Thread by @BayswaterSG

We're glad Sonia Appleby got justice from @TaviAndPort. Genuine concerns about GIDS were dismissed as transphobia - an accusation @PaulJThinks has levelled at us too recently. We publish our correspondence with him below, in the public interest.
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https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1435006734372847616?s=20

Last yr Dr Heather Wood of GIDS told 3000 UK psychologists that we were "not an appropriate resource" for parents & our website was "blatantly transphobic". Her problem stemmed from our link to @Transgendertrd, a site many parents find helpful and informative.
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We're parents devoted to our kids in tough times. Our doubts about the efficacy of life-long experimental drugs are reasonable. We're proud NHS users. As we told the BMJ, the NHS should work with us, not point judgmental fingers as Dr Wood did.
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doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m2…

We wrote to @ailsa_swarbrick at the Trust, to ask for Dr Wood to resist simplistic, polarising judgments that were at odds with the service's ethos of thoughtfulness and bridge-building.

Read our letter & make up your own mind.
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We hoped for an amicable outcome. @PaulJThinks had said recently that "we will continue to listen and work with everyone". The GIDS Director's views were clear: "it is vitally important to keep channels open and have a constructive dialogue...with all groups".
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But when @PaulJThink's response arrived, he told us that, because he saw us as 'gender critical', the NHS Trust could no longer deal with us. @EHRCChair @EHRC @MForstater @legalfeminist @anyabike

Read his letter & make up your own mind.
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It's not ok for a senior public servant, bound by Nolan principles, to dismiss a stakeholder group - parents of vulnerable children, including those in his Trust's care - in this way. It's not ok to say one thing and do another.
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We were astonished by the discriminatory language and double standards in @PaulJThinks's letter. So we wrote to @PaulBurstow , the Trust's Chair, asking him to revisit the matter.

Read our letter & make up your own mind.
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The Trust told us "it's important we adopt a position of neutrality in relation to individual groups". So why does the GIDS website have links/refs to GIRES, Mermaids, Gendered Intelligence & Tranzwiki, but not us? Does the Trust value some parents more than others?
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The Trust demanded moderation and balance of us, but not of its employee Dr Wood, who castigated us in extreme language while praising Mermaids as "an award winning charity who do some hugely important work".
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The Trust ceo tells the world he will "work with everyone". The GIDS Director told the National Lottery that contacts "with all groups" were "vitally important". But the discriminatory reality is that only some groups are acceptable.
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@PaulBurstow replied. Surprisingly, he drew comfort from the CQC's inspection of GIDS; and objected to our description of hormonal treatments as "invasive".
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Nearly 350 parents have joined our group. We've submitted evidence to Parliament, held seminars with NHS experts, met MPs, Peers & MSPs, and engage with the Cass review. We organise meet-ups, zoom calls, a vibrant online support forum and much else. Parents value our work.
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In other words @PaulJThinks @PaulBurstow : we're real & growing, and ignoring us is silly. What drives us is not transphobia, but the timeless parental instinct: to fight our children's corner. Tossing us aside makes your job not easier, but impossible.
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@NHSEngland pays you to serve us & many others who disagree strongly with us. Our job is to help you do that, by helping you understand us. It's complicated by the lack of sound evidence guiding your treatments, & no consensus among parents. Just strong feelings & politics.
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But progress is impossible if you hold yr hands over yr ears while repeating 'transphobia'. We expect more seriousness than that. @CareQualityComm judged GIDS leadership "inadequate". Show real leadership by working with us to improve outcomes for our gender-distressed kids.
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As a PS & to avoid confusion, we'd like readers to know that the subject of our communications with @TaviAndPort is not the London-based adult psychoanalyst with the same name, who's also worked at the Trust.