Dr Cal Horton Profile picture
Oct 3 22 tweets 5 min read Read on X
UK folks who care for trans people - NHS folks who care for trans people. Please notice what is happening right now.

Powerful NHS figures are key speakers at a wildly anti-trans event. Alongside some of the leading figures in harms to trans people worldwide. Short thread. 1/
The event (SEGM) is happening right now in Greece.

Its organisers & lead figures include very active campaigners against trans rights, & leaders of organisations campaigning to make life impossible for trans people, especially for trans children

I wouldn't feel safe to attend.
Listed speakers include:

Key advisor to the Cass studies.
Key author of Cass systematic reviews.
Deputy head of NHS puberty blocker trial.
Trainer to NHS children's gender services.
Person tasked with setting up new Southern NHS Children's Gender Service.
The event flyer is available here:

trans.so/files/SEGM24_A…
@ZJemptv has written a thread diving into the listed speakers, including their powerful roles in controlling trans youth healthcare in the UK

@ZJemptv There is a very active & concerted effort to ensure anti-trans figures are in positions of authority across the NHS, especially in trans children's care.

This is an acute & powerful threat to trans children's healthcare rights, with risk of abuse & conversive practices.
@ZJemptv How can we have an NHS health service where those holding extreme prejudice about trans people are in such powerful positions of authority.

Zero trans positive clinicians with even an iota of knowledge about trans healthcare would be willing to speak at SEGM.
SEGM is not even pretending to be one of the good guys.

Key watcher of hate groups the SPLC designated them a "key hub of anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience".

splcenter.org/fighting-hate/…
SEGM are a designated "hate group".

thepinknews.com/2024/06/10/ant…
Wikipedia has this to say:

"The Society For Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) is a non-profit organization that is known for its opposition to gender-affirming care for transgender youth and for engaging in political lobbying. The group routinely cites unproven concept(s)."
Wikipedia continues:

"SEGM is often cited in anti-transgender legislation and court cases, sometimes filing court briefs. It is not recognized as a scientific organization by the international medical community".

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_f…
Key figures in the NHS with power over trans children's healthcare are speaking at the conference of a designated hate group that is not recognised as a scientific organisation by the international medical community.
No one with a key role in the NHS for trans children attended last week's WPATH, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

This recognised professional trans healthcare event was attended by 1400 people.
WPATH was attended by scores of professionals leading trans healthcare from USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand + many other countries. Tons of important heads of service. But no-one in positions of authority over trans children's care from the NHS.

They go to SEGM instead.
If powerful folks in the NHS had gone to WPATH they would have seen how terribly far the UK is behind all comparable countries. We are a world behind. The UK is so far an outlier it is beyond belief. And trans children in the UK are the ones being harmed.
The way in which professionals holding anti-trans prejudice have taken up positions of establishment power over trans children's healthcare in the NHS should be seen as a national scandal.
btw WPATH, which these NHS folks didn't attend, is a conservative mainstream medical organisation. It is not a trans led radical organisation, but the mainstream, often somewhat anti-trans medical consensus. I did a blog on my experience there. growinguptransgender.com/2024/10/01/wpa…
Even in that conservative mainstream medical organisation, the ideas & policies being currently rolled out in the UK for trans children are seen as outside of acceptable practice, entirely unscientific & driven by prejudice.

NHS folks have to go to a hate group to find support.
I've written a lot about the impact of prejudice on healthcare.

eg on cis-supremacy in the Cass Review:

tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
Trans children have a right to healthcare delivered without prejudice.

Folks holding anti-trans prejudice cannot continue to hold positions of authority over trans children.

Attending a anti-trans hate group conference is a very clear indication of prejudice.
The NHS needs to be held to account in a responsibility to design, evaluate and deliver healthcare without prejudice.

Anti-trans prejudice in the NHS is causing immense harm to trans children.
I'm going to take ANOTHER Twitter break. I can't hear news like this & just go on with my day.

Learning how yet more powerful NHS folks are anti-trans, while trans folks have zero influence, feels overwhelming & unfightable.

