1/ This has not been a good year for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health @WPATH. It began with the news that its membership had plummeted by 60% over a year.
criticaltherapyantidote.org/2024/01/17/bre… @wpath 2/ In March, the WPATH Files by Mia Hughes (@_CryMiaRiver) exposed internal discussions which showed WPATH members' disregard for science and medical ethics.

https://x.com/shellenberger/status/1764799914918490287

1/ A recent critique of the Cass Review exposes the real agenda of the activist clinicians supporting gender affirming care. They don't care about evidence based medicine because their case for GAC has nothing to do with promoting good health.

https://x.com/Chris_Noone_/status/1800624884999229688

2/ This is made clear in this paragraph which argues that "evaluating the efficacy of GAC based on psycho social well-being is misguided." In the authors view, looking for mental health benefits from GAC involves pathologizing "transness."

1/ This excellent New York Times interview with Hilary Cass ends with a statement from the president of the @AmerAcadPeds about their so-called systematic review which shows that he does not understand evidence-based medicine.
nytimes.com/2024/05/13/hea… @AmerAcadPeds 2/ AAP president Dr. Benjamin Hoffman said that the group had considered the Cass Review and "added it to the evidence base undergoing a systematic review." This is not how systematic reviews work.

1/ I suppose it's good that the @globeandmail have featured this article by @RobynUrback on the front page but the kids the medical system is labelling as trans and sterilizing deserve better still.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/articl… @globeandmail @RobynUrback 2/ The article starts with a discussion of the Dutch approach to affirmative care but fails to note just how weak their research was. The whole model of care is based on a study of 55 subjects with a 1 year follow up period, and no control group.
tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…

1/ It is two weeks since the Cass Review was published the The @globeandmail, which describes itself as Canada's national news organization has not printed a word about it. Why the silence? @globeandmail 2/ The @globeandmail cannot claim that the Cass Review is not newsworthy. Its main competitor, the @Nationalpost has written on it extensively as has every other major newspaper in the English speaking world.

1/ Another falsehood in the awful CBC coverage of the Cass Report which needs to be refuted in detail is the claim the puberty blockers are reversible.
cbc.ca/news/health/pu…
2/ This issue did not receive a lot of attention in the Cass report because NHS England updated its website to remove a claim that puberty blockers are fully reversible back in 2020. However, the claim still persists in Canada in the face of the evidence.
transgendertrend.com/nhs-no-longer-…

1/ The dismal CBC news report on the Cass review is dangerously misleading on evidence based medicine. It quotes Calgary family physician Jake Donaldson as saying this about the evidence base on ear infections. 2/ There is a link to a Cochrane Review of antibiotics for acute middle ear infection in children which concludes that in high-income countries most children recover spontaneously and the benefits of antibiotics do not outweigh the risks.
cochrane.org/CD000219/ARI_a…

1/ At last, @CBCNews covers the Cass Review, but the article is packed with so much misinformation that it would have been better if they had said nothing. The story ignores key parts of the report and misrepresents others.
cbc.ca/news/health/pu… @CBCNews 2/ The @CBC story on Cass repeats many of the common myths and misconceptions which are demolished in this excellent article by @lecanardnoir and adds a few new ones.
quackometer.net/blog/2024/04/b…

1/ The justified outrage over some of the sexual materials used in schools missed an important point. Teenage boys need to be taught about safe-sex but giving them wooden phalluses and pornography isn't the best way to do it.
reduxx.info/boys-reportedl… 2/ In Canada the age of consent to sexual activity is 16. There are exceptions for 12 and 13 year olds with someone no more than 2 years order and 14 and 15 year olds with someone no more than 5 years older provided there is no relationship of trust.
justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/othe…

1/ The Hill Times suggests that gender identity could become a critical issue in marginal seats where there are significant numbers of socially conservative minority voters, but it could become more than that.
hilltimes.com/story/2024/02/… 2/ Canadian Liberals have traditionally been good at brokering compromises in this kinds of conflict but transgender activists have insisted on no compromise / no debate. Neither the Liberals nor the NDP will want to risk being the first to break ranks on gender issues.

