Shock as former head of discredited NHS clinic claims kids as young as four choosing their gender was ‘step forward’
A SHOCK video shows the depths of gender ideology at a now-discredited NHS clinic that happily handed out hormone drugs to children.
Its former head is seen claiming kids as young as four choosing their gender was a “step forward”.
Dr Polly Carmichael also said she “totally” supported using the drugs despite admitting there was “very little data” on their long-term impact.
This week, a landmark report at last struck a blow for common sense when it warned that youngsters questioning their gender should be steered away from medical treatment.
It added the “rationale was unclear” for controversial puberty blockers.
But in 2016 Dr Carmichael — director of the NHS’s Gender Identity Development Service at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, which has now closed its doors — sang the praises of the controversial policy at an Amsterdam conference on transgender health.
A clip now posted on YouTube shows her discussing coverage of trans issues in the British Press, including a Sun front page story from that April.
She said: “So the theme now is shock and horror that we are teaching four-year-olds about gender.
“And then ‘kids, aged four, told to choose gender’.
“But I mean, you know, I think this is a step forward and actually perhaps is quite positive because maybe four-year-olds ought to be taught about gender.”
She added: “You know, many of the young people we meet talk about how they’ve always known they’re different, but it takes a TV character or something in the Press where they put it all together and say, ‘That explains my feelings’.
“So I think perhaps if we start earlier, if there are people who are missing out on earlier treatment, if that’s appropriate, they’ll be more able to express that.”
Under Dr Carmichael’s tenure, the Tavistock clinic in London was rated as “inadequate” by inspectors in 2020 and shut up shop in March after initially being told to close in 2022.
Critics have claimed its treatment for children was little more than experimental.
And in the 2016 speech, five years after joining the Tavistock, Dr Carmichael confessed to being unsure if the hormone blockers her team were prescribing to kids were completely reversible.
Yet, shockingly, she backed their use anyway.
She insisted: “I think we all feel the blocker and physical treatments are crucial and have been the biggest step forward for young people.
“And certainly their use, which was pioneered in Holland, has been incredibly successful.
“But actually the Dutch are the only team really who have published long-term perspective studies about this. So there is very little data available.
“And also, the data we have is on very wide age ranges.
“I guess I was surprised to see, but it makes sense, that very recently in 2015 an excellent paper looking at the views of young people aged between 13 and 18 was concluding that there is yet no consensus.
“So I think around the world we are practising very differently.”
She went on: “In terms of our service, we’ve had 44 young people in our early intervention project who were part of a research project, but we’ve now had 162 young people go forward for early hypothalamic blockers.”
At the time, only two kids had stopped taking the blockers since starting the treatment.
Dr Carmichael said: “I totally support this treatment. But I think it is about how we conceptualise it and the framework in which it is offered.”
She said that all young people who were put on the hormone blockers by her team were “resoundingly thrilled” and had not wanted to stop.
In a separate interview in 2016, Dr Carmichael said she prescribed puberty blockers to children as early as 2011.
It is understood she is in line for a payout of at least £80,000 following the clinic’s closure.
I think this is a step forward and actually perhaps is quite positive because maybe four-year-olds ought to be taught about gender
Dr Polly Carmichael
It is not known where she is currently working.
Sir John Hayes, chairman of the Conservatives Common Sense Group, said: “You can’t have four-year-old children, who are clearly not capable of taking decisions themselves, being put in positions where things could be said on their behalf by people like this.
“It’s more than irresponsible. It’s deeply disturbing and sinister.”
Puberty blockers are no longer routinely available as part of the NHS children and young people’s gender service following recommendations in a four-year review by consultant Dr Hilary Cass.
But concerns were raised after Tavistock staff were thought to have been given key roles in the new programme.
Dr Cass concluded doctors should exercise extreme caution when giving children hormones to help with their desire to transition.
And she warned the debate around trans issues had become toxic, leading to health professionals being unable to speak their minds.
She had been commissioned by ministers in 2020 to look into how the NHS should deal with the rapid rise in gender-questioning children.
Dr Cass said: “For most young people, a medical pathway will not be best to manage their gender-related distress.”
PM Rishi Sunak welcomed her review, saying: “We simply do not know the long-term impacts of medical treatment or social transitioning.”
NEW RULES FOR CLASSES
Kate Ferguson
SCHOOLS will be ordered not to teach children to question their gender.
Ministers are drawing up new guidance for sex and relationship classes in the wake of a backlash over gender ideology.
Teachers will be told they must not proactively teach kids that boys can be girls and girls can be boys.
If a pupil asks, they must make clear that gender ideology is a contested view.
The Sun on Sunday understands the new guidance will be published and consulted on shortly.
It is designed to make clear what should and should not be taught in the classroom in the trans debate.
Teachers who do not stick to the guidance could face disciplinary action or being struck off.
It could also impact Ofsted reports.
We told in 2016 kids of four were being taught about gender.