Chloe Cole Warns Australia About Gender Medicine Crisis After Her Own Transition at Age 13

[00:00] there's now a growing number of

[00:01] countries that have moved away from the

[00:04] gender affirming model of care that

[00:06] Australia uses when it comes to miners

[00:09] questioning their gender it was just

[00:11] earli this year that the landmark cast

[00:13] review revealed in the UK that they

[00:16] found gender medicine to be built on

[00:19] shaking foundations prompting a swift

[00:21] response from the government to ban

[00:23] puberty blockers for minors

[00:25] unfortunately here we can't even get a

[00:27] parliamentary inquiry into to gender

[00:30] medicine my next guest has had firsthand

[00:33] experience with gender medicine starting

[00:36] puberty blockers and crossx hormones at

[00:39] 13 she had a double mastectomy at 15 and

[00:43] then began to transition at the age of

[00:46] 16 since 18 years of age she has been a

[00:50] fierce advocate for changes to the

[00:52] system not wanting others to now go

[00:55] through what she did at such a young age

[00:58] I'm pleased to say that a very Brave

[01:00] Chloe Cole joins me now Chloe welcome to

[01:04] the program thank you for having me I'm

[01:06] not joking when I say you're

[01:07] brave I'm not joking when I say you're

[01:10] brave I think this is such an incredibly

[01:12] uh personal thing to make as public as

[01:15] you do you've been through so much as a

[01:17] young person what's prompting you to

[01:20] speak up as you

[01:23] are I mean there are a lot of things

[01:25] that motivate me to speak up about my

[01:27] own experience um and to connect with

[01:28] other people who have been through the

[01:30] very same thing and it's those very same

[01:32] stories of all the other people who I

[01:34] have met who have been through this the

[01:36] young men and women and the people who

[01:38] have gone through this as children and

[01:40] their families who are suffering through

[01:41] this with them have made me feel as

[01:44] though I have a responsibility to use my

[01:46] voice to help Elevate theirs and to

[01:47] encourage them to speak out as well to

[01:49] affect change and prevent our stories

[01:51] from repeating

[01:54] themselves you're you're not someone

[01:56] who's talking about a transitioner like

[01:57] me from a story I've read you you have

[02:00] lived this experience but you're still

[02:03] cop criticism because you're speaking

[02:04] out has that surprised

[02:09] you not at all I

[02:11] mean the mer the very moment that I

[02:14] decided to DET transition I had lost all

[02:17] my friends from within the transgender

[02:18] Community um and these people viciously

[02:21] went after me just for talking about the

[02:24] grief that I was going through um the

[02:26] pain from the regret and everything

[02:29] every single part of of the of of the

[02:32] treatment and this was well before I was

[02:35] speaking out publicly or involved in any

[02:37] any sort of legislation or or anything

[02:39] like that this was just when I was

[02:41] talking about my my story and trying to

[02:43] find help and as difficult as it was

[02:47] especially in those early stages um

[02:49] dealing with the bullying from this

[02:50] community that had once accepted almost

[02:53] like they were family it helped prepare

[02:57] me

[02:58] to to go for forward publicly with my

[03:03] story when I talk to psychologists and

[03:05] psychiatrists here in Australia but from

[03:07] around the world they say we need much

[03:10] more sort of mental health support for

[03:12] young people counseling uh information

[03:15] support before we push them down the

[03:17] path of drugs and in your case

[03:19] horrifically a double myectomy I mean

[03:23] what sort of support or or no support

[03:25] did you get did you end up straight away

[03:27] down that medical and surgic

[03:30] interventionist path would things have

[03:32] been different if you'd been better

[03:34] supported earlier rather than go down

[03:37] this

[03:40] course absolutely I mean I had a lot of

[03:42] red flags um at every step along the way

[03:45] including before I even went down any

[03:47] any of the medical pathway um I I really

[03:54] didn't have any issues beforehand that

[03:57] weren't out of the ordinary for

[04:00] an awkward tomboyish adolescent girl um

[04:04] although I also had some trauma um

[04:06] around being sexually assulted and an

[04:08] early an early puberty and yet none of

[04:11] that was really questioned these

[04:13] feelings I had around these feelings of

[04:15] discomfort that I had around my around

[04:17] my sex were never really questioned and

[04:20] it was just accepted as a fact that I

[04:22] was my parents son and that I was a

[04:25] transgender boy

[04:27] and as I've come out of transing and

[04:29] it's it's not like those feelings of

[04:31] discomfort have gone away but I found

[04:34] that the best way for me to to deal with

[04:37] it to cope with it is just to accept the

[04:39] way that things are that yes I am a

[04:42] woman that there are some difficulties

[04:44] that come with that but that there are

[04:45] also gifts that come with it as

[04:49] well I think a lot of women find that

[04:52] too I have to say I was a a tomboy

[04:54] growing up and I would hate to have been

[04:57] a a young girl in this Modern Age and

[04:59] find that pushes me down a path that I'd

[05:01] regret in the case that you're

[05:03] regretting I mean we had the cast review

[05:06] in the UK I mean I think it's been a

[05:08] tremendous amount of learning available

[05:10] to medicos right around the world but

[05:14] but it I think is really alarming in the

[05:17] case of Australia where the cast review

[05:19] has been dismissed that we can't even

[05:21] get a parliamentary inquiry into gender

[05:25] medicine for young people we are still

[05:26] using puberty blockers here that have

[05:29] been banned in countries right around

[05:31] the world um that is is in part why

[05:34] you're in Australia isn't it to sort of

[05:37] I guess expose the community to what

[05:39] happens on the other side of when this

[05:41] goes so horribly

[05:45] wrong yes I want to warn the government

[05:49] of Australia and the people of Australia

[05:52] about something that's not only happened

[05:53] to me but something that is actively

[05:54] happening in your own communities do not

[05:57] think of this as just a crazy California

[06:00] or us issue or there's this idea going

[06:03] around that the standards here in

[06:05] Australia for um for the care model for

[06:08] people with General dysphoria are

[06:09] different from that from from other

[06:11] countries like us or the or UK for

[06:13] example but they actually follow the

[06:16] same guidelines um by the W paath by the

[06:19] world Professional Association of

[06:20] transgender

[06:21] healthcare

[06:24] and it's leading to the same exact

[06:27] outcomes that have happened in the UK

[06:29] and that are happening in the US right

[06:31] now and you do not want to end up like

[06:33] the US is right now with what is going

[06:37] on with these these transi with these

[06:40] struggling children and young men and

[06:45] women I think I think it's a crisis for

[06:48] a whole generation Chloe I think as I

[06:49] said at the top of the show you're

[06:50] incredibly Brave thank you for joining

[06:52] me

[06:54] tonight thank you for having me