It’s a scandal that the majority of young people referred to gender clinics and subsequently prescribed puberty blockers are same-sex attracted. This is homophobic in the extreme and must be tackled.
There has been a 4,000% increase in the number of girls referred to clinics and we want the government to consider how social contagion, the influence of the pharma industry and homophobia is persuading children, many of them girls, that their same-sex attraction is a sign that they must ‘really’ be boys.
Puberty blockers have already been banned by a number of European countries because the claim that they are fully reversible is untested and early evidence suggests they can lead to conditions such as osteoporosis and early menopause.
In addition, almost all children who take puberty blockers to ‘pause’ their puberty then progress to cross-sex hormones which are an even more radical intervention.
We are calling for a national conversation that prioritises LGB youth. It is unacceptable that LGB people are being encouraged to take the path of medicalisation and even to mutilate themselves with surgery in the name of a deeply homophobic gender ideology.
We launched our campaign with a digital van which travelled around London for two days to highlight our concerns and to bring this scandal to the attention of the wider public.
We made an accessible and powerful film which we sent to all MPs. We followed up by asking to meet with MPs to enlist their support and drive positive change.
We are working with elected representatives around the UK to build a coalition of support for our position.