Medical practitioners in Australia have begun to join forces and speak up about the harmful gender practices being conducted on minors. More than 35 psychiatrists, psychologists and doctors have written an open letter to NSW MPs criticising current practices, including the “validity and reliability” of the use of irreversible treatments such as the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for people under 18:

The letter to parliamentarians is signed by seven psychiatrists including specialist child psychiatrists and a host of GPs and paediatricians. These experts have joined child psychiatrist Jillian Spencer, a critic of gender- affirmative care and also a signatory, who has for months been stood down by Children’s Health Queensland from her position at the state’s children’s hospital over a patient complaint.

“The framework also makes claims in support of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for children and young people that have been disputed or have a weak evidence base,” the open letter reads.

“It prioritises the ‘affirmation model’ for medically transitioning children and young people grappling with gender dysphoria, even though this treatment model has been dramatically scaled back in the UK and several European countries. We also firmly believe that NSW’s gender treatment framework needs to be urgently reconsidered.”

The letter points to the Cass review in the UK that led to a dramatic shift in the way that gender dysphoric children are cared for:

The Cass review subsequently exposed an activist-driven culture within London’s Tavistock clinic in which children were rapidly placed on puberty blockers with little prior investigation of their complex psychiatric issues despite a lack of evidence that administration of the drugs improved the children’s mental health and gender identity crises in the long run. Children are now only able to be prescribed puberty blockers in the UK under clinical trials with rigorous oversight.

NSW Labor and Independent MP Alex Greenwich are working on bringing in laws that funnel vulnerable children towards puberty blockers and further harmful gender treatments. They are also aiming to criminalise opposition to experimental pathways that are proving to cause irreversible damage.

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