A collection of reports from mainstream and independent media covering events in Australia and internationally on gender medicine including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, surgeries and social transition
- APS board member accused of ‘intimidation’ after questioning mother of detransitioned sonThe mother of a detransitioned son has accused an Australian Psychological Society board member of ‘outrageous’ behaviour, after he suggested she may have endangered her child following her questioning of trans treatment policies. The Australian Psychological Society has been forced… Read more: APS board member accused of ‘intimidation’ after questioning mother of detransitioned son
- Flying blind on puberty blockersAustralia’s medicine safety officials have warned the federal government they are flying blind on the use of puberty blocker drugs for gender-distressed minors. The country’s first safety assessment of this drug use — revealed in documents obtained under Freedom of… Read more: Flying blind on puberty blockers
- Quackery in a hurryHow ‘gender-affirming care’ got around the defences of commonsense and medical standards A scandal for the ages Ordinary people less alert to “quackery”; the effects of clever marketing and well-connected lobbying; and the failure of normal quality and safety checks—all… Read more: Quackery in a hurry
- Former Family Court chief justice Diana Bryant admits doubts over landmark puberty blockers rulingThe former chief justice who led Australia’s Family Court when it green-lit liberalised access of puberty blockers to gender-distressed children in the 2010s reveals she now has doubts about the ruling. The judge who led Australia’s Family Court when it… Read more: Former Family Court chief justice Diana Bryant admits doubts over landmark puberty blockers ruling
- Doctor’s Case for Science in Teen Gender Dysphoria CareRiittakerttu Kaltiala didn’t know how divisive transgender politics was until she called out the use of puberty blockers Finnish psychiatrist Riittakerttu Kaltiala holds a unique and important position in the treatment of gender dysphoria. She has had a front-row seat… Read more: Doctor’s Case for Science in Teen Gender Dysphoria Care
- ‘The situation has totally changed’: Finnish expert to talk at Australian gender dysphoria conferenceAdolescent psychiatrist Riittakerttu Kaltiala has seen an improvement in treatment under new guidelines in Finland, where puberty blockers, cross hormones and surgery are no longer the norm. A leading adolescent psychiatrist says the treatment of young people with gender dysphoria… Read more: ‘The situation has totally changed’: Finnish expert to talk at Australian gender dysphoria conference
- How the gender affirming care model failed our familiesFor years, the gender-affirming care model has shaped the treatment of kids presenting with gender dysphoria – no questions asked. Now, these parents want answers. It was in early April that Richard*, a dad from NSW’s Hunter Valley, first heard… Read more: How the gender affirming care model failed our families
- Judge’s ruling could rewrite nation’s gender medicineCould it be that a judge – not a doctor – is about to change the face of gender medicine in Australia? Three significant Australian legal cases took out of the court’s hands the decision of whether a young person… Read more: Judge’s ruling could rewrite nation’s gender medicine
- How the Transgender Rights Movement Bet on the Supreme Court and LostThe inside story of the case that could set the movement back a generation. One day last December, a clutch of dark-suited lawyers descended the steps of the Supreme Court to a hero’s welcome. The lawyers, from the American Civil Liberties… Read more: How the Transgender Rights Movement Bet on the Supreme Court and Lost
- As Mel’s gender ‘ricocheted’, she went under a surgeon’s knifeA woman is suing the doctors who performed her gender treatment, claiming she could not have given informed consent. A young woman who thought for years she was non-binary or a transgender man is suing two doctors and Monash Health… Read more: As Mel’s gender ‘ricocheted’, she went under a surgeon’s knife
- Does the gender-affirming model provide trans youth the healthcare they need? There are good reasons to think it doesn’tOver the last 10 to 15 years, the number of children and adolescents seeking medical help for gender dysphoria has rapidly increased in Australia. In the context of uncertainty over how to respond to this phenomenon, the Australian Standards of Care and Treatment Guidelines… Read more: Does the gender-affirming model provide trans youth the healthcare they need? There are good reasons to think it doesn’t
- Lost in TransitionGender affirming care to treat children with dysphoria is discredited overseas yet routine here. Trans, by its nature, ia a world where appearances differ from reality. After years of the activist slogan that “trans women are women”, Britain’s highest court… Read more: Lost in Transition
- Social contagion aspect of transgender movement needs more attentionThe trans movement has a lot in common with other movements of mass social contagion. Unfortunately, the medical profession is not immune. According to some enthralled commentators, the ascension of Donald Trump to the US presidency has heralded the death of… Read more: Social contagion aspect of transgender movement needs more attention
- Gender dysphoria under the microscope in federal review of puberty blocker prescriptionA newly announced inquiry by the National Health and Medical Research Council will cut short the Queensland government’s review of puberty blocker prescriptions. Health Minister Mark Butler has announced a nationwide review of best practices for trans and gender diverse… Read more: Gender dysphoria under the microscope in federal review of puberty blocker prescription
