Trans ideology experimenting with children’s lives, say experts

Doctors and education experts are warning Scotland is “experimenting” with children’s lives by allowing trans ideology to override the truth.

A senior doctor told MSPs last week at a round table discussion on the issue that the five thousand per cent increase in gender questioning children is down to trans ideology being pushed in schools.

She said: “Young people now have grave difficulty establishing fact from fiction because of the trans ideology being pushed in schools where they are told it’s possible to change sex, leading to dreadful confusion.

“This is why we are seeing an increase in the number of children coming forward questioning their gender. If we look at when that started, it goes back to the start of trans ideology being introduced in schools rather than facts.

“We have stopped allowing children to just be children.”

A GP told MSPs she is “concerned lives could be lost because of the pressure to prescribe powerful gender changing drugs which are unlicensed.”

She said: “These drugs have no scientific studies or evidence which prove they are safe.”

GP and Scottish Conservative Shadow Health Minister Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “There are significant issues. Doctors on the frontline are worrying about their patients and concerned that they may face litigation in ten years’ time because they have prescribed drugs which have caused harm.

“We have been informed by Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer Sir Gregor Smith that 1 in 2 of the patients on current waiting lists for help with gender dysphoria have underlying mental health issues.

“I would not be fulfilling my duty of care if I didn’t deal with that mental health issue first, and I am very concerned about medications being given to children and young people when we do not yet know what it does.”

Following the Cass Review carried out by NHS England’s top paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass, only those under18s taking part in clinical trials can be given gender altering drugs and puberty blockers.

But Scottish Conservative Shadow Children and Young People’s Minister Roz McCall said: “I’m deeply concerned we are now experimenting with children’s lives.

“We are pushing them down a road where there’s no going back, and for some, this can be catastrophic.

“An adult has the capacity to make up their own mind as to whether they are comfortable with the consequences of their actions. A child cannot fully understand the ramifications.”

Paediatrician and autism expert Dr Jennifer Cunningham said: “Questioning your sexuality is a normal part of growing up and we seem to be forgetting that.

“Gender dysphoria is the only clinical symptom in the diagnostic manual of mental disorders whose treatment involved sex hormone manipulation and surgical intervention.”

Comparing gender dysphoria with anorexia, which has a proven element of social contagion between teenage girls, Dr Cunningham said: “Its treatment should not be directed at the body with surgery and hormones any more than we would treat obesity fearing anorexics with liposuction.

“What is specific to the contemporary phenomenon is that teenagers today have been so thoroughly inducted into transgender ideology in schools and online, as well as being imbued with the fallacy of sex being on a spectrum and mutable.”

Educational psychologist Carolyn Brown said: “We must remove all transgender ideology from our schools and care services because of the harm it is doing.

“These groups are pushing ideology, not facts, and they should never have been allowed near our schools because of the confusion and distress this is causing.

“The Cass review showed there has been a 5,000 per cent increase in children identifying as transgender since this started happening, and the vast majority of these children have significant additional needs such as autism, anxiety, trauma and ADHD.

“Instead of treating and supporting those children, we are immediately identifying gender dysphoria as the main reason for their distress rather than treating the underlying issues-autism, abuse, being in care.”

Independent social worker Maggie Mellon said: “Our education, health and care services have all been captured by trans ideology, and we fear the situation will only get worse.”

“After already being in virtually every secondary school in Scotland, organisations such as LGBT Youth Scotland are now turning their attentions to our primary schools despite their assertion that they are there for 13–25-year-olds.”

MSP Meghan Gallagher said: “I’m very worried about what is happening in our schools. After already being given £millions in public funding, organisations such as LGBT Youth Scotland have just been promised a further funding of around £470,000 by the Scottish government.

“We will continue to question and raise our concerns in parliament and will continue speaking to councils to ensure they challenge what is happening, and make sure they stick to the science and teach about sex and relationships in a healthy way.”

Charity LGBT Youth Scotland said: “Part of our charitable mission includes advancing LGBTQ+ education, and many primary schools are seeing a growing need to support LGBTQ+ young people in their settings.

“We work with senior leaders in primary schools that directly engage with us to create materials and age-appropriate support for their individual context.

“All funding we receive is subject to thorough scrutiny and oversight, ensuring our safeguarding practices consistently meet, and often exceed, national standards with regular evaluations to maintain the safety and well-being of the youth we serve.”