The Catholic Weekly 31 May 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 4 NEWS 31, May, 2020 catholicsuper.com.au We’re here to help you MANY HEALTH profession- als are alarmed at moves to outlaw therapies for young people and children experi- encing gender dysphoria that do not fall under the affirma- tion model which includes puberty blockers and surgery. The Victorian government intends to introduce a ban on so-called conversion therapy this year. In Queensland, a push to introduce a ban was delayed in February after a parlia- mentary committee urged the government to review parts of its proposal and provide clar- ity on which health services fall under the ban. It defined conversion ther- apy as “a treatment or oth- er practice that attempts to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity”. Included in the proposed law was any treatment man- agement strategy that did not explicitly affirmand aimat as- sisting the person to assume a different gender identity than the one corresponding to their sex at birth. Transgender worries It’s fashionable and irreversible - but is it valid or safe? Professionals are concerned Psychiatrists and doctors are worried by the irreversible effects of applied transgender ideology. Anyone deviating from the affirmation model could fall under suspicion of intro- ducing a form of conversion therapy, with a maximum 18 month jail term. In February Australian Medical Association Queens- land questioned the use of transgender drugs and sur- gery for children saying it “strongly supports” the con- cerns of leading psychiatrist Dr Philip Morris, who has questioned the capacity of children under 18 to make decisions about life-altering hormonal treatment or sur- gery “now shown to be not without harm”. Dr Eamonn Mathieson is one of the conveners of the upcoming Sex, Gender and the Human Person online conference on 30 May which will feature medical and le- gal experts and researchers challenging what he calls the “sudden orthodoxy” on gen- der dysphoria. He told The Catholic Week- ly there is a real risk of laws passing that would make any attempt at not affirming that a child with gender dyspho- ria was a different sex, a form of ‘conversion therapy’ and therefore a form of abuse. “That includes what used to be called the ‘wait and see’ approach whereby puberty would often correct the vast majority of boys or girls who have an issue with gender dysphoria,” he said. “That is legislation entering into the realm of medicine in a coercive way,” he said. “We also need to look at what is being done to children who are taken down the affir- mation pathway. “We are seeing in other countries the experiences of people who are now detran- sitioning who say that the way they were managed was prob- lematic.” Sydney psychologist Dr Dianna Kenny, who will ad- dress the conference, told The Catholic Weekly she would advise “extreme caution” in affirming a young child’s cross-sex gender identity and cementing it in law. “The research shows that the majority of children with gen- der dysphoria resolve to remain in their natal sex at or after the onset of puberty,” she said. “All measures that assist a child’s social transition to a transgendered identity con- tribute to the inexorable path of gender affirmation involv- ing puberty blockers, cross sex hormones and sex reas- signment surgeries. “There is a huge amount of misinformation being prop- agated by the trans activists that has disappointingly been taken up by governments and education departments that are now teaching children that there are many genders fromwhich they can ‘choose’. “Such action by the Victo- rian government would rein- force this misinformation by enshrining it in law.” Dr Mathieson said a na- tional discussion is needed on what constitutes acceptable medicine in the realmof man- aging gender dysphoria. “For a doctor who is not re- ally taken with the affirmation approach, it is very difficult and in private conversations they are afraid of profession- al sanctions even prior to any legislation being enacted for going against the transgender movement,” he said. “And it can be very difficult for parents to get help for their children if the entire medical establishment is capitulating in fear.” Other speakers at the Sex, Gender and the Human Per- son conference will include Professor of paediatrics John Whitehall from Western Syd- ney University and Profes- sor Patrick Parkinson, the academic dean and head of school at the University of Queensland’s TC Beirne School of Law. For information on the conference see www.catholicmedicine.org Ph: 4620 8822 or 9708 6972 www.KenneallysFunerals.com.au ‘ Servicing greater Sydney and the Macarthur area’ Why choose Kenneally’s  Servicing the Catholic Community  Family owned and operated  After funeral bereavement support available  Tailored options for your personal finances  Affordable pre-paid and pre-arranged funerals Prompt and Personalised Care There is a huge amount of misinformation being propagat- ed by the trans activists that has disap- pointingly been taken up by governments and education depart- ments.” Dr Dianna Kenny ¾ ¾ Marilyn Rodrigues In brief Gender plan clash THE AUSTRALIAN Acad- emy of Science has been called out on including biological males in a plan to achieve ‘gender equity’ by inspiring girls to study science and related fields. Evolutionary biologist Madeleine Beekman, a professor at the Universi- ty of Sydney, told media she was “shocked” that the academy’s plan to boost the participation of women in STEM careers though its 10-year Wom- en in STEM plan includes transgender people whose “personal gender identity does not corre- spond with sex assigned at birth”. She said it undermined any attempt to under- stand the role of biolo- gy and other influences in the career obstacles faced by women, such as child-bearing and the tendency to be the default carer. A spokesman for the academy said the defini- tion was “inclusive” and in line with the Federal Government’s Sex Dis- crimination Act. GENDER WARS