Oz court endorses ‘gender-affirming’ care for 12-yr-old

A twelve-year-old boy should be prescribed puberty blockers as a matter of “urgency”, an Australian court has ruled.

In July, the Victorian Supreme Court backed an application by The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne to treat a gender-confused boy with puberty-blocking drugs.

The mother, child and clinician supported the use of the trans drugs, but the court was asked to decide whether permission from the child’s absentee father was required. The judge ruled that the mother’s consent alone “is sufficient”.

Puberty blockers

In her judgment, Justice Melinda Richards claimed that puberty blockers were appropriate, given that the boy has “chosen a feminine name” and lives “as a girl, with a preference for stereotypically female colours and clothing”.

Clinicians from the RCH Gender Clinic submitted to the court that the twelve-year-old was “distressed” at the prospect of his voice breaking, his Adam’s apple developing and of increased facial and body hair.

Justice Richards reported that gender-affirming clinicians recommended the child take puberty blockers, which she claimed “halts the progression of the physical changes that come with puberty, but is reversible and may be stopped at any time”.

‘House of cards’

Commenting on the case, Wendy Francis, National Director of Politics for the Australian Christian Lobby, warned: “The Court should not ignore the increasing international evidence against the use of puberty blockers.”

She challenged Justice Richards’ claim that the drugs’ effect is reversible, referring to “the large body of emerging evidence” of their potential harm.

Francis also said: “So called ‘gender-affirming care’ is a ‘house of cards’, and it is coming tumbling down. Children cannot consent to puberty blockers.

“Just like they can’t consent to tattoos, or drinking alcohol, or driving a car. In all instances, it is an adult who must take responsibility.”

Three-year-olds

She continued: “The head of the world’s largest review into children’s care, Dr Hilary Cass, said that gender medicine is ‘built on shaky foundations’, and that the rationale for early puberty suppression remains unclear.

“Despite this, a recent freedom of information request revealed that children as young as three are being seen at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital Gender Clinic.”

Francis concluded: “Serious questions need to be asked and answered before children are placed on drugs to halt the very process known to ease gender distress.”

Speaking at a webinar organised by the Australian National Association of Practising Psychiatrists in July, Dr Hilary Cass said young people now see puberty blockers as “almost totemic for the intervention that’s going to help them feel better and get them on to a medical pathway”.