The End of the Rainbow

Update 387 Terf Month International Edition #BeMorePorcupine

Thanks to a reader for suggesting, for this update’s Terf Month speech this from Andrew Doyle. It actually relates to ‘pride month’ ( I am refusing to capitalise!) 2023 but it remains completely relevant. I think that the original pride flag is fatally tainted but, as ever, let me have your comments.

Thanks as ever to two wonderful readers for suggested pieces.

Terf Month

Why are we having Terf Month on this substack?

Here you go:

Do you understand now? 😊

Dr Ethan Haim

Brave Dr Haim in the States is being prosecuted for being a whistle blower!! Wonderful JL on the Glinner update covers this ( as well, of course, as many other horror stories):

https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/a-week-in-the-war-on-women-monday-772

Thanks also to JL for referring me to this piece in The Free Press:

https://www.thefp.com/p/eithan-haim-gender-distressed-children-indicted?utm_source=tfptwitter

The Worldwide Impact of Cass

Wonderful summary of the worldwide effects of the Cass Review by Christina Buttons on Reality’s Last Stand.

USA Remains Asleep As the World Awakens to the Reality of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’

A comprehensive guide to the international debate on youth medical transition.

JUN 08, 2024

The world is reacting to the U.K.’s Cass Review and associated systematic evidence reviews, which found “remarkably weak” evidence supporting medical interventions for gender transition in minors. Released on April 9, 2024, the final report from the national gender clinic service for those under 18—following four years of meta-analyses of the available literature—dealt a major blow to the gender-affirming model of care and marked its termination in England.

England’s National Health Service, which commissioned the report, expressed gratitude to Dr. Hilary Cass and committed to implementing her recommendations. These advocate for primarily relying on psychotherapy to address gender-related distress in minors and discontinuing the use of puberty blockers. The NHS predicted the landmark review would have “major international importance and significance”—a prediction that has proven correct.

In the last several years, we saw the U.K., Sweden, Finland, and Denmark adopt a more cautious approach by placing restrictions on medical interventions for treating gender dysphoria in minors. Norway has also signaled intentions to follow a similar path.

Now, the Cass Review has mobilized other countries to begin re-evaluating their practices—with the exception of the United States. The following is an overview of recent updates in the two months since the Cass Review was published, followed by a comprehensive review of all updates in recent years from countries that offer pediatric gender clinic services.

What’s New

Germany and Switzerland

On June 6, 2024, two major medical societies, DGPNN in Germany and SGKJPP in Switzerland, announced their rejection of the new “gender-affirming” German guidelines for minors. The primary issues are the guidelines’ failure to review evidence post-2020 and their reliance on WPATH. DGPPN, Germany's largest mental health association, stated they would reject the current draft if finalized, supporting medical interventions only for a limited number of cases within clinical studies.

On May 22, 2024, fifteen chairs and senior members of Germany's Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Association published a rebuttal to the draft of German guidelines for gender-dysphoric youth.

In early May 2024, the German Medical Assembly, a pivotal body representing medical professionals across the country, passed a resolution that calls for the restriction of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for gender dysphoric youth to strictly controlled research settings. Another resolution passed that stated minors should not be permitted to “self-identify” into a chosen sex without first undergoing a specialist child and adolescent psychiatric evaluation and consultation.

Chile

On June 7, 2024, Chile’s Health Minister ordered the public health system to stop providing puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to new patients, according to a report by Gender Clinic News. Existing patients will continue treatment on a case-by-case basis. An official policy statement reflecting the change is expected soon. This decision follows a similar restriction by the private UC Christus health network on June 5, both acknowledging the weak scientific evidence for pediatric gender medicine and the need to review England’s Cass Review.

The Netherlands

On June 6, 2024, the Dutch Minister of Health addressed the Dutch Parliament, acknowledging the Cass Review and formally requesting the Dutch Health Council to advise on the use of the Dutch protocol for transgender care. The Health Council is expected to begin the advisory process this year. The Minister's information package to Parliament also included brief responses from the three gender clinics in Amsterdam, Groningen, and Nijmegen.

