Good news from Sweden!

[Stealhsquirrelnutkin]

The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare has changed their mind - they will not be approving gender corrective surgery for children below the age of 18.

www.svt.se/nyheter/granskning/ug/socialstyrelsen-andrar-sig-ej-lampligt-med-konskorrigerande-kirurgi-innan-18

In 2018, the government proposed a new law that would allow sex-corrective genital surgery from the age of 15, without the custodian's permission. The bill was heavily criticized by the law council, but the National Board of Health endorsed the proposal.

The authority even wanted to go further than the government - the bill stated that a prerequisite for surgery was that the person must be assumed to live in the same gender identity in the future. But the National Board of Health considered that surgery should not be "linked to whether the gender identity can be assumed to be the same over time".

An investigative TV program looked into how this decision had been reached and showed that "factual" information that politicians and the health authority had based proposal on was false. After the programme went out and other media shone light onto the flawed decision making process, the Government commissioned the National Board of Health and Welfare to analyse and assess whether the proposed age limit of 15 years is appropriate.

When the report is now presented, the National Board of Health and Welfare makes a complete reversal. They no longer think that the age limit should be lowered.

• I don't really think it matters what we have said before. We have not felt bound by it, but have investigated this question from the beginning and looked at the information we have now, says Thomas Lindén.

This is good news for the children of Sweden. Of course it would be better if irrevocable surgery was delayed until after the brain has finished maturing around the age of 25, but as a first step it inspires hope that bad decisions can be reversed when they are shown to have been based on misrepresentation of the facts.

Anything like this that protects children from abuse is wonderful news

Thanks for sharing

That is good news. Means we can point to things like that as actual examples of best practice IE critically considering the evidence before making changes

Where are they standing on the medications?

Why did it take the media to point out that the information underlying the proposal was false? Is there any appetite for the people putting these policies in place to check facts themselves, and do they have the skills to do so?

One also wonders if there will be punishments put in place for members of society in a country who seek treatment in another country where it is legal?

How will the young people be protected from being flown abroad to get the surgery

Why did it take the media to point out that the information underlying the proposal was false? Is there any appetite for the people putting these policies in place to check facts themselves, and do they have the skills to do so?

Because their politicians had been fed the exact same lies that our own politicians here in the UK have swallowed. Convincing them that any criticism of the transcult is hate speech, vile bigotry and will destroy their careers. Just listen to Dawn Butler, Jo Swinson, or the women who stood for the Labour leader position. Either they don't have the time/interest/intelligence to look into the details, listen to other viewpoints and make their own minds up, or (even worse) they have done so, know exactly what is going on, and have coldly decided that it is politically expedient for them to sacrifice women and children in the furtherance of their own careers.

The difference is that when they (and the rest of the population of Sweden who watch TV and read newspapers) were presented with evidence that their decision had been based on false and deliberately misleading evidence they immediately set up an unbiased investigation into the truth, and once all the evidence had been gathered and assessed they changed their decision.

So far in the UK, when evidence has been put forward proving the lies that are being spread (suicide statistics etc) then any "investigation" or "consultation" is carried out by biased TRA lobby organisations, or organisations that are reliant on compliance with the TRA lobby for their funding. Grass roots organisations set up to defend the sex based rights of women are dismissed as hate groups and not invited to the table, and the majority of responses to a public consultation can be dismissed as "faulty" if the respondents were unable to add a gender identity on the consultation form.

Yy steal

Its extremely unfair that on one side evidence the person submitting it has written themselves despite the conflict of interests is accepted yet no source on this earth is acceptable on the other.

Excellent news.

The first two translated documentaries are available on YouTube and definitely worth a watch for anyone who hasn't seen them.

One day society will look back on sex change operations and view them in the same light as lobotomies or blood-letting.

Did I see something about traffic to the gender clinics in Sweden dropping the 60% odd?

It doesn't say anything about medications, but the TV programme that did the initial investigation have a short update today saying that in the last quarter of 2019 (their programme was shown in October) referrals to KID (the Swedish child gender dysphoria clinic) dropped by 65%. They only had the statistics up to the end of 2019, but since 1st January referrals to KID can only be made by child psychiatric services, so any children being referred to them will have first undergone a psychiatric evaluation to discover and treat any co-morbidities. Which will almost certainly reduce the number of referrals even further.

I'm sure there are parents crying with relief in Sweden today.

Though 18 is still far too young. 25 would be better, after the brain has had a chance to mature.

Aleksa Lundberg the transwoman from the original tv programme said today that he has realised, at the age of 25, that he is actually a homosexual, feminine man, now with a woman's body. At 18 he was sure he had been born in the wrong body, and needed genital surgery without delay, though when he woke from the operation he was already wondering if he had made the right choice.

This is such encouraging news!

I'm sure there are parents crying with relief in Sweden today

I expect so too

Although there is obviously still the worry that they will be flown out somewhere else and operated on. I hope that is something that is dealt with.

