Drama ‘encourages children to swap sex’
Campaigners’ anger over new ITV series Butterf ly
CAMPAIGNERS have accused the makers of a new ITV drama of creating little more than an ‘advert’ for activists who support children changing gender.
Butterfly, a series that begins tonight, examines the emotional turmoil of estranged parents Vicky and Stephen as they seek to support Max, their 11-yearold son.
Butterfly’s Bafta award-winning writer Tony Marchant and actress Anna Friel, who plays Vicky, have praised Mermaids, a charity that supports transgender children and their families.
In particular, they have paid tribute to Susie Green, the charity’s chief executive, who was consulted for the TV show.
Mermaids has attracted controversy for calling for an end to the NHS age limit of 16 for the prescribing of sex-change hormones which can lead to infertility.
Transgender Trend, a group which is alarmed by the growing number of children changing gender, claims that Butterfly’s producers failed to seek its expertise and have created a ‘one-sided narrative’.
Spokesman Stephanie Davies-Arai said: ‘It appears the programme makers have made an advert for trans activist groups like Mermaids, which would have the world believe that children denied drugs to change sex will self-harm or even commit suicide, despite there being no official figures to back this.
‘ITV made no effort to speak to any of the hundreds of parents in my group who believe they are doing the right thing by not validating their child’s desire to be the opposite sex.’
She added: ‘If they had done this, they may have discovered that many of these children suffer from other mental health conditions such as autism.’
Lily Maynard, who has experience of the issues raised in Butterfly, watched a preview of the opening episode with ‘growing discomfort’.
Mrs Maynard allowed her then 15-yearold daughter to dress as she wished, but stopped her taking cross-sex hormones at that age.
‘I was struck by the programme’s acceptance of sexist stereotypes,’ she said.
‘No one ever suggests that he might not need “fixing” and that the fault lies with the gender stereotypes valued by everyone around him.’
Miss Green said: ‘Mermaids has never claimed that children denied cross-sex hormones may self-harm.’