Thread by @ALLIANCELGB

Max was 11 years old and Ash was 8. Their stories were told in the 2016 documentary on the Tavistock GIDS clinic “Kids on the Edge: the Gender Clinic”. The clinic’s management was delighted with the documentary. Its director, Dr Polly Carmichael, said enthusiastically:/1of12

https://twitter.com/Transgendertrd/status/1346001210868948992

”We all feel proud to have been involved in the process and that we could not have wished for more in the way that they approached and conducted the whole process.”/2of12

Peter Beard, for the Guardian, enthused in his review: “I hope the people who rage about such things might also find the time to watch The Gender Clinic, which does a steady job of dismantling many of the panicked, inaccurate fears around what is clearly a complex process.”/3of12

Few who see this documentary today will reach that conclusion. The #KeiraBell ruling lays bare the lack of evidence on which the clinic’s treatment protocol was based. The minutes of @TaviAndPort board meetings reveal an awareness that the treatment has no evidence base./4of12

At one point in the documentary we are told: “Around half of all children seen by the Gender Identity Development Service show autistic traits – a link no one can explain.” In 2020, when asked by the High Court for today’s autism figures, the clinic was unable to reply./5of12

Matt rarely speaks - prefers to write. Matt wants to be called “he” at school, not at home. Is bullying a factor? A 2018 study found homophobic name calling [early in] middle school ...[was] a form of peer influence that predicted change in early adolescent gender identity./6of12

Pressure is exerted on both child and mother. A clinician says: “often we are putting responsibility back on the family because we don’t have the evidence base to say it’s these kids and not these kids,or how we can pick out which kids should go forward & which shouldn’t’.”/7of12

Ash, just 8 years old, is a “feminine” little boy. Evidence shows such boys generally grow up gay, but this possibility was not discussed at the clinic. Ash wants to be a girl for ever. Ash is a young child. With a child’s understanding and a child’s imagination./8of12

In 2016, @TransgenderTrd asked “how can a child begin to understand the complexity of this issue, the life-long effects of treatment which even the adults don’t know, and the reality of life as a transsexual adult?”/9of12

On 1 December 2020, having made a detailed study of the evidence, three senior High Court judges answered that question. A child cannot understand these complexities and therefore cannot give informed consent./10of12

Those who continue to advocate puberty blockers in spite of this very strong ruling are not protecting children but pushing a form of treatment with no evidence base that leads to profound and in many cases lifelong physical and psychological changes./11of12

They puff themselves up as the “good guys”. They may deceive themselves. They may yet deceive some distressed children and their parents. But as more light is shone on these practices, more people are refusing to be deceived./12of12