Asked about the fairness of trans women, biological males, in women's sport, Australia's prime minister Anthony Albanese says "My view is the sporting organisations should deal with that issue... and they have." Really? #AusPol #Sport
https://twitter.com/msediewyatt/status/1653557871169384448?s=20

Let's go back a bit --- "Australia’s peak sport agency has been rebuked for being evasive, dismissive and insulting to women after it failed to answer basic questions about the effect of transgender players on female sport." The Australian newspaper, 22 June 2020

"Sport Australia’s acting chief executive Rob Dalton said in a parliamentary hearing he didn’t have an opinion when asked if allowing biological males in female sport would put off girls."

"The government agency refuses to say who was consulted over a contentious pro-trans guideline which urges more than 16,000 sporting clubs covering nine million players to reorganise on the basis of self-identified 'gender identity', and not biological sex."

"The document plays down the edge that testosterone gives males, and sets a high hurdle for sporting bodies which might consider relying on a 'strength, stamina and physique' exemption in anti-discrimination law supposed to protect single-sex sport for women and girls."

"The guideline stresses the risk of legal actions that can lead to compensation damages under anti-discrimination law, uses the word unlawful 40 times, warns reliance on its advice will not protect clubs from a successful complaint, and urges them to get their own legal advice."

"Australia’s top sport agency is under pressure to safeguard women’s sport, with rugby emerging as the first international federation to consider a ban on transgender players to prevent injuries and unfairness." 25 July 2020

"World Rugby experts cite a 20-30 per cent higher risk of injury for women tackled by biological males [and] new research showing trans players born male lose little of their physical advantages after 12 months on drugs to lower their testosterone in line with 2015 IOC rules."

“ 'These findings are consistent with concerns raised by many athletes, participants and administrators about biological males competing in women’s sport,' said Liberal Senator Claire Chandler, who is campaigning for female sport."

"She called on Rugby Australia, which has been briefed on the issue, to release the research. 'Evidence about safety risks for female athletes is highly relevant to women’s sport at every level and should be made available,' she said."

"Senator Chandler said: 'So many women have contacted me with concerns about this issue (of trans activist claims on female sport) but they are worried that if they speak publicly, or even internally, they might face consequences at their club or at their work'." 1 Sept 2020

“How do Australians know that they are able to speak freely about women’s rights. The idea that someone could lose their job or be banned from the sport they love for acknowledging that sex exists should be alarming to every fair-minded Australian.”

"... the activist lobby Pride in Sport announced eight sports — including AFL, hockey, netball, rugby, tennis and touch football — had adopted trans-inclusion policies inspired by a 2019 guideline from Sport Australia and the Australian Human Rights Commission." 12 Oct 2020

"Pride in Sport, a fee-earning arm of [former gay health rights body] ACON which operates as a national trans activist lobby and 'inclusive' training provider, said 14 other sports had promised to come up with similar policies."

"A joint statement from ACON and sporting codes claimed trans people were 'nearly 11 times more likely to attempt suicide than the general population', and said sport would aid mental health."

"The [suicide risk] statistic is based on a 2012 Scottish Transgender Alliance survey with a non-representative sample of 889 people, most online."

"Sport Australia’s inclusive sport director Merrilee Barnes, who led the 2019 trans-inclusion guideline project in collaboration with a hand-picked selection of unnamed groups, also serves on the advisory board for Pride in Sport. She is not paid for this, Sport Australia said."

"Pride in Sport’s manager Beau Newell said [the Oct 2020] trans policy launch at the Sydney Cricket Ground 'demonstrates a fundamental shift within Australian sport towards the greater inclusion of trans and gender diverse athletes'."

"Olympian athlete Tamsyn Lewis, who is part of the group looking at trans-inclusion in track and field events, said there were many ways for trans people to play sport and stay healthy while protecting female sport as a category for girls and women."

"She was 'very concerned' about rushed policymaking with inadequate research on the implications for female participation, safety and fairness."

“ 'If you allow XY (chromosome) males (who identify as female) to participate in a female sport without having undergone any (medical gender transition) that could be really dangerous to females',” she said."

“ 'If there’s a physicality in the sport, like rugby, parents may decide not to allow their daughters to play because they’re worried and there you go, you’re already losing numbers'.”

" 'I feel the recent transgender policies have completely forgotten the reason (male physiological advantage) why the female sport category was put in place'.”

"A legal opinion from Melbourne QC Stuart Wood says the 2019 trans-inclusion document created by the human rights experts is a misleading guide to anti-discrimination law and sport, with potentially 'dangerous practical effects' if sporting bodies rely on it." 25 October 2020

"Mr Wood argues the guideline misrepresents the federal Sex Discrimination Act, playing down exemptions allowing female sport to continue as single-sex, and giving sporting bodies the impression of a black and white choice between trans-inclusion or discrimination complaints."

