‘SCRAP PLAN’ TO LET TEENAGERS CHANGE GENDER
Law allowing 16-year-olds to self-identify without parental consent advancing through Dáil ++ Minister says current legal process too onerous ++ But leading expert says it’s too young
MINISTERS need to listen to doctors and not allow teenagers aged under 18 to selfdeclare their gender without parental consent, a leading medical expert has warned.
Pressed in the Dáil earlier this month about recognising gender identity in schools, Education Minister Norma Foley said that the Government is moving ahead with its plans to allow 16 and 17year-olds register as their chosen gender, and described the current legal process for this age group to do so as ‘onerous’.
However, Professor Donal O’Shea, a consultant endocrinologist with the National Gender Service, has told the Irish Daily Mail that politicians are scared to oppose transgender
agendas, and that legislating further in this area puts young people at risk of harm. Prof. O’Shea said: ‘Minister Foley is ignoring international medical trends in favour of populist statements.’
Discussion around the controversial Bill – which is likely to draw further debate in the Dáil as it is sent for pre-legislative scrutiny – comes as Nicola Sturgeon announced her shock resignation as Scotland’s first minister yesterday, after months of being embroiled in rows regarding gender identity issues. Ms Sturgeon had vowed to take the British government to court over its decision to block a law in Scotland which would allow people aged 16 or older to change their gender identity documents by self-declaration, removing the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
With similar rows now looming in Ireland, Prof. O’Shea told the Mail: ‘This is the activists’ view getting more traction and credibility than there is evidence for, because when you look at the evidence, the harm and division that this will cause within the family is significant.’
The professor, who has been working with gender-transitioning people for 25 years, said teenagers were ‘too young’ to make rushed decisions affecting the rest of their lives, which could potentially lead to irreversible surgery. He said: ‘If they have the money and the certificate saying they are female, they can have maleto-female surgery [for example]. They will get it if they pay.’
Prof. O’Shea added: ‘We have reached a point where activists’ agendas have hijacked any level of sense or sensibleness in debates on the topic. Politicians are afraid to say anything which does not go with the activists’ views.’
However, a spokesperson for Minister Foley said the issue falls under the remit of the Department for Social Protection.
A spokesperson for that department, in response to Prof. O’Shea’s concerns, said ‘the Bill would go through pre-legislative scrutiny, during which time all members of the Oireachtas would have the opportunity to express their opinions on the proposed changes’.
The law currently requires parental consent and a court order before children aged 16 and 17 can apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate to have their preferred new gender recognised by the State.
Minister Foley told the Dáil this month: ‘Adults over the age of 18 can apply for a gender recognition certificate. Individuals aged 16 and 17 currently require parental consent and a court order in order to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate. In line with the commitments in the Programme for Government, the Government is planning to make this less onerous by extending self-declaration to this age group, with counselling supports for these families.’
She added that research was being commissioned by the Department of Children in relation to gender recognition for under-16s, due to the ‘vulnerability and complexities’ around the age group.
She said: ‘Equity and inclusivity are fundamental principles at the heart of our education system.’
Minister Foley was responding after being questioned by Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore on whether there are any plans for her department to recognise gender identity on school management information systems.
Regarding the planned legislation, Prof. O’Shea said: ‘Those of us who have been managing the condition and individuals who are gender questioning, over the last 25 years, would say that it is too young to give a child of that age the capacity to change their gender. There isn’t the capacity to provide family counselling at the kind of level that would be required to help them make an informed decision.’
He said it was much more appropriate to offer young people support and proper counselling, ‘so they can make a decision that is about the rest of their lives, and not about a piece of paper’.
He said other countries, including Sweden and the Netherlands, were pulling back from rushing to acknowledge gender change.
‘The populist view, to act on it and get it done, would be appropriate for about 10% of people. The rest may well be transgender and need medical and surgical treatment, but not without careful management, step by step, socially, personally and medically,’ Prof. O’Shea said, adding that the number of patients expressing regret after having had gender surgery was also increasing.
‘That is another reason to proceed very carefully,’ he said. ‘It is a phenomenally complicated area... but that message is falling on deaf ears at the Department of Health, the Department of Education and the HSE. I can’t think of any other area where those three organisations would ignore what the clinicians working in the area are saying.’
Since September 2015, people have been able to apply to the Department of Social Protection for a Gender Recognition Certificate, and by the end of 2021, a total of 882 certs had been issued.
Transgender support groups BeLonG To and Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) were contacted for comment.
‘Too young to be given that capacity’