Gustavo, now 10 years old, was the first to start transitioning at just four years old.
Seeing his son embrace his identity gave Raphael the “strength and courage” to take the same step.
At 38, Raphael decided to publicly embrace his identity and requested to be referred to as male.
In September, he posted a video on Instagram discussing gender identity and the personal journey he has undertaken.
When asked if his son’s transition had played a role in his own decision, Raphael responded candidly: “It didn’t have any influence, but he [Gustavo] gave me strength and courage to face [the transition].”
Expressing the importance of respect, they posted: “Even though it is our right to have the social name respected in practice, respect rarely happens in fact,”
Gustavo, in addition to being a student, is also an actor. He has taken on roles in both transgender and cisgender characters in films, further advocating for representation in media.
Meanwhile, in the UK, puberty blockers have been indefinitely banned for minors seeking gender-affirming treatment due to growing safety concerns.
The Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) released a report stating that there is “currently an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children.”
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting emphasized the importance of proceeding with caution, stating that there is a need to “act with caution” and “follow the expert advice” when treating this “vulnerable group of young people”.
He further stated: “Children’s healthcare must always be evidence-led. The independent expert Commission on Human Medicines found that the current prescribing and care pathway for gender dysphoria and incongruence presents an unacceptable safety risk for children and young people,”
“We are working with NHS England to open new gender identity services, so people can access holistic health and wellbeing support they need.”
“We are setting up a clinical trial into the use of puberty blockers next year, to establish a clear evidence base for the use of this medicine.”
She clarified: “That is why I recommended that they should only be prescribed following a multi-disciplinary assessment and within a research protocol.”
She added her support for the government’s decision, saying: “I support the Government’s decision to continue restrictions on the dispensing of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria outside the NHS where these essential safeguards are not being provided.”
The BMA argued that the ban on puberty blockers would negatively impact “victimised” transgender children.
Leading pediatrician Dr. Hilary Cass made over 30 recommendations in an effort to improve NHS services for transgender youth.
Her report, which took nearly four years to complete, found that children “caught in the middle” in a highly divisive debate had been set on a path that could lead to irreversible changes.
The Cass Report ultimately concluded that transgender youth had been “let down” by the lack of research and that there was “remarkably weak” evidence supporting medical interventions.
Following these findings, in March, NHS Lothian and NHS Greater Glasgow suspended new prescriptions of puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones for new patients.
Scottish Conservative equalities spokesperson Tess White MSP raised concerns, stating: “The number of under-18s referred for specialist procedures is especially concerning. And at a time when NHS waiting lists in Scotland are sky-high, taxpayers will ask why such significant sums were spent funding these procedures in NHS England.”
Susan Buchanan, Director of National Services Directorate at NHS National Services Scotland, defended the process, saying: “All patients referred for surgery are carefully assessed by healthcare professionals, considering individual patient needs and circumstances.”
