Janice Turner’s article in The Times today is a perfect example of how ‘gender critical’ transphobes cherry-pick and conflate facts to support their ideology and create trans-hostile propaganda.

Let’s unpick the spin...

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Kiera Bell was 16 when she was prescribed blockers

At 16, she’s considered competent to consent to medical treatment, which can “only be overruled in exceptional circumstances”

Even if she’s successful in revoking Gillick for trans kids U16, it wouldn’t have applied to her!

Kiera admits that she “wouldn't have wanted to listen to voices of caution when she was younger” in a BBC interview
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51676020

So, even if @TaviAndPort *had* challenged her more, she likely *still* would have consented to hormone blockers at age 16...

Once referred to @TaviAndPort endocrine services, Kiera would have had several appointments with a Consultant Endocrinologist - One of those appointments would have required both her and her parents to sign a consent form, which details all of the potential side-effects of HRT...

What Janice Turner fails to say (and misleads by omission) is that Kiera would have had to have undergone a SECOND competency assessment BEFORE being prescribed hormones.

She would also have had to have been on blockers for a YEAR before @TaviAndPort would prescribe hormones...

From the age of 16-17, Kiera would have been challenged at monthly therapy meetings about her gender, sexuality, fertility preservation, and consent competency BEFORE @TaviAndPort therapists would even refer her to endocrinology for testosterone. They would then do more tests...

Janice Turner also fails to mention that NO TRANS PERSON CAN GET SURGERY ON THE NHS UNDER THE AGE OF 18!!!

Keira was a LEGAL ADULT when she pursued and consented to top-surgery!

This is also not a quick, or unchallenged process, even in adult services!...

Kiera has now “detransitioned” at the age of 23 claiming she made a “brash decision as a teenager” - Yet she consented to surgery at the age of 20 and only decided to stop taking testosterone age 22
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51676020

This indicates ongoing consent well into adulthood...

Transphobes argue that “almost all kids on blockers go onto cross-sex hormones” as an argument to stop trans kids getting blockers. But they purposefully ignore the context of an increasingly trans-hostile environment and multiple hurdles to just get blockers...

To just get hormone blockers, trans kids have to:

Come out to their parents and have their support (many trans kids don’t have supportive parents)

Persuade their (often resistant) GP to refer them to @TaviAndPort

Wait for 2 years 7 months for a first GIDS appointment...

Trans kids encounter multiple challenges while on the 2y 7m GIDS wait list
Coming out at school
Bullying
Family/ friend rejection
Changing documents
Intrusive questions
Transphobic media
Ongoing dysphoria
Declining mental health
Unwanted body changes...

What isn’t reported is that a % of families don’t attend their first @TaviAndPort appointment - Certainly some will drop out as their child no longer seeks help, or they turn to private healthcare options.

Only those who *really* need support endure the waitlist...

Once at @TaviAndPort trans youth are challenged again with often invasive questions.

While clear-cut cases of well-informed & mature young people with no other issues may be referred quicker, the average number of therapy sessions is sessions is 10-11 (months) before referral...

The reason there is such a high % of trans kids who are prescribed blockers that go on to cross-sex hormones, is because it’s so difficult to get blockers, that if you’ve endured that, you can be pretty certain you’ve filtered out anyone who isn’t trans!...

Transphobes also claim that blockers aren’t reversible - that’s because they’ve spun the narrative that blockers are a “conveyor belt” to hormones.

Blockers are completely reversible - once stopped, puberty resumes, as seen by those kids taking them for precocious puberty...

Hormone blockers DO NOT make trans kids infertile in the long term (obviously they impact fertility while taking the medication, but this is no different than the contraceptive pill)... https://twitter.com/mimmymum/status/1058310190720868352

Similarly, anti-trans campaigners like to put scare quotes around the fact that hormone blockers are prescribed “off label” to trans kids.

This is a common occurrence in paediatric medicine, but is positioned by journalists like Janice Turner as “experimental treatment”... https://twitter.com/mimmymum/status/1058310211704885248

Janice is also totally incorrect that taking hormone blockers leads to a necessity to have a hysterectomy - Again, this conflates those trans men who have taken testosterone - And even then, many medical professionals no longer recommend hysterectomies...

While many trans men may *wish* to have a hysterectomy, it is no longer considered a medical *requirement* or even a medical *necessity* for trans men on testosterone....

The number of trans men who have taken testosterone, retained their womb, and have given birth (some without medical assistance) is testament to the FACT that taking testosterone, DOESN’T mean you need a hysterectomy, nor does it make you infertile!.. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/apr/20/the-dad-who-gave-birth-pregnant-trans-freddy-mcconnell

It is true that taking hormone blockers can impact bone density while taking the medication, but studies have shown that bone density increases and reaches adult levels once hormones are given.

All this needs to be balanced against the benefits blockers provide...

Much was said in the legal case about “ability to orgasm” and “sexual function”.

Remember: blockers are prescribed for pubertal trans kids up to age 16 who are *acutely* dysphoric about their bodies. These are kids who will do anything to *not* interact with their genitals...

WHY are anti-trans campaigners obsessing over the ability of a child under the age of 16 (sexual consent) being able to orgasm?

Again, the physical and psychological BENEFITS of blockers to trans kids needs to be balanced against this TEMPORARY ‘side effect’...

Again: Hormone blockers DO NOT impair long-term fertility or sexual function - as can be seen in children who take blockers for precious puberty.

There are also MANY trans adults on cross-sex hormones who have fulfilling sex lives ... https://www.gendergp.com/getting-to-know-myself-intimately-trans-woman-sex-dilation-lubrication

Concerns about future fertility are valid, which is why it is so important to improve NHS access to fertility preservation for young trans people embarking on blockers and subsequently cross-sex hormones...

However, with many trans people potentially ending up in a relationships with people of the same natal sex, the challenges for them to have their own “biological family” will be no different to a gay or lesbian person.

That trans youth are aware of options, is surely a positive?

What can be seen from both the anti-trans campaigners legal case, as well as Janice Turner’s article, is that all their arguments can be debunked.

They are a stack of cards built on strawmen, conflation, and prejudice.

I hope the Judges in the Kiera Bell case see this too!