"[Sex Discrimination Commissioner] Ms Jenkins told Senate estimates she was 'really passionate' about equal access and opportunities for women’s sport, and the guideline was promoting trans inclusion, not taking away any female rights."

"She said the guideline was just based on the laws as they 'currently exist'. In 2013, under Australia’s first female prime minister, Julia Gillard, biological definitions of the terms “woman” and “man” were removed from the Sex Discrimination Act...

..and self-declared 'gender identity' independent of biology was added as a prohibited reason for unfair treatment. Ms Gillard’s office said she was not available for comment when asked by The Australian about the effect of these changes on the sex-based rights of women & girls."

These are excerpts from my reporting in The Australian, so it can't be said that government--both the former Morrison administration and now Mr Albanese's--was unaware of concerns for the safety and fairness of sport for women and girls. For full articles, please Google.

Fairness & safety in female sport

In @DanielAndrewsMP's state of Victoria, you can perform the feat of changing your sex (or your child's sex) in official records every 12 months. If that sounds extreme, best to keep quiet. If you speak out, you'll be the one smeared as an "extremist".
https://www.bdm.vic.gov.au/changes-and-corrections/change-your-recorded-sex

If you as a parent oppose advice that your child be given puberty blockers -- risky drugs that interfere with natural development -- you may have broken the law against "conversion therapy". If you think this extraordinary, you'll be tarred as "far right".
https://www.humanrights.vic.gov.au/change-or-suppression-practices/have-you-experienced-a-change-or-suppression-practice/#Have-you-experienced-these-illegal-practices

Victoria's schools have been told students may be able to "socially transition" -- live in a new gender role -- without parental consent. This intervention risks putting kids on a path to lifelong medicalisation. If this worries you, you're the "bigot".
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/lgbtiq-student-support/policy

The @RCHMelbourne gender service gives the same hormonal treatments as the UK Tavistock clinic. There is not enough evidence to say these treatments are safe for young people, says @thecassreview. If you push for a review, you'll be seen as Nazi-adjacent.
https://open.substack.com/pub/genderclinicnews/p/strong-drugs-weak-evidence?r=130uly&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Our media largely ignore the international debate over youth gender medicine & the very real conflicts between radical trans claims & the interests of women & children. Too busy reporting the "extremism" of women who peacefully gather in the public square to have their say.

Perhaps more journalists might ask why trans rights activists (many not trans) are so quick to smear critics as evil conspirators & so reluctant to talk about the substance -- how to resolve conflicts of rights or the ethical challenges of gender medicine's weak evidence base.

And now Norway has joined Finland, Sweden, England & Florida as the latest jurisdiction to recognise the realities of youth gender medicine. Where on earth is Australia?
@ThePosieParker @MoiraDeemingMP @deves_katherine #FreeSpeech #GenderClinics

https://open.substack.com/pub/genderclinicnews/p/yes-its-an-experiment?r=130uly&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Controversial Laws in Victoria, Australia

"All children who have been treated for gender dysphoria in the past decade [by the UK Tavistock clinic] will have their medical records scrutinised in an effort to find out whether NHS services are harming vulnerable adolescents." 1/ THREAD
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gender-change-data-to-be-scrutinised-tcbjnv7w3


Data - or rather, lack of adequate data - is a recurring theme with youth gender clinics internationally. There are headline figures showing unexplained exponential growth in case numbers but often there is scant detail on patients, treatment patterns & outcomes including regret.

UK health secretary Sajid Javid, who reportedly believes that harm to children is being masked by ideological resistance to open debate, plans to change confidentiality provisions so that experts can check the treatment outcomes for about 9,000 ex-Tavistock patients.

Javid was alarmed by an interim report from Dr Hilary Cass, who is inquiring into NHS care of gender dysphoric youth. She said lack of data meant it was “not possible to accurately track the outcomes & pathways that [minors] take through the [Tavistock]”.
https://genderclinicnews.substack.com/p/strong-drugs-weak-evidence

The Times quotes a health source saying that allowing the Cass review to access this data in a secure way "will help develop a world-leading base of clinical evidence [&] ultimately that will benefit everyone, particularly children who may be questioning their gender identity”. 

Dr Cass already has the results of independent systematic reviews of the evidence for puberty blockers & opposite sex-hormones. The evidence base is so weak that Dr Cass says it's not yet possible for her to give "definitive advice" on the safety & outcomes of these treatments.

