Unnecessary medicalisation of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth in the United Kingdom 2024
Table of contents:
- Introduction
- Situational analysis
- The Cass Review
- Puberty blockers
- Cross-sex hormones
- Conversion therapy
- Trans activist threat to free speech
- The BBC
- Resources
Introduction
This backgrounder provides detailed analysis of the continuing mass medical experimentation on young people who suffer from “gender distress”, most of whom are same-sex attracted. Since its foundation, LGB Alliance has campaigned for evidence-based treatment by briefing and lobbying decision-makers and influencers.
Every time clinicians or campaigners use the phrase “gender-affirming care” we know that they are happy to “trans away the gay”. The vast majority of children and young people who present with gender distress do so because of the effect of social media and LGBTQIA+ “education” at school which promote the view that if someone does not conform to gender stereotypes they are probably trans. “Gender affirming care” means telling a child or young person that in order to fit in with gender stereotypes they must change their bodies and pretend to be the opposite sex. This is the most extreme homophobia and for that reason we campaign to end any programmes or treatments that call themselves “gender affirming.”
Recent developments including last year’s interim report from the Cass Review and NHS England’s ban on puberty blockers are encouraging. LGB Alliance has worked hard expose and combat the influence of gender identity lobbyists who push life-changing medical experimentation on children and adolescents despite growing evidence of the dangers.
There is however much to be done to end the use of these ‘treatments’ on vulnerable young people. The continued availability of puberty blockers online via private companies and from public health bodies in other parts of the UK, plus the NHS prescription of cross-sex hormones to under-18s, all remain urgent problems.
The months to come will see further developments. LGB Alliance will be at the heart of the debate, briefing parliamentarians and other stakeholders on the issues and continuing our campaign for evidence-based medicine and the safeguarding of young lesbians, gays and bisexuals.
We invite journalists to use any of the material from this backgrounder. Wherever material is unattributed, they may be quoted from LGB Alliance CEO Kate Barker. Further, we invite health correspondents and editors to meet with LGB Alliance to discuss how we can contribute to your coverage of what we believe is one of the biggest medical scandals in history and one of the worst attacks on lesbians, gays and bisexuals.
Situational analysis
The medical and political world is split on this issue. Many states in the USA and Australia, and the country of Canada believe that “transgender children” exist. Governments support queer theory which is informed by (mainly) adult males who have transitioned after marriage and a family life. Some of these campaigners wish that their “identities” be validated by demonstrating that some children are born “trans”, and advise policymakers that this is the case and special treatments must be devised for these children as they are “born in the wrong body”. These treatments which are completely unnecessary and can cause life changing harm are collectively known as “gender affirming care”. It is the view of LGB Alliance that the lives of children likely to grow up lesbian, gay or bisexual are being used as collateral damage by adult trans activists to promote acceptance of what is in fact an adult fetish – known as AGP.
Evidence shows that there is no such thing as a “transgender child”. Dr David Bell, former consultant psychiatrist and Governor at the Tavistock and Portman Trust has expressed this view many times, most recently on the BBC PM programme where he corrected presenter Evan Davis on the issue: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001x4l9
Evidence also shows that the vast majority of children who have gender distress change their minds. An article in The Daily Mail on a recent survey from the Netherlands (link included in the Resources section below) reported:
“The majority of gender-confused children grow out of that feeling by the time they are fully grown adults, according to a long-term study.
Researchers in the Netherlands tracked more than 2,700 children from age 11 to their mid-twenties, asking them every three years of feelings about their gender.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13263725/trans-kids-change-sex-adults-study.html
This is exactly what we – and other critics of “gender affirming care” have been saying for years. How can any responsible adult – least of all a clinician – propose life changing drugs and surgery within this context? It is the opposite of ‘First do no harm’.
European countries including Finland, France, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and now the UK are all taking a much more cautious approach to the care of children and young people with gender distress, as more evidence is collected dismissing any benefit from puberty blockers and hormones and identifying damaging side effects.
In March 2024, many years after concerns were first raised, NHS England finally banned the use of puberty blockers for children. This decision followed a thorough review of available evidence by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which concluded that they were neither safe nor effective.
Within days, NHS England announced it would prescribe cross-sex hormones to teenagers as young as 15 at its new gender clinics. As with puberty blockers, there is extremely poor evidence base for the efficacy of these cross-sex hormones. This is especially concerning for LGB Alliance given evidence shows that most of those affected would grow up to be happily lesbian, gay, or bisexual – with no need for lifelong medicalisation and all the attendant health risks.
