We welcome the landmark decision that NHS England will no longer prescribe puberty blockers. We’ve campaigned for years against giving puberty blockers to gender-questioning youth, most of whom would otherwise grow up to be lesbian, gay or bisexual adults.
This is a wonderful day for young LGB people and one of the biggest wins of LGB Alliance’s history. Since our foundation, LGB Alliance has campaigned tirelessly against this unprecedented medical experimentation on teenagers, most of whom are same-sex attracted. Puberty blockers have serious effects including osteoporosis and cognitive impairment, and lead in most cases to cross-sex hormones. That means lifelong medicalisation with a wealth of risks to mental and physical health.
Historians will look back on the last decade the way we remember the thalidomide and other medical scandals. We are relieved that this chapter is coming to an end at the NHS. We must now focus on private clinics and on Scotland, redoubling our efforts to ensure legislators outlaw puberty blockers nationwide.
We have written to MPs to urge them to support a private members bill this Friday, which aims not only to protect the meaning of sex and sexual orientation in the Equality Act, but also ban prescription of puberty blockers by private clinicians.
Finally it seems that institutions are waking up to this unfolding medical scandal, with irreversible experimental interventions given to troubled, vulnerable children – and LGB youth in particular – on the flimsiest of evidence. Gay teens aren’t sick.