. «Previously, it may have been a transitory choice. Forcing one way or the other is harmful.”
