BMA to vote to 'disavow' the Cass review

@ValerieDoonican

I was a lot more certain of the "correct line" on stuff when I was in my activist 30s than I ever can be now - including about my GC beliefs of course!

So true. And why it's so funny when the TRAs and TRA-adjacent come out with their guff about GC just being the voice of bigotted old people who are going to die out soon anyway leaving the enlightened youth to enjoy their rainbow-hued utopia. Because while they have never been us, we have been them and we know how much they still have to learn.

(And yes, I also put as much, if not more, effort into challenging my own GC position as I do into challenging the genderist one, although to be fair that's probably at least partly because the GC position has so far held up while the genderist "position" really does not hang together once you start to look at it critically.)

That's terrible 😢

I see Emma Runswick (BMA organiser) is a junior doctor in psychiatry. I wish that she would read the Cass report and spend time considering it! Quite apart from its intrinsic value, it is extremely helpful in showing how to evaluate evidence in any area of medicine.

By reading the Cass report Dr. Runswick could:

1. Learn how to evaluate clinical research,
2. Improve her prospects in terms of post graduate exams and higher specialist training, and
3. Most importantly, remove her Twitter/X posts on the Cass report. They are simply wrong.

Definitely the UCU is wholly captured and it’s beyond me how Grady got re-elected other than low turnout. Whilst you’d hope that medical doctors would retain a semblance of understanding about anatomy and physiology a short pubmed search of trans health articles highlights an abundance of insanity. No big surprise that Emma is interested in mental health.

Alas truth can take a long time to out.

It is disappointing to see organisations fold to threats & feel forced to platform advocates of conversion practice

Out of interest, does anyone know what she was implying was the advocated ‘conversion practice’?

Extraordinary. It really does seem to be the case that a bunch of millennial Citizen Smiths have taken over the BMC, the teaching unions and the therapist membership bodies. Good oh.

Do they imagine they will survive this radical onslaught? Truth will always out.

I was wondering what percentage of BMA members actually voted for the counsel members. The most recent elections show a 9.7% and 6.2% turnout rate. With those low voting rates it's easy for zealots to take control of the council

I left the BMA in 2006 when the government messed up our training. I nearly rejoined a few months ago when the new GP contract was being discussed but didn't. I don't think any of my medic friends are still members and I don't know any medics who are not GC. If this gets put out to all members I may have to rejoin to oppose it.

@AnnaMagnani thanks!

@Madcats doctors pay for their own indemnity cover

Just because its members are doctors doesn't mean it isn't a bog standard union with leftist i.e. in this case captured views. Contrary to the beliefs of some, doctors are not gods and intellectual giants. They have the same idiotic predjudices we all have. If the science doesn't fit their views they junk the science, not their views. They're just captured - that's it.

Please pardon my language but what the actual fuck is happening with the BMA?!

This unusually ideological behaviour by members of the BMA will give American critics of Cass, and UK critics like Maugham, Webberley, and Green, more grist (and grift) for their mill.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/dr-emma-runswick-public-face-junior-doctors-strike-corbyn-backing-activists-5q88w5hhd

To my mind the doctor's union is now like the NEU - the largest teaching union...long since radicalised and looking for any opportunity to agitate.

I have sent this article to all doctor friends who are BMA members (I am not). They need pressure from their membership. This is such an insane position to take and really undermines credibility in the profession.

I expect Emma’s activism is very tiring to stand up against & ppl generally try to keep their heads down & placate rather then get embroiled

and tbh as we’ve seen that’s all it takes

Similar to Harrop’s early career history / activism history…..

I don't know much about the BMA but it is a union so maybe has a certain amount in common with some of the other unions that are very "on message" with the koolaid shit.

I do have a couple of doctor friends and the one (bloke) who I know is GC (partly infomed by events in his wider family ) has already left the BMA over previous differences (something to do with covid iirc) -which is a shame, because he's very senior and close to retirement, and would probably be speaking out quite forcibly otherwise. So BMA definitely not representative of all doctors.

The lack of independent thought among these people horrifies me. But I suppose I was a lot more certain of the "correct line" on stuff when I was in my activist 30s than I ever can be now - including about my GC beliefs of course!

Do we know what time this vote will be?

Emma Runswick is an English medical doctor and trade unionist specializing in mental health. She has served as the deputy chair of the BMA council since 2022.Runswick is a junior doctor who works on a community mental health team in Greater Manchester.[5] In 2018, she was elected to the UK council of the British Medical Association.[5] In 2022, she was elected to a three-year term as the deputy chair.[5][6] She is the first out LGBT person, fifth woman, and second junior doctor elected to a chief officer role.[5] In 2023, Runswick was a prominent figure in a junior doctor strike.[1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmmaRunswick

I recognised the name Emma Runswick - she was one of the doctors who wanted to have the CAN-SG "First Do No Harm: Critical perspectives on sex & gender in healthcare" conference at the RCGP cancelled earlier this year.

She accused GC people of "using DARVO when attacking the healthcare of trans people".

In a tweet threat at the time she said:

Between the lines: promoters of conversion practices for trans folk threatened the RCGP with legal action under Equality Act (EqA) protected belief. Lots of beliefs are protected by EqA: e.g. belief that gay sex is sin. Many protected beliefs are discriminatory if acted upon.

That the 'gender critical' belief that trans people cannot change gender is a protected belief does not require anyone (let alone RCs) to platform those ideas. The threat also makes clear that this conference is not a balanced exploration of evidence - that wouldn't qualify!

It is disappointing to see organisations fold to threats & feel forced to platform advocates of conversion practice. It is frustrating to see bullies using DARVO when attacking the healthcare of trans people. Remember our progress #LGBTplusHM Keep working #BanConversionTherapy

https://x.com/ERunswickBMA/status/1757876826859311208

Looking at Runswick’s biog, it’s all about internal union organising, and nothing about medicine or health, in contrast to the other reps’ biogs. Perhaps Runswick’s long term interest is in a future political career.

The links on Emma's Wikipedia page are interesting.

She seems to have made her career about LGBTQ politics, has been BMA rep since she was a student, and was a vocal Corbyn supporter.

I suspect she's got as far as she has because of the junior doctors strikes - they have been treated v badly and unsurprisingly radicalised as a result.

This doesn't stop her still being a very young person to be in a senior position.

The article mentions that medical students are also involved.

It's so rich for a junior doctor, whose own bio declares her to be early in her career, to lecture anyone about the impeccable quality of Dr Cass's work and recommendations.