Dear Everyone,
It’s been an amazing year. From the WPATH Files, to the Cass report to the global momentum to ban puberty blockers, the times are a’changing. We hope this global look back on some of the notable developments of 2024 will show how much progress we have made and inspire us all for the coming year. See you in 2025!
Genspect
Ps. Check out our founder, Stella O’Malley on Genspect’s achievements and plans for the coming year.
TERF Island Leads the Way - Carrie Clark
What a momentous year 2024 has been for gender issues in the UK! The landscape has changed radically even in the four short months since I became Director of Genspect UK. While there is much to celebrate, I hope you’ll read this look-back on the events in 2024 as a call to take action in 2025. We have much more to do in order to protect evidence-based medicine and repair the damage done to young people in the name of so called ‘gender affirming care’. —Carrie Clark, Director Genspect UK
Any round up of 2024’s gender news must surely begin with the groundbreaking Cass Review, published in April and welcomed with relief by those of us critical of the affirmation only model of care. Four years in the making and informed by eight systematic reviews, the Review confirmed what many of us have been saying for years: transition treatments are experimental and poorly evidenced, with few benefits and a host of nasty risks.
The Cass Review has powerfully shaped events in the UK in 2024, but one of its most important findings has been somewhat overshadowed in the heated discourse following its publication. Much of the focus, understandably, has been on the poor efficacy of hormonal treatments and the alarming medical scandal involving vulnerable children and young people. However, the Review also charts a path toward a brighter future for those young individuals. While hormonal treatments for gender-related distress are increasingly recognized as both dangerous and ineffective, the Review points to promising evidence that psychosocial interventions can genuinely enhance the lives of these young people. In 2025, Genspect UK aims to amplify this hopeful message and advocate for more and better research into non-medicalized treatments
The Cass Review has notably reshaped the gender services landscape in the UK in 2024 through the introduction of a regional model for NHS gender services. This model aims to provide a more holistic approach to care, de-emphasizing medical pathways in favor of comprehensive assessments of mental health needs. Under the new referral pathways, a young person must now be evaluated by a mental health or pediatric specialist before referral to gender services, which is a significant and positive change. However, there are concerns that the focus might still lean towards eventual medicalization. In a recent debate in the House of Lords, Baroness Merron acknowledged that “there are no exact alternatives being offered” to hormonal treatments by the new regional clinics. Genspect UK believes we must ask why non-hormonal alternatives are not being provided and press for thorough research into less invasive treatments for gender-related distress.
One of the standout achievements of 2024 in the UK has been the ban on puberty blockers, initially implemented by the Conservative government in May and later made permanent by the new Labour administration. This is good news and shows the potential for cross party political support to act on the Cass Review's recommendations and effectively closes loopholes that could allow private providers like Gender GP to prescribe puberty blockers to vulnerable young people with insufficient assessment or oversight.
However, the positive impact of the ban could be undermined by the NHS's upcoming puberty blocker study, which is set to begin recruiting several thousand young people in April 2025. Details on the study's methodology remain scarce, but if the reports are accurate, almost every young person on the NHS waiting list for gender services could potentially participate in this study and receive blockers. Genspect UK has voiced significant concerns about this study, particularly highlighting the ongoing focus on potentially harmful hormonal interventions when psychosocial treatments have demonstrated considerable promise.
You will be hearing more about this from us in 2025, but right now, we strongly encourage all our UK supporters to use our template letter to contact their MP and voice concerns about the study. Some people have advised us to wait until the study protocol is published or to allow the ethics committee to do their work before raising these issues publicly. We disagree. We believe that now is the crucial time to raise awareness and influence political consciousness. It is imperative to let our political representatives know that we will not stand idly by while an entire cohort of young people faces unnecessary medicalization. We hope you will join us on this and other issues in 2025!
