From: ScottW48@hotmail.com   
      
   “It came as a huge wake-up call to me,” says Cole. “As I listened, I   
   realised that I had a maternal instinct, that one day I’d like to have kids   
   of my own, but that the effects of being prescribed puberty blockers and   
   testosterone during my    
   transition might mean I couldn’t.”   
      
   With hindsight, she agrees it is odd that it hadn’t dawned on her before,   
   but she was only 15 at the time of her surgery and having children one day or   
   being able to breastfeed them really wasn’t the first thing on her mind.   
   “But sitting in that    
   class, it hurt me really deeply to realise how a part of me had been taken   
   away.”   
      
   The doctors, who she now says “railroaded” her into surgery, had assured   
   her transitioning would make her happier. “In that moment in the psychology   
   class, I knew that I was losing more and more of myself. It shattered my heart   
   into a million    
   pieces.”   
      
   We are meeting via Zoom with Cole – dressed in pink, her long, dark hair   
   hanging loose to frame her face, her dark eyes compelling – now a household   
   name in America, after sharing her cautionary tale with the US Congress as   
   part of a hearing about “   
   The Dangers of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Children” last month.   
   It was her latest and most significant appearance on a public platform, but   
   politicians have been courting her for months. Some – mostly Republicans –   
   in several state legislatures have introduced no fewer than 66 bills – some   
   known as “Chloe’s    
   Law” – that ban the sort of “gender-affirming” treatment she underwent   
   being given to anyone under 18, and bring in other curbs on trans rights.   
      
   ScottW   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)