Welcome to our final Newsletter for 2020. A tumultuous year, and yet one in which progress has been made. We all hope that things accelerate in 2021 and that the world becomes a far safer place for our children.
United Kingdom
In UK, Keira Bell won her court case against The Tavistock gender clinic. Court permission is now required to put a child under 16 on ‘puberty blockers’. More about this case can be found in our First Impressions and in our coverage of Statements. We also expressed an opinion on The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) statement issued in response to the judgment.
On 22nd December, The Tavistock gave notice that it intended to appeal against the judgement for Keira Bell. This a disappointing, if unsurprising, development. It is our view that the court was correct in its judgement and that the writing is on the wall for the gender-affirming model of treatment. It would have been better all round had the Tavistock taken the judgement as a signal that it needed to change its practice fundamentally.
United States
In USA, parents mounted a protest outside the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA)
This activity prompted a surge of awareness, so that more parents know that they are not alone in knowing that medical imitation of the opposite sex is not appropriate for their children. Other concerned parents stand with them.
The primary objective was to raise awareness of such harmful medicalization amongst the hospital staff. The changes to practice that are necessary to safeguard our children’s health and wellbeing will only come about when there is debate amongst those who can drive change, and that debate reaches its logical conclusion. We are confident the debate has started at CHLA.
Australia
In Australia, parents there have to worry about new Bills aiming to prohibit Conversion Therapy but which make the category mistake of lumping gender identity in with Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual sexual orientations. Such bills have already been enacted in Queensland and ACT. The debate is now happening in Victoria. Holly Lawford-Smith makes an excellent case in The Herald Sun
In the Victorian parliament, Louise Staley MP gives a speech that should have every rational human cheering her to the rafters:
Since the erection of a billboard on Sunset Boulevard which contained our web address ourduty.group/usa Twitter has taken two steps to suppress our message. First, it has implemented what is known as ‘reply deboosting’ – this puts replies made by the @OurDutyGrp Twitter account behind the ‘Show More Replies’ dialog. Second, it has removed the automatic embedding of links to our website – which means the graphical preview, usually an accompanying photograph, is not displayed in the Twitter feed. Our Duty is an evidence-based organization concerned with the protection of children and adolescent health. That’s all. It is deeply sinister that such a positive and necessary mission is seen by Twitter as something to suppress.
Other news
SEGM review of the year: https://segm.org/2020_gender_medicine_highlights_SEGM
Tina Traster had an article published on Psychology Today which was quickly taken down. We were delighted to host her article with permission almost immediately afterwards. Tina talks of her experience with Graham Linehan in this interview:
The Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF) has published a Media Style Guide, a tool for journalists reporting on issues related to sex and gender identity, sexual orientation, the sex industry, and the rights of women and girls. If widely adopted by journalists it would make the world a better place by having media that can be trusted.
And finally…
Jalisa Vine, a detransitoner, spreads some joy…
Wishing all our readers a very Happy New Year,
May 2021 bring us all the progress we need
