Posted on 04/22/2024 8:41:18 AM PDT by ebb tide
Cass’ study has already led to the closure of Gids by NHS England, a ban on puberty blockers and a transition to a new “holistic” model of care in which under-18s confused about their gender identity will regularly obtain psychological support instead of medical intervention.
For years, members of the transgender cult have alleged that “gender medicine”, including puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, merely follows the science, slamming naysayers for “spreading hate” as “extremists” and “bigots”.
Recently, however, pediatrician Dr. Hillary Cass published the outcome of her study regarding the medical treatment given to children who think they are transgender, stating that so-called “gender medicine” is “built on shaky foundations” and that while these life-altering interventions should be treated with extreme caution, “quite the reverse happened in the field of gender care for children.”
The UK’s only NHS gender identity development service relied on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, which masculinize or feminize people’s appearances, despite “remarkably weak evidence” that they boost young people’s wellbeing, Cass posited.
Notably, a key finding of the report stated that the “rationale for early puberty suppression remains unclear, with weak evidence regarding the impact on gender dysphoria, mental or psychosocial health”.
“For most young people, a medical pathway will not be the best way to manage their gender-related distress. For those young people for whom a medical pathway is clinically indicated, it is not enough to provide this without also addressing wider mental health and/or psychosocially challenging problems,” said Cass, an ex-president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
According to various media sources including leftist news outlet The Guardian, NHS England commissioned Cass’ investigation in 2020 amid increasing worry over the care given by the Tavistock and Portman NHS mental health trust’s gender identity development services (Gids). Gids treated about 9,000 children and young people, with an average age at referral of 14, during 2009-2020. Strikingly, on the topic of puberty blockers, even The Guardian mentioned a paper revealing that out of “50 studies, only one was of high quality”.
Cass’ study has already led to the closure of Gids by NHS England, a ban on puberty blockers and a transition to a new “holistic” model of care in which under-18s confused about their gender identity will regularly obtain psychological support instead of medical intervention.
“For most young people, a medical pathway will not be the best way to manage their gender-related distress. For those young people for whom a medical pathway is clinically indicated, it is not enough to provide this without also addressing wider mental health and/or psychosocially challenging problems,” said Cass, an ex-president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Furthermore, Cass concluded that the proof often quoted by transgender activists and their political allies from the woke Left is immensely questionable. “While a considerable amount of research has been published in this field, systematic evidence reviews demonstrated the poor quality of the published studies, meaning there is not a reliable evidence base upon which to make clinical decisions, or for children and their families to make informed choices,” she penned in her report totaling over 300 pages and containing findings that go against the narrative pushed by the LGBT movement.
In response to Cass’ report, Paola Diana, who chairs the Women’s Policy Centre think tank, said that “we all knew that, except for the members of the gender-insanity cult.”
Also, the Cass Report provided a host of recommendations, including services that stick to the same rigorous standards of others dealing with children; services for de-transitioners; comprehensive, long-term data collection on the actual consequences of these interventions into adulthood; extensive screenings of those with gender dysphoria for contributing factors; and “extreme caution” for cross-sex hormones even when prescribed to non-minors.
In 2022, the interim Cass report highlighted grave points of concerns about the Gids transgender clinic. Children as young as three years were sent to the transgender clinic for psychological assessment despite the health service’s stance that young boys or girls displaying an interest in the opposite sex’s clothes and toys is “reasonably common” and is “usually not indicative of gender incongruence.”
Figures from The Daily Mail in December last year disclosed a considerable rise in the number of young people sent to the Tavistock clinic over the past ten years.
In response to Cass’ report, Paola Diana, who chairs the Women’s Policy Centre think tank, said that “we all knew that, except for the members of the gender-insanity cult.”
Before Cass’ report was published, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warned that permitting children to change gender could have psychological consequences and is “not a neutral act.”
Nonetheless, Sunak’s aforementioned remarks do not gel with his earlier pledge to prohibit transgender conversion therapy, or therapy meant to help someone with gender dysphoria identify as the gender with which he or she was born. Critics have lambasted Sunak’s move, saying such a decision could outlaw valid conversations between parents and their children.
In fact, a report in The Times dated October last year hints that Sunak’s prohibition was being steamrolled “as MPs fear the party will [otherwise] lose votes from the LGBTQ community.” Besides, an article by The Daily Telegraph in January last year portrayed Sunak’s decision as “an attempt to appease trans campaigners.”
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