Thread by @ThoughtfulTs

1/ In the UK the number of young people with gender dysphoria is increasing, access to gender related
medical treatments is decreasing and a new law might make routine therapy with gender questioning people difficult or illegal.

aliciakearns.com/ban-lgbtq-conv…

Read more here:

2/ Following recent court rulings, it has been acknowledged that ‘additional safeguards when making clinical decisions about puberty blockers for under-16s’ are necessary england.nhs.uk/commissioning/…

3/ The NHS has realised that gender affirming medicine does not have the robust evidence base that is usually necessary for them to offer a treatment. evidence.nhs.uk/document?id=23…

4/ There are over 4000% young people on the waiting list for help at the UK’s only gender service for young people - GIDS. bmj.com/content/372/bm…

5/ As a group, we know that young people with gender dysphoria present with serious ‘considerable psychiatric comorbidity.’’ At the very least, they deserve evidence based help for problems that are occurring alongside the gender dysphoria. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

6/ GIDs now acknowledge they need staff who can do more than just affirm and refer on. Applicants need ‘experience with patient populations who present with a high level of complexity and require skilled and multi-layered assessments and intervention.’ nhsjobs.com/job/UK/London/…

7/ We are in limbo as we await Hilary Cass’ recommendations for what the NHS should offer these young people but it seems that the only conclusion she can make is that more research is needed. england.nhs.uk/2020/09/nhs-an…

8/ In the future, young people may only be prescribed puberty blockers and cross sex hormones as part of a carefully controlled and properly managed research study.

9/ In this likely scenario most young people distressed by their gender will then be seen in mental health services. But if we make therapy for young people questioning their gender difficult, or illegal, then who will be willing and able to help them?

10/ Let’s avoid an absurd situation and ensure that evidence based therapies remain available for vulnerable young people living with gender dysphoria and associated difficulties.

11/ Tell the government! We need to define what is and isn’t conversion therapy for gender identity *before* making any new laws. Sign and share our petition. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/5820…