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Campaigners warn conversion therapy ban could leave 'trans' children in distress

2024-07-15 00:00:00.0 每日快报-政治原网页

Labour is planning to ban conversion therapy (Image: Getty)

A ban on so-called conversion therapy that campaigners warn will stop children confused about their gender being given help is expected in the King’s Speech.

Labour wants to outlaw any attempt to try to change someone's sexual orientation or gender.

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Maya Forstater, CEO of human-rights charity Sex Matters, said Labour was carrying out the changes after campaigning by trans activists.

She said: “Dr Cass said the first-line treatment for gender-distressed children should be talking therapy and perhaps antidepressants.

“But the gender identity lobby doesn’t want this. It has labelled her approach ‘conversion therapy’ in a desperate attempt to silence those who oppose telling unhappy children that the way to feel better is to alter their healthy bodies.

“Every study of trans-identifying children has found that, unless the grown-ups around them reinforce their identities by pretending they have changed sex, most will outgrow their gender confusion. Gender identity isn’t a stable, lifelong characteristic like sexual orientation.

“Change is the norm, not the exception. The people who will be harmed by the proposed law are those it’s supposed to protect: distressed kids.”

Dr Cass, who carried out the most comprehensive review of how boys and girls who are unhappy with their gender are treated to date, said it was vital that children are given enough time and space for them to work through their issues.

She said a small number would benefit from a medical route for their “gender distress” but suggested it was more likely the majority would effectively grow out of it.

Critics of the conversion ban fear it would lead to therapists becoming fearful of discussing other reasons why a child may think they are the opposite gender as it could be seen as an attempt to convert them.

The plans come as another row over the treatment of children who identify as trans broke out in the Labour party.

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Former health secretary Victoria Atkins used Medicines Act 1968 powers to stop private or European organisations from prescribing puberty blockers to young people aged under 18, if the drugs were intended to aid with gender incongruence or gender-affirming healthcare.

Campaign group TransActual and a young person who cannot be named have launched a High Court bid to challenge the Government’s order.

Their barrister Jason Coppel KC had said the former minister “proceeded without taking clinical or other scientific advice on those views and overruled officials who had wanted wider consultation and had warned her of serious impacts, including self-harm and suicide, on highly vulnerable children and young persons who had already embarked upon treatment”.

Mr Streeting took to X, formerly Twitter, to explain his decision to press ahead with the High Court battle.

“Children’s healthcare must always be led by evidence,” the Health Secretary wrote.

“Medicine given to children must always be proven safe and effective first.”

The NHS does not prescribe puberty blockers, which suppress young people’s natural production of sex hormones to delay puberty, to children because “there is not enough evidence of safety and clinical effectiveness”, according to the health service.

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Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced he would continue the Conservative government’s ban on puberty blockers.

But the decision sparked a backlash in Labour, with MPs and activists, who claimed the drugs are “life-saving”.

Backbencher Nadia Whittome said: “Only a small number of young people are prescribed puberty blockers.

“Those who are often describe them as life-saving. I know the distress the puberty blockers ban is causing them.

“No matter what happens in court, I will continue fighting for the government to scrap it.”

Labour MP Zarah Sultana said: “Labour's manifesto promised to "remove indignities for trans people who deserve recognition & acceptance".

“That entails ending the Tories' ban on puberty blockers. Young people – cis & trans – must have access to healthcare they need. I'll always stand with the trans community.”

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