NYT Interviews Hillary Cass: US Gender Policies 'Out of Date'

The American Academy of Pediatrics doesn't want to comment on the Cass Review, the groundbreaking (and far too late) report that has convinced Europe to run away from "gender-affirming care." 

Advertisement

The Review has been so powerfully persuasive that German doctors did a 180 in a matter of months--reversing the guidelines adopted a few months ago to ones saying that gender transition is "experimental."

The New York Times, which has inched closer to questioning gender ideology to the great consternation of its employees, took the (brave, for them, and therefore praiseworthy) step of interviewing Cass. 

Cass is no culture warrior, which I suppose is good. It gives the more normal liberals an excuse to backtrack without appearing to give in to Right-wingers. Her review took 4 years to discover and report what any sane person should have known from the beginning. Alphabet ideology and "gender-affirming care" are purely ideological and not based on anything remotely akin to science. 

Cass went into the project reluctant to take on the issue, but she was seen as an objective observer who could clear up some controversies. 

After 30 years as one of England’s top pediatricians, Dr. Hilary Cass was hoping to begin her retirement by learning to play the saxophone.

Instead, she took on a project that would throw her into an international fire: reviewing England’s treatment guidelines for the rapidly rising number of children with gender distress, known as dysphoria.

At the time, in 2020, England’s sole youth gender clinic was in disarray. The waiting list had swelled, leaving many young patients waiting years for an appointment. Staff members who said they felt pressure to approve children for puberty-blocking drugs had filed whistle-blower complaints that had spilled into public view. And a former patient had sued the clinic, claiming that she had transitioned as a teenager “after a series of superficial conversations with social workers.”

Advertisement

Huh. Really? Who knew? Who could even possibly have guessed that this is all shamanistic quackery pushed by mentally ill people?

The spark for all this was the collapse of Tavistock, the clinic in the UK that was transing kids at an alarming rate. Even before the Cass review came out, the clinic was closed because it was obviously a s**tshow, not a medical institution. That brought attention to the issue that woke people up. 

All the Right People™, that is. Some of us have been telling the truth all along, but we don't count. 

They should have listened to those of who have been shouting from the rooftops, but most of us don't have those vital credentials, just working brains. 

Over the next four years, Dr. Cass commissioned systematic reviews of scientific studies on youth gender treatments and international guidelines of care. She also met with young patients and their families, transgender adults, people who had detransitioned, advocacy groups and clinicians.

Her final report, published last month, concluded that the evidence supporting the use of puberty-blocking drugs and other hormonal medications in adolescents was “remarkably weak.” On her recommendation, the N.H.S. will no longer prescribe puberty blockers outside of clinical trials. Dr. Cass also recommended that testosterone and estrogen, which allow young people to develop the physical characteristics of the opposite sex, be prescribed with “extreme caution.”

Dr. Cass’s findings are in line with several European countries that have limited the treatments after scientific reviews. But in America, where nearly two dozen states have banned the care outright, medical groups have endorsed the treatments as evidence-based and necessary.

Advertisement

In fact, the United States--or rather, Blue states--are rushing headlong into pushing transgender ideology into everything, including education, adoption, schooling, civil rights laws, counseling, parenting, and especially medicine. Several states have even created "sanctuary" status for adults who literally kidnap children to help them transition. My state, Minnesota, is one of them. 

Such laws are undoubtedly unconstitutional, given that these states refuse to enforce court orders from other states, violating the "full faith and credit" clause of the Constitution. But they are on the books, and the ideology is entrenched in the Democrat Party. Look at Biden's push for transing everybody. 

American medical groups are foursquare behind alphabet ideology, and gender clinics are sprouting like weeds. Lots of money is to be made, and they are cashing in. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics declined to comment on Dr. Cass’s specific findings, and condemned the state bans. “Politicians have inserted themselves into the exam room, which is dangerous for both physicians and for families,” Dr. Ben Hoffman, the organization’s president, said.

The Endocrine Society told The New York Times that Dr. Cass’s review “does not contain any new research” that would contradict its guidelines. The federal health department did not respond to requests for comment.

Advertisement

It will take years to root this ideology out of medicine since our medical system is wholly corrupt, and the Democrats see this as the civil rights issue of our time. That is no exaggeration--they really do and say so. 

That is the President of the United States, folks. 

Cass points to the elephant in the room: there is no evidence that sterilizing and mutilating kids helps them. 

What are your top takeaways from the report?

The most important concern for me is just how poor the evidence base is in this area. Some people have questioned, “Did we set a higher bar for this group of young people?” We absolutely didn’t. The real problem is that the evidence is very weak compared to many other areas of pediatric practice.

This is, of course, the exact opposite of what American medical societies and doctors are saying. And it's not just Cass--every European study being done, including those in countries that pioneered this area of medicine, has concluded the same thing. 

It was a very damaging fad. Ruining lives. Mutilating children. 

I’ve reached out to major medical groups in the United States about your findings. The American Academy of Pediatrics declined to comment on your report, citing its own research review that is underway. It said that its guidance, which it reaffirmed last year, was “grounded in evidence and science.”

The Endocrine Society said “we stand firm in our support of gender-affirming care,” which is “needed and often lifesaving.”

I think for a lot of people, this is kind of dizzying. We have medical groups in the United States and Britain looking at the same facts, the same scientific literature, and coming to very different conclusions. What do you make of those responses?

When I was president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, we did some great work with the A.A.P. They are an organization that I have enormous respect for. But I respectfully disagree with them on holding on to a position that is now demonstrated to be out of date by multiple systematic reviews.

It wouldn’t be too much of a problem if people were saying “This is clinical consensus and we’re not sure.” But what some organizations are doing is doubling down on saying the evidence is good. And I think that’s where you’re misleading the public. You need to be honest about the strength of the evidence and say what you’re going to do to improve it.

Advertisement

That is a kind way of saying--and Cass is, in my view, way too kind--that American medical officials are liars. 

If only some people had been saying so. Why didn't anybody stand up?

Oh, wait, we did and have been vilified for doing so, just like with COVID. 

I must give credit to the Times for dipping its toe into covering this issue, although I am extremely frustrated that it takes some "expert" with credentials to get them and others to start confronting the facts. Even the BMJ is jumping on the "who knew? bandwagon.

The center-left undoubtedly figured out long ago that alphabet ideology was destroying lives, but they refuse to say so because it would mean allying with conservatives. They would rather carve up children--and I mean that literally--than admit that conservatives were right. 

So, while I am thrilled the Times is dipping its toe into the debate--thank you--it is hardly to their credit when they refused to help children when it mattered most. 

The good guys in this debate are the gays who have stood up and fought back against the alphabet mob. They deserve medals for rejecting the calls to join the crusade. They stood up, allied with people like me and Christopher Rufo, and absorbed enormous flak. 

Advertisement

I doubt many were or even are Republicans or conservatives, but they joined us when it mattered. Thank you guys. You are heroes. 

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on HotAir Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement