The question whether the Cass review team carried out engagement with Trans communities is immaterial. The engagement was not genuine, views shared in good faith by children & young people, families & support services were absent from synthesis & final recommendations. #CassFlaws

https://twitter.com/ErinInTheMorn/status/1783848350355226660

The methodology of the Cass Review qualitiative research stated they would conduct 40 interviews, 20 with 12-18s and 20 with adults up to age 30. They managed only 14 and 12 respectively. 26 interviews which were jumped on by gender critcal parents & anti Trans 'ex trans' groups

I'm working my way through the Cass Sytemic review on Clinical guidelines for children & adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria or incongruence: it is very difficult to lack of access to the standards they review. There are also methodological issues 1/adc.bmj.com/content/early/… I'm going to talk about the two standards the Cass research team rated highest & which the Cass Final report is most closely matched to in terms of recommendations - namely The Swedish and Finland protocols 2/

I've been looking at a paper cited in Cass (recreating a graph introducing new spelling errors). I have thoughts. It is an undergraduate author. No full is data provided - only 3 sets of extracts, which have 9 or 10 respondents 1 of which repeats in error. tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
The methodology section doesn't state the survey was originally a questionnaire to understand current needs of detransitioners and to produce an information booklet about detransition. I wonder if ethics approval was given for this - any German Trans academics can help check?

I've been reading of the Finland youth gender centre in Tampere which the Cass review lauds. It was recently revealed the head of the centre is on the Cass advisory group. CW In following tweets I relate extremely disturbing accounts from parents & youth of what they endured 1/ This is by 'Spinner' for Kehraaja (Nightjar in Finnish) 19.3.2021 "Describe to me how you masturbate?" - the position of trans youth in the treatment system is bleak" 2/kehraaja.com/kuvaile-minull…

There is a bad science story in Today's Daily Mail. Where an anti Trans academic has published a new study - the headline claiming Puberty Blockers lowers IQ in Trans youth. It took me 5 mins to find the study.
Here's some quick fact checking on this research: 1/ 1) The study 'The Impact of Suppressing Puberty on Neuropsychological Function' Baxindale S. is pre-print & has not been peer reviewed. It is not clear where or when it will be published. A quick review sees some common factors in anti Trans studies such as 'cherry picking' 2/

BREAKING: WPATH release statement on NHS Trans health interim service specification for children & young people "An unconscionable degree of state intusion into personal & family medical decision making" with "serious flaws...likely to cause enormous harm"
#TransHealthCrisis WPATH, ASIAPATH, EPATH, PATHA, and USPATH Response to NHS England Statement regarding the Interim Service Specification for the Specialist Service for Children and Young People with Gender Dysphoria (Phase 1 Providers) by NHS England* listloop.com/wpath/mail.cgi…

If a post adolescent Trans young person can give consent, has both support at home and from their medical team, then there should be a route to gender surgeries where that young person wants and understands the treatments involved. I'm very glad WPATH SoC8 gives space for this. For those who criticise this opinion, I'd reply that other people's medical care is none of your business. That these are personal decisions which are carefully considered by the people best placed to make them. Body autonomy is a human right.

Reminder that Puberty blockers were first used for trans health in 1988. The adolescents who received them, in the Netherlands, are now in their late 40's & doing great according to decades of follow up studies. This treatment is not experimental it is evidenced best practice. This piece by @FierceMum summarises much of the recent literature on puberty blockers, their effectiveness & other impacts growinguptransgender.com/2020/06/10/pub…

"We need more research about Transgender children" is the claim (by those who argue against Trans healthcare).

Well, here's just some of the research that's been carried out in the last 5 years supporting the finding that Trans healthcare is healthcare THREAD: 1/ Mental health and self-worth in socially transitioned transgender youth. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Durwood, L., McLaughlin, K. A., & Olson, K. R. (2017) doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac… 2/

The Equality Act 2010 is the main reason why you have heard of Trans children. Before it was in place, there were no protections to allow children who were Transgender to be recognised or protected at school & in society. 1/ While there were legal protections for adults for example in employment & in healthcare, for Trans children & young people, only from 2011 onwards (when the act came into force) were they recognised in the protected characteristic of gender reassignment & legally protected 2/

I am the parent of a Trans child & I will not be accused
of homophobia, especially by Ex GIDS psychoanalysts (the 'profession' which industrialised conversion therapy). You clearly no nothing about us, our children or Trans people, you pernicious, moral panic instigating hacks. The accusations come via testimonies of a now former clinician of GIDS (NHSEngland's Children's Gender Identity Development Service), these were compiled in a report by David Bell & leaked to various newspapers including the Telegraph & Observer. The report's never been published

I've asked doctors, in which circumstances would it be medically necessary for our child or parent to disclose her sex assigned at birth when seeking medical help. The specific circumstances are vanishingly small. Enforced disclosure leads to distress & risks harm & prejudice

https://twitter.com/NotRightRuth/status/1360545633086676993

The one time we disclosed, when unsure, lead to invasive, unnecessary questioning regarding genitalia by NHS staff, entirely unrelated to the purpose of visit. Our daughter's NHS marker states female & we've made decision as a family in future to not disclose unless essential.

