A new policy in the United Kingdom to restrict the medical treatments available to trans and gender-diverse young people has raised fresh questions about Australia’s approach in one of the most sensitive areas of medicine and prompted a fierce defence from LGBTQ advocates.
British paediatrician Hilary Cass, who has spent four years on behalf of the National Health Service examining what is known as “affirming care” for transgender young people, published her final report on Tuesday night Australian time.
Over more than 300 pages, she cautions that there is “not a reliable evidence base upon which to make clinical decisions” in transgender medicine because the scientific evidence is of such poor quality.
The NHS announced last month that it would stop routinely prescribing puberty blockers to children with gender dysphoria and restrict their use to a clinical trial as a result of the Cass review.
In response to the report, Australian governments and health services backed their existing approach.
The report also prompted an immediate backlash from LGBTQ groups, who said it ignored the consensus of major medical bodies around the world and lacked relevance to Australia.
A parent from PAGD, a Victorian support group for families questioning affirming care, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of public backlash if they were identified, said: “We hope this is a wake-up call to Australian medical and educational institutions and that we will finally see some caution and questioning around what is happening to our children.”
Mel Jefferies, a young woman who regrets her gender transition and has returned to her birth gender, also welcomed the Cass report.
Source: UK gender medicine report on puberty blockers prompts reflection, outrage in Australia