“Some of these kids are quite significantly ill,” says Dr. Bradley. “They often have serious family problems and anxiety disorders. Or they’ve had serious trauma. A girl I saw had been raped, and after that she decided she was going to be a male. If you didn’t pay attention to the trauma you’re not doing that kid a service.”

These days, that eminently reasonable view is being challenged by people who believe that children’s sexual confusion should automatically be taken at face value. The clinic that Dr. Bradley helped to found – which does, in fact, support gender transition for a sizable minority of its patients – is being pilloried as transphobic. “Is CAMH trying to turn trans kids straight?” screamed a headline in NOW magazine. Under pressure from activists, CAMH has put its gender clinic under six-month review. And a new bill before the Ontario legislature, which is supported by Premier Kathleen Wynne, would explicitly bar the therapeutic approach taken by the clinic, wrongly equating it to the notorious “conversion” therapy that seeks to turn gay people straight.

“The trans lobby has got us on the run,” Dr Bradley sighs.