Daily Mail

True scandal over trans children has been laid bare at last

- Jenni Murray

AT LAST, the truth is out there — and those of us who have long suffered for daring to warn something was seriously wrong at the charity Mermaids have been vindicated. It became clear to me as far back as 2016 that two charities, stonewall and Mermaids, were closely involved in the sudden rise in the number of young people asking for treatment for what was described as ‘gender dysphoria’. they wanted to change their sex.

These young patients were often treated by the NHs Gender Identity Developmen­t service (GIDs) at london’s tavistock Clinic. It has now been closed after a devastatin­g report accused clinicians and therapists of recommendi­ng drastic treatments to children — such as puberty blockers, often the first step on the road to surgery.

Mermaids, whose chief executive was susie Green, is a UK charity that ‘supports transgende­r, nonbinary and gender- diverse children, young people and their families’. From 2016 it was no secret that Mrs Green, a woman with no medical qualificat­ions but a determined ideology, had gained huge power at the tavistock.

Was she a suitable candidate to influence practice at an experiment­al NHs clinic? she may be passionate about her cause but she is not a medical profession­al.

SHE is an activist who took her own child to the U.s. for puberty blockers at the age of 12. at the age of 16, he underwent radical surgery in thailand and is now known as a girl called Jackie.

I was concerned, as were many others who sought to learn more about the relationsh­ip between Mermaids, susie Green and the controvers­ial treatment at the tavistock. and that is where the problems started. Because the existence of any close partnershi­p was frequently denied.

Emails between Mrs Green and the clinic’s director, Dr Polly Carmichael, simply did not exist, we were told, nor would the tavistock release details of their meetings between 2014 and 2018.

Now, however, a threat of court action from the Informatio­n Commission­er’s Office has miraculous­ly revealed 322 pages of communicat­ions between the two women, demonstrat­ing how the tavistock was in thrall to activists. the revelation­s in the emails are deeply troubling.

Mrs Green personally made referrals to GIDS even if a child’s GP had repeatedly refused to do so. Her involvemen­t in the service itself was extensive. she advised on trials designed to inform how young patients were treated.

Along with other advisers, she attended a meeting to redraft NHS guidance for transition­ing children. I’m afraid I’d rather my medical decisions were made by experts, not activists. the new NHs guidance, issued in 2016, placed greater emphasis on medical treatment for children. Puberty blockers were to be considered for those under the age of 12, if they were in establishe­d puberty.

Puberty blockers were at the time said to be reversible. the NHs no longer says this is the case. Other european countries have banned them because their long-term effects are not known.

Two years later, Dr Carmichael invited Mermaids to take part in a study, begun in 2019, which looked at the developmen­t of gender identity between the ages of three and 14. I have to wonder: did Mrs Green want young children to be given such treatment, and on what medical basis?

At one point, she asked in an email whether the tavistock would treat children whose parents had obtained hormone blockers privately, because the drugs were then only available to those aged 16 and up on the NHs.

Susie Green is now employed by a company called Gender GP, which sells such drugs online.

Trans children make billions of dollars for surgeons and drug companies in the U.S. Many will be on lifelong medication. sometimes it begins as young as four. Whatever you may think of Mrs Green, I do not think she should have been allowed anywhere near NHs decision-making.

How could qualified doctors have allowed her to have such influence over prescribin­g policy for vulnerable children?

More broadly, how many of the ever-rising number of children claiming they were ‘born into the wrong body’ were fed informatio­n by Mermaids that was biased and incorrect? You don’t need to be a specialist to know that teenagers, particular­ly girls, may hate their changing bodies, but most grow out of it. aged 12, I cut my hair short, wore only dungarees, wanted to be called Roberta, shortened to Bobby.

My mum told me not to be so daft. she was right and I’ve been proud to be a woman ever since.

How did susie Green, heading up what was effectivel­y a lobby group, receive hundreds of thousands in lottery funding and grants? I and so many others have suffered from the madness created by such activists. those of us who have insisted you can change your gender but not your sex, who have said we offer sympathy and respect to trans men and women but won’t have them call themselves ‘real’ men and women.

WE Have lost jobs, friends, reputation­s. We’ve been dubbed terfs — transphobe­s — and been threatened with violence and death. But that’s nothing compared to the suffering of so many children.

Keira Bell brought our attention to the horror of her transition, which began with puberty blockers given by GIDs when she was 16. she took the tavistock to court and revealed her sad story, how GIDs’ ‘despicable’ decision to prescribe blockers quickly rather than explore what she calls a ‘mental health crisis’ put her on the path to a double mastectomy she wishes she never had.

Other detransiti­oners give heartbreak­ing accounts of their ‘ top’ and ‘bottom’ surgery — and their deep, deep regret.

I think there should be punishment for those who encouraged them along this devastatin­g road.

 ?? ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom