British Medical Association calls for the NHS to resume treating Trans Patients of All Ages

Archibald Tuttle, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The British Medical Association(BMA) has passed a resolution calling on the National Health Service(NHS) to resume medically treating patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria of all ages, Erin Reed first reported.

For those who don't know the NHS stopped treating trans patients in the UK without allowing public comment when the Cass Review was made public.

Why this matters:

• The BMA the trade union that advocates for doctors in the UK is calling for a pause on the implementation of the Cass review while a evidence-based review can be completed.
• The BMA position aligns with major medical associations in the US, Canada, and Australia that subscribe to a medically affirming SOC and have identified the Cass Review as politics and not science.
• Most importantly the BMA recognizes that discontinuing medical care of patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria needlessly puts their health and welfare at risk.

The Cass review commissioned by the conservative government ignored "poor quality" studies that weren't "double-blind" according to the Cambridge Student because there were none.

A double-blind study requires a baseline, meaning some of the patients would be unknowingly administered a placebo and others given hormone blockers. The patients receiving a placebo diagnosed with gender dysphoria would continue to suffer and as studies have shown would be more likely to have suicidal ideation. 

The Cass review didn't recommend conducting a double-blind study. Instead, the Cass review recommended a "holistic" approach which in effect further pathologizes youth and at best offers conversion therapy to those diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

Studies show that youth who receive gender-affirming medications, like puberty blockers and hormones, have a lower risk of depression and suicidal thoughts. One Stanford University study found that transgender people who received hormones as teenagers had better mental health outcomes than those who received them as adults. Another study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that transgender youth who started gender-affirming hormones reported higher life satisfaction and lower depression and anxiety after two years.

A study conducted at Western Australian Pediatric Gender Clinic of 552 youth treated for gender dysphoria indicates that only 5% reidentifed to the sex of birth.

Federal Judge Rules Florida Law Banning Trans Medical Care Unconstitutional

On Thursday Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ruled on appeal from the state that Florida's ban violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects employees and job applicants from employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, AP Reports.

Many believe that Desantis is a Facist, but is he? Professor Tom Huckin Checks 14 characteristics of fascism against the Florida governor’s actions.

This follows the June district court ruling permanently blocking Florida from enforcing a law that bans medical care for transgender adolescents and restricts it for transgender adults. The ruling in Doe v. Ladapo found that Florida SB 254 and the related Boards of Medicine (BOM) rules were motivated by disapproval of transgender people and violate the equal protection rights of transgender individuals and parents of transgender minors in Florida. Florida was the first state to pass a law restricting access to health care for transgender adults. Today’s ruling permanently blocks those restrictions as well as the ban on care for adolescents, which the Court preliminarily blocked last June.

Jennifer Levi, Senior Director of Transgender and Queer Rights, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) said in a statement:

“Today’s ruling is a huge win for transgender people and their families. It confirms that health care access must be based on principles of good medicine, not politics. The court today found there is no legitimate purpose for the extraordinary restrictions Florida has put on transgender people’s ability to obtain needed medical care. The decision will no doubt bring huge sighs of relief across Florida by transgender people and those who love them.”

The so-called "Stop Woke" Act, DeSantis's centerpiece discriminatory law violated the First Amendment a court ruled.

In March a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a Florida federal judge’s August 2022 ruling that the so-called “Stop WOKE” act violates the First Amendment as it applies to businesses and is impermissibly vague, AP reports.

“By limiting its restrictions to a list of ideas designated as offensive, the Act targets speech based on its content. And by barring only speech that endorses any of those ideas, it penalizes certain viewpoints — the greatest First Amendment sin,” Circuit Judge Britt C. Grant wrote for the court.

DeSantis and his political medical appointees keep losing but they aren't finished yet.

March 1, 2024, the Florida House passed House Bill 1639 (HB 1639), which seeks to deny the legal existence of transgender individuals by requiring individuals to identify as their sex assigned at birth instead of their gender on their driver’s licenses and ID cards. The bill also requires health plans to cover the widely discredited practice of conversion therapy and creates additional obstacles for health plans to cover gender-affirming care.

The ACLU of Florida opposes HB 1639.