Researcher corrects Premier Higgs's 'misinterpretation' of gender-affirming care data
ITS CALLED MISINFORMATION
LGBTQ RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS
CBC
Fri, January 5, 2024
Premier Blaine Higgs quoted from a presentation by Dr. James Cantor, a Toronto psychologist, who testifies in favour of gender-affirming care bans in the United States. (Radio-Canada - image credit)
A researcher says New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs is sharing "misinterpretations" of the gender-affirming care data she's been collecting and analyzing for years.
In a year-end interview with Radio-Canada, Higgs shared his concerns about how easy it is for children to get gender-affirming care.
"In Canada it's about over 60 per cent, after one visit, can be put on the puberty blockers," Higgs said. He was also quoted by The Canadian Press saying 60 per cent of kids "are given automatic affirmation and put on some sort of hormone therapy" at a first appointment.
Researcher Greta Bauer said her study, published in 2021, specifies that 60 per cent of young patients were prescribed medication at their first hormone-specialist appointment.
To get that appointment, youth had to see an average of 2.7 other health-care professionals, and the average wait time for that first appointment was 269 days from the date of referral. Before any prescriptions were written, kids needed a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, she said.
"It just really makes me sad when people deliberately or non-deliberately misinterpret the results of our research, and I'm increasingly concerned about deliberate misinterpretation," Bauer said in an interview.
Researcher Dr. Greta Bauer says her research shows that even after waiting an average of nine months for an appointment with a hormone specialist, 40 per cent of young people don't go ahead with perscriptions on that first appointment.
Dr. Greta Bauer says her research shows that even after waiting an average of nine months for an appointment with a hormone specialist, 40 per cent of young people don't go ahead with prescriptions on that first appointment. (CBC)
Bauer is a family medicine professor at the University of Minnesota medical school and previously worked at Ontario's Western University for 17 years, where she held a sex and gender research chair position.
She said her research has been misconstrued in the past to make a false conclusion about how easy it is to get hormone therapy.
"The politicization has meant that increasingly our work has been taken out of context and has been, you know, tweeted around the world or shared in ways that are problematic," she said. "It's disturbing to me."
Higgs invites psychologist who testifies for U.S. trans-care bans
Higgs declined an interview request. Instead, a spokesperson confirmed that Higgs invited Dr. James Cantor to make a presentation to government in late November. The spokesperson wouldn't confirm who was invited to attend. A slide in the presentation said youth are "quickly/unquestionably affirmed," and treatment is "solely based" on self-identification.
Cantor, a Toronto-based psychologist, has testified in 25 cases in support of gender-affirming care bans or bathroom restrictions in the United States, CBC previously reported.
The slide he presented includes a reference to how 62 per cent of youth received a prescription at their first appointment in a gender clinic. The slide does not include the wait times or requirements for gender-dysphoria diagnosis. The government did not provide the full presentation when CBC News requested it Thursday
CBC
Fri, January 5, 2024
Premier Blaine Higgs quoted from a presentation by Dr. James Cantor, a Toronto psychologist, who testifies in favour of gender-affirming care bans in the United States. (Radio-Canada - image credit)
A researcher says New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs is sharing "misinterpretations" of the gender-affirming care data she's been collecting and analyzing for years.
In a year-end interview with Radio-Canada, Higgs shared his concerns about how easy it is for children to get gender-affirming care.
"In Canada it's about over 60 per cent, after one visit, can be put on the puberty blockers," Higgs said. He was also quoted by The Canadian Press saying 60 per cent of kids "are given automatic affirmation and put on some sort of hormone therapy" at a first appointment.
Researcher Greta Bauer said her study, published in 2021, specifies that 60 per cent of young patients were prescribed medication at their first hormone-specialist appointment.
To get that appointment, youth had to see an average of 2.7 other health-care professionals, and the average wait time for that first appointment was 269 days from the date of referral. Before any prescriptions were written, kids needed a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, she said.
"It just really makes me sad when people deliberately or non-deliberately misinterpret the results of our research, and I'm increasingly concerned about deliberate misinterpretation," Bauer said in an interview.
Researcher Dr. Greta Bauer says her research shows that even after waiting an average of nine months for an appointment with a hormone specialist, 40 per cent of young people don't go ahead with perscriptions on that first appointment.
Dr. Greta Bauer says her research shows that even after waiting an average of nine months for an appointment with a hormone specialist, 40 per cent of young people don't go ahead with prescriptions on that first appointment. (CBC)
Bauer is a family medicine professor at the University of Minnesota medical school and previously worked at Ontario's Western University for 17 years, where she held a sex and gender research chair position.
She said her research has been misconstrued in the past to make a false conclusion about how easy it is to get hormone therapy.
