In their demands for a government ban on conversion therapy, extreme gender ideology advocates such as Stonewall lobby for the ‘affirmation’ or ‘gender affirmative’ approach towards those who identify as transgender, including children and young people. With the addition of ‘gender identity’ to the 2017 Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy (MoU) activists are framing anything other than affirmation as ‘anti-trans’ and a form of conversion therapy for trans-identified people.
Affirmation and social transition is an experimental approach towards children and young people with gender dysphoria. It is not a model which has been informed and developed through clinical research and evidence but one which has been promoted by the extreme gender lobby. The established global model of care for children with gender dysphoria is a ‘watchful waiting’ approach which does not steer a child towards any pre-determined outcome.
Does Affirmation and Social Transition prevent boys from growing up to be gay?
The results of an important new study from Singh, Bradley & Zucker on gender identity & sexual orientation of clinic-referred pre-pubertal boys are consistent with the results of all previous studies of persistence and desistance. Using the largest sample to date, with a follow-up mean age of 20.58 years, the study found only a 12.2% persistence rate. 87.8 % desisted and 63.6% grew up to be gay. We know that under a watchful waiting approach around 80% of children outgrow gender dysphoria and the most likely outcome is same-sex orientation in adulthood. Becoming transsexual as an adult is the least likely outcome.
What evidence do we have regarding the affirmation and social transition approach towards children with gender dysphoria?
A 2013 research study by Steensma et al found that social transition is the most powerful predictor of persistence of childhood gender dysphoria. In other words, social transition of pre-pubertal children may prevent them from growing up to be gay. So what is ‘gender identity’ doing on the MoU on conversion therapy when there is a risk that affirmation and social transition is a form of gay conversion therapy in itself?
Is Affirmation and Social Transition gay conversion therapy for lesbian and gay adolescents?
What of the new cohort of adolescents referred to the Tavistock (75% girls) who suddenly self-diagnose as transgender at or during puberty, having experienced no gender dysphoria as young children? Termed Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (Littman 2018) this is a completely new presentation. Despite the lack of knowledge of this group, the cautious ‘watchful waiting’ approach has been discarded in favour of the extreme one-size-fits all affirmation model: “If you identify as a boy you are a boy”, no questions asked.
What percentage of these teenage referrals are lesbian or gay before ‘coming out’ as trans?
A study of referrals of adolescents (12+) to the Tavistock in 2012 showed that, of the girls, 67.6% were lesbian and 21.1% were bisexual. Of the boys, 42.3% were gay and 38.5% were bisexual. (Holt et al 2014).
In the 2018 Lisa Littman study females made up 82% of cases. Parents reported that 41% had expressed a non-heterosexual sexual orientation before identifying as transgender.
A 2017 study has shown that exposure to sustained homophobic bullying and name-calling can change a young person’s gender identity.
A 2019 study of adolescents and young adults referred to a UK gender service (16 – 25years) reports that many transgender people identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual and experience homophobic bullying before later identifying as transgender.
A new study of detransitioners found that 52% of respondents cited ‘learning to cope with internalized homophobia’ as a psychological need after detransitioning.
The evidence shows that the majority of adolescents and young people now identifying as transgender are lesbian, gay or bisexual, and that homophobic bullying is indicated as a possible reason. This is cause for serious concern that ‘affirmation’ is a way of ‘transing away the gay.’ Why is Stonewall not alarmed by this?
What does ‘affirmation’ really affirm?
To the non-conforming teenage lesbian who does not live up to the ideal model of femininity, who does not feel acceptable as a girl, who may be bullied and called ‘lezza’, who may feel ashamed of her emerging sexual orientation, develop internalised homophobia and come out as trans, it is the bullies’ message that is affirmed. “You are wrong”; “You are not a proper girl”. Further, “You are not a lesbian, you are a straight boy”.
To the sensitive, effeminate teenage boy who fails to fit into the macho culture of his peers, who is taunted with homophobic insults and abuse, who feels ashamed of his sexual orientation, develops internalised homophobia, wonders if he is really a girl and comes out as trans, affirmation confirms he is correct: he is not gay, he is really a heterosexual girl.
Affirmation affirms that the child is wrong; not society, not other peoples’ attitudes, not homophobia, not the bullies. In their perception of their wrongness, their self-blame, their feeling that it is their fault, that it is wrong to be gay, the adolescent is affirmed as correct. Affirmation of your own self-hatred is not ‘kind.’
So is affirmation and social transition of children a new form of gay conversion therapy?
The evidence we have suggests that the answer is yes. What we know of the continuing problem of homophobic bullying in schools reinforces the likelihood of gay and lesbian adolescents changing to a trans identity. The mocked and vilified young lesbian becomes the cool trans guy on T. What we see in the burgeoning number of detransitioner Twitter accounts also adds to the evidence: the majority of young women who regret their transition realise that they are actually lesbians, not trans.
Where is Stonewall to support these young people, to say ‘It’s okay to be gay’? Stonewall are busy promoting the idea that there is such a thing as ‘gender identity conversion therapy’ with a new report out in conjunction with Mermaids, GIRES, the LGBT Foundation and the Ozanne Foundation. Stonewall has abandoned sexual orientation altogether, in favour of the pseudo-science of gender identity.
Lesbian and gay young people are being encouraged to see themselves as heterosexual members of the opposite sex on social media, in schools, and explicitly through the strategy of affirmation. The demands on the government to ban “gay conversion therapy” is a sham.
Having squirrelled in on Stonewall, taken it over and turned it into a cesspit of harmful trans propaganda, these ghastly people are now trying to hang on to the coat-tails of the gay therapy ban to get the children turned into trans by denying them ‘watchful waiting’, a gentle course which usually (at least 80%) results in the children keeping t heir own bodies unravaged and living happily with that. But Stonewall and the other predators do not like that. They have to have blood.
When doctor is not allowed to say “Hey, maybe you are just lesbian/gay and not trans” (and in countries like Canada or Norway doctor will be imprisoned for stating this) – it is clearly very homophobic movement.
A lot of homosexual people are thinking that we are maybe wrong sex, because only boys can like girls, especially if there homophobia around, just because we only see heterosexual couples around and on TV. Plus many homosexual kids are often gender non-conforming in childhood.
80-85% tells that for “each 1-2 trans kids helped there 8-9 kids irreversibly harmed”.
Trans activists are using all the “scary words” that belonged to other marginalized groups – “assigned at birth” what was medical malpractice used against intersex people which was leading to genital mutilation; “transmisogyny” – taken from hatred of women and DARVO’ed back at us; “Conversion therapy” – taking it from homosexual people and then calling “not doing conversion therapy on gay men” as “conversion therapy” – again DARVO. They are re-using other marginalized groups words and terms, as society reacts to those words as “something bad and need to be stopped”, but they are DARVO’ing meaning of those words, making them mean the opposite. Trans version of “assigned at birth” will lead to more intersex genital mutilation, trans version of misogyny “transmisogyny” is blaming of women and attacks on women. trans version of “ban conversion therapy” is gay conversion therapy.
It is very regressive and abusive movement.
They act not like marginalized group.
And movement acts not like any other civil rights movement – instead they act like a cult or authoritharian regime.
Conversion therapy is not scientific or logical.
One can not change a person’s identity. If born male one has the right to remain male without having to be coerced into changing gender.
The promotion of gender therapy (prescribing hormones of the opposite sex) is unethical because it is can be considered to be a type if “conversion therapy”. Very confusing for me. Just wonder what children think about this.