That decision not to endorse puberty blockers or hormones for minors came under criticism from researchers linked to Australia's biggest gender clinic at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne (RCH).

Australia is worse off when it comes to public data from gender clinics. Our federal system means data is fragmented across jurisdictions. And although the Tavistock has been criticised over data collection, it does publish regular basic data, something no Australian clinic does.

In 2019, in Victoria, the state that is home to the RCH gender clinic, health minister Jenny Mikakos was asked in parliament for clinic data. The minister's reply was that her health department did not "routinely collect" this information; no data was given to parliament.

Also in 2019, the Queensland Children's Hospital gender clinic told a worried member of the public that it kept no data on how many female-born patients on puberty blockers were autistic. In 2021, the clinic reportedly began a new, more accurate data reporting system.


In 2020, after media scrutiny of children's hospital gender clinics, federal health minister Greg Hunt said he would ensure the states came up with a new national approach. He stressed the need for “monitoring of practices, & monitoring of long term health & wellbeing outcomes”.

In 2021, this federal-state project was wound up -- without collecting any patient data -- and was delegated to two states with no publicly known result. Senator Claire Chandler said it seemed "one or more states have killed off the opportunity for openness and transparency".

“There has been a huge increase in children being treated by gender clinics but, either through incompetence or by design, the states’ top health bureaucrats have no data to explain this trend,” said Senator Chandler, who had been pushing for public data and open debate.


I have reported some basic data, obtained under freedom of information law, showing dramatic increases in new patients at Australia's three large children's hospital gender clinics in Melbourne, Perth & Brisbane.

More info -- 
https://www.diannakenny.com.au/k-blog/item/15-children-and-young-people-seeking-and-obtaining-treatment-for-gender-dysphoria-in-australia-trends-by-state-over-time-2014-2019-update.html

So much is still unknown. Puberty blockers are central to the gender clinic model. This month, parents and patients at the RCH clinic were told that the effects of these drugs on the brain are unknown. #GenderClinics #AusPol #health
https://genderclinicnews.substack.com/p/blockers-and-the-brain


You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Bernard_Lane/MyoOP2Q

"Why do we care so much? The vast majority of teens effectively being sterilised [by transgender hormonal treatments within the UK's National Health Service] are lesbian, gay or bisexual." @AllianceLGB #AusPol #GenderClinics 1/

https://youtu.be/oTf1gPZaBWg

"A child that takes puberty blockers at Tanner Stage 2 [roughly age 9-12] & follows this with cross-sex hormones at 16 is effectively sterilised as their gametes [sperm or eggs] will miss the window to mature." #Health #Medical #Safeguarding


"It feels like conversion therapy for gay children, say clinicians | Ex-NHS staff fear that homophobia is driving a surge in ‘transgender’ young people" | Investigation by The Times of London.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/it-feels-like-conversion-therapy-for-gay-children-say-clinicians-pvsckdvq2

"Same-sex attraction was particularly common among natal females [in a year-long study at the UK Tavistock youth gender clinic], with only 8.5% of those referred to the [clinic] describing themselves as primarily attracted to boys."  Griffin et al 2020 

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjpsych-bulletin/article/sex-gender-and-gender-identity-a-reevaluation-of-the-evidence/76A3DC54F3BD91E8D631B93397698B1A
 

"This raises important questions about societal acceptance of young lesbians ... at least some gender-non-conforming girls [may] come to believe themselves boys or ‘trans masculine non-binary’ as more acceptable or comfortable explanations for same-sex sexual attraction ..."


In November 2019, I reported the establishment of a new group: the UK-based LGB Alliance. The local context was the complaint that Australia's LGBTQ lobby, Equality Australia, had been silent as women were routinely vilified & threatened for defending sex-based & lesbian rights.

The LGB Alliance network quickly spread around the world, driven by the belief that LGBTQetc lobbies had embraced the Queer Theory concept of self-declared "gender identity" untethered from biology. Now a man could identify as a woman -- and as a lesbian. 
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/bid-to-exclude-people-with-penises-from-lesbian-events-unlawful/news-story/31b6a5e8c1a91569536343750bd942c5

But the conflict of rights, interests & worldviews between LGB on the one hand & Trans/Queer on the other would be news to most Aussie journalists & #AusPol -- they seem to have assumed that LGBTQ lobbies speak with one voice for everybody under the rainbow.


There is plenty of evidence to the contrary out there.

Australia has @LGBAlliance_Aus &  @LgbDefence 

The US also has two groups @LGBAlliance_USA & @LGBFightBack

There are LGB groups in more than a dozen countries now. 

https://lgballiance.org.uk/about/

Back to youth gender clinics. In an open letter, paediatrician Dr Dylan Wilson asks: "Can a child at the age of 11 or 12, when puberty is just starting, consent to this pathway [of medicalised gender change] & all of its outcomes [including sterilisation] both known & unknown?".

