A record number of children under the age of 16 in the U.K. identify as transgender, with kids as young as ten years old making the transition.
According to a study published earlier this month by the UK Deed Poll Service, at least one child undergoes a gender transition every day. The study also showed that the number of children between the ages of 3 and 18 who have been referred to gender identity clinics dramatically increased over a five-year stretch, from 314 in 2011 to 2,016 in 2016. (RELATED: Supreme Court Allows Trump To Temporarily Enforce Trans Soldiers Ban)
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has made cracking down on “transphobia” and “homophobia” a priority of hers, promising to “reform” the country’s “Gender Recognition Act.”
“We have set out plans to reform the Gender Recognition Act and streamline and de-medicalise the process for changing gender, because being trans is not an illness and it shouldn’t be treated as such,” May said according to The Sun.
According to Louise Bowers, a senior deed poll officer, more women are identifying as men than vice-versa.
“There are now more Misses to Masters than Masters to Misses,” Bowers told The Sun.
Bowers also said that even pre-teens are deciding to change genders.
“The majority are teenagers, 14 or 15, but they go down to aged ten,” she said.
FILE PHOTO: A rainbow flag flies as people protest U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that he plans to reinstate a ban on transgender individuals from serving in any capacity in the U.S. military, in Times Square, in New York City, New York, U.S., July 26, 2017. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
Parental approval is required for children under the age of 16 to undergo gender transition surgery. The findings in the U.K. seem to show a similar trend to one taking place in the U.S. where a record 1.4 million adults identify as transgender, according to a 2016 study. (RELATED: Transgender Woman Threatens To ‘Take It Outside’ When GameStop Employee Uses The Word ‘Sir’)
It also suggests a global trend of young people increasingly willing to change their gender. A 2018 analysis of a 2016 study found that nearly three percent of students in 9th and 11th grade identify as transgender or “gender noncomforming.”