When Sebastian Liafsha came out as transgender in middle school, his mother, Heather, jumped into research mode. Ms. Liafsha, a registered nurse in Lexington, S.C., put together a three-inch-thick binder packed with printouts of various laws, medical guidelines, pharmaceutical records and more.
It was there that she would record the dates and details of Sebastian’s puberty blocker injections every three months for two and a half years, starting at age 14.
As a child who had never truly understood himself to be a girl, female puberty felt like an obstacle on Mr. Liafsha’s journey to manhood.
For Mr. Liafsha, now 19, puberty blockers not only paused the development of unwanted secondary sexual characteristics like breasts and a menstrual.