1/ Following the parliamentary recess ending mid April, Alicia Kearns MP will introduce an amendment to the Criminal Justice Act about Conversion Practices. It doesn't define "gender identity", but would enact it into law and risks fuelling the very problem it tries to solve.
2/ Conversion Practices legislation worldwide says doctors must accept the self diagnosis of vulnerable and confused children presenting at gender services. We've highlighted that most of these children grow up to be gay or are autistic before.
3/ This amendment is an unusual piece of legislation. It doesn't define "gender identity". It allows private prosecutors to misuse this law and risks a post office like scandal. The statutory defences are circular and misunderstand legal terms like "parental responsibility".
4/ Disbelief in gender ideology is a protected characteristic in civil law, but this amendment would create a criminal statute where gender identity is the basis for prosecution. That is a serious irregularity which will affect parents, teachers and clinicians.
5/ We believe this amendment would create a law that is incompatible with the 1998 Human Rights Act. Failing to define key terms, prescribing how parents can parent and limiting what people can say is highly likely to lead to human rights challenges.
6/ We continue to share the concerns of the Secretary of State for Equalities and members across both houses that gender medicine appears to be a new form of Gay Conversion Therapy. In a week where the NHS sensibly bans puberty blockers, this legislation is not fit for purpose.
7/ Our full Parliamentary Briefing will be available on our website soon and we encourage everyone who can to contact their MP regarding this legislation. Doctors, parents and teachers must be free to do their jobs without an unwarranted threat of prosecution.
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1/ The Gay Men's Network welcomes the sensible decision by NHS England today regarding Puberty Blockers. This is a significant step forward for evidence based paediatrics and adhering to the Hippocratic duty to "first do no harm"
2/ We responded to the NHSE consultation in November 2023 making the point that it would be unethical and reckless to prescribe experimental and irreversible drugs, even in "exceptional" cases or clinical trials.
3/ We have long questioned the efficacy and safety of these drugs and we've drawn attention to the fact the patient cohort at GIDS is 80-90% same sex attracted and 35% are autistic. These figures should have been the subject of medical curiosity and investigation.
1/ GMN has written to @WHO, @DrTedros and @JeremyFarrar regarding the Guideline Development Group consultation about our concerns of institutional capture by gender extremists. Homosexuals must not be forgotten in this consultation.
2/ Gender medicine is riven with institutional homophobia and takes no account of autism spectrum overrepresentation in the patient cohort. Staff at the UK Tavistock GIDS "joked" that "soon there will be no gay people left". This is modern day gay conversion therapy.
3/ The WHO threatens to assemble a panel of extremists, some of whom believe that exploratory talking therapy is a "conversion practice" and have this panel dictate global best practice on areas far outside medical concern like gender self ID. This cannot be right.
1/ GMN has tonight written a public letter to Baroness Burt of Solihull regarding her Private Members Bill in the House of Lords regarding a "Conversion Therapy Ban".
We raise serious concerns about the unintended consequences this bill would have if it became law.
2/ So-called "conversion therapy bans" cause gay conversion. UK figures state that 80-90% of the children and young people at gender clinics are same sex attracted. The vast majority will grow out of cross sex ideation if left to go through puberty. CT Bans make this impossible.
3/ CT Bans require doctors to accept a child or young person's self diagnosis or risk a criminal penalty. This is wrong. Clinical best practice should never be dictated by criminal law. Medicine should focus on the welfare of the patient and not ideological considerations.
1/ GMN is proud today to have stood with LGB Alliance and Lesbian Labour at a meeting with the UN's Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and the (contested concept) of gender identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz.
2/ Together, we pressed concerns each organisation has regarding the homophobia inherent to gender identity ideology. In particular we stressed the plight of detransitioners, gender healthcare more generally and self ID.
3/ We emphasised that homosexual detransitioners should be included in the UN brief regarding sexual orientation and we continue to campaign on the basis that detransitioners should be listened to and their stories heard.
1/ The Gay Men's Network unreservedly condemns the decision of the legislators in Uganda to vote for a draconian, anti-homosexual bill which imposes the death penalty for homosexual acts and marks a sad milestone in the journey of anti-gay hate in Uganda.
2/ We note this bill marks an increasing intensity in anti-gay hate in the country with a previous version the bill calling for 10 year sentences. The death penalty now replaces that. The previous bill is here:
1/ The UN Human Rights Council has sent an official to visit the UK in April this year to identify issues in respect of homophobia and the contested concept of "gender identity". We've responded and point out the homophobia of GI ideology itself.
2/ It is in everyone's interests that the UN recognise and reflect the plurality of political and ideological opinion among homosexuals and we today call for the UN's "Independent Expert" to live up to that title and confront the specific issues we raise.
3/ So called "Gender medicine" is in a state of crisis globally with Norway recently all but banning childhood transition. We have long campaigned on this issue and drawn attention to the homophobia plaguing this area of medicine. We continue that campaign here.