Dr. Hilary Cass, who authored the long-awaited British report criticizing transgender medical procedures for children, said she is not...
Dr. Hilary Cass, who authored the long-awaited British report criticizing transgender medical procedures for children, said she is not taking public transportation due to safety concerns.
The Cass Review was released earlier this month. It is the result of a major independent review on children and gender identity commissionedby Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) in 2020.
Cass herself is a pediatrician and former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
“The reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress,” Cass stated in her report.
In an interview with The Times of London published Friday, Cass, 66, said she has received “vile” abusive emails and been warned to stay away from public transportation in the wake of her report.
“There are some pretty vile emails coming in at the moment. Most of which my team is protecting me from, so I’m not getting to see them,” she told the paper.
“I’m not going on public transport at the moment, following security advice, which is inconvenient,” Cass said.
What bothers her more, however, is the “disinformation” surrounding her report.
“I have been really frustrated by the criticisms, because it is straight disinformation. It is completely inaccurate,” she said.
“What dismays me is just how childish the debate can become. If I don’t agree with somebody then I’m called transphobic or a TERF [trans-exclusionary radical feminist].”
Just before the Cass Review came out, accusations circulated that the report had wrongly excluded dozens of transgender studies, a claim Cass said is false.
Labour MP Dawn Butler claimed there were about 100 studies that were not included in the Cass Review, and “we need to know why.”
“You don’t get up in parliament with an intent to spread misinformation,” Cass said.
“If you deliberately try to undermine a report that has looked at the evidence of children’s healthcare, then that’s unforgivable. You are putting children at risk by doing that,” she said.
Asked whether the attacks bother her, Cass said, “No.”
“It’s personal, but these people don’t know me,” she said. “I’m much, much more upset and frustrated about all this disinformation than I am about the abuse. The thing that makes me seethe is the misinformation.”
Cass’ much anticipated report sharply criticized the transgender medicine industry targeting youth, saying the evidence for gender medicine is built on “shaky foundations.”
Cross-sex hormones — estrogen and testosterone — should be prescribed to trans-identifying 16 and 17-year-olds only with an “extremely cautious” approach, and there should be a “clear clinical rationale” for not waiting until the teen is 18, the report says.
Waiting would preserve fertility and manage any other conditions. The report also warns that children who are referred to gender services present with high rates of abuse and neglect, including sexual abuse and parental substance abuse.
Cass cautioned that she has also spoken to detransitioners who “deeply regret” their earlier transitions.
After the report’s release, the NHS responded saying it will review all transgender treatment it provides, including to adults, and all new treatment for 16 and 17-year-olds will be paused immediately.
Scotland also said it would pause all new prescriptions of transgender medications for minors.
No comments