On Wednesday, the Supreme Court began oral arguments in United States v. Scumetti. This is related to a 2023 Tennessee law that prohibits medical professionals from administering gender-affirming care to minors, such as puberty blockers or hormone therapy. Max Lazzaraa 28-year-old Seattle woman who medically transitioned to male at age 16 and was detransitioned several years later, filed a brief in support of the ban being upheld.
“We have a duty to our children to make sure they are taken care of,” Lazzara told the Post. She defines herself as a “stubborn leftist” and has no qualms about medical care for transgender adults. But minors are different.
Here she shares her story.
Growing up as a girl named Mary in a Catholic family in Minneapolis, I was a little tomboyish and a little wild. There was a brief period, around the age of five, when I claimed to be a boy.
It wasn't until adolescence that I really began to feel strongly that I should be of the opposite sex. A lot of it had to do with my sexual orientation. I was attracted to girls but denied it.
I didn't learn much about my body either. I started puberty around the age of 11 and had a period of weakness that lasted several weeks. I needed to change my body because I felt scared to be in a woman's body.
I struggled with my mental health and made “superficial” suicide attempts using over-the-counter painkillers when I was 11, 13, and 14.
When I was 14, I stumbled across a Tumblr about female-to-male transgender people. In short, a person is born biologically female and decides that they want to live as a male.
I was like, “OK, I'm transgender.” That's why everything feels wrong. That's why I got depressed. Therefore, my home life did not go well.
I came out to my friends and mother, changed my name to Max, and started life as a boy.
At age 15, she was sexually assaulted and made a more serious suicide attempt using prescription drugs. I was admitted to a psychiatric ward and referred to the University of Minnesota for gender therapy.
I had two interviews scheduled and basically told them what they wanted to hear. It wasn't a lie or anything, but the conditions were, “Did you like playing with boys when you were a child?'' “Have you ever wanted to wear pants?''
They diagnosed me with gender identity disorder, now called gender dysphoria.
My mother was very scared after my suicide attempt. She just wanted to do anything to keep me from hurting myself. Five months after I first took it, I was on testosterone gel.
Just before my 17th birthday, I had a double mastectomy.
However, I was still struggling and had also been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder, and I gave my life another try.
It wasn't all bad. I got my first girlfriend, went to junior prom, and graduated from high school. But I also kept fighting. I abused alcohol and drugs, and when I was 20, I committed suicide again and was hospitalized. At age 21, I spent seven months in a residential mental health facility. There I developed a severe eating disorder.
In the spring of 2020, I started reading online about women who have detransitioned. One day, I looked in the mirror and was shocked to see that I was a woman.
Four years ago, at age 24, I stopped taking testosterone and started living as a woman.
That was a huge relief. I felt like I could just exhale. I've been doing very well lately. I identify as a lesbian and live with my long-term girlfriend.
My main motivation for writing this case brief is because I feel that my mother's fear of my suicide attempt was used to convince her that medical intervention was necessary. It was.
There are many things that people under 18 cannot legally consent to. And I think gender-affirming care should also fall under that category.
