February 2024
Newsletter
Deceit damages mental health
A Church of England school in the UK allowed a boy, aged four, to identify as a girl for more than three years, without telling the other children or their parents. The girls in this boy’s small friendship group began to show stress symptons and when the truth was revealed they felt betrayed. One grandmother reported, “My dear little granddaughter is terribly emotionally and psychologically messed up. She trusts no one at all because she sees the school and all the adults have lied to her; a boy cannot be a girl.”
A senior education official commented: “Alas, most teachers think that it is kind and necessary to respect children’s ‘identities’ and don’t accept the collateral damage,” he said. “And the progressive activists in a school always shut down others - they are the people who are most determined to display and promote their political views at work.”
How have we ended up with a situation where one small boy the parents claim is “trans” (based on what evidence?) is “protected” and sod the rest of the children? They are the ones who should be protected - from bewildering and scientifically contested sexual matters at such a tender age. (columnist, Allison Pearson)
False suicide statistics
Elliot Kaminetzky, a US psychologist who specialises in child-behavioural issues, states in a recent opinion piece that, “Those who use the threat of suicide to encourage children to go down a transgender path either don’t understand the research or are being deliberately manipulative.”
The inflated suicide statistics for transgender youth are based on faulty research and do not take into account the many psychiatric comorbidities these patients have. Suicide is rarely the result of a single factor and attributing suicide to transgender identity alone may actually lead to increased suicide, he says. (See the article linked above for details.)
In another challenge to the suicide claims, an article in the British Medical Journal reports on a study carried out in Finland that analysed mortality for those under 23 who contacted that country’s gender identity services from 1996-2019. The results were:
Suicide in the cohort was rare - 0.3%
After controlling for psychiatic needs, there was no significant higher rate of suicide for the gender distressed compared to the general population.
Gender reassignment did not significantly reduce the risk of suicide.
There was a significant relationship between high rates of other mental health difficulties and increased suicide.
The authors concluded, “it is of utmost importance to identify and appropriately treat mental disorders in adolescents experiencing GD [gender dysphoria] to prevent suicide,” while also noting that "the risk of suicide-related to transgender identity and/or GD per se may have been overestimated."
* For a full understanding of the table above and the Finnish study, read this analysis by SEGM (Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine) that looks at the strengths and limitations of the evidence.
Another whistleblower
Tamara Pietzke, a Washington therapist, has left her job and blown the whistle after being told to give “gender affirming care” to a thirteen-year-old with severe psychiatric issues, without investigating her underlying problems.
Pietzke admitted that she was terrified to speak out, “but that fear pales in comparison to my strong belief that we can no longer medicalize youth and cause them potentially irreversible harm.”
Pietzke wrote in the Free Press: “I am speaking out because nothing will change unless people like me—who know the risks of medicalizing troubled young people—blow the whistle.”
Kemi Badenoch delivers again
The UK Equalities Minister, Kemi Badenoch, has again shown her superb understanding of the complex issues created by gender ideology in a letter to the House of Commons.
Badenoch told MPs she has strong evidence that gay young people are being convinced they are transgender instead, and that some clinicians believe helping them to change gender is in effect ‘conversion therapy for gay kids’.
“If gender non-conformity is misinterpreted as evidence of being transgender and a child is medically affirmed, the child may not have had a chance to identify, come to terms with, or explore, a same-sex orientation,” she said.
In the same week, a debate in the House of Lords for the second reading of the Conversion Therapy Prohibition Bill provided some powerful opposition from several Lords and Baronesses.
Lord Blencathra stated, “Only cult capture by the trans zealots can explain why 138 children were referred in 2010 for genuine gender dysphoria but that this rocketed to 3,585 in 2021, as the fad for converting children from one sex to another took hold.”
Baroness Bruscome stated that, “We’re witnessing the hijacking of a rare condition for a trend that is out of control.”
Baroness Meyer asked, “Gender identity remains ambiguous and its existence remains contested. How can we ban something no-one has been able to define?”
Alberta breaks out
The province of Alberta has limited access for minors to puberty blockers and gender reassignment surgery. Announcing the policy, the province’s Premier, Danielle Smith, said, “ Making permanent and irreversible decisions regarding one’s biological sex, while still a youth, can severely limit that child’s choices in the future.”
Under the new policy, teaching materials about sexuality and gender will need approval from the province’s education ministry, and parents must opt-in to each class, rather than opting-out. In addition, boys who claim to be girls will not be allowed to compete in girls’ sport.
Time to think - sponsor a copy
Fully Informed, a group set up to inform New Zealanders of the growing international concerns about the use of puberty blockers for gender-questioning youth, is seeking 100 sponsorships to send Hannah Barnes’s book ‘Time to Think’ to key NZ politicians and medical leaders.
‘Time to Think’ is a forensic examination of the care provided to vulnerable young people at the UK’s flagship gender clinic for children. The book exposes how safeguarding concerns got lost as professionals came under pressure to affirm children’s identity and prescribe puberty blockers.
In New Zealand, there is an even higher rate of puberty blocker treatment and the outcome of a Ministry of Health review into their use is overdue by months.
A medical scandal is playing out and our leaders must act. A letter accompanying the book will ask recipients to support an independent inquiry of gender identity services for children and young people in New Zealand as the UK has done with the Cass Independent Review.
A donation of $50 will get the book in the post with the letter and a copy of Professor Charlotte Paul's recent December 2023 North and South article A Terrible Trap.
Graham Linehan, live!
Graham Linehan is visiting Aotearoa in March to promote his book “Tough crowd” - part comedy-writing masterclass, part diary of a gender wars persecution. Graham has first hand experience with the epidemic of cancellation and censorship facing many in today’s society. His visit is sponsored by the Free Speech Union and Speak Up for Women.
Graham will be speaking in Auckland on 12 March, Wellington on 14 March, and Christchurch on 19 March. The Auckland and Wellington events are sold out. Tickets for the Christchurch event can be purchased on the FSU website: https://www.fsu.nz/upcoming_events
Training for Parents
Active Watchful Waiting Australia (AWWA) is an incorporated association of parents, professionals, and members of the LGB community, who are “united in a deep concern at the pipelining of young people onto the conveyor belt of products and services that underpins the profits of the gender affirmation industry.”
A sub-committee of AWWA, In Defence of Children, provides training for parents to help them protect their children from gender beliefs. The training includes:
A four step programme for parents to innoculate their kids against gender ideologies in schools.
Parent dinner hour - training parents to develop better connection and communication skills with their children over the dinner hour.
Circles of support - how to make networks of support in your local area.
For more information email contact@aww.org.au
Newly recommended on our website:
The Paradox Institute teaches about the biological and psychological differences between males and females and why they are important, using illustrated animated videos, articles, and podcasts. The content is sourced from cited scientific literature.
RGE at the Genspect NZ Webinar in November
The video of Marg Curnow’s presentation is now up on YouTube, from 27.35 in this link:
RGE is now on Instagram
Please follow at RGE.nz
