a travesty of justice

a PrOPOSaL by James Caspian, a respected psychotherapist, academic and LBgT campaigner, to conduct a study into ‘trans regret’ — the regret felt by some who undergo gender reassign-ment surgery — was rejected by Bath Spa university in 2017.

This week, he took his battle to the High Court seeking a judicial review, but — sadly — was refused permission by a judge to challenge the veto. i find this profoundly disturbing. no questions should be off-limits in science.

The vast majority of trans people i’ve worked with have not regretted transitioning. But there is a small minority who do regret it — and psychologists and doctors simply don’t know enough about why.

good clinical practice is all about questioning, endlessly, what we do or don’t do. Does it work? Can we improve it?

Mr Caspian was absolutely right to challenge this short- sighted decision by the university.