France

On May 28, 2024, the French Senate voted to pass a draft law to restrict puberty blockers and prohibit cross-sex hormones and transgender surgery for minors. Under the bill, a minor seeking puberty blockers must visit a specialized multidisciplinary center, undergo an assessment for contraindications and capacity to consent, and wait at least two years from the first appointment at the center before starting treatment.

United Kingdom

On May 29, 2024, the United Kingdom government passed legislation to ban the private practice prescription of puberty blockers, including those sourced from abroad. Previously, in March 2024, the National Health Service (NHS) had restricted puberty blockers to trials. This new legislation means that no minor in England, Scotland, or Wales can receive a prescription for puberty blockers unless participating in strictly controlled research settings. The emergency measures will last for three months, requiring further action to become permanent.

Scotland and Wales

In April 2024, in response to the Cass Review, Wales and Scotland have joined England in halting new prescriptions of puberty blockers for minors under 18 diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Additionally, in Scotland, cross-sex hormones will not be available to those under 18.

Belgium

On April 9, 2024, leading physicians in Belgium published a report advocating for significant reforms in the treatment protocols for gender dysphoria in children and adolescents. The report emphasized the need to follow the precedents set by Sweden and Finland, where hormones are regarded as a last resort. Their findings and recommendations were published in a prestigious medical journal associated with Dutch-speaking medical faculties in Belgium and their alumni associations.

International Bodies

International bodies such as the United Nations (UN) have also responded to the Cass Review. On April 24, 2024, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, issued a statement on the UN’s website declaring that the Review’s recommendations are essential for protecting children, especially girls, from harm.

In addition, the European Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP), a prominent umbrella association of 36 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry societies worldwide, issued a policy statement on April 27, 2024. They urged healthcare providers “not to promote experimental and unnecessarily invasive treatments with unproven psycho-social effects and, therefore, to adhere to the ‘primum-nil-nocere’ (first, do no harm) principle.”

These responses stand in stark contrast to that of World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), a body-modification advocacy organization. WPATH emailed a statement to its subscribers in response to the Cass Review, vehemently rejecting its findings and adhering to its ideological beliefs. WPATH criticized the Cass Review as “harmful” and “rooted in a false premise” that suggests distressed children can be helped without "medical pathways.”

United States

In response to the Cass Review, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Endocrine Society (ES) provided statements to WBUR on May 8, 2024, doubling down on their endorsement of the gender-affirming model of care and medical interventions for minors. Both blamed “politics” for spreading “misinformation.” Meanwhile, prominent gender clinicians have expressed to WBUR that they are “perplexed and concerned” by these organizations’ statements, given the Cass Review’s findings.

AAP President Dr. Ben Hoffman responded to Dr. Cass’ statement in a New York Times article on May 13, 2024, where Dr. Cass claimed that American medical organizations are misleading the public by overstating the strength of evidence supporting youth transition. Dr. Hoffman stated, “Any suggestion that the American Academy of Pediatrics is misleading families is false.”

WPATH, AAP, and ES continue to mislead the public by claiming that the gender-affirming model of care adheres to the principles of evidence-based medicine (EBM), despite clear evidence to the contrary. Their recommendations for medical interventions are not grounded in robust evidence but rather rely on “circular referencing” of each other’s guidelines, effectively creating a citation cartel.

On June 5, 2024, the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) launched a new initiative called the Doctors Protecting Children Declaration, urging U.S. medical organizations to stop promoting medical interventions for children with gender dysphoria and instead recommend comprehensive evaluations and therapies for underlying psychological conditions and neurodiversity.

Comprehensive Overview of the International Debate On Youth Transition by Country

In recent years, there has been an ongoing debate about the best approach for treating gender-distressed youth, addressing the global increase in young people, primarily adolescent females, seeking services from gender clinics. Countries with pediatric gender clinic services have shown varied responses, ranging from highly medicalized treatment pathways to approaches that prioritize psychotherapy.

Nations such as the UK, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark have taken unified steps to heavily restrict medical transitions for minors, aligning their guidance with the results of systematic evidence reviews, with Norway similarly indicating moves in this direction. Elsewhere, medical and health authorities remain divided on best practices, although there are signs of some reevaluating their positions on the medical transition of minors. This guide will highlight significant updates and changes observed in these practices over recent years.

https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/usa-remains-asleep-as-the-world-awakens

Thanks as ever to Feminist Legal Clinic for the next two pieces.

