JAnuary 2018 Times article by Sian Griffiths, Education Editor:
'Schools rushing ‘on whisper’ to label pupils as transgender
A psychologist at the only NHS gender clinic for children in England says some may be making choices they could regret'
(extract)
'Children as young as 11 are being offered medical treatments that could leave some infertile, according to a psychologist at the only NHS clinic in England and Wales for children seeking to change their gender.
Bernadette Wren, consultant clinical psychologist at the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) clinic in London, said some schools were moving too fast in allowing young girls to be treated as male pupils and vice versa — simply at the child’s request.
She said schools were rushing to allow pupils to change their names, uniforms and gender pronouns as soon as they “got a whisper that a child might be querying their identity” and this was not in every child’s best interests.
The GIDS clinic is part of the Tavistock and Portland trust in London which has pioneered medical treatment for young transgender people but is now being overwhelmed by referrals.
In nine months last year more than 2,000 children were referred by GPs, schools and support groups to GIDS, the only NHS clinic offering medical treatments such as hormones to suppress puberty and cross-sex hormones to develop different sexual characteristics. (continues)
The figure is a 20-fold increase in seven years — in 2009 it was 97. Last year’s figures included two three-year-olds, nine four-year-olds, 21 five-year-olds and 23 six-year-olds. Some are being offered treatments not accessible in the past and for which there is no long-term research data available about risks.
Wren said future generations might condemn the way such children were being handled: “Of course you have to think that in another generation we will have done something which is not regarded as having been wise.” She also acknowledged that some youngsters could regret their decision to change gender when they grow up and that there were risks involved, including the loss of the ability to have children, particularly for those born as boys.
“Perhaps the choices they make when they are 16 look different when they are 30,” said Wren, speaking in advance of a conference next month about improving support for children who question their gender. “You can accept their feeling about gender difference but you do have to say alongside that — and without being transphobic — that there are really difficult treatment choices to be made." (continues)
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/schools-rushing-on-whisper-to-label-pupils-as-transgender-0d8zm53qs