The Strange Report Fueling the War on Trans Kids

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The Strange Report Fueling the War on Trans Kids

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/13/opinion/cass-report-trans-kids.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Ck4.TVov.1LP53fhhwfpA&smid=url-share

Story by Lydia Polgreen (13 Aug 2024)


In April, Cass and her team published a 388-page report on gender-affirming care for children and teenagers that was written at the behest of the British government. The report has received a jubilant reception from activists who oppose such care. One such group declared it "the single most notable event in the history of youth gender medicine of the last decade." In Britain, where transgender issues seem to have much greater political salience than in the United States, some medical groups have embraced the report.

Transgender activists, by contrast, have harshly criticized the report. Research scientists and journalists have questioned the validity of its conclusions and its interpretations of the science. On July 31, the organization that represents nearly 200,000 doctors in Britain said it plans to review the methodology and conclusions of the report, saying that "clinicians, patients and families should make decisions about treatment on the best available evidence, not politicians."

As much as Cass's report insists that all lives — trans lives, cis lives, nonbinary lives — have equal value, taken in full it seems to have a clear, paramount goal: making living life in the sex you are assigned at birth as attractive and likely as possible. Whether Cass wants to acknowledge it or not, that is a value judgment: It is better to learn to live with your assigned sex than try to change it. If this is what Cass personally believes is right, fair enough. It can charitably be called a cultural, political or religious belief. But it is not a medical or scientific judgment.

Imagine a urologist with no experience in women's reproductive health being asked to evaluate the safety, benefits and efficacy of birth control, and you get the idea of how unusual the Cass report is.