The British government has said it will be a crime for an adult to try to persuade children to change sex, under proposed legislation expected to come into force next spring.
The proposal is part of a package of measures which make it illegal to convince anyone to change their sexuality or gender identity – but extra safeguards have been included to protect those under 18.
The issue of children being advised or encouraged to change sex has become hugely controversial in recent times, with whistleblowers facing vilification after raising concerns about the safety of children as young as 10 being put on puberty blockers – and evidence mounting that children with autism were more likely to say they wanted to change sex.
The Tavistock trust – the only clinic in the UK offering Gender Identity Development Service for children – has come under fire for providing “inadequate” services by inspectors, the lowest rating a healthcare provider can receive from the Care Quality Commission.
Staff at the clinic had raised serious concerns about safeguarding at the service, and about the speed of assessments, and whether patients’ traumatic backgrounds and other difficulties were always adequately explored by Tavistock.
The case of Keira Bell, a 24-year-old woman who began taking puberty blockers as a teenager while attending Tavistock before later “detransitioning” – becoming a woman again after previously undergoing treatment to change to a man – is understood to have influenced the decision of Liz Truss, the equalities minister, to ban efforts to persuade someone to change sex.
“Government sources suggested that individuals working for organisations such as Mermaids, a charity that offers advice and counselling to children with gender dysphoria, could face criminal sanctions if they were found guilty of encouraging under 18s to change gender,” The Times reported.
The proposal will not apply to medical professionals such as psychiatrists and doctors or “informal advice” from family and friends.
The proposal will also outlaw gay conversion therapy.
In Ireland, Sinn Féin has said that, if in government, it 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, according <https://gript.ie/sinn-fein-gender-laws/> to spokesman Fintan Warfield.