Gay teens aren’t sick
LGB Alliance has campaigned since its foundation against the medicalisation of “gender non-conforming” teenagers—and the influence of online influencers and the inappropriate involvement of third-party activist organisations at schools. We have campaigned for policymakers, parents and clinicians to recognise that gay teens aren’t sick. More information on this issue is available here: https://lgballiance.org.uk/gayteens-arent-sick/
The interim Cass Review
We were encouraged by the interim report from the Cass Review. It made several important points:
– it advised more holistic care to address all the patient’s issues
– it stated that “gender dysphoria” may have many different causes and that many different treatment pathways may be appropriate
– Above all – crucially for schools – it warned that “social transition” is not a neutral act and that it could potentially fix a child in a trangender identity. It is highly regrettable that the government has not taken this point on board in its recent guidance. We hope the final report will be more emphatic in relation to this latter point.
– We also hope that the final report will deal at greater length with the question of misdiagnosis: many LGB detransitioners, especially lesbians, tell us they mistook their sexual orientation for a “gender identity” issue and demanded treatment they now regret.
The Cass review has changed the whole tenor of the debate on the treatment of gender distressed children. Before Cass was appointed, any criticism of the model of “gender-affirming care” promoted by Susie Green, head of Mermaids, [who took her son to be castrated on his 16th birthday in Thailand] was deemed transphobic. The public was told that unless gender distressed children were offered “affirming care” they would kill themselves. Stonewall, and many other charities, NGOs and celebrities applauded the campaign to medicalise children unnecessarily.
Cass was able to bring a non-partisan, scientific approach to her work and her initial findings aligned with what LGB Alliance had been saying; that talking therapy and a holistic overview of the causes of gender distress will be the most effective treatment possible. As some people say – puberty itself is the cure for both gender distress and for concerns about growing up gay or lesbian.
LGB Alliance urges a blanket ban on puberty blockers
While NHS England has banned puberty blockers, their use continues in other parts of the UK. Furthermore, young people will still be able to access puberty blockers via private health clinics. One – Gender Plus – has even been approved by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). This decision is now subject to a legal challenge by the Tavistock GIDS whistleblower Sue Evans.
LGB Alliance is campaigning to close these loopholes by calling for a blanket ban on a treatment deemed unsafe by NHS England. We have written to the Secretary of State of Health and Social Care, urging her to follow best practice, not private practice.
Our letter to the minister can be read here:
https://lgballiance.org.uk/lgb-alliance-urge-secretary-of-health-to-close-the-loophole/
Expected developments:
Rogue online organisations can still swerve the NHS regulations. LGB Alliance is currently researching how many prescriptions are issued by private practices, and will share our findings in due course. UPDATE MAY 2024: Puberty blockers banned — including in private practice — in emergency legislation until September 2024]
LBG Alliance quotes:
Kate Harris, Co-founder, LGB Alliance: “It is wrong to tell children who are unhappy with their changing bodies that puberty is a medical condition to be treated. In reality, puberty is the solution to their unhappiness, with 80% – 90% of children who question their gender reporting no dysphoria post-adolescence.
“Socially transitioning one child requires every child in the school to subscribe to a falsehood – that people can change sex. Adults compelling children to collude in a lie is wrong and represents a significant safeguarding risk. Sporty girls who like science and climbing trees are still girls. Flamboyant boys who like dance and dolls houses are still boys. Gender non-conforming children, many of whom may grow up to be lesbian, gay or bisexual, should be celebrated, not medicated.”
Cross-sex hormones
While puberty blockers have been recognised to be ineffective and unsafe, exactly the same applies to cross-sex hormones. These cause irreversible changes to the body within months. In the case of teenage girls – the majority – these changes include a deep voice and beard growth, often within a few weeks.
Expected developments:
Attention will next shift to the 17-25 age group. This is much harder to address because this cohort has adult legal capacity, so safeguards are even more absent. The age of 25 is not randomly selected, because it is around then that the prefrontal cortex (which governs decision-making) is fully mature.
Another key question is the NHS’ decision to change its terminology from “cross-sex hormones” to “gender affirming hormones”. Both this and the recent announcement on cross-sex hormones seem like retrograde steps and we are seeking further information on what seem to be two contradictory steps.
The influence of unelected and unaccountable trans activists such as Dr Michael Brady, National Advisor for LGBT Health, NHS England, must be reviewed. Why is one individual whose views represent a tiny minority of trans rights zealots allowed to promote his unscientific beliefs in the name of LGBT people? LGB Alliance will continue to expose these activists who are causing so much harm in the health service and ask for their removal. They do not represent us but are a vestige of the 2018 LGBT Action Plan which was subsequently abandoned by the government. Why is Dr Brady still in the role?
The Cass report is due any day and will have a major effect worldwide.
