Puberty Blocker Debate in UK Parliament just about to start.

[Shedmistress]

E-petition debate relating to the clinical trial into puberty blockers - Monday 23 March 2026. - YouTube

They generally turned up in previous Parliamentary gender debates. Maybe the issue is being pro the trial also involves accepting Cass is legitimate in some way and the general ban is fine which is settled Labour policy. For some hardcore this is too much.

Carla Denyer could speak because she can say the greens don't accept the ban at all.

I listen to the minister at the end, and my first thought was, well that was a colossal waste of time. She went in there with her response prepared and despite all that was presented in argument's against this trail, all she did was vomit the same old crap Streeting has been spewing.

I don't think debate/discussion was the right word for this event, more like 'let them get it off their chest's while we just do what we want' event.

It was a very dispiriting conclusion, I'm glad James Esses is not giving up. ✊

Thanks!

I wonder why they didn't show up?

Who was the slightly unhinged woman in blue ( a Lib Dem, iimagine?)

I see MP Josh Newbury and his husband have a baby girl through surrogacy. This makes me feel very uncomfortable on several levels.

Carla Denyer's contribution:

"It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. As an MP, I hear far too often from young trans and gender-questioning people and their families who are unable to get the treatment they need. It is important in this debate to start by being clear what puberty blockers are and are not. They do not, on their own, make any permanent changes to a young person’s gender. Some people who start puberty blockers will go on to further treatments, and some will not. Puberty blockers can give young people time to explore their gender without the added distress of unwanted physical changes. That gives them the time and space to decide if they want to take more permanent steps. Puberty blockers alone do not lock young people into any permanent decision.

New prescriptions for puberty blockers were banned indefinitely in November 2024, meaning that the PATHWAYS trial has been the only legal way to get a prescription. The Green party opposes the ban on puberty blockers and always has, because they are a safe and reversible way of reducing gender dysphoria that is recognised by international research and advisory bodies. The list is too long to give in the time we have, but it includes the European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the European Society for Sexual Medicine, and so on.

My concern is that the PATHWAYS trial has not been paused because of genuine concern about young people’s safety or because the Government have listened to the constructive concerns of the trans community about how the trial will be run. It now looks like a political decision. If further research on puberty blockers is needed—I understand that most medical treatments benefit from ongoing research—that research must be carried out in a way that does not exclude or disadvantage one patient cohort over others. It should centre the needs of the young people involved. There should not be a cap on participants or an unmedicated control group, and it should take account of all uses of puberty blockers, including on cis children experiencing premature puberty. We so often talk about trans people without including them in decisions made about them. I ask the Minister to reconsider the Government’s path"

Denyer all over the place and putting forward unexamined and unthought through statements about 'gender'

Tom Tugenhadt:

"This issue must be treated delicately and carefully, but the truth is that it is getting wrapped up in identity politics and being played with politically by those who wish to advertise their progressive credentials but who are forgetting that it is fundamentally about one thing: the protection of children"

I think the woman in blue was Emily Darlington, Labour, who said:

"It feels to me like they are responding to political pressure rather than to science.” ( irony alert)

Carla Lockhart, DUP:

"Animal testing on mice and monkeys shows that puberty blockers cause irreversible damage to brain development. If these hormones are unfit for animals, why on earth are we about to inject them into our children? Children are once again being used as lab rats for a dangerous medical experiment. It is wrong. We should not be experimenting on a fresh cohort. Instead, we should be prioritising a data-linkage study of the hundreds of children who were given puberty blockers at the now discredited and closed Tavistock clinic"

She's my new shero, so well put. 😁👏

This!!

As a Northern Ireland voter, I find myself in the very strange position of supporting DUP MPs and MLAs in their opposition towards genderism - this is a head-melting situation given that I've spent most of my life having very little in common politically with DUP politicians 🤯

I think I'm the equivalent of a lifelong Democrat voter in the US considering supporting the Republicans because of how bonkers the Democrat party has become.

The Left-leaning parties in the UK are making the conservative parties look sensible and normal by comparison to their extreme offerings.

I know the feeling, I'm not from NI, but the thought of agreeing with someone from the same party as Ian Paisley is mindboggling, I too blame the left for this upside-downness. That said she did put it so well, so what can you do. 🤷‍♀️

Rachel Taylor is such a disappointment as a local MP, in an area where the LA council is being run by a 18 year old Reform councillor! She does not publish any of her trans activism on local media, she knows it is deeply unpopular with locals. She literally is 'be kind' and refuses to see anyone else's POV. She absolutely will not survive the next election and is letting Reform in.

Why can't there be an MP with principles like Rosie. Rachel seems happy with getting kudos from the likes of WillyBoy.
Thanks to the MP's who spoke against this trial.

Yes, interesting that a lot of the usual suspects didn't show up.

Having watched the entire debate last night I was struck by how many MPs there were supporting the trial being cancelled and the high calibre of their arguments - they brought facts and figures or experience in medicine to the debate.

Those who want the trial to continue brought anecdotes from constituents and emotions to the debate, and some still inexplicably believe WPATH is an expert organisation worth quoting, but they didn't have counterarguments of a factual or scientific nature.

I was particularly shocked at the female MP who had a go at Rosie Duffield and basically told her something along the lines of 'we've all had death threats, Rosie, get over it' - nasty behaviour.

MPs debate the puberty-blocker trial – Sex Matters

Quite a long article reflecting their views, and finishes with:

The ayes have it
At the end of the debate the chair asked for all those in favour (of the petition) to say “aye” and those against “no”. He then declared that “the ayes have it”, meaning that the majority of MPs in the room supported the petition to cancel the trial.

What now?
That is the end of the process for the petition. But opposition to the puberty-blocker trial will continue. The legal challenge brought by James Esses and Keira Bell has been “stayed” – that is, paused – until the discussions between the MHRA and the trial’s sponsor, King’s College London, have concluded. It seems inevitable that the legal challenge will then resume, or a new legal case will be brought to oppose the new trial arrangements.

https://sex-matters.org/posts/updates/mps-debate-the-puberty-blocker-trial/