#FirstDoNoHarm conference 23 March (Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender)

[RethinkingLife]

Thread for anyone attending or following the live stream.

A variation on waiting for the conference host to start…

Apparently 'no parasan' means 'they shall not pass'. Taken from Spanish anti fascists at the time of the 1st World War.

https://twitter.com/JamieWhistle/status/1771476052688155033

The police actually look quite rattled here.

Such an illuminating contrast to the intelligent, empathetic and measured talks and discussion taking place inside. One of the participants suggested it ought to be livestreamed to the protestors, which would be amazing!

No Tories, no SWP!!! That is fucking hilarious, or would be if it wasn't so pathetic.

As someone else said, what would they do if they got inside?

This post giving a bit more detail before the event was posted on her blog by a transactivist called Ruth Pearce. She apparently did a PhD in 'how trans health is differently understood within trans community spaces, activist groups and professional literatures, and how this can have important consequences for access to care'.

There are lots of links within the piece and in the wider blog which might be helpful to anyone interested in looking at the transactivism side of things in more depth, including negative articles about the individuals speaking.

https://ruthpearce.net/2024/03/03/rcgp-host-conversion-therapy-conference-in-london-protest-23-march/

Following live stream. Great so far.

Has the 2pm session started? It hasn't on my laptop

Well, if that's indicative of Ruth's open-minded scholarship, I'm failing to be disappointed.

RP's claim:

• Rachel Cashman, a campaigner against trans inclusion in schools, and supporter of Women’s Declaration International (WDI). Under their former name of Women’s Human Rights Campaign, WDI have openly called for the “elimination […] of the practice of transgenderism”.

What the, tbf, linked document says:

Gender is defined by UN agencies as sex stereotypes, i.e. ‘the roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society at a given time considers appropriate for men and women... These attributes, opportunities and relationships are socially constructed and are learned through socialization processes’ (Gender Equality Glossary, UN Women). The Convention calls for the ‘elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women’ (Article 5). We consider that the practice of transgenderism clearly falls under this article because it is based on stereotyped roles for men and women.

To me, that's rather different.

Similarly, entertaining weasel wording here:

Riittakerttu Kaltiala, a Finnish clinician and opponent of affirmative care who contributed evidence for Florida’s ban on medical transition for young trans people. I have not found any evidence that Kaltiala opposed Finland’s policy of forced sterilisation as a condition of legal recognition for trans people, which was repealed only last year, but am willing to be corrected on this.

And this:

Legal threats are increasingly common from anti-trans campaigners, who argue that cancelling contracts or events constitutes an attack on their “gender critical” views as “protected beliefs”

Yes, true. That would be because people and events are deplatformed. And then the people and organisers point out that this is largely illegal. As for the last, RP might need to consult the Forstater judgment.

Light reading while waiting for the event to restart…

Thanks for that link. TRAs showing their hypocrisy as usual. For example this:

Riittakerttu Kaltiala, a Finnish clinician and opponent of affirmative care who contributed evidence for Florida’s ban on medical transition for young trans people. I have not found any evidence that Kaltiala opposed Finland’s policy of forced sterilisation as a condition of legal recognition for trans people, which was repealed only last year, but am willing to be corrected on this.

Complaints about 'forced sterilisation' from people who want children to be given puberty blocking drugs so that they never reach sexual maturity and are effectively sterilised as children. And at the link it says the actual requirement is having a year of opposite sex hormones, so not forced sterilisation at all.

Sonia Appleby was outstanding. She spoke with the quiet authority of one who had persisted until she could reduce the harm she was seeing.

I have not found any evidence that Kaltiala opposed Finland’s policy of forced sterilisation as a condition of legal recognition for trans people, which was repealed only last year, but am willing to be corrected on this.

'I have not found any evidence that Ruth Pearce opposed struggle sessions in China as a form of punishment for those who defied the Maoist regime, but am willing to be corrected on this'

'It's the first time I have ever attended a medical conference requiring police protection. Healthcare should be driven by evidence not ideology.'

the Vice-Chair of the Medical Journalists' Association.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/03/23/doctors-gender-critical-conference-ambushed-protestors/

And here:
https://archive.is/endK6

I'm not sure that's quite accurate, is it? It's not a 'gender critical' conference, as I understand it, it's a conference about the medical treatment of gender issues.

Legal threats are increasingly common from anti-trans campaigners, who argue that cancelling contracts or events constitutes an attack on their “gender critical” views as “protected beliefs”

And don't they argue it so very successfully? Y'know, on account of it being settled law and by precedent. Wankers.

Ha, yes. Gender critics do keep banging on about the law. How inconvenient.

Glad it made the news, agree that the headline is unhelpful.

i'm following the live stream. very interesting speakers. all balanced and measured.
not once has anyone said that questioning gender identity is wrong.
how it's taught, how it's responded to and how we support is being discussed.
rachel cashman gives hope. when challenge is coming out of brighton and hove maybe the tide is turning.
the protesters are a disgrace. harassing medical professionals discussing how to safely support gender questioning children and young people is just madness!
there's been some helpful reference to the influence of male fetishes in grooming vulnerable young people too.

Think we can expect to see more of this, and escalating violence too from the koolaid gang. They realise the tide is turning, big time, and no debate is long since dead and buried so outright thuggery and intimidation are the only tools they have left.

The comments on the DT article are unanimously on the gender-critical side so far.

All of the speakers have been thoughtful and measured and concerned for young people.

However, there does seem to be some forced teaming of the gender critical (there is no such thing as gender other than to restrict men and women into stereotypes) with the conservative view (gendered stereotypes ought to be upheld).

Some of the comments in the livestream thread are applauding what’s happened in Florida, anti wokeism etc. it muddies the conversation and ends up casting the GCs voice as “Tory’… shame.

Manchester Indigo Services LGBT Foundations 2022 Annual Report that was the sources of some stats cited (pg 14).

All assessments are completed by a member of our frontline services team to ensure we have a consistent and effective triaging system. This allows us to quickly identify service users who are at risk of harm and put into action safeguarding protocols to address any concerns. The following statistics are taken from these assessments. They reflect the complexity of our service users’ experiences before engaging with our services. Of the intake assessments to access any of our services over the past 12 months:

• 78% of service users reported experiencing suicidal thoughts at some point. Of those who had experienced suicidal thoughts, 26% said that no one else knew about this.
• 36% of service users were experiencing suicidal thoughts at the point of assessment.
• 52% of service users had thoughts about self-harming to cope. Of those who had selfharmed, 27% said that no one knew about this and 60% had never accessed support for it.
• 50% of service users had experienced abuse as a child. Of those who experienced this abuse, 74% had never reported it and 67% had never accessed professional support for this.
• 51% of service users had experienced abuse as an adult. Of those who experienced this abuse, 70% had never reported it and 69% had never accessed professional support for this.
• 73% of service users were not accessing other non-mental health services before engaging with us.
• 77% of service users believed they had mental health problems.
• 21% of service users had previously been hospitalised because of mental health problems.
• 11% of service users reported not having any support from family or friends.
• 13% of service users felt threatened or unsafe at the point of assessment.

https://lgbt.foundation/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/21.-LGBT20-20Report202021-22.pdf

This poor young man. It’s so heartbreaking.

I thought Az Hakeem was great. But, wow hearing Ritchie speak is so powerful. The poor man. So failed by the medical profession...my profession. I don't understand how these gender surgeons sleep at night. 😢

Really good conference. So glad it went ahead. Also kudos to the builders who formed a line to help the conference attendees enter the building safely.