"Puberty blockers" were first used for transgender health in 1988. The adolescents who received them, in the Netherlands, are now in their mid 40's and doing great according to over 20 years of follow up studies. This treatment is not experimental it is evidenced best practice. Dulcan & Lee treated a trans male youth aged 17 in 1982. "Although Steven might be considered by some to be too young to begin hormone treatment, the prospect of waiting yet another year, or longer, was unbearably painful for him" CW: medical transphobia jaacap.org/article/S0002-…

I don't know who needs to hear this today, there are literally thousands of happy children & young people in the UK who happen to be transgender. They're loved by families & friends. They're supported to be who they are in school, university & work & they're doing amazing. This is not to dismiss the inequalities that exist for trans people. Things can seem bleak when our media & our Government are determined to spread fear & mistrust, However they cant stop trans people who are changing the world, simply by living their best lives. #transkidsliving

Things to consider on this story
1) LGBTQNation didn't speak to Redmayne just lifted text from trans hostile Daily Mail.
2) He's previously called out Rowling
3) He's tried to make amends for Danish Girl, including leading acting workshops for trans youth
lgbtqnation.com/2020/09/eddie-… I'm not saying he's perfect, far from it, but there is a repeated pattern of UK right wing press asking all interviewees about their views on 'Trans issues of the day' & then leveraging that for a story. This is used to weaponise against existing & potential trans allies.

In my time on Twitter this is who I've seen getting the most abuse on my feed

Munroe Bergdorf
Black Trans women
Trans women
Trans men & Non Binary people
Sally Hines
Cis lesbian allies
Mermaids
Trans inclusive orgs
Mums of trans kids
Cis gay journalists
Trans inclusive women The abuse comes from "Gender Critical" men & women, from white male misogynists, & the Christian right.

The abuse is targeted transphobia & also frequently, racist, misogynistic & homophobic.

The abusers are obsessive & ideologically fundamentalist

You know who's using the phrase "Wrong Body"? I ran the numbers with Twitter search:

"wrong body" (from:@Genderintell) 0
"wrong body" (from:@LGBTfdn) 0
"wrong body" (from: @Mermaids_Gender) 2 (this week)
"wrong body" (from:@Transgendertrd) 33
"wrong body" (from:@ALLIANCELGB) 48 It is a straw man, or 'scarecrow' to use the gender neutral term, used by anti trans lobbyists to create a false premise which can be refuted & used to generate manufactured rage & hatred against trans people.

When @Liztruss says three "new" gender clinics will shorten waiting lists by 1,600 patients by 2022, she is ignoring the fact that this is a tiny fraction of the 13,500 adults waiting & the more than 6000 children & young people waiting for a first appointment.
#TransHealthNow Also the clinics aren't new & they aren't addressing adolescent gender care, which has the greatest need.

"They wouldn't have won the war, would they?"

From the 1890s to 1930s Germany was a centre for LGBT research & activism. Hitler purged gay men from the army, criminalised homosexuality, destroyed the Hirschfeld institute, rounded up LGBT people & sent them to death camps. The legacy of the Nazi's on LGBT people remains. In Germany sterilisation was mandatory for trans people to change sex on identity documents until 2011, France 2016, Sweden 2013, Finland & Japan are amongst those countries still enforcing sterilisation. aljazeera.com/ajimpact/trans…

Olympic medallist, footballer @TheQuinny5 has come out as trans. "I want to be visible to queer folx who don’t see people like them...I know it saved my life years ago. I want to challenge cis folks (if you don’t know what cis means, that’s probably you!) to be better allies" Love their advice for trans allies:
1) put your pronouns in your bio
2) follow/ listen to other trans/nb voices
3) practice using gender neutral pronouns with friends/ in a mirror
4) vote
5) start to catch yourself making assumptions about people in public/ bathrooms/ any space.

Gender criticals: We want to protect the children

Trans adolescent: I'm making an informed decision, supported by my medical team, & best available evidence & clinical standards, to progress in a puberty that's right for me.

Gender criticals: We must protect you from yourself. Trans adolescent: Isn't body autonomy a foundation of feminism & equality?

Gender criticals: Actually we are both pro AND anti choice. We are joined in our hatred of transgender ideology which you've been corrupted by.

Trans adolescent: Go back to how you want to protect me?