Recently, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service released an almost 400-page report on the state of “gender identity services for children and young people.” It’s named the “Cass report” after lead researcher and pediatrician Hillary Cass, who served as chair of an independent review that was commissioned by NHS of Great Britain. It is the most comprehensive evaluation of the available evidence and “sets out the recommended clinical approach to care and support they should expect the interventions that should be available, and how services should be organized across the country.”
Contrary to the standard narrative peddled by trans activists, the report affirmed that so-called “gender-affirming care” is built on “shaky foundations.” Far from being settled, the evidence supporting the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sex-change surgeries to “treat” gender dysphoria is “remarkably weak.” According to the report, most of the studies cited in support of social, chemical, or surgical “transition” were found to lack the quality required to reliably and safely guide clinicians and families in caring for gender dysphoric young people.
Specifically, the report found that, given the “lack of long-term follow-up data,” the effects—both positive and negative—of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones on minors remain almost entirely unknown. It’s unclear how these so-called therapies “impact gender dysphoria, mental or psychosocial health” as well as “cognitive and psychosexual development.” What’s more, none of these interventions guarantee or predict “which children and young people will go on to have an enduring trans identity” or not. In other words, kids who are encouraged to pursue “gender transition” have no evidence-based guarantee that these therapies will help them in the first place. And yet we do know that these same therapies come with permanent consequences.
Most shockingly the report concluded, “For most young people, a medical pathway will not be the best way to manage their gender-related distress.” And it continues, even those who insist on chemical or surgical transition will need clinicians who can address “wider mental health and/or psychosocially challenging problems” that they face.
This does not mean that the debate about best practices for treating gender dysphoria is over in the U.K. or the U.S. It will certainly continue. Concerned parents, healthcare professionals, and teachers need to know about the Cass report. It vindicates the skepticism that many have regarding the sexual and gender orthodoxy of our day. Despite what activists have said, “gender transition” is not a neutral “next step” in the history of medicine or human “progress.” Instead, as the Cass report makes clear, “gender-affirming care” is a step backward. It’s unreliable, unproven, and unethical given what we did not know—particularly to talk about it as if all the science was settled. It fails at an unreliable rate to cure the very condition it is claimed to treat. Ultimately, concerned individuals should be emboldened by the Cass report to resist the lies of gender ideology that masquerade as certainty.
Moreover, it should embolden government officials and policymakers to put a halt to the pseudoscience of gender transition, not to mention allowing revolutionary gender ideology to influence things like the rewriting of Title IX.
Thankfully, at some level, this is already beginning to happen. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court upheld Idaho’s law prohibiting gender transition interventions for minors. However, much more work remains to be done. Just the other week, a federal judge ruled that trans-identifying men can compete in women’s sports, and the Biden Administration’s new Title IX regulations basically enshrined gender ideology when it comes to education and education-related programs across the country.
What the Cass report shows us is that none of these policy moves follow the science. Instead, the new regulations will only lead to more harm, prioritizing an ideology that’s now more controversial than ever over and above parents’ rights and the well-being of children. Given how entrenched gender ideology has become, youth struggling with gender dysphoria—not to mention their parents—need the help of elected officials, judges, and policymakers. They don’t need this false science to be forced upon them.
So please, be informed. Read the Cass report and share it with others. If you are a parent, educator, or healthcare or government official, and you want to know more about the harms of gender ideology on America’s youth, one resource is the Identity Project. The Identity Project is a library of on-demand videos produced by a coalition of 30-some organizations including the Colson Center. It is a comprehensive set of resources on issues of sexuality, identity, marriage, family, and what it means to be made in the image of God. Visit identityproject.tv for a free trial.
This Breakpoint was co-authored by Jared Hayden. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, go to breakpoint.org.
Photo Courtesy: ©GettyImages/Nicky Ebbage
Publish Date: April 30, 2024
John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.
BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.