- Call for federal inquiry into kids gender therapyMore than 100 doctors, academics, lawyers, politicians and so-called ‘detransitioners’ are calling for the Albanese government to pause the use of puberty blockers for children in Australia. More than 100 doctors, academics, lawyers, politicians and so-called “detransitioners” are calling for… Read more: Call for federal inquiry into kids gender therapy
- United Kingdom’s ban on puberty blockers for children is not a culture war but a safety matterYet again, Australia’s health ministers and officials have been warned about puberty blockers, the drugs given to minors who reject their birth sex and want the “wrong puberty” to be chemically suppressed. The typical response from our gender medicine lobby,… Read more: United Kingdom’s ban on puberty blockers for children is not a culture war but a safety matter
- Tasmanian minister ‘prefers’ national inquiry into child gender clinicsA senior state cabinet member has written to the federal government asking for it to consider staging a national review into public medical services for children experiencing gender dysphoria. Health Minister Guy Barnett confirmed he wrote to his federal counterpart,… Read more: Tasmanian minister ‘prefers’ national inquiry into child gender clinics
- Inquiring mindTasmania’s Liberal government has become the first Australian administration to recommend a national review of public gender services for minors. The island state’s Health Minister, Guy Barnett, who is also Attorney-General, said he had written to his federal counterpart—Australia’s Labor… Read more: Inquiring mind
- Landmark British report offers insights for Tasmania’s transgender debateA tectonic shift is taking place overseas in the debate over how to treat children that question their gender identity, and there are plenty of lessons to be learned in Tasmania. The UK government commissioned a review into the treatment… Read more: Landmark British report offers insights for Tasmania’s transgender debate
- Critics come out against sex conversion therapy draft billThe government took criticism from all sides this week when it released the draft of its long-awaited gender conversion therapy bill for public consultation. If passed, the bill would make it a crime, punishable by fines of nearly $30,000 and… Read more: Critics come out against sex conversion therapy draft bill
- LGB Tasmania funded the ‘Let Kids be Kids’ billboard in HobartA war of words between groups at the opposite ends of the transgender debate has escalated, with both groups launching campaigns to fund billboards promoting their views on the issue across the state. LGB Tasmania, which opposes medical transitions for… Read more: LGB Tasmania funded the ‘Let Kids be Kids’ billboard in Hobart
- Cutting Out Parents put Kids at RiskShould organisations promoting gender affirming care be able to ignore the recommendations of a Royal Commission aimed at keeping kids safe? A Royal Commission Sadly we know all too well in Australia about the horrors of child sexual abuse and… Read more: Cutting Out Parents put Kids at Risk
- Parents raise alarm school ‘wellbeing teams’ encourage children to question genderParents are raising the alarm that some high schools are “crossing the line” in not only supporting students to socially transition as the opposite sex without parents’ knowledge but actively encouraging children to question gender identities. Concerned teachers say “wellbeing… Read more: Parents raise alarm school ‘wellbeing teams’ encourage children to question gender
- ‘We have lost our child to this insidious ideology’Amid a raging public battle, thousands of parents across Australia are privately struggling with a transgender culture that has their children in its grip. Lost and angry, they’re ready to speak out. It was a sunny weekend afternoon four years… Read more: ‘We have lost our child to this insidious ideology’
- The evidence to support medicalised gender transitions in adolescents is worryingly weakPrisha Mosley was 17 when she was first given testosterone on a clinic in North Carolina, after she had declared to her parents that she was a boy. She had struggled through her teen years with anorexia and depression after… Read more: The evidence to support medicalised gender transitions in adolescents is worryingly weak
- Doctor scrutiny on gender clinic reveals legal, safety fears.Doctors treating children at a major public hospital gender clinic have questioned the basis of the ‘gender-affirming’ approach in medicine. Senior physicians at the NSW Children’s Hospital Westmead’s gender clinic have studied the physical and mental health of 79 patients… Read more: Doctor scrutiny on gender clinic reveals legal, safety fears.
- Conversion Therapy forum staged in HobartA forum in parliament to discuss a proposed ban on gender identity conversion therapy has heard that Tasmanians should be free to seek therapy, while a Sydney psychologist questioned the wisdom of allowing children to make their own choices in… Read more: Conversion Therapy forum staged in Hobart
- When Children Say They’re TransHormones? Surgery? The choices are fraught—and there are no easy answers. By Jesse Singal Claire is a 14-year-old girl with short auburn hair and a broad smile. She lives outside Philadelphia with her mother and father, both professional scientists. Claire can come… Read more: When Children Say They’re Trans