Thread by @genspect

🧵 @elizamondegreen reports on #EPATH2023: 1/ "They admit that patients seeking transition today don’t look or sound much like patients seeking transition 20 yrs ago, but warn against overfocusing on the explosion of adolescent girls identifying as trans.” genspect.org/dont-stop-beli…

@elizamondegreen 2/ "Rather than explore what may be going on with adolescent girls, EPATH presenters urged that clinicians pay attention to 'more important stigmatization of AMAB [male] than AFAB [female] LGBT youth.'"

3/ "Just 1 of EPATH’s 235 abstracts featured detransition. Not 1 even mentioned desistance. (By way of comparison, a single surgical procedure-vaginoplasty-got 59 mentions.) Affirmation is still the order of the day, even if today’s patients don’t look much like the patients that… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

4/ "In other words, EPATH puts in real effort to ‘pass’ as a respectable association, backed by scientific evidence and engaged in ongoing, open inquiry. But this is an appearance—nothing more."

5/ "In his opening address, outgoing EPATH president Joz Motmans rebuffed 'anti-gender' 'attacks' as part of a 'far-right' political campaign"

6/ "Meanwhile, EPATH remains committed to 'keep[ing] an open mind in this hostile time' and acting in the 'most transparent and public way we can' (absolutely no journalists allowed, though, sorry)."

7/ Former EPATH pres Motmans also "struck out at Genspect, insisting that EPATH itself 'see[s] the bigger picture'", and that "We respect everyone’s freedom of speech, but we choose not to listen to it.”

8/"Tina Kolos Orban of @TENI_Tweets "took an even darker path, proclaiming that the 'gender-critical movement is a totalitarian & genocidal force that targets not just trans people but all institutions that uphold democracy & individual human rights.'”

9/ "Orban also shamelessly linked criticism of experimental pharmaceutical and surgical interventions on youth to homophobia, racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, ableism, and misogyny."

10/Jon Arcelus, co-chair of the WPATH SOC8 committee "defended the Standards of Care for making 'strong recommendations based on weak or non-existent evidence.' After all, he pointed out, medical authorities found it appropriate to treat novel diseases like COVID-19 despite lack… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

11/ "In a disturbing update on the 'intersection' of autism and transgender identity among patients at the Dutch clinic, researchers reported that-out of 30 patients potentially eligible to participate in a 17-yr follow-up study-4 had declined to participate, 2 had… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

12/ "Only at the end of the presentation did the researchers admit that the two patients who had 'passed away' had in fact died by suicide. The deaths of these two patients—the researchers said—showed that there are 'two sides of the coin,' that there’s 'no crystal ball,' and… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

13/ "In place of free-ranging curiosity about what drives patients to seek such drastic interventions, there is a bounded curiosity about how patients identity and what novel 'treatment wishes' patients will express in the future."

14/ "The accusations EPATH 'chooses not to listen to' are serious and cut directly at the organization’s stated aims: 'To promote mental, physical and social health of transgender people in Europe. To increase the quality of life among transgender people in Europe. To ensure… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

15/ "The conference ended by blasting 'Don’t stop believin’ / Hold onto that feelin’'. Believin’ is the glue that holds everything together: the fantastical claims, the impossible promises transition makes, that data that suggests the wrong things to those of wavering faith…… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…