Liberal Senator Amanda Stoker has shared that she’s not planning on giving up her campaign against the way transgender youth are treated by medical professionals.
On Friday, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians told Health Minister Greg Hunt that they could see no need for a national inquiry into transgender health care in Australia.
On Sunday Morning Senator Stoker appeared on the Sky News program Outsiders outlining that she planned to continue campaigning against the current methodology of treating transgender youth, and convince the government to take action.
Speaking to host Rowan Dean Senator Stoker said she agreed with his viewpoint that “sheilas are sheilas and blokes are blokes,” and society was failing people who face uncertainty about their gender.
Senator Stoker said the recent proposal from the Queensland government to outlaw conversion therapy practices would have also criminalised psychiatrists from effectively treating people with gender incongruence.
“It would criminalise delving into the underpinning causes for why someone feels that way, so ideological has this issue become even within the medical community,” Senator Stoker said, outlining her view that people under the age of eighteen should not be allowed to have access to any medical interventions.
“When it comes to children, anyone under the age of eighteen cannot possibly understand the lifelong consequences of some of the hormonal and surgical treatments that are being proffered to deal with gender dysphoria, and until a person has reached the age of eighteen and they can truly consent to it, we shouldn’t be applying this sort of stuff.”
Senator Stoker said she believed political correctness was stopping people from speaking out against the treatment of transgender people.
“I think we’ll look back on this time and say we failed a cohort of vulnerable young people all because we didn’t want to say something that was PC, and that’s a massive problem.”
Senator Stoker highlighted the case in the United Kingdom where a woman who underwent gender treatment is now taking legal action against the National Health Service.
“There’s a case that’s currently before the courts of a female person who as a teenager wanted to transition to being a bloke, she was given the treatments that are quite regularly prescribed in this country, hormonal and surgical and so forth, and she’s now reached adulthood and gone ‘Why did nobody ever put the contrary case to me, why did nobody ever say this is something I might regret?'”
Senator Stoker said she expected Australia would face a series of similar lawsuits from transgender people who later regret their decisions.
British woman Kiera Bell is suing the The Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust over the treatment she received for gender dysphoria.
Bell, who is now 23-years-old, has shared that while she had “no doubt” that she wanted to take cross hormone medication as a teenager, she now regrets the decision and has decided to de-transition.
The case is seen as being a landmark legal test that will question if the medical practices being followed are sufficient.
The medical service at the centre of the case has welcomed the decision that the case can be heard in court.
“We welcome the opportunity this provides to talk about the service and to stand up for our dedicated staff who put the best interests of the young people and families at the heart of their practice,” the Gender Identity Development Service said in a statement to the media.
“GIDS provides a thoughtful and measured service for children, young people and their families who come to us in considerable distress.
“Our clinicians have no preconceptions about outcomes for the young people who are referred to our service, all of whom are provided with psycho-social support throughout their time with us.
“While physical intervention is only accessed by a minority of our patients, it is important that this option remains available and is informed by the latest evidence.”
OIP Staff
