Keir Starmer says he doesn’t want schools teaching young people about transgender identities

[u/PinkNews]

https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/06/25/keir-starmer-trans-education-general-election-2024/

[u/CitrusRabborts]

But it's the same when considering if you're gay or not. Some people experiment and decide it's not for them. We shouldn't be bothered if teenagers socially transition and then decide it's not for them

[u/ItsFuckingScience → u/CitrusRabborts]

Socially transitioning is not equivalent to kissing a boy and deciding it’s not actually for you

Getting yourself, your peers, teachers to address and support you as a new person and identity, persevering against potential pushback from parents, family or anyone suggesting it could “be a phase” etc is not easily psychologically reversible

[u/AJFierce → u/ItsFuckingScience]

This is an anti-trans line of attack.

Asking people to use a different name for you and different pronouns for you is what social transitioning is, and it is reversible and changeable.

It IS unlikely you want to do that unless you're pretty sure you want to transition already. Pushing back against people insisting it's just a phase is also solved by... not insisting it's just a phase. A sort of unbothered acceptance is the best way to give a kid a chance to explore what it feels like to be called her instead of him, or Kevin instead of Kaylee, without forcing them into a defensive posture.

The idea that trying out a new name and new pronouns is in itself a sort of cognitohazard is an anti-trans line of attack, and whether you're repeating it without knowing it or actively using it it's important people reading this see it identified as such.

[u/ItsFuckingScience → u/AJFierce]

This is an anti-trans line of attack.

I disagree. I’d identify as a pro-trans person for what it’s worth. I hate that the response to any civil disagreement on this issue is to label it as an attack

Asking people to use a different name for you and different pronouns for you is what social transitioning is, and it is reversible and changeable.

Yes I agree. I never said it wasn’t changeable. But what I am saying is that socially transitioning at a school should be considered equivalent to a psychological / medical intervention and should not take place without the child being seen or under supervision of a psychologist/ medical professional.

Personally if an adult friend or colleague asked me to call them by a different name and pronouns I’d be happy to

The idea that trying out a new name and new pronouns is in itself a sort of cognitohazard is an anti-trans line of attack, and whether you're repeating it without knowing it or actively using it it's important people reading this see it identified as such.

I think you’re significantly downplaying a social transition as “trying out a new name and pronouns”.

Socially transitioning “may have significant effects in terms of psychological functioning and longer term outcomes” - Cass Review 2024

[u/AJFierce → u/ItsFuckingScience]

First: I am not saying you are anti-trans, glad you're on our side. What I'm saying is you have repeated a fairly new anti-trans position that I am familiar with that has started cropping up over the past few months- if you're taking it seriously you have been duped.

It absolutely should not be considered a medical intervention requiring the sign-off of a medical professional. That is, respectfully, bonkers. Nobody needs permission from a doctor to try a new name. No trans person needs permission from a psychiatrist to say "hey would you call me she/her, like a girl, for a bit? I wanna see how it feels" and it is bananas to suggest that it should be otherwise. Should we also have psychiatric interventions when a person with a doctorate chooses to use the gender-neutral title of doctor?

Oh, the Cass review is where you got it! That's where this mad idea started! Right, that makes sense. Allow ne to be entirely clear: the goal of the Cass review was to justify treating trans people worse. Trans people warned about this from the getgo, the evidence was cherry picked and the review worked woth Ron Desantis's team and anti-trans "charities" but no trans charities.

If you support the Cass review you're neither pro-trans nor neutral on trans people, I'm afraid. You are against our freedom, our liberation and our existence.

[u/ItsFuckingScience → u/AJFierce]

Have you even read the Cass Review?

For you to give that assessment of it is just so completely inaccurate from what I understand of it

It seems entirely reasonable and focused on a review of available evidence

Have you even read the recommendations or conclusions?

To just out of hand dismiss it as an extreme right wing plot to attack trans people is just wild.

The British Psychological Society commended the review as "thorough and sensitive", in light of the complex and controversial nature of the subject.[77]

The Royal College of Psychiatrists, the main professional organisation of British psychiatrists, welcomed the report and strongly agreed with its recommendations. They supported the emphasis on a holistic and person-centred approach and research to improve the evidence basis for treatment protocols.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the professional body for British paediatricians, thanked Cass and her team for their "massive undertaking".

[u/AJFierce → u/ItsFuckingScience]

Yes, I have read it. Front to back. I'm a politically active trans woman in the UK.

World Professional Association for Transgender Health:

“Regardless of what Dr. Cass’ intentions may or may not have been, the Cass Review process itself intentionally and explicitly excluded any oversight from patients and their families and trans healthcare experts, and its content is not supported by a robust methodology. The Cass Review relies on selective and inconsistent use of evidence, and its recommendations often do not follow from the data presented in the systematic reviews. The Cass Review deprives young trans and gender diverse people of the high-quality care they deserve and causes immense distress and harm to both young patients and their families.”

European Professional Association for Transgender Health:

"...while waiting for research results, not providing transgender adolescent care that may include puberty blockers and hormones to adolescents who experience gender incongruence is not a neutral act given that it may have immediate as well as lifelong harmful effects for the young transgender person. Also, asking transgender adolescents to participate in research as the only way to receive puberty blockers, as Cass recommends, is unethical.”

Endocrine Society:

“NHS England’s recent report, the Cass Review, does not contain any new research that would contradict the recommendations made in our Clinical Practice Guideline on gender-affirming care. […] Although the scientific landscape has not changed significantly, misinformation about gender-affirming care is being politicized.”

American Academy of Pediatrics:

“The AAP’s gender-affirming care policy, like all our standing guidance, is grounded in evidence and science. […] What we’re seeing more and more is that the politically infused public discourse is getting this wrong and it’s impacting the way that doctors care for their patients. […] Politicians have inserted themselves into the exam room, and this is dangerous for both physicians and for families.”

(There's more and links to primary sources here: https://ruthpearce.net/2024/04/16/whats-wrong-with-the-cass-review-a-round-up-of-commentary-and-evidence/)

I don't think it's extreme right wing. I think Britain's politics and institutions are much more transphobic across the board than you'll find on other countries, left wing and right wing.

Like I'm sorry to be the one to tell you but the Cass review is not, and has not been received as, a neutral document. It makes up in particular that "fact" you dropped, that social transition is a dangerous, risky, and untried medical intervention that could warp a kid's mind forever and send them down a dangerous path (the path that leads to a healthy, happy trans grown-up).

You want section 12 of the Cass Review, and I want to draw your attention to how a trans kid possibly growing up into a healthy happy trans adult is framed:

"There are different views on the benefits versus the harms of early social transition. Some consider that it may improve mental health and social and educational participation for children experiencing gender-related distress. Others consider that a child who might have desisted at puberty is more likely to have an altered trajectory, culminating in medical intervention which will have life-long implications."

An altered trajectory, and a lifetime of nasty trans medicine, if you don't stick to your guns and refuse to call your Sandra Steven instead. This is how the Cass Review talks about citizens like me.