"We need to discuss..the huge explosion of girls presenting, the high rates of autism & trauma, the concern over brain maturation, children being treated on this pathway while in the care of protective services, the influence of social media, the stories of [detransitioners].."


Please read & share Dr Wilson's letter --
https://drdylanwilson.substack.com/p/an-open-letter-to-australias-doctors?r=130uly&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web  


You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Bernard_Lane/WiVa8xN

"There's a great irony in that the same people chanting 'protect trans kids' are advocating for [puberty blocker drugs] that could permanently impair [kids'] ability to enjoy sex as adults before they're even able to comprehend what that means." US journo Katie Herzog #AusPol 1/

Herzog, who wrote one of the earliest articles on detransition, used to believe that puberty blockers, which interrupt natural sex hormones, may be beneficial in strictly limited cases. She has changed her mind after an admission by top US transgender doctor Marci Bowers.

Dr Bowers, famous as the surgeon for reality TV star Jazz Jennings, says that if male-born patients begin hormone suppression early in puberty (around age 11 at Tanner stage 2), they may never be exposed to enough testosterone to experience orgasm.
https://twitter.com/DonovanCleckley/status/1521625518394773505?s=20&t=tl7zTo7anqYEgPznqAYw1w

Talking to Nellie Bowles @thehonestlypod, Herzog says: "Activists will tell you over & over that puberty blockers are totally reversible but that isn't actually true. To me, this comes down to an issue of consent." She cites side-effects such as bone thinning & infertility. 

"I think people [eg parents supporting puberty blockers] are genuinely well-meaning, but I also think that this is absolutely a scandal & in 5, 10 or 15 years we're going to look back at this the same way we look back at lobotomies," Herzog says.


"The problem is that [parents are] getting messaging from their own doctors, from gender clinics, medical organisations & activists saying that if you don't give your kid puberty blockers, your kid is going to kill themselves."

"The data doesn't bear that [suicide narrative] out. It's very dangerous messaging."
 
Herzog & Bowles talk puberty blockers from the 19:50min mark https://twitter.com/thehonestlypod/status/1522587898180251648?s=20&t=67rnzx7eZhaU7QIChexjOw


Bowles: "It boggles my mind ... several thousand kids are being neutered by doctors right now & we're all sort of living as if it's totally OK, & the Biden administration is putting out memos saying that puberty blockers [are best practice]."
https://quillette.com/2022/05/13/joe-bidens-faulty-gender-diktat/


"I have a hard time believing that we've gotten to this place of 1000s of young people looking at an adulthood where they will never reach sex maturity & never be able to have an intimate sexual relationship, without [thinking of] something darker going on in our society ..."


"I almost think there's a push to de-sex young gay boys [at least in some cases] .. It's like a modern day 'sending your slightly effeminate young boy to join the church, it's a way of a saying, you're never going to reach sexual maturity." Katie doesn't believe harm is intended.

This week, an Australian paediatrician, Dr Dylan Wilson, wrote an open letter explaining why he would *never* refer a child to the gender clinic at his local children's hospital.
https://drdylanwilson.substack.com/p/an-open-letter-to-australias-doctors?r=130uly&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web


He knew his intervention in an election campaign might be controversial. One candidate, Katherine Deves, shot to prominence because of (uninformed) media & political outrage over tweets in which she had lamenting that children were being surgically mutilated and sterilised. 

In his letter, Dr Wilson says: "There is a simple reason why Ms. Deves tweeted about children being surgically mutilated and sterilised. It’s because children are being surgically mutilated and sterilised".

Dr Wilson explains carefully & clearly the ethical & clinical issues at the heart of the international debate over medicalised gender change for minors. I urge you to read his letter & share it widely.  

He says: "We are in the midst of a medical scandal ... We are all somewhat complicit ... we have blindly assumed that a children’s hospital must be doing the right thing simply because it’s the children’s hospital. We haven’t asked questions. Or we’ve been too afraid to".


News reports here genderclinicnews.substack.com

It's the Oz election campaign & there's confusion among politicians & journos about trans-identifying minors & their access to surgery. Short answer: biological girls under 18 *do* get trans mastectomy in Australia. To say it doesn't happen is wrong. #AusPol #AusVotes #Health

In Australia, 15 is the youngest known age for "top surgery", as it's often called online. See this news report & screenshot.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/ignore-the-wishes-of-transgender-kids-parents-say-psychologists/news-story/d0a077b4d088bdb90d8544357f5eff3c

Family Court has been the only info source on under-18 trans surgery. Until the 2018 case re Matthew, the court had to give the green light, even if docs & parents agreed. This was said to be "discriminatory". Now, judges only hear under-18 surgery cases if there's a dispute. 