In addition, we await the report of the Charity Commission’s investigation into Mermaids:
“The inquiry, which opened on 28 November 2022, will examine:
- The administration, governance and management of the charity by the trustees including its leadership and culture.
- Whether the trustees have complied with and fulfilled their duties and responsibilities as trustees under charity law; in particular whether they had sufficient oversight of the charity’s activities and compliance with its policies and procedures and in line with its charitable objects.
- Whether there has been any misconduct and/or mismanagement by the trustees.”
Conversion therapy bans – Westminster and Holyrood
Thankfully recent attempts by Baroness Burt of Solihull (Lib Dem) and Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP (Labour) to introduce legislation at Westminster to ban conversion therapy have both failed. Such legislation has nothing to do with helping children and young people with gender distress, and everything to do with the promotion of gender identity theory. Throughout its proud history of promoting equality for gays, lesbians and bisexuals (which ended in 2015) neither Stonewall nor its many supporters considered such a ban. Why? Because although conversion therapy is a cruel, revolting and utterly useless practice in many countries, that is not the case in the UK. Zero evidence has been shown of any need for such a ban. The only intent of those who promote this is to outlaw the very talking therapy recommended by Dr Hilary Cass and others to help children and young people with gender distress.
In Scotland Equalities Minister Emma Roddick has introduced one of the worst examples of conversion therapy bans possible and opened up a public consultation to obtain feedback. The Minister is quite open about the ideological foundations of the Bill, listing well known queer theory zealots as advisers and “experts” who helped produce the proposed legislation.
Knowing its history of pushing forward with unpopular and irrelevant legislation such as gender self-ID and the Hate Crime Act, the Scottish Government is unlikely to listen to evidence-based objections. Nevertheless, LGB Alliance has submitted our response to the consultation – which is designed specifically to “trans away the gay”.
It is worth looking at the countries and states that Minister Roddick lists as laudable examples. All have introduced, or are seeking to introduce, three specific types of legislation – which we refer to as the gender identity “triptych” – to replace sex with gender in law, to outlaw talking therapy and parental guidance for gender-distressed teenagers, and to ban any criticism of gender identity theory under the guise of “hate crime”.
Specifically, this “triptych” of legislation consists of:
- Gender self-ID laws
- Bans on so-called conversion practices
- Hate crime laws
The Scottish government is attempting to emulate these countries and states in imposing the same legislation. Sadly for the Scottish government gender self-ID was stopped by the use of Section 35 of the Scotland Act – now they are focusing on conversion practices and hate crime/
Bev Jackson, Co-founder, LGB Alliance:
“This is a highly complex issue and the public is being misled into thinking that conversion practice bans are progressive. In fact, the opposite is true. LGB Alliance is particularly concerned that thousands of young gay and lesbian people are being put on a medical pathway and convinced that they must make permanent changes to their bodies.
“That is the real conversion therapy scandal that is happening now, and to which we are strongly opposed. No legislation should be proposed or debated until the Hilary Cass Review has delivered its findings.”
Malcolm Clark, LGB Alliance supporter:
“The tragic irony is that the proposed bill in Scotland won’t stop the forced conversion of gays and lesbians. It will promote this by encouraging the medicalisation of teenagers and young people who would otherwise have grown up to be LGB.”
Activists’ attempts to silence whistleblowers
In March 2024, the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender (CAN-SG) held a conference on evidence-based treatment of young people presenting with gender dysphoria, bringing together expert speakers, experienced clinicians and academics from a variety of disciplines. It was called “First Do No Harm” and was extraordinary in two ways:
- The Royal College of General Practitioners wished to cancel the booking once they were lobbied by trans activists who expressed their dislike of fact based discussion. The only reason it was not cancelled was that the College was fearful of legal action. This demonstrates the level of capture of the medical profession and is truly worrying
- The event was ambushed by an aggressive mob of masked protestors, who blocked the entrance, set off smoke bombs, and jostled with police. The mob was led by Dr Ronx Ikharia, the presenter of CBBC’s Operation Ouch! This is believed to be the first time a medical conference has been attacked in this way.
It was not reported by the BBC even though they had reporters present.
Kate Harris, co-founder, LGB Alliance:
“It is still difficult to discuss this child medical scandal. The Royal Colleges have been infiltrated and influenced by gender identity campaigners who promote ideology over facts and the growing body of evidence we now have. It seems the BBC wants nothing to do with it and will not report on what will surely become one of the biggest news stories of the 21st century,”
* * * * *
World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH)
The US organisation WPATH has enormous influence on the treatment of people with gender dysphoria worldwide and has greatly influenced practitioners in the UK. This is because its grandiose name “World Professional Association for Transgender Health” has created the impression of an impartial professional organisation that devises policy on the basis of evidence. Its Standards of Care are frequently cited as “best practice”.