"The politicization has meant that increasingly our work has been taken out of context and has been, you know, tweeted around the world or shared in ways that are problematic," she said. "It's disturbing to me."
Higgs invites psychologist who testifies for U.S. trans-care bans
Higgs declined an interview request. Instead, a spokesperson confirmed that Higgs invited Dr. James Cantor to make a presentation to government in late November. The spokesperson wouldn't confirm who was invited to attend. A slide in the presentation said youth are "quickly/unquestionably affirmed," and treatment is "solely based" on self-identification.
Cantor, a Toronto-based psychologist, has testified in 25 cases in support of gender-affirming care bans or bathroom restrictions in the United States, CBC previously reported.
The slide he presented includes a reference to how 62 per cent of youth received a prescription at their first appointment in a gender clinic. The slide does not include the wait times or requirements for gender-dysphoria diagnosis. The government did not provide the full presentation when CBC News requested it Thursday
Since 2021, Toronto psychologist James Cantor has testified in more than 20 cases in the U.S. involving transgender issues. (Craig Chivers/CBC)
In an interview with Radio-Canada, Cantor declined to confirm that he made a presentation to MLAs and the premier, but confirmed that the statistic Higgs was sharing was accurate, and said children were given a prescription after "very minimal assessment."
Bauer said her study shows young people in Canada wait an average of 13.5 months to receive gender-affirming care from the time they start seeking it. She said standard protocol also requires that adolescent patients be assessed for other possible mental health and physical issues before they start treatment.
In 2022, under cross-examination in Alabama, Cantor testified that he had never provided care to a transgender minor under the age of 16, had never diagnosed a child or adolescent with gender dysphoria and had no personal experience monitoring patients' medical transition.
On Thursday, the premier's office set up a media availability with Dr. Erica Anderson, a U.S. clinical psychologist who studies sexuality and gender identity and advocates for caution and sometimes delays in medical transitioning.
In the media availability, Anderson said she was also invited by Higgs to "educate decision-makers" about changes to gender-affirming care in Europe.
Recently, Sweden and the United Kingdom conducted systemic analyses of all evidence regarding gender-affirming care for minors and found it lacking, she said. She said that should make the medical community approach the issue with "more caution."
When asked if she had any evidence that doctors in Canada are not cautious enough, she said the premier told her that 60 per cent of kids get hormones on the first appointment, though she did not know about the path to that appointment and the wait times.
When asked if she has any other evidence that the medical community in Canada is not being cautious enough when it comes to gender-affirming care for minors, she said "no."
Cantor wasn't on the media call Thursday but the government says it plans to hold another availability with him on the topic next week.
In the year-end interview, Higgs said what's happening in Europe is "most compelling."
"Gender dysphoria is real," Higgs said. "It's the science of what we're doing with our children that is changing."
The changes to gender-affirming care recommendations in some countries in Europe have been cited by several states in their effort to ban or outlaw gender-affirming care for minors. However, none of the countries in Europe have actually banned care.
Sweden recommended that doctors exercise caution and make sure the patient is actually experiencing gender dysphoria before prescribing hormones or puberty blockers.
England previously had one clinic that specialized gender-affirming care for children. A review recommended that the system be restructured so that gender-affirming care is provided in more places across the country as part of the national health service.
"The new regional centres should have an appropriate multi-professional workforce to enable them to manage the holistic needs of this population, as well as the ability to provide essential related services," the recommendation report said.
Getting gender-affirming care a long process, experts say
Bauer said her 2021 study surveyed 174 patients and their parents from 2017 to 2019 at their first appointment with a hormone specialist and follows them over the following years. She said none of the patients were in New Brunswick because the province doesn't have a children's hospital with an endocrinology clinic or a specialized gender clinic.
Bauer said her study shows even though the patients waited an average of nine months to get to the first specialist appointment, about 40 per cent of them still did not go ahead with the treatment right away.
"It shows what looks like a very logical process of decision-making on the part of adolescents, their parents and physicians," she said.
She said some of the patients who didn't get prescriptions at that appointment were turned down because the doctor needed them to get further psychological testing. Others decided hormones were not right for them, Bauer said.
Some parents also needed more time or needed to discuss things with the other parent, she said.
Dr. Marc Nicholson, a New Brunswick pediatrician who sees transgender kids, previously told CBC that before a child or teenager gets a consultation with his office, they will first have to see a psychologist.
The medical standards of practice followed by Canadian providers requires young people to have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria before receiving hormones, Bauer and Nicholson said.
Gender dysphoria is a state of distress caused when a person's gender identity doesn't match their biological sex. In order to give that diagnosis, a health-care professional has to be convinced that the gender distress has been persistent and consistent over time, Nicholson has said.
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