While not in my family, I too, have seen in the local rural community at a rapidly increasing rate. I do have compassion for these young people, but I think they have an unjustified confidence in their explanation as to why this is happening to them. Gender is not a spectrum. There may be a spectrum within each gender such as men with some feminine characteristics or females with some masculine qualities, and many children struggle with this concept. The feel they can't compete with earlier social ideals of what the ideal man and woman should be. Comparison is the thief of joy. But with the advent of social media, status in a crowded space can otherwise be achieved simply through being different, extreme, or proclaiming oneself a victim for engagement in a society where they otherwise wouldn't be noticed. The outpouring of online sympathy and affection for anyone who might be experiencing a "tough time" with life only encourages the idea that we don't dictate our circumstances, but are a victim of it, and that victim status yields benefits such as the ability to emotionally manipulate. Our kids have been told our sexual ideas and impulses are to be shamelessly acted upon while demanding acceptance for it. It's a slippery slope. Where does it go next? Cliches aren't cliches because they are wrong.
Sure, I want people to be happy. But kids who go through the transgender process can only convince themselves they're happy until the social media fad and fashion fades, and they no longer receive attention heaped upon them, and after the permanent irreparable harm has been done. In a few years, I predict a suicide rate that will grow exponentially. These children, and most encouraging adults, do not understand that this phenomena, which has never occurred at this rate in history, is an infectious idea imposed on them by their online social environment. It's not entirely an organic physiological/psychological process within one's own body. There's a deliberate organized campaign of outside influence and manipulation.
Nature doesn't care. If a person chooses to abruptly bring an end to their own genetic lineage by consciously rendering themselves a sterile human, is that a bad thing? That's just Darwinism playing out, right? I care because I know the nation and society I was born into was made great through the flourishing of humans and human productivity enabled by traditional family values. When 20% percent of young people identify as LGBTQ, we're not facing a population stagnation, we're facing population age distribution so top heavy it will collapse upon itself.
Similar to COVID, this in an infection of an idea. This is an old video that I've often thought about. Perfectly explains many things we're seeing in our culture. Especially at 9:09.