Bayswater Support Profile picture
Support for parents of children IDing as trans. We seek evidence-based care & are cautious about ‘affirmation’. hello@bayswatersupport.org.uk
Liz Panton #WomensRightsAreHumanRights Profile picture 🤐 🦖 Dr Lesley (Ancient Dyke) Semmens KPSS 🦖 Profile picture 3 subscribed
Feb 27 22 tweets 4 min read
There is much to be welcomed in the @educationgov guidance, particularly the clarity around existing legal duties. However, there are key areas that require strengthening. This thread offers a summary & we urge people to respond to the consultation
gov.uk/government/con… Firstly, the guidance must explicitly reference the very serious psychological & physical risks associated with a trans-identity. Otherwise schools will continue to respond simply to the superficial identity rather than considering underlying causes & consequences. Image
Jan 27 15 tweets 3 min read
How did a school come to take decisions with such detrimental consequences for its pupils? The answer lies in a Church of England schools policy (issued in 2014, updated 2019) 🧵 1/15
telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/01/2… The CofE's "Valuing all God's Children" had the laudable aim of "challenging homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying". Sadly the policy is riddled with inaccuracies, misrepresents UK law, and fails to provide an evidence-based account of paediatric gender dysphoria. 2/15
Dec 20, 2023 12 tweets 2 min read
The new @educationgovuk schools guidance must be underpinned by updates to its statutory safeguarding guidance "Keeping Children Safe in Education" (KCSIE). #edutwitter A thread explaining why: In February 2022, the interim NHS Cass Review presented evidence showing the specific vulnerability of trans-identified children. Cass cites disproportionate rates of mental health comorbidities, neurodevelopmental issues, sexual abuse & other trauma among this cohort.
Dec 19, 2023 7 tweets 2 min read
The @educationgovuk schools guidance contains a long-overdue warning about the consequential nature of social transition and the lack of evidence for this intervention. The urge for caution is a welcome step in the right direction. 1/7
consult.education.gov.uk/equalities-pol… However, schools now need help to understand that the greatest safeguarding threat to trans-identified students comes not from parents who are cautious about social transition but from a failure to ensure a holistic understanding of the child's distress and associated risks.
2/7
Nov 30, 2023 14 tweets 4 min read
Schools, teachers, parents & well-meaning peers often assume that affirming a child's trans identity by agreeing to new name/pronouns is the kind thing to do and that this is associated with mental health benefits.
This is not supported by the available evidence. #edutwitter 🧵 With rumours swirling about @educationgovuk schools guidance, here is a review of why social transition is too important an issue to fudge. Crucially: agreeing to name/pronoun requests comes with significant risks for the student & is a decision beyond the remit of any school.
Nov 29, 2023 5 tweets 1 min read
This Times editorial fundamentally misunderstands the implications of a child seeking to identify outside their sex category.

1/5thetimes.co.uk/article/the-ti… What is innocently framed here as "trying out new identities" conveniently skips over the Cass Review findings of trauma, bullying, mental health issues etc. in this cohort.
2/5
Nov 5, 2023 8 tweets 2 min read
Earlier this year, @BayswaterSG wrote to the CPS with concerns about their domestic abuse guidance, in particular a list of inappropriate examples of 'abuse'. Our concerns are now echoed in a new @Policy_Exchange report by @OHaraMaureen9:
A short 🧵telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11/0… Annex D of the CPS guidance cites the following as potential examples of domestic abuse:
· Refusing to use [...] preferred name or pronoun
· Threatening or sharing pre-transition images
· Destroying medication or clothes
· Withholding money for transitioning
Oct 31, 2023 5 tweets 1 min read
We are often told that conversion therapy bills have been introduced in other countries with no issues.
Not so, according to Dr Alexander Korte, who describes the detrimental consequences of German CT legislation on clinicians.

