‘How do you navigate your teen years when you’re trans?’: SBS’ Insight to explore

Next week on SBS’ popular program Insight, host Jenny Brockie will sit down with five young trans people to talk to them about navigating transition as an adolescent.

Through the program, Brockie will speak with Logan, who was forced to wait years before he could transition and live as a man.

Before Logan’s 19th birthday, his dad, although initially disapproving, developed a timeline to gradually introduce him to their immediate family, culminating in a coming out birthday party.

Brockie will also speak with Oliver who, unlike Logan, had an incredibly positive transitioning journey under the guidance of his parents.

When Brockie speaks to Nathan, he shares what it felt like to be incorrectly perceived as a girl; he came out last year and is hoping to start hormone treatment.

She will also speak with Willow, who came out at 15 and was the only transgender person in her regional town.

The program will explore who these young people have navigated the typical hurdles of adolescence – fitting in, dating, hormones, mental health – as well as coming out and transitioning.

According to the Royal Children’s Hospital, roughly 1.2 per cent of Australian school children are thought to identify as transgender.

Last year, the Medical Journal of Australia published guidelines that recommended taking each young person’s circumstances into account when deciding when to start hormone therapy.

Under prior guidelines, trans teens had to wait until age 16 to begin hormones—and therefore puberty, if they had been on medication to block the hormones their body produced.

Under the new guidelines, some may be able to start treatment as early as age 13 or 14.

You can watch Insight on SBS, on Tuesday 28 May at 8.30pm.