The Gorilla in the Room - Nancy McDermott
When it comes to gender ideology, the United States is the Gorilla in the room: big, bad and out of control, but even here, change is palpable. The past year has seen a significant shift in attitudes in the United States, moving away from the rapid policy changes of the past decade towards a more cautious stance. This “vibe-shift” was triggered by changing public opinion, legal battles, and international developments like the UK's Cass Review, which questioned the evidence supporting medical treatments for gender dysphoria in minors. — Nancy McDermott, Editor Inspecting Gender
The previous decade was shaped by the long march of trans activism through America’s institutions which led to the adoption of policies on bathroom access based on gender identity, simplified gender marker changes on legal documents, and changes to school policies to make it legal to hide information about child’s gender identity from parents. These changes, made at every level of government, were framed in terms of inclusivity, but soon sparked widespread concern about privacy, safety, and fairness, particularly with policies affecting women's spaces like shelters and prisons. These came to a head to the fore in debates over the Biden Administration's changes to Title IX, with mandated sports participation based on gender identity and may have contributed to Kamala Harris’s defeat in the presidential election.
The medical treatment of gender dysphoria, especially in children, also became a focal point for reevaluation. The UK’s Cass Review underscored the lack of long-term evidence for interventions like puberty blockers and hormone treatments, prompting a rethinking of these practices in the U.S. The increasing visibility of detransitioners raised additional concerns about consent, regret, and the ethical implications of these treatments. As part of the effort to make sure the concerns of detransitioners stay in the public eye, Genspect USA will bring Detrans Awareness Day to Capitol Hill on March 12, 2025.
Meanwhile legislatures around the country have begun to change course to protect minors, with 26 states passing laws to regulate or ban "pediatric sex change" procedures. These laws varied, with some states imposing total bans, while others set restrictions with exceptions for certain medical conditions.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti was central to this recalibration, advocating for policies prioritizing biological sex. His actions led to U.S. v. Skrmetti, where the ACLU and Lambda Legal, supported by the Biden Administration, challenged Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors. The Supreme Court heard arguments, with a decision anticipated by July 2025, leaning towards upholding the ban.
Medical ethics came under scrutiny after Dr. Eithan Haim* blew the whistle on Texas Children's Hospital, which continued to secretly practice gender medicine on minors after officially ceasing their involvement in pediatric sex change highlighted potential conflicts between profit and medical ethics. Despite facing federal charges for alleged HIPAA violations, Dr. Haim and his legal team remain confident.
It is worth mentioning the courage of political figures like former Texas State Representative, Shawn Thierry**, who courageously supported Senate Bill 14 in Texas banning transition care for minors. Thierry faced significant backlash, losing her seat and enduring abuse from within her own party, showing just how politically contentious these issues have become. Thierry ultimately switched from the Democratic to the Republican party.
Finally, too, the issue that could not be named it increasingly out in the open. Americans are pushing back against mandatory pronoun use which is increasingly seen as an infringement on free speech, signaling a broader reevaluation of how gender identity policies intersect with individual rights and societal norms. It is about time.
Inspecting Gender will be lifting the voices of detransitioners in the run up to Detrans Awareness Day, and we are especially pleased to welcome Aaron Kimberly and Laura Becker as regular contributors.
*Eithan Haim, MD is Director of Medical Ethics and Policy, Genspect USA
**Shawn Thierry, Esq – Director of Public Policy, Genspect USA
O Canada! - Mia Hughes
For Canadians engaged in the gender debate, year-end recaps often make for grim reading. As one of the last remaining strongholds of gender ideology, Canada typically offers little to celebrate and few victories to anticipate in the year ahead. However, as 2024 draws to a close, there are genuine reasons for optimism. — Mia Hughes, Director Genspect Canada
Canadians owe much of this renewed hope Alberta Premier, Danielle Smith, who announced in January bold plans to limit access to puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for adolescents, strengthen safeguarding in Alberta’s schools, and protect women’s sports. In November, these commitments were cemented through a series of legislative measures.
Smith’s move marks a truly momentous occasion. A whole decade since the epidemic of gender dysphoria began in earnest, a Canadian province has finally pulled its head out of the permafrost and taken action to protect the distressed children and adolescents caught up in this mad cultural moment. Smith’s courage breaks the paralysis that has gripped the entire nation on this issue, offering a glimmer of sanity amidst the chaos.
