In what could mark the start of a return to sensible thinking on transgender issues, action is being brought against the Portman NHS Trust over its use of puberty blockers on children, it was reported in November.
The use of blockers has scant research behind it, but increasing numbers of children are being prescribed the medication which is only licensed for precocious onset of puberty. Indeed, research undertaken by the NHS’ own gender clinic, GIDS, has shown there is a significant increase in children trying to hurt or kill themselves when they are prescribed such medication. ‘Increase in use of (en September 2019 puberty blockers to be investigated.’)
Guinea-pig treatment
Known in court documents as ‘Mrs A’, the woman bringing her case to court said her 15-year-old daughter is autistic and cannot properly consent to being given hormone-blocking drugs. Mrs A said children and their parents are not told the various risks, and are being given ‘inaccurate and potentially misleading’ information by the clinic.
Parents are able to apply for a court order to prevent the prescribing of drugs they feel are not in their child’s best interests, even if their child has given consent and is deemed competent by clinicians. But Mrs A wants the courts to block GIDS from administering the drugs to anyone unless a court decides it is in the child’s best interests. She says a review should take place and procedures should be put on hold until more is known about the effects of puberty-blocking drugs.
Autism exploited?
Mrs A says her daughter is autistic and has other mental health problems. She expressed ‘deep concerns’ that the clinic has not considered the complexities of her child’s condition, resulting in her daughter being subjected to ‘experimental treatment’. Furthermore, the mother is disturbed over inadequate regulation and insufficient safeguards, adding that ‘no one, let alone my daughter, understands the risks and therefore cannot ensure informed consent is obtained’.
Mrs A also highlighted the disproportionate number of patients at the clinic who are autistic girls. ‘There are many parents, like me, who are anxiously trying to support their children through an already turbulent adolescence, with the additional distress of issues surrounding identity development. We want the best for our children, but we need this to be from a position of evidence-based, not experimental, medicine.’
State-sponsored mutilation
More than 30 families with transgender children are to lobby the Government and the NHS against what they claim is ‘coerced medicalisation’ propelling vulnerable young people, convinced they are the wrong gender, towards treatments that risk leaving them infertile.
The group, provisionally called ‘Our Duty’, was formed after one mother went public to describe gender reassignment medication and surgery for those with autism or psychological problems as ‘state-sponsored sterilisation’. Her daughter has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autistic traits and believes she is male.
After transitioning
Standing in opposition to the promotion of transgender lives, popularised by positive media coverage and ‘factual’ programmes for children, are detransitioners. These are the people who have discovered that, post surgery and medication, their lives have not been miraculously transformed, but they have carried their problems into their ‘new body’. However, returning to the body of their birth sex, they find themselves mutilated and facing new problems as they attempt to readjust.
Due to this complex set of needs, the Detransition Advocacy Network (DAN) was launched in early October. The founder, Charlie Evans, spoke up about her detransitioning process, and was quickly contacted by over 500 people. The organisation will launch officially on 30 November at a secret location in Manchester. Attendees will be told the venue nearer the time, so as to decrease the likelihood of trans activists attempting to stop the event taking place.
The trans community have people within it who are very opposed to any discussion of people who have decided not to transition or have stopped transitioning. DAN is aiming to connect people to build a support network, and provide resources from professionals covering legal and medical advice. People who have undergone reversal surgery are perhaps the most marginalised group of people in wider society, alongside those who say they are ex-gay, as they are all seen as ‘traitors’.
