Sinn Féin has been slammed online for its decision to hold a fundraiser for the organisation Mermaids, because of the group’s insistence that children with gender dysphoria should be able to access puberty blockers, and other controversies.
While Mermaids was feted by celebrity supporters in the past, it now stands at odds with the advice of the British NHS and leading medical experts in regard to the use of puberty blockers in under-18s.
In March, the NHS said they had “concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of puberty-suppressing hormones to make the treatment routinely available at this time”.
A major review of treatment offered to children with gender dysphoria, the Cass Review, found that children have been let down by a lack of research and evidence on medical interventions being offered in such care, and that the long term effect of puberty blockers were not well understood.
Leading pediatrician Dr Cass said that there was no evidence that puberty blockers “buy time to think” or “reduce suicide risk” – and that children who present as transgender should not be given any hormone drugs at all until at least 18. She also also warned that the debate around treatment for children with gender dysphoria had become exceptionally toxic.
Mermaids, an organisation set up in support for transgender youths, became a charity in 2015, described the NHS decision as “deeply disappointing” and a “further restriction of support offered to trans children and young people through the NHS”, adding that it believed the health authority was “failing trans youth”.
It added that it would “continue to advocate strongly” for “access to puberty blockers for those who need them” – despite the warnings from the authorities and from the Cass review.
A previous investigation by The Daily Telegraph in 2022 accused Mermaids of offering chest binders to transgender youth without parental consent, and of saying that hormone-blocking drugs are “totally reversible”.
“Evidence obtained by The Telegraph shows that the charity’s staff have offered binders to children as young as 13 who say that their parents oppose the practice,” the investigative piece claimed.
Chest-binding has been described by parent groups as a form of “self-harm” and it can cause breathing difficulties, chronic back pain, changes to the spine and broken ribs.
Mermaids is currently under investigation by the Charity Commission with the regulator saying it had opened a “regulatory compliance case” after concerns were raised about the organisation’s “approach to safeguarding young people”
The charity also came under fire in October 2022, when a trustee of Mermaids, Dr Jacon Breslow, resigned after reports he spoke at a conference in 2011 organised by a group that promotes support for paedophiles, according to the BBC . The organising group B4U-ACT calls for paedophiles to have the right to live “in truth and dignity”. Mermaids said that organisation was “completely at odds” with its values.
Susie Green, Mermaids chief executive from 2016 to 2022, has attracted criticism for claiming that a ban on puberty blockers for children was “murderous” and accusing British Health Secretary, Wes Streeting of having “blood on his hands” for affirming the ban.
She has also now reportedly launched a private clinic that will “exploit a legal loophole” to bypass the ban on puberty blockers, i news said – “providing a range of medical, pharmaceutical, and psychological support services – including puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and counselling – to transgender people of all ages”.
Multiple responses to Sinn Féin’s post publicising the fundraiser for Mermaids tonight were critical of the decision – pointing out that the charity was under investigation, and that supporting the use of puberty blockers for children with gender dysphoria could be harmful.
“Have you been in a coma for the last 5 years and missed everything?” asked one man – while another post read: “Mermaids? You might want to be better informed There is no excuse for ignorance anymore.”
Have you been in a coma for the last 5 years and missed everything? 😳
— Pete McCormick (@PeteMcCormick6) July 23, 2024
Gript wrote to Sinn Fein asking if the party agreed with Mermaids’ position supporting the use of puberty blockers in treating children with gender dysphoria; if they were aware that Mermaids is under investigation by the Charity Commission – and that an investigation by The Daily Telegraph accused the charity of offering chest binders to transgender youth without parental consent and of saying that hormone-blocking drugs are “totally reversible”.
We have received no response to date.
In 2020, Sinn Féin’s Fintan Warfield said that the party in Government would allow children under the age of 16 to take their parents to court in order to change their legal gender without the parents consent.
Maria Maynes also contributed to this article.