Mark Butler’s late-Friday announcement of a review of transgender medicine came apparently out of the blue. Why would a federal health minister, on the eve of a tight election, launch into an area of policy known as one of the touchiest culture-war subjects imaginable?
In an area that Butler himself described “contested and evolving”, the announcement acted like an ink-blot test. Everyone read their own views into it.
When Butler and his assistant minister, Ged Kearney, talked on Friday about people with “lived experience” being involved on the panel, it was designed as a signal to them that transgender people and proponents of “affirming care” will be part of it.
Opponents, on the other hand – including those who’ve regretted their transitions and angry parents of young people who have been through the system – insist their lived experience must also be reflected.
In short, all sides are keenly aware that who staffs this inquiry is crucial. They are watching like hawks.
Spurred on by Queensland’s move this week, Butler’s Friday announcement now means that, to any accusation that Labor is for they/them, the whole issue is in the hands of the scientists. Labor hopes this will kick the can far enough down the road.
Source: Transgender medicine review throws an inkblot test at a culture war