If you have any power, you need to speak up.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Dr Cal Horton

Dr Cal Horton Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @FierceMum

May 8
Fun fact - medicines for depression and anxiety have not been through blinded control trials specifically for 'treating' gender dysphoria. There is no evidence at all for this specific treatment goal.

Double standards. Transphobia.

And.. (see next post for the important bit)
Can we even imagine trans kids growing up without depression and anxiety? What if there was a way to avoid that?

THERE IS.

Social transition + affirmative healthcare + supportive families + protective schools + welcoming societies = happy trans children and young people.
The Cass approach:

1. Denied social transition - everyone will reject you and make you feel broken & ashamed through early childhood.
2. Denied affirmative healthcare - forced through a puberty that worsens your mental health, confidence and enjoyment of your adolescence
Read 7 tweets
Aug 5, 2023
Telegraph front page states 'most' young trans kids grow out of it by puberty.

They refer to Cass who refers to a 2016 article.

Here's a blog I wrote in 2017 on that exact article

growinguptransgender.com/2017/03/04/a-p…
Since 2016 a ton of evidence has shown that most young trans kids don't grow out of it.

That trans kids thrive with affirmation & trans-positivity.

AND for the kids who have 2+ social transitions to find what gives them joy - they too deserve love & support at every step.
Transphobes have chosen to ignore all evidence published post 2016 (hence the date of this literature review cited by Cass).
Read 22 tweets
Jul 15, 2023
New government guidance is rumoured to include barriers to social transition at school.

As a researcher with multiple evidence-based peer reviewed publications on childhood social transition, here’s what you need to know: 1/
Existing published evidence is overwhelming that social transition is critical for trans children’s mental health, well-being, confidence and happiness.

There is literally zero published research indicating any harm. 2/
A study with 73 socially transitioned trans children aged 3 to 12 years found they had high levels of mental health, with levels of depression similar to cis children (Olson et al., 2016). 3/
Read 37 tweets
Jun 19, 2023
This short thread shares two peer reviewed articles on what actually happens when trans kids come out at school in the UK.

Neither article has had any press coverage in a media that is both obsessed with, & ignorant about trans children in UK schools.

Pls read and share 1/6
The first article evidences the harms that are caused in UK schools that fail to protect trans children.

Trans children are often unsafe, suffering trauma at school, leading to school drop-out, & children losing out on their right to an education 2/6

bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bj…
The second article examines the stress that trans children experience in UK schools.

It highlights trans inclusion as an essential component of a school's duty of care. Schools have a responsibility to safeguard the mental health of trans children. 3/6

tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
Read 6 tweets
Jun 11, 2023
It's also an unaccountable & inflexible source of delay & denial.

'We've got approval for a 1st study on NT "early onset" binary kids with no complexities who hit full criteria for GD in childhood (tiny fraction of pop)

Everyone else = back luck, no study protocol for you yet
Kids get denied healthcare not cos there is a 'ban', no of course not, but because they are sadly not eligible for entry into the only study the NHS has chosen to prioritise.

This is laid out in black and white in the equality impact statement. In the annex in the small print.
Someone else just said something that gave me chills.

How many kids who are enrolled will end up in the 'control group'? This isn't stated anywhere in this weeks documents.

But the whole point of the NICE reviews was to argue for RCTs and control groups.
Read 28 tweets
Jul 16, 2022
I've published two peer reviewed articles on trans children and social transition. A third article is due out shortly, centring trans children's views & experiences

I would like to call attention to alleged comments made this week by Dr Hillary Cass on this topic. (short thread)
Supposedly Dr Cass said "Social transition is a powerful intervention. Whether it’s the right outcome for any one child is a complex decision to make". Supposedly she proposed schools should not affirm trans children without parental permission. I did not hear this first hand.
I want to challenge this (alleged) comment on a three fronts.

Firstly, social transition is NOT an intervention.

Denying a child's identity. Ignoring them, rejecting their self-knowledge, is a FAR BIGGER intervention than simply following their lead.
Read 16 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(