Predictably, the proponents of gender ideology are not going down without a fight. Several trans activist groups have launched legal challenges attempting to block the provincial legislation, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his supporters continue to dismiss any attempt to protect young people from the extremes of gender ideology as transphobic bigotry. Trudeau’s most recent Senate appointee, Kristopher Wells, has become a relentless source of trans activist propaganda, further polarizing the debate.
Yet, this resistance carries an air of desperation. Globally, the pendulum is swinging decisively, and the impact is finally being felt in Canada, where the momentum shift is palpable. Change feels inevitable. If trends hold, 2025 will usher in a Conservative federal government, and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre finally appears ready to confront gender identity ideology head-on and defend women and children from its harmful effects.
In this dramatically shifting cultural climate, all the groups that have been working tirelessly on this issue will finally have the chance to be heard. Genspect Canada, launched earlier this year, proudly joins the ranks of Canadian Gender Report, Our Duty Canada, and numerous women’s rights groups in fighting to protect our most vulnerable young people from the dangers posed by gender identity ideology. Even in Canada, 2025 promises to be a year of transformation—one that safeguards children, respects women’s rights, and restores a commitment to evidence-based care and common sense.
Growing Dissent in Deutschland —Anna Weber
Self-ID is now a reality in Germany, and new guidelines are enabling a medical scandal, but opposition is growing. — Anna Weber, Transteens sorgeberechtigt
Parents watched in dismay as Germany's "traffic light" coalition passed the Self-ID legislation (Self-Determination Act) and medical associations agreed on affirmative treatment guidelines for minors this year.
In February, a group of researchers led by Prof. Florian Zepf from Jena published a systematic review titled "Beyond NICE, 2024," examining the evidence for Puberty Blockers (PB) and Cross-Sex Hormones (CSH), supposedly bringing the 2020 NICE review up-to-date. A month later, the Guidelines Commission released new draft guidelines, six years after the previous ones had expired. These recommendations, heavily influenced by WPATH's SOC 8 and without any age limits for invasive treatments, were formulated through a consensus by a commission seen as biased, comprising only affirmation-only clinicians from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Opposition swiftly emerged when 15 professors of child and adolescent psychiatry published a 111-page critique in Dt. Ärzteblatt and WELT, demanding a fundamental revision of the guidelines. Meanwhile, the German Medical Association responded by issuing two resolutions that heavily criticized the guidelines and Self-ID and the European Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP) issued a statement that underscored the "first do no harm" principle and opposed experimental treatments with unproven psychosocial effects. Meanwhile, various medical associations pushed for the inclusion of the Cass Review, and SEGM (Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine) actively criticized the draft for its methodological flaws, deeming the consensus-based approach unreliable and advocating for evidence-based guidelines instead.
Despite this, Prof. Georg Romer from Münster, who heads the commission, and his supporters doubled down. According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (faz) he unashamedly suppressed dissent by turning a planned debate into a lecture about the latest updates. The final guidelines are expected to be published any day.
Parent groups from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland expressed their concerns through an Open Letter published in DIE WELT, while German organizations like Transteens-Sorge-berechtigt and Parents of ROGD Kids wrote to the Federal Ministry of Health with their worries.
Evidence of a medical scandal is mounting rapidly. Statistics show that the surge in gender dysphoria diagnoses mirrors trends across other Western countries. Analyses of publicly available hospital data expose a dramatic increase in genital surgeries from 2005 to 2023, including on minors, despite these being legally prohibited. The independent media outlet NIUS uncovered that the Münster-based Center for Transgender Health has been advertising off-label cryopreservation for prepubertal children.
In April, the German Parliament enacted the Self-ID law, enabling changes to gender markers and first names for individuals aged 14 and above. Parents have the authority to decide their child's gender from birth until they reach 14. Once a child turns 14, they gain self-determination rights; if parents withhold consent for legal transition, a family court intervenes to make the decision. Registry offices began accepting applications for gender changes on August 1st, with these changes taking effect on November 1st. By that date, 15,000 applications had been filed, greatly surpassing the government's anticipated 4,000.