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  Landmark ruling restricts puberty blockers for children Lucy Bannerman Tuesday December 01 2020, 5.00pm GMT, The Times Children will find it harder to obtain puberty blockers and other medication during treatment to change gender after a landmark ruling. Judges at the High Court found that it was “highly unlikely” or doubtful that children under 16 could understand the full implications of starting hormone treatments. These treatments may lead to life-changing consequences, such as the loss of fertility or impaired sexual function later in life. Keira Bell, 23, a woman who regrets starting puberty blockers at the age of 16, brought the legal action against the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, which runs the country’s only gender identity development service (GIDS) for children. The GIDS clinic, also known as the Tavistock, has seen an exodus of staff who have expressed concern that vulnerable  transgender youngsters were being set on an irreversible clinical pathway, with ou...

  Keira Bell: ‘I couldn’t sit by while so many others made the same mistake’ Her court action has led to a ruling which will make it harder for children to get puberty-blocking drugs Janic e Turner Tuesday December 01 2020, 5.00pm GMT, The Times Keira Bell: “Gender is polarised: you have to look a certain way” BETHANY CLARKE FOR THE TIMES Standing outside the High Court yesterday, Keira Bell said that she hoped the judgment marked the end of gender clinics “playing God with our bodies [by] experimenting on the young and vulnerable with untested, harmful drugs”. With her deep masculine voice, facial hair and the loss of her breasts to a double mastectomy, Bell bears on her own body the scars of irreversible treatments she began at Tavistock’s GIDS (gender identity development service) clinic at the age of 16. This quiet, reserved young woman, now 23, took on the NHS and publicly funded activist groups such as Stonewall and Mermaids — which successfully lobbied for medical interventi...

  Tavistock gender clinic ‘converting’ gay children The Tavistock has been at the centre of controversy over its treatment of young people for gender dysphoria ALAMY Emily Dugan and Sian Griffiths Sunday June 20 2021, 12.01am BST, The Sunday Times A gay psychologist who worked at the NHS’s only gender transition clinic for children spoke of his fears that the clinic was running “conversion therapy for gay kids”. Dr Matt Bristow said he feared the Tavistock and Portman NHS trust was ignoring the possibility that boys and girls who said they wanted to change sex might simply be gay. Bristow’s claim has emerged in witness statements for Sonia Appleby, a psychotherapist responsible for safeguarding children at the gender identity clinic, who is suing the trust. She told an employment tribunal last week she was “vilified” for raising concerns about the safety of children undergoing treatment, which included the clinic referring children as young as 12 for puberty blocking drugs. The Ta...