As conservative momentum grows to tap the brakes on transgender medical procedures for children in the U.S., a group of "gender identity specialists" in England claims that the "toxic media" created an "atmosphere of fear" around such procedures for minors.
More than 40 clinical psychologists have signed an open letter to the Association of Clinical Psychologists UK (ACP-UK) to protest the organization's recent statement on providing gender-affirming care to children and young people. They say that experts in the field were not consulted, resulting in a "misleading" statement that "perpetuates damaging discourses about the work and gender-diverse identities more broadly."
The letter follows the July decision to close the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at the Tavistock and Portman NHS foundation trust in London. NHS England announced it would be closing GIDS and replacing it with regional hubs after the interim report of the Cass Review cautioned that having only one provider for gender care for young people was "not a safe or viable long-term option."
The co-organizers of the letter, Dr. Laura Charlton, who worked at GIDS from 2014 to 2020, and Dr. Aidan Kelly, who worked at the service from 2016 to 2021, said that the letter was significant because it marked the first time these practitioners had come together to publicly voice their concerns.
"We acknowledge that there were some valid concerns about the GIDS service, not least the significant waiting times, but we take issue with how it is now being portrayed," they told The Guardian. "This is the first time that so many specialists working within UK gender services have come together to speak out about their portrayal, often by people who do not share our specialist knowledge.
"We know that colleagues are especially keen to underline that, if they left GIDS, it was often because of the toxic media and political environment surrounding the service rather than because they disagreed with practice there," Charlton and Kelly added.
Last month the ACP-UK said the service's closure was "precipitated by a number of systemic failings" such as taking an "approach that was predominantly affirmative, rather than exploratory."
"We are disappointed that a false binary continues to be perpetuated between 'affirmative' practice and exploration and curiosity," the group of gender identity specialists wrote in response.
Taking an "affirmative" approach to allegedly transgender children is "often misrepresented," as being the "preferred outcome," the letter signatories said, before claiming that the Tavistock center did not operate in such a way that a "particular path or identity is privileged over any other, and gender diversity is viewed as a part of ordinary human diversity."
The skyrocketing number of children being diagnosed with gender dysphoria at Tavistock — a 5,000% increase in girls over the last 10 years — has raised questions about the use of the affirmative method with children who question their gender.
Nurse Susan Evans, a whistleblower from the service, claimed political motivations were behind the increase in children being prescribed hormone blockers.
"The treatment pathway of children with gender dysphoria [was] becoming ever more politicised, and moving away from high standards of clinical mental healthcare with good assessment and psychotherapeutic treatment," she said, according to Breitbart.
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