‘Harmful’ new report recommends ‘therapy’ for trans youth in the US

A US Department of Health (HHS) report into the healthcare of trans youngsters has apparently recommended the use of “exploratory therapy” – leading to fears that its opens the door to abusive and debunked conversion therapy practices.

A review into the treatment of “paediatric gender dysphoria”, published on Thursday (1 May), included several recommendations, following an executive order signed by president Donald Trump in January.

The 400-page review cites a “lack of evidence” in medical treatments, such as puberty blockers, for trans youngsters, and instead advocates “exploratory therapy” as a form of treatment.

So-called conversion therapy is the act of attempting to change a person’s sexuality or gender identity. It has been discredited by major medical organisations around. In practice, it means trying to stop or suppress someone being gay, or from identifying as a different gender to their sex recorded at birth, and can include talking therapies and prayer, but more extreme forms include exorcism, physical violence and food deprivation.

While the full extent of the report’s conclusions remains unknown at this point, experts and advocates claim its initial recommendations have justified by using misinformation.

GLAAD president and chief executive Sarah Kate Ellis condemned the report and said any suggestion that a person’s sexuality or gender identity can be changed had been “discredited as junk science“.

She went on to say: “This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian and bisexual young people for decades.”

According to figures from The Trevor Project, a charity which focuses on LGBTQ+ suicide and self-harm prevention, anyone subjected to conversion practices is twice as likely to attempt suicide and more than 2.5 times as likely to report numerous suicide attempts, as someone who has not.

Casey Pick, the director of law and policy at The Trevor Project, said the recommendations had no basis in established healthcare, and there had been no input from providers of trans healthcare in the US.

“Claiming that transgender status can be changed is contrary to science and the guidance of every reputable US medical association, and places unnecessary blame on parents, families and communities that surround and support trans people,” she continued.

Even at first glance, experts analysing the report’s findings have described it as “dangerous”.

Health and policy analyst at Advocates for Trans Equality, Sinead Murano-Kinney, said it was clear that the report was “a wilful distortion of the evidence, intended to stoke fear about a field of safe and effective medicine that has existed for decades.”

Suicide is preventable. Readers who are affected by the issues raised in this story are encouraged to contact the Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org), or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk). ​Readers in the US are encouraged to contact the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.

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