In the Dutch protocol for medicalised gender change, puberty blockers is stage 1, opposite-sex hormones stage 2, and stage 3 is surgery, including mastectomy. Family Court had sped up underage access to treatment.

About the re Matthew case https://www.hrlc.org.au/human-rights-case-summaries/2018/4/11/family-court-of-australia-confirms-surgery-for-transgender-teenagers-is-therapeutic
 

There is no publicly available national data about Dutch protocol treatment of minors. I've asked federal Health Department, Australian Institute of Health & Welfare, & Family Court. Our kids' hospitals, so far, do not do trans surgery, leaving it to private surgeons.


Following coverage in The Oz, federal Health Minister Greg Hunt insisted the states in charge of kids hospitals had to come up with a national framework for data collection & tracking treatment outcomes. There's no sign of progress & still little transparency in gender medicine.

A striking fact: the trans activists & their media allies in Australia & the US who insist that medicalised gender change is "lifesaving" often deny that any minors get surgery. Surely they would approve of lifesaving medicine being extended to minors? 

The "trans kids" narrative is all about easier & younger access to treatment supposed to reduce suicide (the evidence for this is low quality). Australia's biggest youth gender clinic, at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, has campaigned for in-hospital trans mastectomy. 

The RCH "Australian Standards of Care" treatment guideline, used by other kids' hospitals, says "chest reconstructive surgery"  (mastectomy) is "regularly performed across the world" in countries where the age of majority is 16. RCH takes kids up to 17.
https://www.rch.org.au/uploadedFiles/Main/Content/adolescent-medicine/australian-standards-of-care-and-treatment-guidelines-for-trans-and-gender-diverse-children-and-adolescents.pdf

At Victoria's 2019 royal commission into mental health, the RCH clinic director Dr Telfer gave evidence that "many" of the "post-pubertal trans males" (biological females) in her clinic's 2018 intake "were requesting  ... chest reconstructive surgery [mastectomy]".

She said there were "no private surgical services" for trans boys under 18 in Victoria, "leaving them with no option but to seek chest reconstructive surgery interstate or overseas should they be unable to manage their distress until they turn 18". 
http://rcvmhs.archive.royalcommission.vic.gov.au/AProf_Michelle_Telfer.pdf
 

Dr Telfer cited international evidence that trans mastectomy improves mental health, including a US study with 33 biological females -- "with a gender identity along the masculine spectrum" -- under the age of 18. Two were 13 years old. Their "chest dysphoria" reportedly eased. 

The 2019 program model for the RCH gender clinic includes a line saying "Assessment for surgery (Chest reconstructive surgery: TBC)". That year, Dr Telfer told the Vic royal commission that "chest reconstructive surgery is an integral part of the transition for trans males". 

In 2021, RCH told me it had "no plans to introduce 'top surgery’."  I've asked for an update & will post if one comes. In 2019, RCH said its gender clinic worked with "the best available medical evidence" & applied "strict clinical governance standards".
https://blogs.rch.org.au/news/files/2019/12/Open-Letter-re-RCH-Gender-Service.pdf

Last year I reported a journal article by a senior Australian psychiatrist arguing that trans mastectomy with teenage girls is "experimental", being supported only by a handful of low-quality, short-term studies claiming mental health benefits.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-021-02232-0 

In March 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit handed down a judgment in a case about trans mastectomy for minors & insurance coverage. The teenage plaintiffs argued surgery was so vital that the court should grant an urgent injunction ordering insurance coverage.



The plaintiffs had heavy-duty lawyers & experts on hand -- including the World Professional Association for Transgender Health -- for a potential class action. This was a chance to show the evidence that trans mastectomy is lifesaving. 
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/03/10/21-15668.pdf

The teenagers' case was that they “urgently need" trans mastectomy to ease gender dysphoria & that there is “broad consensus within the medical community that the surgery is a safe, effective, & medically necessary treatment" bringing "enormous psychological relief".

The court also heard from The Society for Evidence based Gender Medicine Segm.org about an international shift to more caution in the face of a worrying surge in teenagers, chiefly female, seeking irreversible interventions. 
More info here genderclinicnews.substack.com

SEGM told the court: "After reviewing the available evidence, SEGM concluded that gender-reassignment surgeries, including masculinizing mastectomies, cannot be considered safe, effective, and medically necessary for minors."


The upshot? The court denied the teens' preliminary injunction request, which requires a high standard of proof, noted expert challenge to the claims made for trans mastectomy & raised "concerns" about the teen who was still a minor when proceedings began.