1/ Danielle Smith has got a lot of things right with the unroll of her policy on gender identity. The announcement by a video statement was a brilliant move. It allowed her to control the message without committing to any specifics in writing. 2/ She now has the freedom to build support and work out the details at her own pace. In Saskatchewan and New Brunswick the governments rushed ahead with actual policies and were immediately faced with court challenges for which they were not prepared.

1/ The Canadian debate on pediatric gender transition needs new language. The debate has been reduced to one where slogans replace substance. Rather than framing it as a conflict between parents' rights and children's rights, we need to start talking about child safeguarding. 2/ The problem with the concept of parents' rights is that it can be misinterpreted to means that parents claim a proprietary rights over their children which the law does not recognize. This is not what the self-described parents' rights movement is actually claiming.

1/ 🚨 Action alert and update. The World Health Organization has responded to public criticism of its guideline development process on transgender health by extending the deadline for public comment to February 2.
who.int/news/item/15-0… 2/ The most visibly biased member of the GDG, Florence Ashley, has been dropped due to an alleged scheduling conflict but the committee membership is still dominated by activists and clinicians with significant conflicts of interest.
cdn.who.int/media/docs/def…

1/ The proposed membership of the World Health Organization guideline development group on the health of trans and gender diverse people reads like a who's who of transgender activisits.
who.int/news/item/28-0… 2/ The biographies of all of the development group members have now been released and the make up of the group flagrantly disregards the WHO standards for avoiding conflict over interest in guideline development.
cdn.who.int/media/docs/def…

1/ Canadian Conservatives are often accused of copying the U.S.Republicans, but on the pronouns in schools issue, they aren't copying them very well. Their response, when challenged, shows that they don't fully understand the issue.
nationalpost.com/opinion/jamie-… 2/ They seem to have looked at a poll which shows that 78% of respondents believe that parents should be informed when a child changes pronouns at school and rushed ahead without any serious research or preparation.

https://twitter.com/Bp4_Canada/status/1696865313608839323

1/ The current controversy in Saskatchewan shows how the gender debate has become the perfect storm for loss of confidence in the Charter. The Charter has never commanded universal respect among Canadians but in recent years these doubts have increased. 2/ The Charter was introduced by Pierre Trudeau over opposition from the provinces. The notwithstanding clause was one of a series of compromises which won the grudging support of 9 provinces. Quebec did not agree and has used the notwithstanding clause regularly.

1/ The Canadian Paediatric Society @CanPaedSociety has issued an updated position statement on affirming care for youth but it seems like they have been hiding under a rock (or just listening to the @cbc ) for the last 3 or 4 years.
cps.ca/en/documents/p… @CanPaedSociety @CBC 2/ There is no pretense of being evidence based. The authors do not even mention the systematic reviews which have led Finland, Sweden the United Kingdom and others to re-think the gender affirming model.
bmj.com/content/380/bm…

1/ 🇨🇦🧵 This question requires a thread to answer fully. In Canada, there are human rights commissions at both the federal and provincial levels. The provincial commissions have exclusive jurisdiction over provincial matters such as health and education.

https://twitter.com/dinahbrand2/status/1696730481344020657?s=20

2/ Both federal and provincial human rights law is subject to the protections, such as the right to freedom of expression and religion, found in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

A thread on children's rights, parents rights, schools, gender identity and due process. There are some basic principles which are found in both Canadian law and international instruments such as the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child./2 The first principle is that children require adult guidance and direction. Allowing them to choose the adult who provides the direction defeats the purpose. The second is that the adults who provide this guidance and direction must act in the best interests of the child. /3

1/ The changes to New Brunswick Policy 713 on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools announced by @premierbhiggs and education minister Bill Hogan are both good news and bad news
www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en… @premierbhiggs 2/ The good news is that the changes are sound policy. An age limit of 16 to change name and pronouns without parental consent is consistent with research on child development, and the effect of social transition on solidifying gender identity.
cass.independent-review.uk/publications/i…

1/ 🧵 In the struggle against the medical abuse of gender non-conforming children, the year 2022 was, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, if not the beginning of the end, at least the end of the beginning. 2/ The year started badly with Bill-C4, Canada's ill considered conversion therapy law coming into force. There was better news in the UK where there government agreed to exclude gender identity from its proposed bill.