Former BBC journalist criticises Northern Irish involvement in 'dangerous' puberty blockers trial

Shelley Charlesworth, a researcher with the group Transgender Trend, which objects to children becoming involved in transgenderism, was reacting to the news this week that children from the Province will be among the roughly 226 UK children prescribed the drugs.

Echoing her was Transgender Trend’s founder, Stephanie Davies-Arai, who told the News Letter: “Vulnerable children are the last group we should ever consider experimenting on with puberty blockers.”

Puberty blockers were largely phased out on the NHS from 2024 amid escalating criticism of the damage they can cause to young people, and the lack of solid evidence that they produce good results.

King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, which is leading the trial, said: “Clinical care should always be underpinned by robust evidence, and this study will help provide a better understanding of how to treat and care for young people with gender incongruence.”

Ms Charlesworth (who worked for the BBC from 1999 to 2013) said: “It's concerning that there are plans to join the contentious Pathways puberty blocker trial.

"These drugs are rightly banned and the new Pathways trial, led by Kings College London, is only exposing more children to harm, and dangerous cross-sex hormones and surgeries."

Both women also reacted to comments made by Baroness Cass in a recent review of Northern Ireland’s youth trans clinic.

She found many of the youngsters presenting with problems also had trauma, bullying issues, autism, and many were gay.

Ms Charlesworth said: "Dr Cass noted the same demographic change in the children presenting to Northern Ireland's health services with gender-related distress as she found in England.

"This is not surprising. It's the result of activists pushing the idea that if a child is uncomfortable during puberty then changing their sex is the answer.

"Vulnerable teenage girls with other serious psychosocial issues are the main group caught up in this belief."

And Ms Davies-Arai said: “We need to acknowledge that the recent cohort of children who self-identify as ‘transgender’ are a totally different group to the historic cohort of mainly young boys with cross-sex identification.

"The vast majority of the past cohort grew out of these feelings by the end of puberty and became happy gay men.

"Puberty was the cure, whereas for the new group of adolescents it’s the cause.

"The unprecedented rise in the number of troubled adolescents identifying as ‘trans’ coincides with a worldwide campaign of trans activism, targeting children online and through school resources...

“Common sense tells us why it’s the most vulnerable children who are the most susceptible to the harmful message that you can escape reality and become a different person.”

Scott Cuthbertson, leader of the publicly-funded trans campaign group The Rainbow Project, told Radio Ulster: “Access to the puberty blocker trial: I mean, I think lots of people have concerns – on both sides of this debate – about that trial and how that trial will work.

"We know that there's evidence, good evidence, for 30 to 40 years of access to that healthcare and how those adults have grown up and used the healthcare that they need to get by in life.”