BODY OF WORK
JUNE AMELIA ROSE WAS A TEENAGER the first time she tried to medically transition. She was already presenting very femininely in high school, wearing girls’ clothes from Hot Topic. She had even confided in a few girls she dated that she was trans, but never came out publicly, fearing that her family and friends might not believe or support her. She figured that if she could begin hormone replacement therapy—a combination of a generic testosterone blocker called spironolactone (or spiro, colloquially) and estradiol—she could more easily convince loved ones to accept her transition. But in order to get those medications, she would need a prescription. So at 15, Rose convinced her parents to let her start seeing a sex therapist, without explaining the full scope her intentions. By going through these appropriate channels, Rose hoped she would be able to transition according to her plans. Instead, all she got was resistance.
“My therapist kept saying he wanted to push it off, maybe as late as 18,” Rose recalls. “He wouldn’t even consider recommending me for any of it [until I was older.] The hormones were a big deal for me, and he held them over my head, just out of