"This gave rise to twin concerns: was his gender dysphoria permanent & did he sufficiently appreciate the consequences of irreversible surgery?" The court also cited evidence "that some individuals who present as trans during adolescence revert to their natal gender later on."

"These concerns are reinforced by the apparent fact that [this teen] had serious psychiatric issues distinct from or related to his gender dysphoria." There was evidence "gender dysphoria might mask other psychiatric issues & top surgery might not address those other issues".


The court noted the litigation by a young English woman, Keira Bell, who argued she was a troubled girl unable to give informed consent at 16 when the UK Tavistock gender clinic gave her puberty blockers. Identifying as male, she had a mastectomy at 20.
https://www.persuasion.community/p/keira-bell-my-story?s=r

For the London-based Pink News, mastectomy is "pure trans joy". Not everyone sees it that way.
https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/may-2022/the-false-euphoria-of-dysphoria/

Sinead Watson, a Scottish "detransitioner" who re-embraced her birth sex after taking testosterone & undergoing a double mastectomy, explains here the unexamined & untreated issues that can be masked by the label "gender dysphoria".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS1sgrVrET0
 

More on detransitioners here https://genspect.org/detransitioner-resources/

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Bernard_Lane/8EqoUcG

The Sydney seat of Warringah has two female candidates who an observer might expect to have strong opinions about the integrity of female sport. One is Katherine Deves of @SWS_australasia, the other is Zali Steggall, our first female medalist in the Winter Olympics.  #AusPol

In 2019, with an orchestrated show of unity, a transgender inclusion guideline was issued by two Australian govt agencies, Sport Australia & the human rights commission, along with a peak sporting body. This document enjoyed uncritical media promotion. 

https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/lgbti/publications/guidelines-inclusion-transgender-and-gender-diverse-people-sport-2019

But this was a big shift, pushing sports to reorganise according to someone's inner feeling of "gender identity", not the fact of biological sex -- and with the implied threat of fines for discrimination if sports didn't play ball, not too mention denunciation as "transphobic". 


Trans players with female bodies in male sports? Not fair or safe for trans players. Trans players with male bodies -- built up by testosterone during puberty -- in female sports? Surely not fair or safe for women & girls in most sport.


In theory, sports might try to stay female-only by using an exemption in discrimination law where sex differences in "strength, stamina and physique" tilt the playing field. But the government guideline makes this look highly uncertain & warns sports to get legal advice. 

Given the official line implying little or no conflict between "trans inclusion" & female sport, what are the sports where male biological advantage is not a big deal? Sport Australia's short list included darts.

In mid-2020 Senator Claire Chandler started asking questions. Which lobbies were invited to shape these guidelines?  The human rights commission would not tell, intoning that consultations were "confidential, targeted & respectful". That looks like code for activist capture.

In June 2020, Sport Australia's acting CEO Robert Dalton told a parliamentary hearing he “didn’t have an opinion” when asked if allowing biological males in female sport would put off young girls, who already have a higher drop-out rate in sport as they grow up. 

Asked if Sport Australia agreed that women’s sport was intended for biological females, Dalton said: “I’m not specifically aware of what our policy is on that”. The agency said later that it did not define the term "woman".  They could've asked the Australian Academy of Science.

Senator Chandler wrote to Sport Australia, saying the trans issue had “major implications for women & girls & their engagement in sport” & that the agency’s stone-walling of her questions in the Senate was “evasive, dismissive and insulting”.
https://youtu.be/nMs7ko2YICM

Back in parliament, Australia's Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins said that “historically” sport had been based on a male-female “binary” but now there was “a new conversation” about “inclusion”. If "gender identity" trumps biological sex, is Jenkins' title redundant?

In July 2020, World Rugby urged a ban on male-bodied trans players in the female game, citing unfairness & injury risk. Research suggested a 20-30% higher risk of injury for women tackled by biological males who identify as female.  
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/oct/09/world-rugby-bans-trans-women-from-elite-womens-game-due-to-injury-risks


Research also concluded that trans players who go through male puberty lose little of their physical advantage after 12 months on drugs to lower their testosterone in line with 2015 International Olympic Committee rules (which seemed plucked from the air).

In 2021, the UK sports councils warned tha trans women retain advantages of physique, stamina & strength in female sport. This meant sports could "no longer fudge the complex & nuanced issue of balancing trans participation with fairness", said The Guardian's Sean Ingle.

Our human rights commission has admitted it did not carry out a risk assessment on how its trans inclusion guideline might affect women and girls. This emerged following questions put by the group Fair Go for Queensland Women.


