NHS gender clinic accuses parents’ group of ‘transphobia’

‘We are surprised that an NHS clinic refuses to engage with parents on ideological grounds’

THE head of England’s only NHS gender clinic cut ties with some parents of transgender children, saying they promoted “transphobic” gender-critical views, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

Concerns have been raised over the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust’s approach to gender-questioning teenagers. Now, it has emerged trust bosses told parents at Bayswater Support Group they were “disappointed” at their gender-critical views, and cut ties with them.

The group of 400 parents, many with children being treated at Tavistock, complained to the trust last year about “defamatory” comments made about them by a clinician at the trust’s Gender Identity Development Service, on a

Facebook group for psychiatrists. They complained again last month, after fresh comments alleged they had “transphobic” links.

Paul Jenkins, the trust’s chief executive, threw out the complaint after an investigation as it was found the clinician spoke in a personal capacity.

In a letter to the parents last May, he said the inquiry found “all the links on your site are to gender-critical sites”.

Bayswater, which rejects any accusation of transphobia, has a website with links to organisations and advice on evidence-based gender care and trans charities like Mermaids and Stonewall.

A spokesman for Bayswater Support Group said they were “surprised that an NHS clinic refuses to engage with parents on ideological grounds”.

A spokesman for the trust said: “The Trust opposes conversion therapy for gay and trans people, and cannot work with groups affiliated with those who seek particular outcomes for these vulnerable young people.”