In fact, WPATH is an activist organisation that pushes what is called “gender affirming care” to the exclusion of all other treatment options. In February the release of a large batch of leaked internal emails showed WPATH clinicians discussing their patients in ways that prove they are experimenting recklessly on children, despite sometimes horrendous side effects, and that they are aware children are too young to give informed consent to procedures that lead, for instance, to infertility. Incredibly, the BBC completely ignored the WPATH FIles, which even the Guardian reported on. NHS England says it moved away from WPATH Guidelines over 5 years ago but was still presenting at its conference in 2022 and still describes WPATH as “good practice’” in current service specifications for adults. WPATH’s most recent Standards of Care (SoC 8) has a chapter on children who may be born with the gender identity of “eunuch” (and who may need surgery)… but WPATH decided at the last minute to drop the chapter on ethics. It also – just after publication – scrapped virtually all recommended minimum age limits for medical and surgical interventions. It explicitly did so to make it harder for former patients to bring lawsuits for medical malpractice.
In its leader on the WPATH FIles, The Times described the prescription of puberty blockers to children as “quack medicine”. The quacks are the activist clinicians and non-clinical activists at WPATH – and everyone who practises its malign form of “medicine”.
The BBC
The BBC has allowed itself to be a follower not a leader. It has a disgraceful record of either not reporting at all, or trivialising important issues in this area.
At a recent DCMS Select Committee, Director General Tim Davie entreated us all to “be kind and caring and nice” on issues of sex and gender.
To whom does he wish to be kind? Not the children whose lives are being turned upside down by people telling them all their problems will be solved by blocking their puberty and changing their bodies. Not the parents witnessing the loss of a brainwashed child taken away by a cult. Not the detransitioners left without sexual feeling, with damage to their bone and brain growth, with a lifelong dependency on drugs and further surgery.
Tim Davie does not understand what is going on and seems not to care. Hannah Barnes, the only BBC journalist who has ever managed to break the silence with her groundbreaking reporting on the scandal of GIDS at the Tavistock has left the BBC. In a recent interview in the Sunday Times she told how a related story got spiked – and added that she thinks the organisation was “crippled by fear“.
The BBC has a long record of not reporting important stories in this area. In the recent past:
- The BBC was the last media organisation to report on the ban on puberty blockers – and did so in a very reluctant manner
- The BBC has not reported at all on the WPATH files
- The BBC has not reported any of the key speeches and statements by Kemi Badenoch on “transing away the gay”
- The BBC has not reported on the fact that across the world there is a massive debate on the growing medical scandal of child transition
- The BBC has an “identity team” which avoids reporting on anything that does not support the view that there is an LGBT+ community which all agrees with the views of Stonewall – that is queer theory.
The BBC apparently thinks it takes “the middle ground”.
LGB Alliance continues to try and be heard on the BBC. We fear we are being blocked by programme makers and this may be because of an internal note advising “LGB Alliance does not give interviews”. This is the opposite of the truth, but in nearly 5 years of existence we have only been on the BBC – very briefly – on Jeremy Vine’s show in 2020, and on the day our trial judgement came in – on the World at One.
Resources
Database of articles on all gender-related issues, including suicide stats, detransition etc.
https://statsforgender.org/ (Please credit Stella O’Malley and Genspect)
LGB Alliance submission on Ending Conversion Practices Scotland
https://lgballiance.org.uk/our-response-to-ending-conversion-practices-in-scotland-consultation/
Books on GIDS
Time to Think, Hannah Barnes
The Tavistock’s Experimentation with Puberty Blockers, Michael Biggs
The WPATH Files
https://environmentalprogress.org/big-news/wpath-files
Recent Guardian Op-Ed on the WPATH Files:
Recent Dutch article on “gender non-contentedness” among teens and young adults
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-024-02817-5
Private clinics (some are adults-only, in other cases it is not always clear if children under 16 are accepted, except for GenderGP, which definitely does accept them)
https://www.harleystgenderclinic.com/
https://www.thelondontransgenderclinic.uk/our-transgender-surgery-practice-london/diagnosis-therapy/
https://genderhealthcare.co.uk/
Susie Green has announced she is setting up a new “trans helpline service” because Mermaids is not allowed to talk about private healthcare options
Other clinics for adults listed on the following web page under the heading “Paid UK-based services”:
https://genderkit.org.uk/resources/gender-services/
Organisations
https://transdatalibrary.org/organization/gender-exploratory-therapy-association/