Female biomechanics lead to a higher risk of injury to the anterior cruciate ligament, something I was alerted to by "Lia", a 15-year-old state-level soccer player. (Pseudonym because anyone speaking out risks ugly harassment & threats.) 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4805849/

"Everything is pretty equal up until puberty, that’s when guys shoot up, grow taller, stronger faster — they’re outrunning us, outdoing us physically, bigger lungs, hearts, muscles,” Lia told me. Has this biological reality gone missing in our politics & sports administration?

Swedish sport scientist Tommy Lundberg, one of the experts involved in World Rugby's more rigorous policy-making, looked at Australia's guideline & said it was misleading in playing down the importance of testosterone in sporting performance.

“They don’t really speak much about testosterone or biological differences in the document at all, which is interesting in itself," Lundberg said. "They make it appear as if testosterone is not that important because (they say) ‘many factors affect performance’." 


"About 10,000 men ran the 100m faster than the fastest woman last year. The only thing (those men) have in common is that they have all experienced the benefits of male puberty and high testosterone levels ... 


"So testosterone explains most of the male/female average performance differences.” Dr Lundberg is from Sweden’s top medical research university the Karolinska Institute.


So you'll see why this week I was surprised to see a sport journalist say that Australia's trans inclusion guideline "has been widely recognised as a solid basis for clubs and bodies to use when formulating policies of their own".  
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nuance-is-the-first-casualty-in-the-complex-debate-over-trans-athletes-20220413-p5ad97.html

Don't expect candour from peak sporting bodies & individual codes which have already signed up to trans inclusion policies promoted with threats of financial penalties & poorly evidenced claims about trans mental health.   

As for today's promising female athletes, they know that if they speak up about their concerns, they risk being dog-piled on social media as a "transphobe" -- and that's not something sports administrators or commercial sponsors want to be associated with. 

In Australia, two retired athletes Tamsyn Manou & Jane Flemming have gone public in defence of the long-standing female category of sport & they no doubt speak for many younger women & girls in sport who feel they must remain silent. 

In the furore over US trans swimmer Lia Thomas, who went from a mid-500s ranking in the male pool to a top-ranking in the women's pool, female swimmers were told any protest could harm careers. Mothers & retired athletes are organising on their behalf.
https://nypost.com/2022/04/02/moms-fight-for-female-athletes-amid-lia-thomas-controversy/

In the UK, Olympian Sharron Davies has been a leading defender of female sport. She swam against East German girls given testosterone & was cheated of a gold medal at the Moscow Olympics.

Back in Sydney, two years ago, Katherine Deves, a mum of three sporty girls, felt she had to make a stand on the integrity of the female sport category & so she was involved in the 2020 launch of Save Women's Sport Australasia & became its spokeswoman. 

As for Zali Steggall, she was asked this week by The Daily Telegraph if she would have been happy to compete against a male-bodied trans woman back in her Winter Olympics days. She reportedly refused to be drawn on her own experience in sport. 

Steggall was quoted as saying that current law & rules enjoy support from sporting bodies "as providing the right flexibility & framework to respond sensitively & carefully, prioritising the wellbeing of all involved & fairness for all athletes". So, no need for policy review.

“We are talking of an incredibly small number of [trans] athletes,” Steggall said. How would trans activists respond if told their concerns involve an incredibly small number of people? Is it a small concern each time a girl or a woman is unfairly beaten, injured or demoralised?


You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Bernard_Lane/Clq8Cmi

What is the definition of a woman? That's the question put to Dr Brendan Murphy, who runs Australia's Department of Health.

https://twitter.com/ellymelly/status/1511652474259914760?s=20&t=MDLJVNa48lcZ8b85vUP0oA

Maybe, follow the science?

"Anyone can be a woman, according to Australia's top science body."

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/blokes-can-be-women-scientists/news-story/66daff26b5c7a886dbb9517051c1e868


Actually, it's irrelevant that Murphy is a doc. In 2013, our parliament inserted the nebulous concept of "gender identity" into the Sex Discrimination Act, destabilising the biological reality of binary sex. Little noticed at the time, this "Queering" of the law has consequences.

Murphy's health department won "bronze" in the 2021 Australian Workplace Equality Index, which is an enterprise of ACON's inspired by the "diversity champions" scheme of the UK's Stonewall, which is chiefly a trans activist lobby these days. And now it's on the nose.

But what a model it was while it lasted! Institutions joined the queue to enact Stonewall's woke ideology while paying this lobby for the privilege. Meanwhile, tech platforms like Twitter do Queer Theory language policing -- without charge.
https://unherd.com/thepost/stephen-nolans-stonewall-documentary-is-unmissable/

In a familiar story of shape-shifting, Australia's ACON used to be a lobby for same-sex rights, but now it's all Queer Theory-style self-declared "gender identity", so a biological male can "identify" not only as a woman but as a lesbian. And birth sex is just a stab in the dark.