Doctors Protecting Children ( 10 June)

As physicians, together with nurses, psychotherapists and behavioral health clinicians, other health professionals, scientists, researchers, and public health and policy professionals, we have serious concerns about the physical and mental health effects of the current protocols promoted for the care of children and adolescents in the United States who express discomfort with their biological sex.

Therefore, given the recent research and the revelations of the harmful approach advocated by WPATH and its followers in the United States, we, the undersigned, call upon the medical professional organizations of the United States, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the  Endocrine Society, the Pediatric Endocrine Society, American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry to follow the science and their European professional colleagues and immediately stop the promotion of social affirmation, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries for children and adolescents who experience distress over their biological sex.  Instead, these organizations should recommend comprehensive evaluations and therapies aimed at identifying and addressing underlying psychological co-morbidities and neurodiversity that often predispose to and accompany gender dysphoria. We also encourage the physicians who are members of these professional organizations to contact their leadership and urge them to adhere to the evidence-based research now available.”

Source: Doctors Protecting Children

And from New Zealand:

A letter from members regarding the Cass Review and the College’s response (10 June)

A letter from RANZCP [ The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists ] members: Cass Review Final Report

As RANZCP members, we believe our serious professional concerns regarding the gender interventions being provided to Australian children and adolescents are not being adequately represented by the College in its media communications and political advocacy.

On 10 April 2024, the Cass Review Final Report was released. Commissioned by the UK’s NHS, the report conducted eight independent systematic reviews of the global research literature to underpin its recommendations. It reveals there is no clear evidentiary basis for gender affirmation interventions and evidence for puberty suppression and cross-sex hormone treatment is of such poor quality that no foundation exists for clinical decisions and informed consent.

The review recommends puberty blockers be restricted to ethics-approved research trials and cross-sex hormones be used with extreme caution in people between ages 16 and 18, with approval from an independent expert panel required. It cautions that social transition is an active intervention that may have significant effects on psychological functioning and longer-term outcomes. It concluded: “the evidence does not adequately support the claim that gender affirming treatment reduces suicide risk” and that treatment for gender dysphoria should not be based on the “gender-affirming” model, which is the model used by Australian paediatric gender services.

We request the RANZCP urgently:

• acknowledge the recommendations of the Cass Review as relevant to Australian paediatric gender services, and

• call for health ministers to establish an independent body to investigate Australian paediatric gender services and implement relevant recommendations from the Cass Review

Source: A letter from members regarding the Cass Review and the College’s response | RANZCP

Olympic Woo Woo!! The Misogynist IOC!

Liam Morgan in the Mail Online ( Olympics chiefs BAN a list of 'harmful' words describing trans athletes - and tell journalists not to call them 'born male', 'biologically male' or mention a 'sex change' during the Games in Paris 07 June) reports:

The organisation in charge of running the Olympic Games has sparked outrage after telling journalists not to use a list of 'harmful' words when referring to transgender athletes competing at Paris 2024 this summer.

In a new 33-page document, the International Olympic Committee warned the media against using terms such as 'born male', 'born female', 'biologically male' and 'biologically female', which they claim is 'problematic language'.

The IOC also urges the press to avoid 'sex change', 'post-operative surgery' and 'transsexual'. They said these phrases 'can be dehumanising and inaccurate' when describing transgender sportspeople and athletes with sex variations.

The body has also provided alternatives for journalists to use in their reporting of transgender athletes during the Olympics in Paris, including girl/boy, woman/man, transgender girl/boy, transgender woman/man and transgender person.

'It is always preferable to emphasise a person's actual gender rather than potentially calling their identity into question by referring to the sex category that was registered on their original birth certificate,' the IOC document reads.

Laurel Hubbard

Olympic swimming silver medallist Sharron Davies - an outspoken critic of transgender women competing in female sport - told Mail Sport: 'The IOC never fails to disappoint me with their utter hypocrisy.

'Here they are trying to curtail journalists from telling the public the truth when males are in races for females with an unfair advantage at the same time as boasting all over social media of the first games with gender equality - you couldn’t make this stuff up.

