Mick Hartley

This is depressing, but – given what we know of the NHS – predictable. From the Telegraph:

Trans activists have taken over a research group set to underpin the future of NHS care for gender-questioning children, critics have claimed.

The James Lind Alliance (JLA), a taxpayer-funded project was set up to address the “weak evidence” around treating children who question their gender in response to the Cass review.

But the project has now been accused of “bias” by openly promoting puberty blockers and sex-change surgery.

The JLA also labels gender dysphoria – a medical condition – as “gender diversity” and collects data on gender identity instead of biological sex.

It was commissioned by the NHS in the wake of Baroness Cass’s review into gender-questioning children’s care to understand “what future research evidence will help secure the best outcomes for children, adolescents and young adults”.

However, it is asking children as young as five to talk about their “gender diversity” in its survey.

The survey states that anyone under 14 is simply able to press a button to confirm they have parental consent to fill out the questionnaire, and is not required for anyone older.

Speaking to The Telegraph, concerned parents claimed research is being set up to fail in its intended goal of providing a balanced and independent view and could compound a loss of trust in the NHS to care for children experiencing gender dysphoria.

The steering group leading the research protocol includes a mix of healthcare professionals and people with “lived experience”.

“Lived experience”? Ah yes. That would be lived trans experience.

Five of the six teenagers and young adults with “lived experience” are living as either a trans man or trans woman. Only one has detransitioned having temporarily lived as the opposite gender to the one they were born while a teenager, and were belatedly added to the panel after concerns were raised internally.

All three parents involved have trans children, including one who accessed puberty blockers privately for their child and was a Tavistock patient, and another whose child “began her gender journey at approximately five years old” and has since been diagnosed with autism, Tourette Syndrome, and other conditions.

So it’s all set up to provide the answers the trans activists want.

Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns at sex-based rights charity Sex Matters, claimed the research “seems to be designed by gender activists”.

“Rather than building on the findings of the Cass Review of health services for gender-distressed children, it uses made-up concepts like ‘gender diverse’ – which is not a medical term, and can only mean not conforming to sex stereotypes.”

She claimed that the project raised “significant safeguarding concerns” and “doubts about the research team’s neutrality”.

“Then there is the biggest fail of all: the study does not record the sex of respondents,” she added. “The team behind this research needs to revisit the Cass Review urgently and redesign their work to take its considerations – as well as basic safeguarding – into account.”

Stephanie Davies-Arai, founder and director at Transgender Trend, claimed the study was “very firmly placed within an ideological framework, based on the non-scientific concept of ‘gender identity’”.

“This is no different to the activist understanding that was used, and ultimately brought down, the Tavistock gender clinic. It is as if the Cass Review never happened,” she said.