If you're a lobby trying to reinvent language like this, it makes sense to recruit institutions as helpers. Until recently, Stonewall had the BBC in its corner. ACON still has inside running. Australia's public broadcaster, "Our ABC", was ACON's "most improved" employer in 2021. 

But not every journalist works for the ABC, of course, so it's noteworthy that ACON has confidence in the Australian Press Council, which handles complaints against a range of media outlets. In the UK, however, media regulator Ofcom has joined the rush to exit Stonewall's scheme.

I have history with the press council. Before I knew of any complaint against me, I predicted that the council's 2019 transgender reporting guideline -- its "advisory" status is misleading -- would make normal journalistic scrutiny of children's hospital gender clinics harder.

In 2021, I copped a partially upheld complaint. What I didn't know back in 2019 was that ACON & its Victorian counterpart Thorne Harbour Health -- both promote the gender clinic medical model -- were allowed to shape the council's trans reporting guideline during consultations.



I didn't learn this from the press council, which invoked "privacy" when refusing to tell me which organisations were invited to lobby it during 12 months of "research and community consultation" leading up to the guideline's launch.

I still don't know if the Australian Professional Association for Trans Health, a hybrid professional society & trans activist lobby, was also given the privilege of helping to shape a reporting guideline directly relevant to the gender clinic controversy.
https://auspath.org.au/

In my defence https://genspect.org/thanks-bernard-lane/

Press council media release http://www.presscouncil.org.au/media_release/australian-press-council-releases-guidelines-for-reporting-on-people-with-diverse-sexual-orientation-gender-identity-and-sex-characteristics
 


The US administration has issued a series of statements endorsing medicalised gender change for minors, & claims that puberty blocker drugs & cross-sex hormones are "evidence-based".

In other countries, there's a shift to caution about these interventions. Who's got it right? 1/

Sweden: "The National Board of Health & Welfare in Sweden has urged 'restraint' in the use of hormonal drug treatments for medicalised gender change with minors, warning that the risks appear to outweigh the benefits."
https://genderclinicnews.substack.com/p/sweden-transitions-to-caution?r=130uly&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

The UK: "The evidence for using puberty blocking drugs to treat young people struggling with their gender identity is 'very low", an official review has found ... existing studies of the drugs were small and 'subject to bias and confounding'.".
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-56601386


France: " 'Sterilisation risk' from gender medicine | The French National Academy of Medicine has sounded the alarm about an epidemic-like surge in young people seeking hormone drugs and surgery."
https://genderclinicnews.substack.com/p/sterilisation-risk-from-gender-medicine?s=w

Finland: "Finland prioritizes psychotherapy over hormones, and rejects surgeries for gender-dysphoric minors."
https://segm.org/Finland_deviates_from_WPATH_prioritizing_psychotherapy_no_surgery_for_minors
 

Australia & New Zealand: "Psychiatrists have been alerted to the ethical and legal risks of medicalised gender change for young people and the lack of good ­evidence on whether it helps or harms."
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/psychiatrists-adopt-new-gender-policy/news-story/9f1b8958312c24f5bed1d9f8101c86bd


 

And back in the US, top clinicians who *support* gender affirming care -- as long as it involves the safeguard of thorough assessment -- have gone public with concerns about rushed medicalisation of young people.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/11/24/trans-kids-therapy-psychologist/

American journalist @AbigailShrier continues to file worrying reports on paediatric transition, following her bestselling book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.

"Top Trans Doctors Blow the Whistle on 'Sloppy' Care"
https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/top-trans-doctors-blow-the-whistle?s=r

"Inside Planned Parenthood's Gender Factory: An Ex-Reproductive Health Assistant Speaks Out"
https://abigailshrier.substack.com/p/inside-planned-parenthoods-gender?s=r


Who's got it right on teenage gender change?

“I will not allow Big Pharma to misleadingly promote these [puberty blocker] drugs that may pose a high risk of serious physical & psychological damage to Texas children who cannot yet fathom or consent to the potential long-term effects of such use.”
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/ag-paxton-investigates-potential-violations-state-law-puberty-blocking-drug-manufacturers 1/

.@TXAG has issued "Civil Investigative Demands" to [pharma companies] AbbVie & Endo as part of an investigation into off-label use of hormone suppression drugs for medicalised gender change with minors. Approved uses for these drugs include precocious puberty & prostate cancer.

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Bernard_Lane/JgtbLQU