Children at Risk with Gender Transition Restrictions Set to Ease

The seemingly harmless legislative proposal conceals an extraordinary risk: it would ban counseling for young people considering gender transition, curtail parental rights, and penalize doctors.

San Francisco Pride 2025 (Photo: AFP)

At first glance, the proposal appears benign – banning conversion therapies for minors. It sounds as though it merely aims to protect children from coercive re-education practices. Yet Johannes Huber warns of far graver risks: Its provisions may be interpreted more widely 

to mean that all counseling will be banned,

he cautioned in an interview with Libratus , an online media outlet.

Psychiatrist Bettina Reiter expressed similar concerns in an interview with ServusTV. The clinician warned that, in the future, not only will doctors who refuse to comply with a minor’s desire to transition face punishment, but so will parents who seek to prevent their children from doing so.

Droht das gefährlichste Gesetz für unsere Kinder? Hinter einem scheinbar harmlosen Entwurf lauert ein Generalangriff: Beratung für Jugendliche, die ihr Geschlecht ändern wollen, soll verboten, Elternrechte beschnitten und Ärzte kriminalisiert werden. Dav… https://t.co/hR3JIupMy3

— exxpress (@exxpressat) July 5, 2025

Huber: “You Cannot Ignore the Laws of Nature”

One clause in the proposed legislation states that transgender and non-binary identities are “not psychological disorders.” It also asserts: “There are no objective tests that can externally predict or define a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity in advance.”

Professor Huber vehemently disagrees:

One third of all genes differ between the sexes. Women have 1,000 more genes than men. That is dictated by nature.

Chromosomal intersex conditions, he explains, are exceptions.

Transitioning is No Sunday Stroll

The esteemed expert has also emphasized that

gender transitioning is no Sunday stroll.

Post-operative life requires lifelong, high-dose hormone therapy, using hormones of the opposite sex. Such treatments carry significant health risks.

More than 50 percent of those who undergo gender transition want to reverse the surgery later,

claims Professor Huber, citing academic studies.

He says that in 80 percent of cases, girls seek to become boys – often influenced by social media personalities or adolescent crises. 

Many issues cannot be resolved by transition. That’s why psychological counseling is so important,

he stressed.

Medical Diagnosis Requirement Set to be Scrapped

These statements are especially controversial given current legal safeguards, which require in-depth clinical assessment and detailed diagnoses from psychologists or psychiatrists before gender-transition procedures are authorized.

They clearly want to change this now.

psychiatrist Gudula Walterskirchen commented to Libratus . Walterskirchen says the bill would restrict or undermine scientific oversight.

🧬 Ist Geschlechtsumwandlung die Lösung?

Ein neuer Gesetzesentwurf will die bisher verpflichtende Beratung für Minderjährige, die ihr biologisches Geschlecht operativ oder mittels Hormongaben ändern wollen, durch Ärzte und klinische Psychologen verbieten. Eltern haben ebenfalls… pic.twitter.com/3c2sYU8A76

— Libratus Magazin (@LibratusMagazin) June 30, 2025

Cover photo: San Francisco Pride 2025 (AFP)