Trans teacher Debbie Hayton has welcomed proposed NHS changes to how the national healthcare system should care for children and adolescents with gender dysphoria.
Speaking on GB News, Hayton discussed the long-awaited Cass Review findings which are set to shape NHS England’s new services for children and young people who are questioning their gender identity.
“Of course this is welcome, this is something that should have been happening all along”, she said.
“Children struggling with any number of issues growing up, struggles we all face through puberty, to medicalise those issues and prescribe puberty blockers and not give those children the support they need has been a huge aggregation of duty by the NHS.
Debbie Hayton has welcomed proposed NHS changes
GETTY / GB NEWS
“It’s good that Dr Cass has looked into this and from what I understand, this report is going to bring us back towards reality.”
Dr Cass has already been responsible for a shift in NHS England tack with her preliminary findings leading to the organisation halting the prescription of puberty blockers to children last month.
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NHS England said there was “not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of puberty suppressing hormones to make the treatment routinely available at this time”.
In a more fundamental shift, the review is expected to confirm a change in the treatment offered to gender-questioning children.
Hayton questioned on GB News why this was not the approach before, adding she does not believe gender dysphoria is a legitimate medical condition.
“What is gender dysphoria?”, she asked.
Trans rights activists take part in a demonstration outside Portobello Library, Edinburgh, on March 14, 2023.PA
Debbie Hayton discussed the topic with Emily Carver and Tom Harwood on GB News
GB NEWS
“This is another term which has been invented and nobody really knows what it is.
“Is it a dissatisfaction with our sex bodies? Lots of people can be dissatisfied with their sex bodies.
“Is it a label we put on someone in order to access a certain treatment? Would gender dysphoria actually exist as a diagnosis if there wasn’t a treatment for it?
“There’s lots of questions that need to be asked here. There’s too many assumptions that have been made.”
GB News presenter Tom Harwood questioned at what stage transgender people should be allowed to change their sex hormones if they are intent on doing so.
“And then that leads to the question, if there are people who really do believe that is the path they are destined for, might that not be easier before their voice breaks?”, he asked.
“We can draw a line between adults and children”, Hayton responded.
“An analogy might be sterilisation treatment, vasectomies, for example.
“We’re quite happy for a 35-year-old who’s had three children to have a vasectomy, but an 18-year-old boy turned up for one, we’d say this has got permanent repercussions.”