The therapy and everything should be mandatory everywhere. After all how can it hurt if theres nothing wrong them. Why be so afraid that they might be persuaded out of it.

I hope this sets the pace I really do. Too many people invested in the whole "stage not age" mentality.

It's incredible how as soon as people actually look at the evidence, the data, the facts about the medication, the nature of surgery, the long term impact on children as they develop and the ethical issues about children being able to give informed consent, the whole thing falls apart. It just shows how powerful regulatory capture has been.
Well done Sweden for protecting your children.

An investigative TV program looked into how this decision had been reached and showed that "factual" information that politicians and the health authority had based proposal on was false.

It's really encouraging that more and more people are beginning to understand how this all works. Not just the fact that there is no such thing as being born in the wrong body, but the determined efforts to promote this false narrative (in the teeth of science, biology and the protection of women and children.)

It needs to be kept out of schools. It's not a lifestyle choice, or sexual orientation. If a child has gender dysphoria, then they can be treated. Toy preference should not be treated with anything.

Let's see quite how many end up going to identity clinics when it's not being taught to them from the age of four.

This is great. Everyone looks to Sweden in social issues.

^^ true !

Thank god for Sweden.

Yes, Steal, to all that.

Well done, Sweden. Wonder how long it'll take for all the other TRA utopias to similarly readjust.

www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/22/ssweden-teenage-transgender-row-dysphoria-diagnoses-soar

' A rapid change in public opinion.'

Double mastectomirs for 15 year olds. And a suicide post surgery. Jesus. This is a tragedy unfolding.

And notice again they significant numbers of those with adhd and autism.

How many have been told that transition will cure that? We already know one person who believes ADHD and autism are signs of gender dysphoria

This is the article in full (google translate so not quite clear) but a shame that no one else seems to be reporting:

Sweden rejects the bill for gender affirmation surgery for children.
The National Board of Health and Welfare makes a complete reversal and says no to a lower age limit for sex-corrective surgery. This is after SVT's Mission Review examined the gender-corrected care and the legislative proposal to lower the age limit.

• It is a procedure that is irreversible. Then one should be reasonably sure that it brings lasting and significant benefit to the person, says Thomas Lindén, Head of Department at the National Board of Health, to Assignment Review.

In 2018, the government proposed a new law that would allow sex-corrective genital surgery from the age of 15, without the custodian's permission. The bill was heavily criticized by the law council, but the National Board of Health endorsed the proposal.

The authority even wanted to go further than the government - the bill stated that a prerequisite for surgery was that the person must be assumed to live in the same gender identity in the future. But the National Board of Health considered that surgery should not be "linked to whether the gender identity can be assumed to be the same over time".

"Explored this question from the beginning"

Assignments Review has for a long time examined the gender corrective care and the background to the bill on reduced age limits.

One of the reviews showed that factual information in the investigation that formed the basis of the proposal was not correct. In connection with the publication, the Government commissioned the National Board of Health and Welfare to analyze and assess whether the proposed age limit of 15 years is appropriate.

When the report is now presented, the National Board of Health and Welfare makes a complete reversal. They no longer think that the age limit should be lowered.

• I don't really think it matters what we have said before. We have not felt bound by it, but have investigated this question from the beginning and looked at the information we have now, says Thomas Lindén.

Rapid increase in young patients

According to him, the National Board of Health and Welfare's new assessment is based on the rapid increase of young patients in the transplant care sector and the fact that many in the group have neuropsychiatric diagnoses.

• We did not really see this rapid increase then and it is something that you have helped to elucidate, says Thomas Lindén.

Assignment review has sought Social Minister Lena Hallengren, but due to the corona crisis she has not had the opportunity to comment.

www.svt.se/nyheter/granskning/ug/socialstyrelsen-andrar-sig-ej-lampligt-med-konskorrigerande-kirurgi-innan-18

It seems like there is some precedent for this sort of thing in Sweden, where a media investigation of documentary brings out what is going on and looks into the evidence, and the public reaction precipitates concrete change.

A big factor must be that the documentaries are actually able to be viewed on mainstream television, I think?

I'd be really interested in what is different in the media there compared to English speaking countries where certain views are largely disallowed, or in the case of the US, media sources are so polarised that no one reads anything that will really challenge what they already believe.

To be fair, I think that we have had some TV documentaries that have been very critical of trans kids in the UK - maybe nothing as hard hitting or in depth as this, but still, I think they're partly responsible for why there is a much more critical attitude in the UK compared to the US or Canada. We've had:

Trangender kids: who knows best? (featuring lots of clips of Ken Zucker & Ray Blanchard)
Trans kids it's time to talk (Stella's one)
Trans kids: why medicine matters (Panorama)

Before I knew anything about the issue I remember seeing trans activists telling people NOT TO WATCH the first one as it was terribly evil.