Full quote and video link below🧵 Describing legislation introduced in Germany in June 2020, Dr Korte (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich) says:
"And specifically the German Act on Protection against Conversion Therapy has had a disastrous impact because many psychotherapists —
Oct 19, 2023 9 tweets 2 min read
Proposals to ban "conversion therapy" continue to be blighted by the absence of clarity over what may or may not be covered by legislation. 🧵
thetimes.co.uk/article/rishi-… A broad definition of conversion therapy brings risk of immense harm, where anything other than affirmation of a trans identity could be framed as "conversion".
Parents and therapists from Germany have told @BayswaterSG of the chilling effect of similar legislation there.
2/9
Sep 7, 2023 6 tweets 1 min read
Parental consent for social transition is a welcome step, but @educationgovuk guidance must be clear: parents do not have the right to demand their child is treated as the opposite sex for all purposes, or to impose their personal beliefs on the rest of the school community.
1/6
Social transition is not just about name and pronouns, it also involves being treated as the opposite sex in contexts where sex segregation is the default, e.g. toilets, changing rooms, sport, overnight accommodation. #edutwitter
2/6
Oct 10, 2022 11 tweets 2 min read
We urge DfE to return to the findings of the Cass Review and create guidance that recognises the additional vulnerabilities faced by children seeking to explain their difficulties through a cross-sex identity:
thetimes.co.uk/article/minist…
🧵 1/9 Our iceberg graphic illustrates how unquestioning affirmation of a trans identity can mask a range of serious problems. Once gender is mentioned, all too often these children are exceptionalised and removed from normal safeguarding protocols.
2/9
Sep 4, 2022 13 tweets 3 min read
Teachers are regularly briefed on DfE's "Keeping Children Safe in Education" guidance. As parents of a particularly vulnerable group of children, we feel there is additional safeguarding information that schools need, especially in light of the ongoing NHS Cass Review. 🧵 1/12 By conflating transgender identity with sexual orientation, the current KCSIE guidance overlooks specific safeguarding risks for trans-identified children. This thread outlines the key issues that schools need to address in safeguarding policies.
2/12
Jun 9, 2022 12 tweets 2 min read
On 13th June there will be parliamentary debate prompted by a petition to extend the conversion therapy bill to cover trans-identified people. @BayswaterSG supports the government's decision to first gather more evidence & await the outcome of the final Cass Report. 1/12 In the meantime, BSG urges MPs to read the interim NHS Cass Review and the EHRC response to the conversion therapy bill consultation to understand the complexity of gender dysphoria and the potential for poorly evidenced legislation to impede legitimate therapy and support. 2/12
May 14, 2022 13 tweets 4 min read
This interview with @nadhimzahawi raises serious concerns about the extent to which @educationgovuk understands the findings of @thecassreview
🧵1/13
thetimes.co.uk/article/nadhim… Mr Zahawi's suggestion that a "trans" identity can be reliably diagnosed in childhood is completely at odds with the interim Cass findings, and his proposals around single-sex facilities in schools are unworkable & potentially contrary to recent @EHRC guidance. 2/13
Apr 23, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read
Bayswater Support Group welcomes the decision by @sajidjavid to launch an inquiry into child gender services, and we hope it will be expanded to include the education and charity sectors as well as medical provision for 18-25 year olds.
1/8
We agree that the current system is “failing children”, and ask why it has been driven by ideology rather than evidence. Full @thetimes report here:
2/8
Apr 21, 2022 11 tweets 4 min read
Bayswater Support Group welcomes the emphasis from @nadhimzahawi to the Education Select Committee that "Parents should be front and centre" when it comes to safeguarding.

THREAD: 1/11 Alarmingly, a recent YouGov poll revealed that only 5% of teachers would proactively inform parents of a child's cross-sex identification, with almost a fifth stating that they would not do so as a matter of course.
2/11
Mar 10, 2022 15 tweets 4 min read
We welcome today's interim report from @thecassreview & its recognition that the current service model "is not a safe or viable long-term option". The report deserves a detailed and considered reading, here we aim only to point to some key findings.
cass.independent-review.uk/publications/i… The interim report is accompanied by two research reports which surveyed healthcare professionals (general & specialist), which can also be downloaded here:
cass.independent-review.uk/publications/
Feb 28, 2022 13 tweets 6 min read
A clinical psychologist writing for @Transgendertrd warns that early-childhood social transition can cause problems when the child starts puberty: it's a short-term strategy with long-term consequences.
transgendertrend.com/childhood-soci… Early-childhood social transition shapes a child's self-concept & gender ideas & may be considered a conversion practice, as adults signal to the child that he or she is 'in the wrong body'. We wrote about this in our response to the recent public consultation.
Feb 24, 2022 13 tweets 8 min read
We wrote to @sueziebland @OxPrimaryCare @JohnAPowell @dipexcharity in July 2020 outlining our concerns about this project. We obtained reassurances, but we're sorry to find that our concerns are realised in the health talk website. Our letter appears in the thread below. Our concern here is simply that families & GPs will be misled by the selection & curation of testimony, leading to treatment decisions that will harm. The researchers either don't know the literature, or have deliberately obscured it, which would amount to misconduct in research.
Feb 22, 2022 6 tweets 2 min read
Today Sweden's National Board for Health & Welfare calls for "restraint" in the use of hormones by under 18s suffering gender dysphoria.

"the risks of blockers & cross-sex hormones for under 18s currently outweigh the possible benefits for this group".

socialstyrelsen.se/om-socialstyre… Epidemiological changes that are not yet understood (esp growth in patient numbers, new adolescent-onset presentation, F outnumbering M) "constitute an uncertainty" that warrant caution, said Thomas Lindén at the Board.
Feb 20, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
Thank you @SundayTimesScot for reporting our concerns over the proposal that young people uncomfortable with their bodies should commit to a final, legal answer by the young age of 16. This is the message that the Scottish proposal on GRC eligibility sends vulnerable adolescents. Image Link to the article:
thetimes.co.uk/article/210289…