WHO Transgender Health Committee Politicized by Anti-Trans Activists Seeking to Derail New Guidelines
On social media and in the right-wing press, a committee to set guidelines for gender-affirming care is being targeted by anti-transgender activist groups.
by Evan Urquhart
A new front has opened up in the battle by activists to distort and undermine the science of gender-affirming care, with escalating attacks on an international group of doctors, health professionals, and LGBTQ+ community advocates who have been tasked with developing the World Health Organization’s guidelines for gender-affirming care. Led by the pro-conversion therapy organization Genspect, anti-trans activists are attempting to pressure WHO to install ideologues on their committee, in the name of balance.
Some of the harshest attacks have been directed at a Canadian academic, Florence Ashley, a transfemme who jokingly lists “that bitch” among the pronouns in their Twitter bio. The activist attacks have moved from social media statements and petitions circulated by anti-trans groups into the right wing press, as exemplified by a story in the Daily Mail that published yesterday.
The Daily Mail story, echoing activist attacks, is focused primarily on Ashley, but apart from the joking bio it’s unclear from the copy what about Ashley’s views are being portrayed as disqualifying. Instead of anything scandalous, the Daily Mail includes quotes Ashley as calling for more scientific evidence in the assessment process for gender dysphoria.
screenshot from the Daily Mail
Calls for more and better evidence for gender-affirming procedures have been a mainstay of the more respectable anti-trans activist grounds, such as the Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine. However, Ashley’s suggestion that the assessment process for determining gender-affirming care ought to itself be evidence-based is portrayed as unreasonable in the Daily Mail story. The story does not explain what would be unreasonable about expecting an assessment process to be grounded in evidence on what’s best for transgender patients.
The attacks on the WHO committee don’t end with the vague attacks on Ashley for having a cheeky Twitter bio and calling for evidence-based assessments in the treatment of gender-dysphoria. They also include wide-ranging attacks on the professional standards governing gender-affirming care worldwide. In the feverish propaganda of the right, WPATH, the organization responsible for creating guidelines and best practices for gender-affirming care providers, has increasingly been represented as an activist organization. These smears against WPATH are now being used to smear the WHO committee members, many of whom are associated with the organization. The Daily Mail story includes the false claim that WPATH is “dedicated to promoting medical treatments for gender dysphoria.”
screenshot from the Daily Mail
In contrast with this false claim by the Daily Mail, WPATH’s website states its mission is, “To promote evidence-based care, education, research, public policy, and respect in transgender health.” Medical research currently supports medical treatments as the only proven, effective treatment for gender dysphoria.
The goal of activists seems to be to install anti-trans ideologues on the committee. The Daily Mail quotes conversion therapist Stella O’Malley, leader of the activist group Genspect, saying, “The WHO are making a grave mistake, they should pause this process and consult with the many professionals who hold different approaches.” O’Malley seems to be suggesting that her preferred approach, which she has privately said seeks to divert trans youth from transitioning at any cost, represented on the WHO committee. Contrary to the robust evidence in favor of gender-affirming care there is no evidence base to support such approaches. Attempts to change a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation have been found to create a risk of serious psychological damage in patients.