Podcast episode on the Cass Review

[Betty K]

Yesterday I appeared on Brisbane community radio station 4ZZZ discussing the Cass Review, the recent NHS-sponsored review of gender-affirming care for kids in the UK. This is a seismic event for trans kids and their families worldwide, or as I said yesterday, “a world-class piece of anti-trans propaganda”. I have researched this solidly for the past month and will have waaaay more to say on the topic, but for now I hope you’ll listen to this quick overview. The episode is available to stream as a podcast via Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
 

Trigger warnings: transphobic healthcare, sexualisation of children (touched on briefly, but it is upsetting).

 

My heart goes out to trans kids and their families in the UK and anywhere else these policies are being enacted.
 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3LAHs3VZB8zuGWGt41rzaL?si=BRUHUvz3QmWr5cyCEYyB0Q&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A3Jay63nMJ67bBMI9M59tKe

[Betty K]

Here’s the Apple Podcasts link: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/tranzmission/id1676048463?i=1000657096844

[Charlize]

Thank you for your service and efforts for the community!

I hope our right wing doesn't take this "stud\y" as a talking point.

 

Hugs,

 

Charlize

[Betty K]

Just now, Charlize said:

Thank you for your service and efforts for the community!

I hope our right wing doesn't take this "study" as a talking point.

 

You are so welcome Charlize. I think it is too late for that hope, though. On release of the Cass review the New York Times called Hilary Cass "the hero we need in these times". I hate to think what the right is going to do with this, and I know it has already been referred to by those justifying bans on gender-affirming care in the US.

[Vidanjali]

Thank you, @Betty K. You did very well in all respects. Please take care of your mental well-being, dear. Digging so deeply into this is bound to affect your inner peace. Don't let it stick to you, if you can. Much love. 

[Betty K]

27 minutes ago, Vidanjali said:

Thank you, @Betty K. You did very well in all respects. Please take care of your mental well-being, dear. Digging so deeply into this is bound to affect your inner peace. Don't let it stick to you, if you can. Much love. 

Thanks for listening Vidanjali. And don’t worry, I am now planning two weeks off before I try to write a more in-depth response. I am well aware of how much Cass has been hurting me. 

[VickySGV]

6 hours ago, Charlize said:

I hope our right wing doesn't take this "stud\y" as a talking point.

 

They have done so already I am afraid.  Nothing new really, but Cass included views of our home brewed bigots to create this. 

[Vidanjali]

Just now, Betty K said:

Thanks for listening Vidanjali. And don’t worry, I am now planning two weeks off before I try to write a more in-depth response. I am well aware of how much Cass has been hurting me. 

 

That's great. I hope it's a peaceful time of renewal for you.

[Betty K]

Just now, VickySGV said:

They have done so already I am afraid.  Nothing new really, but Cass included views of our home brewed bigots to create this. 

I think there is one (and probably only one) way to positively view the Cass Review: it collects all the most powerful weapons of the “gender critical” movement into one convenient repository, at least as regards gender-affirming care. To me, it’s like a crash course in how to fight GC ideology and advocate for trans kids. I am seeing it as my doctorate in the topic.

[VickySGV]

On 5/29/2024 at 9:14 PM, Betty K said:

To me, it’s like a crash course in how to fight GC ideology and advocate for trans kids.

 

Now that you put it that way, I fully agree on its potential for those putting together educational guidelines.  One of my HMO's medical centers, has a garden plot with ONLY our local plants that are poisonous to human beings as part of our diet or skin absorption for teaching purposes.  I can easily see the document as that sort of display. 

[Betty K]

On 5/29/2024 at 9:47 PM, VickySGV said:

 

Now that you put it that way, I fully agree on its potential for those putting together educational guidelines.  One of my HMO's medical centers, has a garden plot with ONLY our local plants that are poisonous to human beings as part of our diet or skin absorption for teaching purposes.  I can easily see the document as that sort of display. 

That’s a brilliant analogy! 

[Davie]

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) Now Designates Genspect, and the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine, SEGM As Anti-LGBTQ Hate Groups.

Thne SEGM members and associates were part of a secret advisory group for the Cass Review in England. Genspect and SEGM pushed anti-trans policies in the United States. Now, they are listed as hate groups.

Members of these and other anti-LGBTQ+ organizations listed have played significant roles in the passage of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and policy by concealing and underplaying their ties to anti-LGBTQ+ extremism. Most recently, members of the newly designated hate group, Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine, helped advise the Cass Review in the United Kingdom, which has led to the criminalization of possession of some forms of transgender care there and is currently being used to argue for heavy restrictions in the United States.

The designation is significant, placing these organizations alongside other extremist groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council—Christian fundamentalist organizations pushing anti-LGBTQ+ policies in the United States and internationally. Justifying the new designations, the report points to conferences held by these organizations that featured “expert witnesses” employed by the Alliance Defending Freedom to target LGBTQ+ people in the United States. It also highlights an investigative analysis that discovered the organizations were at the center of a massive “anti-LGBTQ pseudoscience network.” The analysis further determined that in the case of SEGM, the organization’s funding stream included Koch Foundation money funneled through the Edward Charles Foundation. Notably, SEGM shared funding streams with right-wing Christian groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council.
Such groups “frequently use pseudoscience to disguise their far-right ideologies, using the language of science in an attempt to make their extremism seem reasonable.”

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/splc-designates-genspect-segm-as?publication_id=994764&post_id=145346203&isFreemail=true&r=rebf4&triedRedirect=true

 

[Betty K]

Thanks @Davie, I skim-read that this morning. We didn’t go deep into the politics this time around because my podcast partner was a little unprepared. There will be a Part II in a couple of weeks. Very glad to see the SPLC taking this stance but let’s face it, they have been calling out SEGM and Genspect for years. 

[Betty K]

PS, having said that, I certainly will be referring to these organisations as designated hate groups going forward.

[Davie]

Thanks so much @Betty KGood work.