We’ve been lucky, living in this little corner of Canada, often cut off from the worst of the excesses and weirdness of the anti-trans rights and anti-queer media. With a few exceptions here and there, the Maritimes and Nova Scotia in particular have been very protective and dare I even say celebratory of their queer communities.
We’ve managed to live out a mostly peaceful existence free from the propaganda infecting the UK, the US and even other parts of Canada, spreading hate and fear about transgender people and procedures.
That peace however could never last; only fools could have hoped so, but few, if any, in the community would have expected to see that support shattered, seemingly unprompted and out of nowhere, by the paper of record itself, The Chronicle Herald.
Late on Friday, May 10, the Herald published an ‘In-Depth’ article by Aaron Beswick titled U.K. reversal of hormone therapy, puberty blockers for youth call N.S. rules into question, in which Beswick speaks to an unidentified adult de-transitioner, a teenager who requested extensive steps into transition, but was then shocked when their doctors listened and responded by providing that requested care.
Beswick quickly pivots to primarily promote the highly contested and controversial Cass Review as holy writ, claiming unidentified discrepancies in Nova Scotia’s gender affirming care for youths, based entirely on the U.K. centric and based report.
Beswick, rejecting a basic tenant of journalism to get both sides of a story, chose not to speak to a single transgender person at any point during this lengthy article.
It will likely come as no surprise to any familiar with the U.K. gutter presses’ obsession with trans people, who may already notice more than a few similarities with articles run across the pond and this publication, that Beswick, rejecting a basic tenant of journalism to get both sides of a story, chose not to speak to a single transgender person at any point during this lengthy article.
Nor did they consult any Nova Scotia medical experts or staff, beyond reproducing a boilerplate response they received from the province, nor did Beswick speak to anyone versed in youth care, support or gender affirming care. An attempt was made to speak to an IWK psychiatrist, but anyone with experience trying to quickly see a mental health expert in this province, let alone for gender affirming care, will find this route and expectation of expedient response laughably ignorant and out of touch.
Speaking to the media is not their job, especially when there are many support groups in the city and province who would have been more than happy to sit down with them and dispel some of the more egregious claims of the Cass Review, of which there are many.
The Cass Review's wild claim that a successful transition should be measured in employability rather than happiness and mental stability of the patient, as defined by the patient and their doctor.
For example, Beswick failed to account for Hillary Cass’s wild claims about the importance of playing with exclusively dolls or trucks, or the presumed necessity of viewing transgender porn in the development of transgender identities, or that a successful transition should be measured in employability rather than happiness and mental stability of the patient, as defined by the patient and their doctor.
Nor is any mention made of the review’s decision to ignore any study that did not fit its agenda, removing the vast number of “non-blind” studies of transgender youth care (despite a blind study in this case a) being impossible to achieve as the subject would notice their body change or not change unexpectedly if they were blind to the test, b) would be unethical human experimentation without the subjects' consent), or that it was backed and pulled claims from the same evangelical groups that have been ghost-writing anti-queer laws in Florida (just to name a few of the many, MANY issues the scientific community has found with this non-peer reviewed study).
our existence is not a debate
Presumably, any such details, like
- speaking to transgender youths who have had success and are happy with their transitions, a group that by any metric far outnumbers de-transitioners, or
- noting that post-transition regret is among the lowest of any medical procedure across the medical landscape, or
- speaking to members of the queer and medical communities who daily deal with these issues,
will come in a follow up article.
But as is often said though in transgender circles, “our existence is not a debate.” Pretending that a ‘fair’ back and forth discussion of those rights, those freedoms and whether or not transgender and gender non-confirming patients should have access to proper healthcare they’ve requested and require is anything but milking content at the expense of a vulnerable community, is as deeply offensive and insulting -- as much so as not speaking to anyone on the positive, healthy and successful transition side of the story to begin with.
Pretending that a ‘fair’ back and forth discussion of those rights is anything but milking content at the expense of a vulnerable community is deeply offensive and insulting
In the U.K., the Cass Review has only fed further into their repressive fits against transgender people of all ages, directly leading to the suspension of gender affirming care for thousands of youths, and feeding the fire of hate that is threatening access to gender affirming healthcare, and indeed all healthcare, for transgender adults in a safe and supportive manner, even reaching so far as to have all gender neutral toilets removed from public spaces.
What began in the U.K. has indeed finally reached our shores, spouting the same “fret nots” as it seeks to reduce the rights of queer individuals slice by slice, cut by cut, quietly repressing and removing essential rights and healthcare for all queer identities, and with eyes on the greater prize of restricting reproductive access for all, vanguarded not by the hard right press such as Epoch Times or Rebel Media, but by our own once great Grey Lady, the Chronicle Herald.
Thankfully, there are many great medical professionals, support staff, allies and transgender and queer advocacy medical access and rights groups that continue to do great work every day, and fight the good fight, and they need your support now more than ever, in any way you can give it, such as volunteering your time, donations and helping spread awareness.
You can tell the Herald what you think of the article by submitting a letter to the editor, which will be published, or a letter directly to the senior managing editor.