'My experience of 50 years in elite sport, and having written and researched the history of the modern Olympics for my book, the misogyny the IOC has always exhibited doesn’t change sadly.'

Three-time cycling Olympian Inga Thompson slammed the IOC on X, formerly known as Twitter. 'The IOC has allowed themselves to be bought because deep down, they never wanted women to be in sports,' she wrote. 'The ultimate misogynist movement perpetuated by the IOC.'

The full article is here:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-13505993/Olympics-chiefs-BAN-list-harmful-words-describing-trans-athletes-tell-journalists-not-call-born-male-biologically-male-mention-sex-change-Games-Paris.html

US Schools

Lauren Chen talks of the situation in US Schools on GB News:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/we-are-becoming-polarised-lauren-chen-fumes-about-children-being-declared-trans-by-schools/vi-BB1mITlw?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=84b0aceb453b4b2284ea72afed04f741&ei=25

More History of the Transgender Monster

I recently featured a history of this from Lierre Keith of Women’s Liberation Front:

https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/a-civil-war-waged-by-women?utm_source=publication-search

Here is more history this time honing in on the States and concentrating on what has happened to lesbians there over the years. US lesbian detransitioner, Carol on her podcast does a brilliant interview with a lesbian lawyer who calls herself Unyielding Bicyclist. They conclude that you have to destroy the gender industry and take it right back to its roots. Also interesting how extreme homophobia amongst certain fundamentalist Christians in the States has impacted on gays and lesbians.

https://sourpatches2077.substack.com/p/discussing-bad-facts-interview-with

‘Gender Transition Studies’

Thanks yet again to Feminist Legal Clinic for the next two pieces.

New Analysis Finds Exaggerated Benefits in Youth Gender Transition Studies ( 10 June)

A newly published review in a prestigious medical journal has found that many studies on hormonal treatments for children with gender dysphoria have exaggerated their benefits. The analysis, led by Kathleen McDeavitt from the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, revealed that many studies presented positive conclusions about hormonal interventions even when the findings were insignificant, small, or even negative.

Proponents of early medical transition argue it can reduce suicide risk, often describing hormonal interventions as “life-saving care.” However, McDeavitt’s review of 14 long-term studies reveals that the majority did not find improvements in depression or suicidality.

Source: New Analysis Finds Exaggerated Benefits in Youth Gender Transition Studies

New South Wales

‘Choose your own gender’ bill rejected by 83pc of voters ( 10 June)

Almost 83 per cent of NSW residents are opposed to plans to enable people to “change” their sex by simply filling out forms, a survey has found.

New laws are being proposed in state parliament by independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich to allow “self-ID” of sex for official government forms, junking the current requirement for individuals to undergo medical treatment to change sex.

However, a survey of 13,258 NSW citizens, conducted by a parliamentary inquiry into the impact of the Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTIQA) Bill 2023, found the overwhelming majority ­rejected the changes.

A whopping 85 per cent of the those who took part in the online survey rejected the bill altogether, with 13 per cent supporting it and another 0.89 per cent supporting it with amendments. Plans to allow 16-year-olds to consent to medical treatments without their parent’s permission were rejected by 82 per cent.

Equality Australia chief executive Anna Brown welcomed the parliamentary inquiry’s final report, which recommended the bill now be debated by parliament.

But an alliance of GPs, psychiatrists, psychologists and families called Genspect said it was dismayed the laws would be debated after the overwhelming rejection by the public in the survey.

“The public have clearly expressed their opposition to the introduction of gender self-ID and amendments that make it easier for minors to access puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones without parental consent, but the government appears not to be listening,” Genspect spokeswoman Jude Hunter said.

She said the bill reached into 20 different pieces of legislation and would “seriously diminish the rights of women and girls, permits children to change their name and sex on their birth certificate without parental consent and will lead to more children with gender confusion”.

Source: ‘Choose your own gender’ bill rejected by 83pc of voters

Endpiece

Here is a party political broadcast by Angela Rayner of the UK Labour Party…no,hold on…ummm…I’m confused!

#BeMorePorcupine

Ok, Terven, the next update may be Saturday - we’ll see!

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