Kemi Badenoch said children are being pushed to be sterilized for medical reasons. Photo: Jamie Lorriman
The UK is in the grip of an “epidemic” of young gay children being told they are transgender, Kemi Badenoch said.
The Equalities Minister made the announcement as she warned MPs about ” a new form of conversion therapy,” in which children are subjected to medical sterilization.
She suggested that the government's long-promised ban on conversion therapy would apply not only to people who try to turn gay children into heterosexuals, but also to those who try to turn gay children into transgender people. .
Ms Badenoch told the House of Commons that “no baby is born in the wrong body” and also criticized the NHS for using terms such as “breastfeeding” instead of “woman”.
p>She said new school rules would prohibit primary school students from changing their gender identity without medical advice.
Ms Badenoch said the new rules will ensure parents have the right to advice and will no longer be “treated as parents”. enemy” – and confirmed that the rules would state that girls should not be forced to participate in physical sports with transgender children born boys.
She also criticized the charity Stonewall, which has been accused of directs much of the program on transgender rights, telling MPs the organization “does not decide on the laws in this country.”
In her most candid comments on the issue, she said: “We're seeing what I would call almost an epidemic of young gay kids being told they're transgender and being put on a medical path to make irreversible decisions and regret what they've done. .
“I want to ensure that young people are not sterilized because they are exploited by people who do not understand what these problems are.”
Ms Badenoch gave the example of Keira Bell, who was given puberty blocking drugs at the controversial Tavistock clinic at the age of 16.
She had a double mastectomy but then changed her mind and took Tavistock to court. The NHS clinic has since been ordered to close.
Keira Bell's case was highlighted by Ms Badenoch. Photo: FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Ms Badenoch said: “The threat to many young gay men is not the treatment associated with their sexuality, but the treatment associated with gender identity.”
“Girls like Keira Bell, whom the National Service NHS pushed me onto puberty blockers and had a double mastectomy, now regretting the reversible damage to my children. I believe this is a new form of conversion therapy…
“Whatever bill we do [publish], it should address many of these problems.”
The Equalities Minister made her comments as follows: a statement in the House of Commons on the UK's decision not to recognize gender reassignment certificates from countries where self-identification is allowed.
She also criticized NHS organizations that have reduced their use of the words ” woman” and “mother” in an attempt to be inclusive.
“Hospitals in particular feel that eliminating the term 'women' is more inclusive.” She said. “Actually this is not so.”
“It excludes, and I would gently tell them, that if you use phrases like 'breastfeeding' or remove words like 'mother' from forms, you're not helping, you're actually making it worse.”< /p>
Ms Badenoch said equality laws were now a “mess” because they did not clarify when “biological sex” or “gender identity” was meant. She added: “By calling people transphobic and calling them bigots when they raise concerns, we have a chilling effect.”
She told the House of Commons that there was a “relatively new phenomenon” of social transition – in which people change their floor. identities and asking to be addressed by a different name or pronouns has created unexpected problems for schools.
“Except in the most extreme protective cases – and I expect this will include clinical consultations – we should not be transitioning primary school children or instilling this belief in them at all,” she said.
The minister added that under the new guidance, schools will have to inform parents if their child asks for a social transfer in all but the “most extreme circumstances.”
“We shouldn’t treat parents as the enemy, they need to know what's going on,” she said.
“Boys are using the opportunity to intimidate.”
On school sport, Ms Badenoch, who is also Secretary of State for Business and Trade, said she believed that in most physical sports girls and boys should be separated by sex at birth.
“I had a group of schoolchildren, teenage girls in my office tell me how they were bullied and pushed around because of mixed sports, and one of them told me that her glasses were broken,” said she. “Boys use this opportunity to bully.”
Regarding sex education, she said: “A lot of space is taken up by a lot of questionable organizations producing very, very questionable material that has no biological basis in the law, but they push it because they think they [can] get away with it.
“I think we as a government have a responsibility to remove this material from schools.”
Ms Badenoch’s comments about the “epidemic” were retweeted by tennis player Martina Navratilova, who wrote: “Correct.”
Direct to https://t.co/K9TBmxgs7Q
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) December 6, 2023
Maya Forstater, Executive Director, Gender Critical Campaign Sex Matters, said its organization believes conversion therapy has “evolved into a new, equally disgusting form in which troubled children are being treated.” at gender clinics and told lies about changing your gender.”
She added: “We are pleased to see the Secretary of State agrees. It took a lot of effort for many people to reach this day.”
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