On 17-20 June the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) will host their 2024 International Congress at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. The conference programme lists several speakers associated with anti-trans lobbying and the promotion of conversion therapy.
The Congress will also feature a keynote address from Dr Hilary Cass, chair of the Cass Review on Tuesday 19 June. Dr Cass will also speak at a later event titled “Everything you wanted to know about transgender health but were too afraid to ask”.
While the final report of the Cass Review has been warmly received by NHS bodies and UK politicians, it has been extensively critiqued by trans healthcare experts and researchers from a range of disciplines.
Here are a set of references that go into the issues raised above in more detail.
Concerning the Cass Review:
Statement from the British Medical Association (2024). “Following the publication of the Cass Review on Gender Identity Services for children and young people, this meeting is concerned about its impact on transgender healthcare provision because of its unsubstantiated recommendations driven by unexplained study protocol deviations, ambiguous eligibility criteria, and exclusion of trans-affirming evidence.” Available at: https://www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/bma-to-undertake-an-evaluation-of-the-cass-review-on-gender-identity-services-for-children-and-young-people
Statement from the Endocrine Society (2024). Available at: https://www.scribd.com/document/730290510/Statement-From-Endocrine-Society
Statement from PATHA (Professional Association for Transgender Health Aoteroa) (2024). Available at: https://patha.nz/News/13341582
Statement from AusPATH (Australian Professional Association for Transgender Health, quoted in:
Mulligan, E. (2024). Cass Review out-of-line with medical consensus and lacks relevance in Australian context. Equality Australia [online] 10th April 2024. https://equalityaustralia.org.au/cass-review-out-of-line-with-medical-consensus-and-lacks-relevance-in-australian-context/
Horton, C. (2024). The Cass Review: Cis-supremacy in the UK’s approach to healthcare for trans children. International Journal of Transgender Health, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2024.2328249
Horton, C. (interviewed); Talbot, A. (host); Bedwell, A. (host) (2024, 13th May). A Cass-astrophic Review (Part One). A transcript of Horton’s interview is available here:
Pearce, R. (2024). What’s wrong with the Cass Review? A round up of commentary and evidence. https://ruthpearce.net/2024/04/16/whats-wrong-with-the-cass-review-a-round-up-of-commentary-and-evidence/
McNamara, M., Baker, K., Connelly, K., Janssen, A., Olson-Kennedy, J., Pang, K.C., Scheim, A., Turban, J., Alstott, A. (2024). An evidence-based critique of the Cass Review. Yale Law School. https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/documents/integrity-project_cass-response.pdf
Horton, C., Pearce, R. (2024). The U.K.’s Cass Review Badly Fails Trans Children. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-u-k-s-cass-review-badly-fails-trans-children/
Concerning social transition:
Horton, C. (2023). The importance of child voice in trans health research: a critical review of research on social transition and well-being in trans children. International Journal of Transgender Health, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2023.2295381
Turban, J. L., King, D., Li, J. J., & Keuroghlian, A. S. (2021). Timing of Social Transition for Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth, K-12 Harassment, and Adult Mental Health Outcomes. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 69(6), 991–998. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.06.001
Durwood, L., McLaughlin, K. A., & Olson, K. R. (2017). Mental Health and Self-Worth in Socially Transitioned Transgender Youth. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 56(2), 116–123.e2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2016.10.016
Noone, Chris, et al. “CRITICALLY APPRAISING THE CASS REPORT: METHODOLOGICAL FLAWS AND UNSUPPORTED CLAIMS.” OSF Preprints, 11 June 2024. Web. https://osf.io/preprints/osf/uhndk
Concerning gender exploratory therapy and conversion approaches:
Ashley, F. (2023). Interrogating Gender-Exploratory Therapy. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(2), 472-481. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916221102325
Maude, I. (2024, 7th May). Did the NHS ever stop funding conversion therapy? Trans Safety Network [online]. https://transsafety.network/posts/did-the-nhs-ever-stop-funding-conversion-therapy/
Content Warning: Medical abuse of children, alleged to have occurred at Dr Kaltiala’s gender clinic in Finland. Dr Kaltiala is a panel member for the event on treating gender dysphoria at the International Symposium this year
Peltonen, J. (2021, 19th March) “Kuvaile minulle miten masturboit?” – transnuorten asema hoitojärjestelmässä on synkkä [rough translation: ‘”Describe to me how you masturbate?” – the position of trans youth in the treatment system is bleak’]. Kehrääjä [online]. https://kehraaja.com/kuvaile-minulle-miten-masturboit-julkikuvan-takaa-paljastuu-transpolien-nuorten-synkka-tilanne/
(Article in Finnish; an English summary can be found in this Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/DadTrans/status/1778896184850907490)
Goodyear, T., Delgado-Ron, J. A., Ashley, F., Knight, R., & Salway, T. (2023). Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression Change Efforts and Suicidality: Evidence, Challenges, and Future Research Directions. LGBT Health, 10(5), 339–343. https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2022.0359
Concerning common myths and flaws in approaches to trans healthcare and its research:
Ashley, F., Tordoff, D. M., Olson-Kennedy, J., & Restar, A. J. (2023). Randomized-controlled trials are methodologically inappropriate in adolescent transgender healthcare. International Journal of Transgender Health, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2023.2218357
Ashley, F. (2023). Youth should decide: the principle of subsidiarity in paediatric transgender healthcare. Journal of Medical Ethics 2023;49:110-114. https://jme.bmj.com/content/49/2/110
Ashley, F.; Dominguez Jr., S. (2021). Transgender Healthcare Does Not Stop at the Doorstep of the Clinic. The American Journal of Medicine, 134(2):158-160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.09.030
Adams, N., Pearce, R. , Veale, J., Radix, A., Castro, D., Sarkar, A. and Thom, K. C. (2017) Guidance and ethical considerations for undertaking transgender health research and institutional review boards adjudicating this research. Transgender Health, 2(1), pp. 165-175. (doi: 10.1089/trgh.2017.0012)Riggs, D. W., Pearce, R. , Pfeffer, C. A., Hines, S., White, F. and Ruspini, E. (2019) Transnormativity in the psy disciplines: constructing pathology in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and Standards of Care. American Psychologist, 74(8), pp. 912-924/ (doi: 10.1037/amp0000545)
Resisting Transphobia in Edinburgh 